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UK based Neil wrote in to the Beetle warning travellers about Garuda. This is what he says:

Garuda have a reputation for being unreliable. On a recent trip to Indonesia and East Timor I had first hand experience of this. At check-in at Heathrow I found I was not on either the flight to KL or the onward flight to Bali. All my tickets were confirmed. The supervisor said this was common, and promptly found me a seat on both (Malaysian were the carrier in association with Garuda and Virgin).

In Bali, three days before I was due to fly, I found that I was not on the flights (flying with Merpati Nusantara) to and from East Timor. These had been booked through Garuda (by Trailfinders) in London. After phoning Trailfinders from Bali, the flights were re-booked, but had to be paid for again in Bali, a considerable inconvenience.

The moral of the story is never assume that that you have confirmed seats on flights booked with, or through, Garuda. Reconfirm at least three days before departure.

A new terminal dedicated to low cost airlines will open at Singapore’s Changi Airport on March 6 next year the Civil Aviation Authority said. Passenger charges at the new facility will fall to SGD$13 (USD$7.79) compared to the SGD$21 departure tax at the airport’s Terminals 1 and 2. There will be a free bus service for travellers transferring between the terminals

Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid

The FBI recently released crime figures in the USA. Murders across the United States fell for the first time in five years, while rapes increased slightly last year. Overall, the number of violent crimes, which also include aggravated assaults and robberies, fell by 1.2 percent last year. Property crimes such as burglaries, larceny/theft and car theft dropped 1.1 percent in 2004, compared to 2003. There were 16,137 murders in the United States in 2004, the last full year for which statistics are available. That was about 350 fewer than in 2003, according to the FBI data. The decrease is the first since 1999, although smaller than what the FBI reported in June. Chicago was largely responsible for the drop, recording 150 fewer murders in 2004 than in 2003.

Government data shows that the crime rate is at a 30-year low. Despite the historical trend, the FBI included a “crime clock” in its report that shows a violent crime is committed every 23.1 seconds. A murder occurs roughly every half-hour, according to the clock.

Trip Advisor, the US based travel organisation recently conducted a survey of over 3,000 travellers. Their findings are that the top three most desirable travel destinations in the next year, if money were no object, are Australia, Italy and Hawaii.

The top three airlines, according to respondents, are British Airways, American Airlines and Virgin Atlantic. Surprisingly, American was also one of the three least favourite airlines, and British Airways was overwhelmingly least favourite among travellers from the U.K.

Delta was the least favourite airline and yet nearly 40 percent of those who chose Delta as least favourite participate in the Delta Skymiles program. US Airways and American tied for second least favourite airline but 36 percent of those who chose them are still enrolled in US Airways’ Dividend Miles and American’s Advantage programs, respectively.

Top considerations for choosing their favourite airline were friendly and helpful staff, sticking to schedules, and best fares and comfortable seating tied for the third.

Sir Richard Branson's Virgin Galactic has collected $10m in deposits from people wanting a quick journey beyond Earth's atmosphere. More than 34,000 would-be astronauts have registered for rides aboard a commercial version of the experimental Ansari X Prize winner SpaceShipOne. If you are wondering about how much this may cost – BBC reports say that between four to five minutes of weightlessness will set you back around $200,000 (£113,242). Test flights are on schedule to begin in 2007, with commercial operations to begin a year later.

The spaceships will be about the size of a Gulfstream Five business jet and like SpaceShipOne, will be attached to a larger airplane before its rocket engines ignite to travel beyond the atmosphere. The joyrides are being designed so that passengers should be able to witness views of Earth-in-the-round. The seating compartments on SpaceShipTwo are being designed so that passengers can float around weightless while still connected to their seats.

Pilots of a chartered jet carrying 289 Gambian soccer fans faked the need to make an emergency landing in Peru so that passengers could watch their nation's team play a key match. The plane, claiming to be low on fuel, landed in Peru's northern coast city of Piura, where Gambia played Qatar in the FIFA Under-17 World Championships later that night. The fans were allowed to watch the soccer game in Piura, which Gambia won 3-1. The fans apparently would have been late or missed the game if the flight had first gone to its scheduled destination of Lima, 550 miles to the south. “It truly was a scam,” said Betty Maldonado, a spokeswoman for Peru's aviation authority, CORPAC. “They tricked the control tower, saying they were low on fuel.”

According to Forbes magazine, for the second year in a row, Seattle takes the top spot in our study. Why? The city does poorly on all counts, but was at the bottom when it comes to job growth, and the cost of living is very high. “It's true the housing prices here have just gone through the stratosphere,” says Charles Knutson, spokesman for the Seattle Chamber of Commerce. The city got hit hard by the tech bubble, and took a big employment dive. “We're coming out of that, but if you're looking at a line chart, there's a huge gap between income and housing costs.” Still, Seattle may become easier to afford should big local employers such as Microsoft, Boeing and Starbucks stay healthy.

About a dozen people have been killed by salt-water crocodiles in Australia in the past 20 years. Now divers in northern Australia are calling for development of crocodile warning devices following two recent crocodile attacks. The numbers of crocodiles have increased rapidly in recent years, due to a ban on hunting passed in the 1970s. The deaths have also reopened debate as to whether limited limited hunting should resume. The salt-water crocodile (Crocodylus porosus) is the largest living reptile in terms of mass. There is a large population in Australia, with the majority being in the Northern Territory.

Spotted by webmaster Paul: “Because your first trip to Tokyo can be like going to another planet.

Planet Tokyo is here to guide you through the culture shock that many western travellers experience upon arrival in Japan. If you're planning a trip, or just hoping to learn something new and interesting in this western traveller's guide to Japan” http://www.planettokyo.com/

Alligators have clashed with non native pythons before in Everglades National Park. A 13 ft long python tried to swallow a 6 ft alligator whole and then exploded. Scientists have documented four similar encounters in the last three years. The encroachment of Burmese pythons into the Everglades could threaten an $8 billion restoration project and endanger smaller species, said Frank Mazzotti, a University of Florida wildlife professor. The gators have had to share their territory with a python population that has swelled over the past 20 years after owners dropped off pythons they no longer wanted in the Everglades. The Asian snakes have thrived in the wet, hot climate. “Encounters like that are almost never seen in the wild – and we here are, it's happened for the fourth time,” Mazzotti said. In the other cases, the alligator won or the battle was an apparent draw.

Thai Airways, Thailand's national carrier, has announced that it will fly non stop from Bangkok to Los Angeles as of Dec. 1. The flight used to stop in Osaka, Japan en route but now, using an Airbus A340-500, the flight will be non stop.

An independent media watchdog group, the Committee to Protect Journalists, (CPJ), says press freedom was under siege in every corner of the globe last year. The CPJ says Iraq remained the most dangerous place in the world to work as a journalist in 2004. In its annual report, entitled “Attacks on the Press,” the CPJ said 56 journalists were killed worldwide last year as a direct result of their work.

At least 23 journalists and 16 media support workers were killed in Iraq last year. Another 22 journalists were abducted while trying to report on the Iraq conflict. 122 journalists were imprisoned in 2004, three-quarters of them in just four countries – China, Burma, Eritrea, and Cuba.

Eight journalists were murdered in the Philippines last year, allegedly for criticizing the government or reporting on corruption.

Eleven journalists have been killed in contract-style killing since President Vladimir Putin came to power.

Zimbabwe was named one of the world's worst places to be a journalist because of the government's continued crackdown on private media and Bangladesh was found to be the most dangerous county in South Asia for the media.

Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid

You may have heard of the Paris – Dakar car rally, well, here's a slightly different take on the idea of driving a car across deserts and getting lost, but for those with less cash. The aim is to drive the route from Plymouth in the south west of the UK to Banjul in The Gambia (on a limited budget) with the principle aim of helping some charitable causes in Senegal and The Gambia. The rules include competing in a car that costs less than £100, not spending any more than £15 on getting the car ready and having no assistance whatsoever, once under way. If this sounds like your cup of tea, take a look at: http://www.plymouth-dakar.co .uk/

The Danish Air Force admitted last month that it paid about $5,000 in compensation to a part-time Santa Claus whose reindeer died of heart failure when two fighter jets roared over his farm. The reindeer, named Rudolf, was grazing at the farm of Olavi Nikkanoff in central Denmark when the F-16 jets passed overhead at low altitude earlier in the year. The reindeer collapsed and died, leaving Nikkanoff with only one animal pulling his sleigh next Christmas. Mr Nikkanoff complained to the Danish air force, which agreed to compensate him for the cost of the reindeer and veterinary expenses. “We got a letter from Santa complaining about his reindeer's death and looked into it seriously,” air force spokesman Capt. Morten Jensen said. The air force checked flight data and veterinary reports and concluded the planes had caused the animal's death. Mr Nikkanoff said he would use the money to buy a new reindeer before Christmas.

A report from Malaysia's Star newspaper gives examples of how soaring fuel costs are impacting on air fares in certain instances. They gave two examples: a return ticket to Colombo, Sri Lanka from Kuala Lumpur costs RM400 but the fuel surcharge is RM450. Another bargain – a two-night return package to Bangkok from KL on Thai Airways costs RM399 but the fuel surcharge, airport tax and insurance will cost an additional RM323. With the rising demand for oil and hurricanes hitting the United States, world oil prices are not expected to come down in the near future. One Malaysian travel agent commented: “It looks like the days of cheap air travel are over as the high fuel prices are here to stay.” Another agent said: “Some of the fuel surcharges are so expensive that they make a mockery of their special cheap short flights from KLIA to regional destinations like Jakarta and Bangkok.”

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Europe From a Backpack travel book series are now accepting submissions for Italy From a Backpack and Spain From a Backpack. They are looking for first-person must-tell stories. If you have a story to tell, visit www.EuropeBackpack.com for details.

Length: Stories average 800-2,000 words. While we will accept stories up to 3,000 words, shorter stories have a better chance of being accepted.

How to Submit: Send your story by MS Word attachment to submit@EuropeBackpack.com with the following information (make sure to include all information in the Word Document):

• name
• story title
• story location
• address
• phone
• primary e-mail
• secondary e-mail
• College or University you graduated from
• Include a fun and brief bio after them story

Deadlines: The following are the deadline dates for submitting stories for Italy From a Backpack and Spain From a Backpack.

• Round 1: January 31, 2006
• Round 2: March 28, 2006