Interested in a £1,000 travel award? A member of Globetrotters Club?

Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?

Then see our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we’ll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!

Singapore’s Prime Minister Lee Hsien Loong announced that the government had decided to give the go-ahead for two casinos on Marina Bay and on Sentosa resort island. Despite 30,000 people signing a petition against the idea, Mr Lee said the casinos were necessary to help Singapore attract more tourists. The casinos, which will be operational by 2009, are central to Singapore’s goal of doubling the number of tourists to 17 million a year. A casino is believed to help Singapore recover much of the $180m a year it is estimated that Singaporeans spend each year in neighbouring Malaysian casinos.

Two new bus services linking Muzaffarabad in Pakistan-administered Kashmir for Srinagar in Indian-administered Kashmir. The new service has been hailed as a major boost to India and Pakistan’s developing peace process. The inaugural service on 7 April was the first in nearly 60 years. Before you get too excited, it is still dangerous to visit this region and there is heavy security all along the route including decoy buses, escorted by the police and parafamilies forces. The historic bus services has been welcomed by most Kashmiris, many of whom have been divided by the decades-long conflict. Many of them have defied the militants’ call to avoid boarding the bus. “The desire to meet separated relatives is proving stronger than the fear of death,” a trader in Srinagar, Zaffar Ahmed, told the BBC News.

This is the latest advice from the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office on Thailand: there is a high threat from terrorism throughout Thailand, particularly in the far southern provinces of Pattani, Yala, Narathiwat and Songkhla. We recommend against all but essential travel to these four provinces where, since January 2004, there have been regular attacks including bombings and shootings. On 3 April, three bombs exploded in Songkhla Province, one at Hat Yai International Airport, one at a hotel and one in a shopping centre. Further attacks against places frequented by foreigners, including tourist resorts, could occur at any time.

Watch out for crimes of opportunity. Theft of passports and credit cards is a problem. Passport fraud is high and penalties are severe.

Penalties for possession, distribution or manufacture of drugs are severe and can include the death penalty.

There has been an increase since January 2005 in the number of reported cases of Dengue Fever, in particular in Southern Thailand and the area near the border with Malaysia. In a very small number of cases, Dengue Fever can be fatal if left untreated. If you suffer from a fever whilst (or shortly after) visiting Thailand, you should consult a doctor.

Spotted by Mac, a new travel website: http://www.travelpost.com/

Thousands of toads in an area of northern Germany are exploding. Seriously, this is not a late April Fool’s joke. Scientists do not yet know why the toads are exploding, but they are contracting some type of disease that causes their body to expand to three and a half times their normal body size – to bursting point. The BBC news report that the toads’ entrails are being propelled up to a metre (3.2ft), in scenes that have been likened to science fiction.

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter – get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet – create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.

Last year China’s first person in space disappointed the nation when he said he could not see the Great Wall of China from space. However, photographs taken from space appear to confirm that China’s Great Wall can be spotted by the naked eye after all. So China’s schoolchildren who are taught that the Great Wall is one of the only man-made structures you can see can breathe easy again.

So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Chile
2. Finland
3. Kiribati
4. Israel
5. Comoros

For the answers, see at the end of the eNewsletter.

We’ve all heard horror stories about the deadly Australian funnel-web spiders. A new report in the Lancet shows that deaths from spider bites are extremely rare. Only 26 deaths from spiders have been recorded in Australia in the past century. In comparison, there were 1,183 motor vehicle deaths in 2001 in Australia.

Funnel webs are only found in eastern Australia and there are at least 40 species. They are medium to large spiders, varying from 1-5 cm body length. They like to burrow in moist, cool, sheltered habitats – under rocks, in and under rotting logs, crevices, rot and borer holes in rough-barked trees. In gardens, they prefer rockeries and dense shrubberies, and are rarely found in more open situations like lawns.

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 villagers of Ngarambe, bordering the Selous game reserve in Tanzanian had been allowed to sell hunting licences and shoot animals for meat so they would no wild animals would not destroy crops or menace the villagers. The area is rich in wildlife of all types – elephants, lions, giraffes, buffaloes and more. The government has said that the community can no longer hunt on this land or sell hunting licences to residents – instead a five-year hunting licence has been sold to a private company. According to BBC news, selling hunting permits is big business – trophy fees in the 2004 season ranged cost $4,000 for an elephant, $2,000 for a lion to $600 for a buffalo.

I am writing a book about a little known but stunning town in Australia called Airlie Beach. I am desperately seeking globetrotters who have visited this region. I am seeking submissions from them based on their time and experiences in the region.

Did Airlie Beach make an impact on your life? It’s the kind of place that is, ‘Once seen, never forgotten.’ I am looking for submissions from people, of all walks of life, on their favourite Airlie Beach experience. Everybody who has been there has one.

As a long time local, I have countless priceless memories, and nobodies amazing memories should be forgotten. Whether it is a funny anecdote, a poem you were inspired to write, a crazy story you heard, a picture of paradise you just can’t forget.

I am publishing a book and will consider: stories, poems, e-mails, snatches of conversation, diary entries, day in the life of, family history, dreams, artwork, photos, drawings etc.

Please contact me on: airliebeachkatie@yahoo.com.au

A review in the medical Lancet found the commonest diseases linked to air travel have been spread via contaminated food rather than from the cabin’s recycled air. The US researchers found a total of 41 in-flight outbreaks of food poisoning resulting in 11 deaths had been documented between 1947 and 1999. Salmonella was the most commonly reported infection spread by a commercial airline, with 15 recorded outbreaks between 1947 and 1999, affecting nearly 4,000 passengers and killing seven. The US authors stressed that no food- or water-borne outbreaks had been reported in the past five years probably because of greater use of pre-packaged frozen meals, and improved food handling and inspection.