On landing, the Stewardess said, “Please be sure to take all of your belongings. If you're going to leave anything, please make sure it's something we'd like to have.”.
There may be 50 ways to leave your lover, but there are only 4 ways out of this airplane”.
”Thank you for flying Delta Business Express. We hope you enjoyed giving us the business as much as we enjoyed taking you for a ride.”.
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.
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:
For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.
If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell. Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites
The winner of last month's Moon Guide on the ArcadiaNational Park is Traechsel, congratulations! And the winner of our Peru quiz was Jane Thomas, again, well done!
This month, win a Moon guidebook on Western Canada. See http://www.moon.com/ for info on this excellent series.
Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research: try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.
As the Beetle was planning a little diving trip to the Philippines, she thought she’d check out the FCO’s travel advice for the area.
The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office advises against all travel to central, southern and Western Mindanao, to Basilan, Tawi-Tawi and the Sulu archipelago, where military and police operations against terrorist and rebel groups are continuing and where kidnappings and bombings have taken place.
There is a high threat from terrorism and kidnapping throughout the Philippines. There continues to be threats against Western interests and there is a danger of collateral damage from terrorist attacks targeted at others.
You should also be alert to the risk of street crime.
Penalties for illegal drug importation and use are severe and can include the death penalty.
We strongly recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling.
Answers to: So You Think You’re Well Travelled?
0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!
1-3 – not bad
4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!
5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?
A 31 year old Canadian man recently tried to buy a one-way ticket on a Qantas flight from LAX to Sydney, but was turned down because he could not supply a valid credit card. Later, he managed to climb over an airport fence, topped by three strands of barbed wire, without injury and was spotted by an airport worker “running, naked, full-speed” toward the plane. He climbed into the wheel well of a moving Qantas 747. Pilots of the Qantas Airways flight stopped the plane. The man was coaxed out of the wheel well and arrested for trespass. An airport spokesperson said: “
”.his was an extremely dangerous thing for him to do. If he had continued to cling in there with the aircraft taking off at over 200 miles (320 kph) per hour, he might have fallen out and could have been sucked up by an engine.”
”.f he had survived that and was in the wheel well when the landing gear was retracted, he could have been crushed by the mechanism. And if not he very likely would have frozen to death during the 15 1/2 hour flight at 30,000 feet (9,150 metres) while wearing no clothes.”.
Just a sober warning for anyone considering using Europcar at Malaga airport.
Earlier in the year we hired a car, left credit card details as is normal, checked car for damage prior to leaving airport (around midnight) and got on our way. Didn't notice until at the outskirts of the airport that the fuel tank was only half full. Took car back with three quarters of a tank (more than when we picked it up) and explained to the check in girl what had happened. She accepted that I didn't need to rip them off for a few litres of fuel and said all would be OK.
Got home and about a week later received a bill for 25 litres of fuel and a 12 euro charge for “Special Equipment Replacement”. Total bill 39.15 euros, not a fortune but a rip off none the less.
Tried to contact Europcar with very little success, they eventually agreed that they had only put 17 litres of fuel in the car and will refund the difference, I wouldn't mind betting that they left it as it was and ripped off the next unsuspecting customer. The user prior to us must have had the same problem and they certainly didn't fill it up then !!
Still no explanation of the “Special Equipment Replacement” so be warned. EUROPCAR IN MALAGA AIRPORT MAY WELL ROB YOU!!!
From January 7 2005, London Underground Piccadilly line trains heading for Heathrow's Terminal 4 station will not go beyond Hatton Cross.
Passengers will have to take a shuttle bus from Hatton Cross to Terminal 4.
Piccadilly line services to the Heathrow Terminal 1, 2 and 3 station will not be affected, although there will be no direct service to this station on the weekend of January 8 and 9, 2005.
The long-term closure of Terminal 4 station is due to work on the Piccadilly line extension to the under-construction Heathrow Terminal 5. London Underground have said that during the 20-month period, the Terminal 4 journey should 'only take about five minutes longer than now', while trips to Terminal 1, 2 and 3 will be slightly quicker.
Around 2,500 people travel to and from Terminal 4 by Tube each day.
Anne writes in: I've been living in Mexico City for 8 months and I'd like to communicate to all the travellers to Mexico the address of a great French Bistro located in one of the most popular area of Mexico City, la Condesa.
Its atmosphere is warm and friendly, and the menu counts with delicious French and Mediterranean specialties. Moreover, the restaurant presents
fantastic photo exhibitions by Mexican and foreign artists, which change every 2 months, the photos being auctioned to the benefit of children living on the streets of Mexico City.
The prices are affordable (32 pesos for soups and salads, from 48 to 165 pesos for main dishes), the service excellent.
To get there:
PHOTO BISTRO Calle Citlaltepetl No. 23 (at the corner of Avenida Amsterdam, between Ozuluama and Campeche, close to the Chilpancingo metro station) Col. Hipodromo Condesa Mexico, D.F.
Tel : 5286 5945 Fax : 5211 9806 Email : photobistro@att.net.mx
Spain, which attracts 50 million tourists a year, is building its first private airport 200 km (125 miles) south of Madrid in a bid to lure budget airlines away from the capital and develop a deprived mining area. The airport is expected to be operational from the second half of 2006, is being built on the plains of La Mancha, best known for Cervantes's Don Quixote and will be named after the windmill-tilting knight.
The new airport has been nicknamed “Madrid's Luton” after the British airport outside London which challenges London's Heathrow and Gatwick, particularly in the budget flight market. The Don Quixote airport will try to woo low cost airlines with lower tariffs and flexible timetables. A high-speed train link connects Ciudad Real with central Madrid in 45 minutes, making it a viable alternative to the capital.
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Budding British travel operator Don Lucey is proposing to offer tours to Iraq. Never mind the troops, killings and kidnappings, Don Lucey, a former soldier and policeman who worked in Iraq in 2003 has set up Bann Tours in Swindon, western England. “It has a lot to offer, a lot of history. It's not just all war and people killing each other. Obviously terrorists scare a lot of people, but people like myself want to prove that they are not in control,” he said in a telephone interview.
Lucey said tourism in Iraq had to start somewhere, and that he and his clients were determined to be the catalyst. The 10-day trip, which will take in some ancient sites, costs 1,200 pounds ($2,192) per person, not including insurance.
Take a look at:
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If you want to keep abreast of events in India, catch the latest news on hotels, airlines and events, then take a look at this free India Newsletter.
India Newsletter
The US government is dropping a plan to collect personal data on airline passengers to assess security risks because of privacy concerns. Homeland Security Secretary Tom Ridge said officials had all but scrapped plans for the controversial Computer Assisted Passenger Pre-screening System, known as CAPPS II, which has come under criticism from privacy advocates and some members of the US Congress. The program, which has never been tested fully, was launched after September 11 2001 to refine electronic techniques for using personal information to identify and rate potential threats.
Ridge said a new program with a different name might be developed to replace CAPPS II. It could be replaced by a new “registered traveller” program if enough people volunteer to provide personal information, the report said.
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A member of Globetrotters Club? Interested in a £1,000 travel award?
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!!
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According to the UK Foreign Office, there is a high threat to Western, including British, interests from terrorism in Somalia, as there is in a number of countries in East Africa and the Horn. You should be aware that a number of British nationals and Westerners have been killed and injured in attacks in Somaliland. The Somaliland authorities believe these were terrorist inspired. Two British nationals were shot dead in Sheikh in Oct 2003. In the same month an Italian aid worker was murdered in Boroma near the border with Ethiopia. On 19 March 2004, a Kenyan woman working for a German Government aid organisation was shot dead in an ambush on the Hargeisa-Berbera road. Her German colleague was injured in the attack. Several suspects have been detained for this attack and for the two earlier similar incidents. This latter attack resulted in the temporary withdrawal of international aid personnel.
In May 2004, a remote-controlled landmine was found planted in a remote airstrip in the south of Somalia. UN and European Commission flights to Somalia are consequently now much restricted.
The Somaliland authorities have established a Special Protection Unit (SPU) which accompanies all UN missions outside Hargeisa. NGOs and individuals can also apply for an SPU escort at a cost of US$4.00 per day (or US$7.00 per 24 hours). British nationals who decide to stay in or visit Somaliland, despite our advice to the contrary, are urged to obtain details of the new system and to ensure that, when travelling, they take adequate security precautions.
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Want to check out how good the seat is on your next flight? Take a look at this: http://www.seatguru.com/ which warns you of poor seats in the general seating arrangement of different types of aircraft operated by a wide range of airlines.
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The Burma Campaign UK has released its latest list of companies that invest in Burma, or Myanmar as it is called by the country’s military dictatorship. You may be interested to know that high class UK travel company Abercrombie and Kent are on the “dirty” list. For more info, see: Burma Campaign
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Spanish police are targeting tourist resorts in a crackdown on holidaymakers who drink and drive. Until this summer, penalties for drink-driving applied only to full-time residents with tourists being let off with a caution and a small fine. But now visitors who commit the offence will face fines of up to £5,000 and a three-year ban from driving in Spain. Those involved in accidents resulting in the death or injury of others will be jailed. Despite its modern road system, Spain has one of Europe's worst safety records, with one person killed or injured every 11 minutes.
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Spotted by our Webmaster, Paul, this website tells you how to drive between different places in Europe. It calculates the total number of miles, the best route and the amount payable in tolls. Worked for the Beetle who tested it out from the Beetle lair in Central London to Brussels: 200 miles, taking approx. 4 ½ hours, including 2 hours 40 mins on express highways. Not bad, hey!
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