Experts estimate that 100 million locusts swarmed over the Canary Islands in November. The locusts, nicknamed 'sky prawns' have invaded Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the worst incidence in over 50 years. The desert locusts flew to the Canaries across the 60 miles of ocean from North Africa, where an infestation this summer wreaked havoc on crops. The insects, around 2.5 in long and two grams in weight, can travel twice that far in 24 hours. A 40 million swarm can eat 40,000 tons of vegetation a day.

Paul writes in with another piece of advice about travelling in Spain.

Another word of warning to novice travellers in Spain; be careful at the big hypermarkets as thieves operate in the car parks targeting small hire cars (easily identified as they silly sods always put the hire company name on the vehicle registration plates).

We got caught this way on our first trip and my girlfriend lost most of her clothes and a new digital camera, clothes weren't too much of a problem as we were on a naturist holiday but the rigmarole involved in getting a police report is mind blowing. I also had my passport stolen and getting that replaced was even worse !!. Silly to hide our stuff in the car I guess but a lesson well learned and often mentioned to fellow travellers as a word of warning.

Couldn't rob our car or cheat us out of fuel last trip cos we rode all the way down on my motorcycle.

Travel industry researchers estimate that demand for independently booked travel is set to rise by 80% in the next five years. Both Yahoo! and AOL recently announced that they were improving their travel offerings and setting up as online travel agents. Both companies are developing specialised travel search engines (due to go live in early 2005) that will allow users to compare prices from a range of different travel agents, airlines, hotel groups, resorts and hire car companies. The difference between these offerings and sites such as Lastminute.com or Travelocity is that the Yahoo and AOL travel site will include fares offered by budget airlines. At the moment, other companies do not include listings of many of the budget airlines as most refuse to pay a commission to list their services.

A group of training lifeguards swimming off New Zealand were protected from a great white shark by dolphins. The lifeguards were training at a beach near Whangarei on the North Island when they were menaced by a 3-metre shark, before the dolphins raced in to help. The dolphins surrounded the swimmers for 40 minutes before they were able to make it safely back to the beach.

Marine biologists say such altruistic behaviour is not uncommon in dolphins. One lifeguard said that it was an uncomfortable experience, as they were circled by a great white shark, which came within a couple of metres, but the dolphins suddenly appeared and herded the swimmers together. The dolphins then swam in tight circles to create a defensive barrier as the great white swam beneath the surface. The swimmers said the dolphins were extremely agitated and repeatedly slapped the water with their tails, presumably to try to deter the predator as it cruised nearby.

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.

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This website is excellent: a guide to low-cost flying in Europe that includes every budget airline route, with maps and associated information. It also has a news feed of low-cost airline news for European travellers – the only such feed to focus on budget news!

Carole from San Diego would like some help planning a trip to new Zealand. I am travelling to the south island of New Zealand in March and would love some suggestions from other members. We have our itinerary set-landing in Dunedin and going south and back up-crossing at Arthur's Pass to and leaving from Christchurch.

We are also planning to take a cruise into Milford Sound and from what we’ve read, the only company that has a cruise without a naturalist aboard is Fiordland Travel.

Are there others and if so, which is the best. Also, we are interested in doing some hiking in the area-but nothing strenuous.

The Kepler Track was recommended, but in reading about it, it appears that to go in for a few hours would only take us along the lake. Is there a walk w/more interesting/spectacular scenery?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Cmeredith1@aol.com

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

This 1091-page travel guide describes and maps Tahiti and French Polynesia, Pitcairn, Easter Island, the Cook Islands, Niue, Tonga, the Samoas, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna, Tuvalu, Fiji, New Caledonia, Vanuatu, and the Solomon Islands.

The 119 town plans and island maps are carefully labelled, without the confusing numbered map keys found in other guidebooks. For ease of reference, all internet and email addresses are now embedded in the listings.

There are sections on scuba diving, snorkelling, surfing, windsurfing, kayaking, yachting, cruising, hiking, fishing, and golf. Beaches, sightseeing, transportation, and places to stay and eat are thoroughly covered, as are the histories, economies, environments, cultures, and peoples of the Pacific region.

Author David Stanley has been writing about the South Pacific for over 25 years. Paul Theroux called his handbook “the most user-friendly travel guide to the South Pacific,” and it remains the leading guidebook to the Pacific islands.

For more information, visit southpacific.org

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. Congo
2. Madagascar
3. Oman
4. Azerbaijan
5. Bangladesh

For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.

I was on the Lewis Pass in New Zealand and I saw a sign at a petrol station which stated, instead of petrol and diesel prices, ARM and LEG, gave me a chuckle

Wilderness First Aid is different from the Red Cross or urban first aid. Focus is on initial and prolonged care for a patient in the back country. Participants will receive a two year certification with the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS (http://wmi.nols.edu).

WMI of NOLS courses are for folks who recognises the importance of having first aid skills if you spend time in the outdoors. We have climbers, trekkers, paddlers, blueberry-pickers, parents, teachers, outdoor guides, scout leaders, fishermen and hunters – all learning about how to care for an injured or sick friend.

Below is the schedule for the Wilderness Medicine Institute of NOLS courses that Crossing Latitudes is hosting in Europe 2005.

WILDERNESS FIRST AID COURSES & WILDERNESS FIRST RESPONDER RECERTIFICATION COURSES (16-24 hours)

London, The Castle Climbing Centre, UK January 17-18, 2005 Course fee: US $160.00 / GBP 90.00 per person. Course taught in English.

Malmö, Sweden, January 21-23, 2005 Course fee: SEK 2100:- per person. Course taught in Swedish. Start Friday evening. CPR included.

Bozeman, Montana, USA at Lindley Park Center April 30 – May 1st, 2005 Cost: $150.00 per person. Course taught in English.

Göteborg, Sweden, 13-15 of May, 2005 Course fee: SEK 2100:- per person. Course taught in Swedish. Start Friday evening. CPR included.

Stockholm, Sweden 20-22 of May, 2005 Course fee: SEK 2100:- per person. Course taught in Swedish. Start Friday evening. CPR included.

Narvik, Arctic Norway 17-19 of June 2005 Cost: SEK 2500:- per person. Course taught in English & Swedish. This course is part of Crossing Latitudes Sea Kayaking Guide course. The first aid course is open to all.

If you are interested in having a course just for your staff or organization please contact Lena Conlan at: info@crossinglatitudes.com or call our office in the USA +1-406-585-5356 or our office in Sweden +46-70-670 11 53.

For more info, please contact: info@crossinglatitudes.com www.crossinglatitudes.com USA: 1-800-572-8747 / Fax: +1-406-585-5356 Europe: +46-70-670 1153 Sweden: 070-670 1153

This attractive CD gives by means of 10 videos, 700 original photographs with explanations and 60 stories a colourful and varied picture of the country and people of the atoll-state in the heart of the Pacific.

Please visit http://www.kiribati.nl for more information.

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

Everyone at the Globetrotters Club would like to pass their condolences and sympathies to all those affected by the tsunami on Boxing Day.

If you are thinking of going to Thailand, here is some up to date news on various resorts. The people in Thailand still need the support of the visiting tourists and are hoping that everyone will not stop coming to their country in their time of need.

Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Samed, Pattaya and all other resorts in the Gulf of Thailand have been unaffected, and tourists are being routed there instead of visiting the West coast.

Koh Ngai has escaped unscathed.

Karon and Kata beaches are not badly affected. Along Karon beach you can hardly see any sign of damage, and the beach is full of people.

Patong beach will probably only take a couple of weeks to get back to normal.

If you are a diver, there are live aboard boats out in the Similan Islands area.

Ao Nang and Krabi only slightly affected.

Khao Lak and Koh Phi Phi totally levelled – thousands dead.

Koh Lanta damaged but not as badly as Phuket, Khao Lak and Koh Phi Phi.

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!!

Sorry, there is no quiz in this month’s e-newsletter. We will be back in next month’s e-news. you can however still enter last months quiz on Western Canada

This is what the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office say about travel to Sri Lanka: Information for families affected by the tsunami can be found at Sri Lanka: Information for Families.

We advise against all but essential travel to the north or east (other than Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Arugam Bay, but travellers should be aware that most hotels in these areas are closed because of damage from the tsunami). Much of the north and east of Sri Lanka remains heavily mined, particularly around the A9 road to Jaffna.

The recent tsunami resulted in extensive damage and large numbers of casualties on the south-western, southern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka. A number of hotels and resorts on the southern and south-western coasts have now reopened. Anyone planning to travel to these areas should check with their tour operators and/or hotel before departing to ensure their hotel is operating normally. Most hotels in the eastern towns of Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Arugam Bay have yet to reopen. (For further details please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice).

There is a threat from domestic terrorism in Sri Lanka.

The World Heritage Taj Mahal, built in the 1600's by the Mughal emperor Shah Jahan as a shrine for his wife, is to open on moonlit evenings for the first time in twenty years. But before you get too excited, only 400 visitors will be allowed entrance each night, and there will be parking restrictions around the Taj Mahal.

Answers to: So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

1. Congo – Brazzaville
2. Madagascar – Antananarivo
3. Oman – Muscat
4. Azerbaijan – Baku
5. Bangladesh – Dhaka

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?

In December 2004 Virgin Atlantic introduced 20 limited edition sickbags designed by artists from around the globe on its first flight from Hong Kong to Sydney. The sickbags will be in the seatbacks of all Virgin Atlantic flights for up to six months with a potential audience of over two million people. Co-collaborator Oz Dean started the 'Design for Chunks' project four years ago inviting talented designers to produce artwork for sick bags and submit them to the 'Design for Chunks' annual competition. The competition has been running for the past four years online at www.designforchunks.com

Lysette Gauna, Head of Media for Virgin Atlantic, commented, 'We felt that the ubiquitous sickbag was long overdue a makeover and when we came across 'Design for Chunks' it was the perfect opportunity. Sickbags are a mandatory requirement but rarely get used – so we thought we would brighten them up and turn them into a talking point. We're really excited about bringing art from around the world to such a huge number of people via our sickbags. It's a first in the industry and we're sure these bags will soon become a collectors' item.'