From Mac: one of the users of Internet Cafes overseas suggests that you leave a list of e mail addresses with a relative or friend in your home town that has a computer and just write one e mail to that person and have that person forward to those on e mail addresses you gave them. The person who receives e-mail from you is glad that you are having a good time and this saves you time at the cybercafé.

Travellers to Kenya will know that a ride in a matatu (minibus) can be a hair raising experience.  The last time the Beetle was in Kenya, a fellow traveller reported that he was on a matatu that crashed, because the driver was drunk and there were so many people on board that two occupants died. In response to a law published last year by the Kenyan government to fit in safety belts and speed governors as a measure to curb increasing road accidents, Kenyan matatu (minibus) operators are rushing to beat a government deadline to fit safety equipment on their vehicles.  But the chairman of the Matatu operators Association Simon Kimutai says only 10% of the vehicles have complied with the new rules.  Commentators say that Kenya's public transport system is heading for a crisis when the new laws become effective this month because so few matatu owners have complied.  The new law requires the matatus to sport one colour and have a yellow strip and matatu drivers and conductors will have to wear uniforms and badges.  Let’s hope that this does bring some safety to Kenya’s roads.

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Three crewmembers found dead on a South Korean freighter that washed ashore in Shimane Prefecture on Sunday may have died after inhaling toxic gas generated from rotten squid organs, local Japan Coast Guard (JCG) officials said.  Three crewmembers were found dead in two storage rooms of the freighter and its skipper was unconscious in one of the rooms.  JCG officers found rotten internal squid organs in storage rooms where the three men were found dead.  Investigators suspect that the three crewmembers died from either an oxygen shortage or inhalation of carbon monoxide that had been generated from the rotten squid organs. The coast guard office said carbon monoxide and hydrogen sulphide were detected in the cabin.

Continental Airlines have announced that they plan to eliminate paper tickets by the end of 2004 in a bid to cut costs, theft and paperwork.  95 percent of its domestic customers and 88 percent system wide use electronic tickets.  The move includes tickets for international travel and those that involve other carriers.  Continental said it has terminated 50 interline ticketing and baggage agreements with carriers that do not have electronic ticketing capabilities.  Customers will still be able to make reservations through travel agents or on the phone, as well as on the Internet, but they will not receive paper tickets.  Instead, the reservations will be stored electronically.  Passengers who check in either via their computers at home or at airport kiosks will still receive the paper boarding passes that allow them to board planes.

Singapore has announced that it will build a new terminal at Changi Airport to cater for low-cost airlines once the carriers agree on its design.  Budget airlines are proliferating in Asia, challenging the dominance of full-service carriers such as Singapore Airlines and Malaysia Airlines.  In the meantime, low-cost airlines may use Changi Airport's two existing terminals, though charges for no-frills airlines would not be lower than those imposed on their traditional competitors.

Singapore based Valuair has become the first budget carrier to get official approval to fly from Changi Airport.  Valuair, set up mostly by former Singapore Airlines plans to start flying in May to Bangkok, Jakarta and Hong Kong.

Singapore Airlines, the world's second-largest airline by market value, has teamed up with the founder of Irish discount airline Ryanair, Europe's biggest carrier by value, to launch Tiger Airways.  Tiger will compete with Singapore's Valuair, set up mainly by ex-Singapore Airlines staff, and is gearing up to launch in the second quarter of 2004.  Both will also be pitted against Malaysia's Air Asia, which is setting up an airline joint venture in Singapore and has applied for an airline license.

Toronto Pearson Airport opened one of the world's most expensive airport terminal.  The new CAD$3.6 billion (USD$2.7 billion) Terminal 1, whose price tag has enraged the airlines around the world that will have to help pay for it is the first stage of an overall redevelopment project for Toronto's Pearson International Airport.  Terminal 1 will eventually expand to take over the functions of two existing terminals, which will be bulldozed. The capacity of the airport, which is currently 25 million passengers a year, is expected to double by 2015.  Pearson is Air Canada's busiest hub, with 50,000 passengers flying to, from and through Toronto on its flights everyday.  The new terminal's sophisticated technology is complete with automatic check-in counters, multiple baggage claim kiosks, and even a parking guidance system that points drivers to available spaces.

According to a survey of US airline quality, three of the top four performing airlines last year were low-cost carriers.  The survey measures on-time performance, customer complaints, mishandled baggage rates, denied boardings and other criteria from the Transportation Department's monthly consumer reports.  JetBlue was the top-rated airline for fewest denied boardings and was second for on-time performance and fewest customer complaints.  Alaska Airlines ranked second, followed by Southwest Airlines, America West and US Airways, which is struggling in the face of low-cost competition.  Bankrupt United Airlines ranked ninth, while the biggest carrier, American Airlines was 11th.   Delta Air Lines ranked 12th.

State-owned Air Malta is setting up a base in Manchester, north-west England, to operate charter flights to Greece, Spain and other European destinations.  The first flights will start in May 2004, just days after Malta joins the European Union on Saturday, May 1.  Services will also operate between Catania in Sicily to London.

Malaysian low-fare carrier AirAsia said it would offer air tickets to Macau, known for its casinos, from Bangkok for as little as USD$25 from June 15.  AirAsia is an aggressive player in Asia's budding no-frills market where competition is heating up with entrants such as Singapore-based Valuair and Tiger Airways, a venture between Singapore Airlines and the founder of Irish no-frills airline Ryanair.

Plans are afoot to cut transatlantic fares to as little as £66 return.  Passengers travelling to the U.S. and Canada could enjoy the type of low-cost fares that have revolutionised European air travel.  Executives at Cologne-Bonn airport in Germany say they are in 'serious' talks with several American airlines to offer budget return flights to the U.S. for just £66 starting by 2005.  The flights would be open to tourists anywhere in the world – as long as they have access to the Internet – though UK customers would first have to get to Germany.  'The plan is for all tickets to be sold online – no refunds, no frills, no fancy lounges and trimmed back in-flight entertainment and meals.  Locations being touted include New York, Boston and Washington together with mid-western U.S. cities and destinations in Canada.

According to a recent poll, Brazilians appear to approve of measures to photograph and fingerprint US tourists entering the country, a move that sparked a diplomatic tiff between the nations.  Of 2,000 people surveyed, 74.4 percent said they agreed with the immigration procedures, which were enacted at the start of the year in a tit-for-tat retaliation for similar security checks by the United States.  The measures sparked a diplomatic row between the two countries and have been widely criticized by US travellers, including an American Airlines pilot and a retired US banker who showed their displeasure by giving their middle finger while being photographed.  Although some Brazilians worried the measures would deter US visitors at the height of the tourist season, the system has revealed resentment among Brazilians over what they consider to be costly and humiliating procedures to get a US visa or enter the United States.  Visitors from other countries need not worry, however, as only 3.2 percent of those polled thought the procedures should be extended to other foreigners entering Brazil.

Virgin Atlantic Airways scrapped plans to install bright-red urinals shaped like women's open lips at New York's John F Kennedy Airport, saying it had received complaints they were offensive.

“Virgin Atlantic was very sorry to hear of people's concerns about the design of the 'Kisses' urinals to be fitted into our clubhouse at JFK Airport.  We can assure everyone who complained to us that no offence was ever intended,” Virgin spokesman John Riordan said in a statement.

“I don't know many men who think it's cool to pee in a woman's mouth, even a porcelain one,” said one complainant.

The urinal, designed by a Dutch company, was the idea of a female designer. Riordan said Virgin was surprised by the negative reaction to the plan, part of designs for the lounge, built to pamper first-class customers.

Seven people have died and hundreds have lost their homes in Fiji after severe storms hit the main island of Viti Levu in the South Pacific.  Nine people are still missing.  In one of the worst incidents, five people died when their bus was swept away by a landslide.  

A marathon competition to see who could live for a week in a cable car that makes the 1.7-kilometre trip between Singapore and the resort island of Sentosa about 80 metres above sea level was won by a couple who said they used meditation to overcome urges to use the bathroom. 

Thirty three couples started the competition and three teams dropped out before the contest even began.  Contest organisers confessed they hadn't expect so many of the 33 original teams to survive the stifling humidity, motion sickness, claustrophobic conditions and just 10 minutes to use the toilet each day. 

Judges chose a winner by tallying which team spent the least amount of their allotted time for restroom breaks.  The winning couple – Singaporeans Zaiton Majeed, 22, and Abdul Rahman, 29 – spent only 22 minutes and 15 seconds outside the capsule all week.  The winners plan to use the prize money to open a body painting studio in Nagoya in central Japan, Majeed said. They also won a S$30,000 ($A23,400) boat cruise.

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For a while now postage costs to the EU countries have been rising and has now reached the point where they are on a par with the costs for our other members worldwide members (USA, South America and Australia). We feel that it is unfair for one member to subsidise another and have decided to abolish the EU price band.

The new fees will be effective from the 1^st June 2004 when the following fees will apply:

• 1 year subscription £18.00 (around €27)
• 2 year subscription £34.00 (around €51)
• 3 year subscription £48.00 (around €72)

If you would like to renew or extend your membership or have been thinking of becoming a member then join or renew before the 1^st June, to get the current rate.

Get the current rate

More than a million British holidaymakers heading for the Costa Brava in north eastern Spain face an increase in prices due to a tourist tax.

The new tourism director-general of the Catalan region, Isabel Galobardes, said 'some sort of tax' was essential to improve infrastructure in the most popular areas.

ABTA, the Association of British Travel Agents and the Federation of Tour Operators have criticised this idea, fearing a repeat of the controversy surrounding the Balearic Islands' introduction of an eco-tax in May 2002.

A spokesman for ABTA said: 'This would be an extremely foolish move by the Catalan government. They would be shooting themselves in the foot, to say the least.'

Such a tax would affect resorts such as Lloret de Mar, Sitges, Salou and Blanes, along with city breaks to the Catalan capital Barcelona.  When the £1-a-day eco-tax was introduced on the islands of Mallorca, Ibiza and Menorca, UK visitor numbers dropped by up to 4 per cent.

This is my first request to your excellent newsletter. I'd like to know if anyone knows of anywhere in Tibet where a young (23) year old guy could go to learn overtone chanting. Have you any ideas/sources/reports of young people. I'd love to know, and I can then pass the message on: di.hinds@ntlworld.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 Forum section of the Website: Mutual Aid

From the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office: You should be aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks by terrorists in public places, including tourist sights, throughout the world. Although there is no recent history of either domestic or international terrorism in Bulgaria, we believe there is an increased general threat to visibly British institutions and organisations from global terrorism as there is in all other countries in this region.

Crime levels are roughly comparable to the UK. Organised criminal groups are active in casinos, nightclubs, prostitution and elsewhere. Much local violent crime is the result of turf battles between criminal groups. You should beware of groups of young pickpockets (often children) in city centres, especially busy shopping areas and underpasses. Thieves and pickpockets also target holidaymakers at Black Sea coastal resorts. You should leave passports and other valuables in a hotel safe or other secure place. (You are strongly advised, however, to carry a copy of the information pages of your passport as proof of identity).

Car theft is commonplace. Thieves target prestige and four-wheel drive models, but any unattended vehicle is at risk. If possible, you should use alarms and other visible security measures.

An airline passenger discovered the a frog perched on a slice of cucumber while on a Qantas flight from Melbourne to Wellington in February. “Naturally there was a bit of consternation by the passenger who called back the attendant,” Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry quarantine general manager Fergus Small said.  The flight attendant removed the salad and the 4 cm (1.6 inch) whistling tree frog, which was killed by quarantine staff when the aircraft landed.  Qantas was not immediately available for comment but a spokesman told The New Zealand Herald newspaper the airline had since changed its lettuce supplier and introduced “additional procedures into the salad supply process.”

Spotted by our webmaster, this is a really neat idea.  The BBC have put together a ‘Disease map’ that lets you click on your intended destination region and then shows you a brief overview of the diseases that are present in some or all of the countries there, and the vaccinations that may be required.

This is for advisory purposes only; many countries in the same region have widely differing immunisation entry requirements – it is best to consult your travel agent or GP well before departure to ensure that you fulfil these.

BBC Disease Map

A foreign pilot who infuriated Singapore's Senior Minister Lee Kuan Yew by leading a rare union revolt has been told by the government he can no longer live in Singapore as a permanent resident.  Captain Ryan Goh Yew Hock, a Malaysian citizen, was singled out by Lee as the main instigator in a November 2003 vote by pilots to sack their union leaders for caving into wage cuts and layoffs imposed by state-controlled Singapore Airlines.

The Immigration and Checkpoints Authority said Goh, who has lived in Singapore for 26 years, had been told that his entry and re-entry permits that are necessary for permanent residents would be cancelled.

The leaders of Singapore's government have said “confrontational industrial relations” are a threat in a country where the government, employers and unions traditionally co-operate closely and where industrial action is rare.