The UK government still has a warning out, advising travellers against non essemtial travel to Bali, after last October’s bombings.
However, reports from hoteliers and hostel owners in Bali say that the back packing hostels are almost full now, and the upper end hotels are one third full. Garuda, Indonesia’s state airline resumed flights from the UK to Bali at the end of July 2003.
An American diver has been arrested for penetrating the Yongala, the wreck of a steamship. The Yongala is a popular wreck dive off Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It sank during a cyclone in 1911, resulting in the death of all on board. Despite being told twice that he was not allowed to go inside the wreck, our hapless diver ignored all warnings, was arrested and fined A$2000. If you dive wrecks, particularly where there has been a loss of life please be respectful of this, says the Beetle, and follow local guidelines.
The Theatre Museum has five galleries illustrating the history of the performing arts in the UK. The collection includes displays on theatre, ballet, dance, circus, puppetry, opera, musicals, rock and pop. There's usually a daily workshop on performing arts subjects, such as pantomime and making a play.
Where: Russell Street, Covent Garden.
Open: Tue-Sun, 10:00-18:00.
Tube: Covent Garden Enquiries: 020 7943 4700
Entrance: free admission for individuals.
Under 30? 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!!
Win a Moon guidebook on Fiji. See www.moon.com for info on Moon guidebooks.
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. One submission, only, please!
The winner of last month's Moon guide on Yellowstone and Grand Teton is Christine Buehring. Please send us your postal address, Christine!
Austravel, the Australia and New Zealand travel specialists are holding a fair in London Saturday 30th August 2003.
Lonely Planet will be at the Austravel Fair, where they’ll be offering advice on the top 10 most frequently asked questions they receive about Australia and New Zealand.
Where: London Commonwealth Institute, Kensington High Street, London When: Saturday 30 August 2003 More info: visit http://www.austravel.com
Visitor figures to the Balearic Islands have slumped because of a controversial eco-tax introduced just a year ago.
The tax, (around £12 million raised so far) paid by tourists to the islands, started in May 2002 to counter the environmental damage caused by mass tourism.
The levy proved very unpopular with families visiting Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza or Formentera as it added as much as £70 to their total holiday cost.
The tax now looks likely to be abolished by the islands' newly-elected government.
According to figures from the UK’s Government’s Office for National Statistics, Spain was the most popular destination for residents of the UK in 2002.
British people made 12.6m visits to Spain, up 7% on 2001, compared with the 11.7m (down 2%) people who visited France – in second place. Third most visited country by the British was the Republic of Ireland with 4m UK visitors, followed by the US with 3.7m.
Receiving visitors, the UK received most visitors from the US with 3.7m visits to the UK, followed by France with 3m; Germany, 2.5m; the Republic of Ireland, 2.3m and the Netherlands with 1.4m.
The survey also showed that tourist numbers in the last quarter of 2002 have returned to similar levels in the same period of 2000.
If you live in the UK, and have access to Channel 5, then switch on, tune on to Search for the lost city of Gold, Channel 5, 9pm Weds 9th July> Thank you,
International Air Transport Association (IATA) has named Dubai as the world's favorite airport in a new passenger survey. This is the second year in succession that it has been rated top in overall passenger satisfaction. Singapore's Changi airport was in second place. The world's busiest airports did not rate well with passengers. Atlanta Hartsfield. and Chicago O'Hare in the US; London Heathrow and Haneda in Tokyo all failed to make the leading group. Canada's Vancouver International scored best in North America while Copenhagen was the European leader.
The Australian and New Zealand governments have both said they will commit to sending army and police forces to nearby troubled Solomon Islands. The on-going ethnic violence has resulted in the country being dangerous to visit, which is a huge shame as the Beetle can strongly recommend the wreck diving in the Solomons as being among the best in the world. Authorities fear that if the current lawlessness continues, the country will be used as a base by terrorists, money launderers and drug traffickers.
Experts have found 80 hairline cracks in China's Three Gorges Dam, amid reports of poor workmanship on the world's largest water project, expected to take 17 years – completion expected in 2009. An estimated 250,000 workers are involved in the project and the reservoir will cover 632 square kilometres (395 square miles) of land. Government officials estimate that the dam will resettle 1.2 million people. Critics complain about substandard construction work, corruption and negligence in resettlement work. The project is expected to produce up to one-ninth of China's total output of electricity.
Anyone planning to visit Mallorca and Ibiza can now pop over to the Spanish mainland on a new high-speed ferry service. The catamaran service can carry up to 900 passengers and up to 265 cars. The routes include Palma to Ibiza in two hours, and Ibiza to Valencia in three hours. The journey will cost €56 per person or €65 to take a car. For more info, visit www.trasmediterranea.es
Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on airport codes. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!
Which cities are served by airports with the following codes:
For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.
Under 30? 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!!
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
Frank from the US is currently 3,000 miles and more en route from Texas to Alaska. He sent the Beetle an e-mail to say that in Dawson Creek British Columbia there is an e-mail shop at the Mile Zero on the Alaskan Highway. This place is the only one in town. Cost $3.00 for 30 minutes, $6.00 per hour. It might be of interest for any Globetrotters that might be coming this way. E-mail sales@softemp.ca they will be happy to help you out.
“Ladies and Gentlemen do you want the good news first or the bad news?
“The good news is that last Friday was my birthday and I hit the town and had a great time. I felt sadly let down by the fact that none of you sent me a card! I drive you to work and home each day and not even a card.”
“The bad news is that there is a points failure somewhere between Stratford and East Ham, which means that we probably won't reach our destination for a good ninety minutes yet. We may have to stop and return. I won't reverse back up the line – simply get out, walk up the platform and go back to where we started. In the meantime if you get bored you can simply talk to the man in front or beside you or opposite you.”
“Let me start you off: “Hi, my name's Gary how do you do?”
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