Ever been to Mexico and Guatemala and looked at the wonderful remains of the Mayan culture? Climbed the pyramids and wondered what went wrong? New research indicates that climate change was largely to blame for the collapse of the Mayan Civilisation over 1,000 years ago.

At the height of the Mayan era, around the middle of the 8th Century, there were up to 13 million people, but within 200 years, it was all over, cities ruined and people gone.

Archaeologists have shown that the Mayans built sophisticated systems of canals and reservoirs to collect rainwater for drinking in the hot, dry summers. Now scientists are able to prove that in the 9th and 10th Centuries, probably just before the Mayan civilisation collapsed, there was a long period of dry weather and three intense droughts caused by climate change and this contributed to the fall of the Mayans.

Some 21 million Britons take a package holiday every year, with three-quarters travelling with the “big four” – Thomson (TUI), MyTravel, Thomas Cook (JMC) and First Choice.

The Consumers’ Association surveyed 30,000 of its members and asked them to rank UK tour operators for value for money and quality of service. Most customers of the “big four” tour operators said that they would not recommend the holiday to a friend, when asked by the Consumers’ Association.

Customers of smaller independent travel firms seem to enjoy their holidays the most. More than eight out of 10 customers of travel company Laskarina said that they would recommend their holiday to a friend, for example.

At the other end of the scale, Thomas Cook (JMC), the UK’s oldest travel operator, came last in the Consumers’ Association survey for the second year running.

Only one in five Thomas Cook (JMC) customers said that they would recommend their holiday to a friend.

TUI, which owns the Thomson brand, did the best of the big four – 47% of its customers were satisfied.

However, the average for all independent travel companies surveyed was 66%. “When it comes to quality of service, the smaller independent holiday companies are topping the ratings,” Which? editor Helen Parker said.

Top UK Holiday Companies

• Laskarina
• Great Rail Journeys
• Swan Hellenic
• Tapestry Holidays

Bottom UK Holiday Companies

• JMC (Thomas Cook)
• First Choice
• Golden Sun
• Airtours
• Unijet

Source: bbcnews.co.uk

A major exhibition about the ill-fated transatlantic liner ‘Titanic’ will be on view at London’s Science Museum from May 16 to September.

“Titanic: the Artefact Exhibition” will take visitors on a chronological journey, from the design and construction of the vessel to its maiden voyage in 1912; and from its sinking after collision with an iceberg to the scientific recovery efforts made by RMS Titanic Inc. in the 1990s. These expeditions recovered 6,000 artefacts from the wreck, and hundreds of them – including jewellery, crockery, clothing and personal belongings – will be in the exhibition.

Visitors will be given the name of a passenger, and explore what it was like to be a first- or third-class passenger – and then discover if they were among the 1,523 who died, or the 705 who survived. Full-size recreations of some of Titanic’s interior spaces, including a first-class cabin, also feature. The tragic story comes alive in the iceberg room, where visitors will learn what it was like to be in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Admission prices have yet to be announced – entry to the rest of the Science Museum is free. Tel: 020 7938 8000. Website: The Science Museum

Source: Britain Express

Hawaii depends on tourism for roughly a quarter of its economy, and since the terrorist attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, the industry has suffered. Looks like a new US spending bill will help to bring jobs and more cruising opportunities to the Hawaiian Islands and will overturn a federal law that prohibits foreign-built ships from sailing exclusively among U.S. ports.

While many ships sail between the islands – including two of Norwegian ships – they are all foreign-flagged, and are therefore required by U.S. law to put into a non-U.S. port during an American itinerary. The Norwegian ships stop at Fanning Island in Kiribati, about 600 miles (960 kilometres) south of Hawaii. The only cruise ship that offered solely Hawaiian cruises, the US company American Classic Voyages, went bankrupt a few weeks after 9/11. Norwegian Cruise Line (actually Malaysian owned) plan to take up this space and sail exclusively among the islands without a foreign stop.

Reports of a “rampaging beast” in the Dowa district, about 100 km from the capital Lilongwe, has sent at least 4,000 people fleeing four villages to seek refuge at a community hall at the district headquarters. Parks and Wildlife Officer Leonard Sefu said his department believed the mysterious beast could be a rabid hyena but said it was strange for a hyena to terrorise whole villages without being cornered. Dr Matius Joshua, the Dowa District Health Officer said that two old women and a three-year-old baby died when the beast crushed their skulls and ate their intestines and private parts. He said his department was examining the maimed people to establish what the animal could be. All efforts to shoot and kill the animal have so far failed. Dr Joshua said the 16 victims admitted into hospital following the latest attacks sustained various appalling injuries – some of them lost both legs and hands while two have lost both ears and eyes to the beast. One woman lost her mouth and nose.

Source: BBC News

The Brooke Hospital for Animals (BHA) and the World Society for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) have joined forces to provide free veterinary care for working horses and donkeys in Jalalabad in southern Afghanistan. The two charities hope their work will help to transform the lives of the thousands of people in the city, who depend on equines for their livelihood. The project, which is being helped by an Afghan agency, Committee for Rehabilitation Aid to Afghanistan (Craa), plans also to install fresh piped water at carriage stands. This will benefit both animals and people, as the nearest water supply at the moment is three miles (five kilometres) away. The Jalalabad project is being supported by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association through funds collected by the North Carolina Zoological Society.

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:

1. BOS
2. MXP
3. SYD
4. NAS
5. FEZ

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

New research on seismic events conducted by scientists indicates that a massive earthquake could hit Istanbul in the near future. This warning is being taken seriously by the Turkish government who are now taking action to minimise damage if the prediction turns out to be true. The seismic team predicted a quake in the coastal city of Izmit in 1999 – but the specific warnings were ignored and some 25,000 people were killed. The latest thinking is that earthquakes are connected and can trigger each other and that fault lines close to the Turkish city are under severe stress and will lead to a large quake sooner rather than later.

Latest figures show that reservations for the summer season in south-western France are down by on average 50% compared with those made last year following the Prestige oil disaster and the ensuing pollution. Foreign tourists are also said to be shunning the area, according to the report, in particular German visitors who are said to be particularly sensitive to the impact of environmental disasters such as that caused by the Prestige. Most beaches in the area remain closed except those in the Gironde area around Bordeaux, but are expected to be re-opened in time for the Easter holidays. Many local industries, such as the spa centres the region is famous for, have also been affected because of unfounded fears over polluted water, local reports say. Oyster producers have seen their sales drop by almost 40% during the Christmas period, while fish prices have plummeted by between 20% and 40% – even though their products remain unaffected by the oil pollution.

While the Middle East conflict continues to hit air travel badly, Asian carriers are also feeling the effects of a mystery respiratory illness, similar to flu that originated in the region. Already some 50 deaths have occurred worldwide. The feeling is that the illness has been spread by air travel. Singapore Airlines has admitted it continues to see cancellations and a fall in bookings because of fears about the disease.

~~~~~~~~

Italy’s national airline, Alitalia, is the latest major carrier to raise the price of its fares because of a 30% increase in fuel costs in the last 6 months. From March 15, Alitalia will charge an additional EUR6 (USD$6.60) on domestic tickets; EUR8 on international flights and EUR12 for inter-continental services.

~~~~~~~~

Fares at Air Canada are to cost more. The airline is raising its fuel surcharge on domestic long haul flights from March 11. The new charges will also apply to services flown by Air Canada subsidiaries Jazz and Tango. The price of tickets on flights over 300 miles is go up by CAD$10 to CAD$25 (USD$17) each way. The surcharges will not apply to short haul services where the charge remains at CAD$15.

~~~~~~~~

The European Parliament voted to overturn an agreement made between European airlines and US Customs officials. The agreement was to allow European airlines to give data on passengers flying to the US to US Customs. The European Parliament felt that this agreement infringed data protection rules.

~~~~~~~~

Paris based French airline Air Jet, started in the 1980s has been put into receivership after filing for bankruptcy earlier this week. Jet used to fly charter services and code-share flights on behalf of Air France, and has suspended services from Paris to La Rochelle and St Etienne.

~~~~~~~~

In response to military action in the Middle East, Delta has just announced capacity cuts of around 12 percent to both domestic and international routes (but not Delta Connection.) Delta is to postpone indefinitely the start of seasonal service between Boston and Rome and daily service between Cincinnati and Rome. Both were set to start on May 1.

~~~~~~~~

With passenger numbers falling because of the Middle East conflict, British Airways has cut flights and trimmed staff as have US Airways, Alitalia, Japan Airlines System and Air France.

A recent UK survey for the Department for Education found that of over 1,000 adults, 30% felt unable to compare rates in exchange bureaux. A similar proportion said they were not comfortable converting foreign currency into sterling. Over a fifth of those surveyed admitted they had wrongly calculated how much they spent on holiday, with 12% saying they had run out of money.

The Globetrotters Club has just teamed up with Oanda.com to provide people with information about currency conversions and cheat sheets. To translate currency or make a cheat sheet, visit:

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.

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 British Foreign and Commonwealth Office have just updated its advice for Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, referring to a high risk of terror attacks.

The FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk/travel) warns visitors to the three countries to be highly vigilant in all areas frequented by foreign visitors, including hotels, nightclubs, shopping centres and restaurants.

The website has been changed to underline the continued threat from terrorism: ‘The Foreign Office continues to receive information that Westerners are at risk from terrorist attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.

‘In particular there is a potential threat against western interests in Nairobi, Kenya.’

Despite the current warnings, the Foreign Office has stopped short of advising against all non-essential travel to the three countries.