Recent press reports state that a Houston store for space buffs is helping the Russian Space Agency find potential space tourists who have $20 million to spare. This seems to be the going rate for space tourists, paid by the two last space tourists, American Dennis Tito and South African Mark Shuttleworth. The Russian space industry appear to have decided that offering space trips to incredibly wealthy people is a good way to continue to finance its participation in building the space station. Vladimir Fishel, vice president of Russian programs for Spacehab, a US spacecraft and living space manufacturer and parent company of The Space Store, acknowledged the few wealthy people enough to pay the tab likely would approach Russian space officials themselves. But marketing efforts could add that extra bit of encouragement. “Russians are in dire need of cash,” he said. “This helps not only them, but everybody.”

London, England, United Kingdom and London, Ontario, Canada, as the crow flies: 3662 miles (5893 km) or 3182 nautical miles

Expedia.com’s lowest return fare flying from London, England to London Ontario, on 1st December costs US $875.28, which is equivalent to around 24c a mile.

Founded in 1828, and incorporated as a town in 1840, London now has a little over 250,000 people. Several suburbs, bridges and places around London, Ontario were patriotically named after the UK in the 18th and 19th centuries: suburbs such as Ealing and Chelsea, there is a Blackfriars bridge and a Covent Garden market.

What to see and do in London, Ontario? There is The Grand Theatre, Orchestra London, the London Regional Art and Historic Museums plus a whole host of special events focused on the visual and performing arts. There are beautiful parks and pathways and good sporting facilities in the Forest City. Family entertainment takes many forms from the lively new Covent Garden Market in the heart of the downtown to the ever-popular Storybook Gardens in Springbank Park.

France: thieves may target cars with foreign number plates. Conceal bags and purses when driving and never leave valuables in a vehicle, even for a short time or when you are nearby. The last two digits on a French car's number plate indicate the département in which the car is registered. Many hire cars are registered in Marne département (51) and cars with registration numbers ending in 51 attract the attention of thieves.

Venice: The heightened tension in the Middle East has led the Italian authorities to increase security around the Jewish quarter in Venice. Extra police have been drafted in to guard the area. Security in the Jewish quarter in Rome has also been increased.

Greek Islands: Personal attacks, including sexual assaults and rape, are infrequent. However there have been incidents of sexual assault and rape on some Greek Islands. Visitors are therefore advised to maintain at least the same level of personal security awareness as in the UK. We strongly advise lone visitors, especially, never to accept lifts from strangers or passing acquaintances at any time.

Portugal: Crime remains comparatively low in Portugal but pickpocketing, handbag snatching and theft from cars are increasingly common in major tourist area. Passport, credit cards, travel tickets and money should not be carried together in handbags or pockets. Leave spare cash, passports and valuables in a safe place. Portuguese police recommend that car windows and doors are closed and locked while driving at night in urban centres. Pedestrians are advised not to wear valuable jewellery or watches in public areas.

Source: the Foreign & Commonwealth office

Brussels-based low fare carrier Virgin Express has over the last six months, carried more passengers than any other airline at Brussels Airport, making it the first main airport in Europe where a low fare carrier is the market leader.

Delta Air Lines has announced that it will launch its own budget subsidiary next year. The as yet unnamed carrier will fly, initially, on routes between the US Northeast and Florida. Delta said it later intends to expand the operation across its US network. Fares are expected to come in between USD$79 and USD$299.

Bulgaria intends to launch a new national airline, Balkan Air Tour in December after the final collapse of its troubled flag carrier Balkan Bulgarian.

It is scheduled to start operations on December 1 and will operate services to seven destinations – Berlin and Frankfurt, London, Milan, Moscow, Paris and Tel Aviv.

Air Canada has reached a three-year deal with the Quebec government to provide low cost fares throughout the province using the airline's Jazz budget operation. In return the province, which is a heavy user of Air Canada services, has agreed to buy around CAD$2.5 million (USD$1.6 million) additional tickets every year for the government and its agencies.

The agreement will also ensure that travellers in Quebec will get cut price Internet fares for travel between remote regional communities and both Quebec City and Montreal. The airline says that fares will be cut by as much as 70 percent compared with regular ticket prices and the flexible low cost deals will be extended to all Air Canada Jazz routes in the province.

Oh dear, arisen from the ashes of Belgium’s now defunct Sabena, Delsey Airlines, has filed for bankruptcy. It was flying transatlantic services from Brussels to New York, Boston and Los Angeles. The airline, originally called VG Airlines, was created by the entrepreneur Freddy Van Gaever who was the founder and first CEO of the successful regional airline, VLM, and Antwerp financier Tony Gram, managing director of the travel goods manufacturer, Delsey. The airline had been in talks this week with a possible last-minute investor, but had to concede defeat when the investor pulled out.

Located, appropriately enough, in the heart of Theatreland, the Theatre Museum is dedicated to promoting the performing arts. In addition to housing the National Video Archive of Stage Performance, the museum boasts a staggering collection of over one million programmes and playbills, puppets, photographs and props relating to theatre, ballet, dance and music. Visitors can participate in workshops, makeovers, tours and try their hand at animation and puppetry. There is lots of memorabilia from old theatres and stage sets, which creates a very special theatrical ambience. The Theatre Museum opens 10:00-18:00 Tues-Sun. Closed 24-26 Dec. Tube: Covent Garden Enquiries: 020 7943 4700 Entrance: FREE admission for individuals

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.

More than 300 young girls and women have been killed in Ciudad Juarez since 1993 on the other side of the US border, across from El Paso, Texas. Late November, over 1,000 women dressed in black and holding candles marched through Mexico City to demand that those responsible for killing hundreds of women in the border town of Ciudad Juarez be brought to justice. Despite several federal and state investigations, the authorities have been unable to identify the killers or establish a motive behind the murders. Several people have been arrested or detained, but still the killings continue. Various motives have been offered: satanic black magic rituals, drug related and sex slavery.

Celebrated Canadian author, Rohinton Mistry, has cancelled the second half of his US book tour because of racial profiling at US airports. Mr Mistry – the Indian-born author short-listed for the Booker Prize this year – was “extremely unhappy” about the treatment he received, Canada's Globe and Mail reported.

“As a person of colour he was stopped repeatedly and rudely at each airport along the way – to the point where the humiliation of both he and his wife has become unbearable,” a memo from the writer's US publisher Aflred A Knopf said. “I find it outrageous,” Betsy Burton of The King's English bookstore in Salt Lake City said. “It makes me feel ashamed of my country.”

The US introduced extra security measures – including fingerprinting – for people born in 20 predominantly Arab and Muslim countries following the 11 September attacks.

Last week Canada urged its citizens born in Middle Eastern and Muslim countries to think carefully before going to the US because of the new checks.

A South African scuba diver set a new world record after living underwater in a steel tank for 10 days and surviving by eating through a tube. Tim Yarrow was (30) cheered by hundreds of onlookers shortly after 12:30pm on Saturday when he climbed out of the 3 by 2,3m tank, his home in a Johannesburg shopping mall since November 6. Yarrow spent 240 hours underwater with scuba apparatus in a controlled environment without surfacing. The initial record was just under nine days and Tim managed 10 days, Greg Wharram, team co-ordinator, said they had contacted Guinness World Records before the attempt began and now must file papers to make the record official.

Source: Reuters

The Spratly Islands are 100 tiny formerly uninhabited islets and reefs making up 5 km of actual land spread over 410,000 sq km of sea. They are believed to have oil and gas reserves in addition to good fish stocks.

The problem is that both China and Taiwan lay claim to all of them and Malaysia, Brunei, Vietnam and the Philippines to part of them.

South East Asian states have just reached a draft agreement aimed at avoiding conflicts over the disputed Spratly Islands. All 10 member-states of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean) approved a code of conduct for the islands in the South China Sea, which will in turn be presented to China, which is not a member.

Friction over the islands, in the South China Sea, most recently erupted in August when Vietnamese troops based on one islet fired warning shots at Philippine military planes.

A coalition of international human rights organisations is calling on countries around the world to abolish capital punishment in the first World Day Against the Death Penalty. Sixty cities around the world marked the occasion by illuminating significant landmarks: Barcelona lit up the Gaudi cathedral, Santiago illuminated its central park, and Belgium lit up its Atomium structure, with a dove of peace on the top. According to Amnesty International, at least 3,000 people were executed in 31 countries across the world last year.

The event was inspired by the city of Rome, which lights up the Colosseum when an execution order is overturned or a country abolishes capital punishment. The coalition wants to bring pressure on nations such as China and the United States, where the death penalty is still widely used.

According to human rights group Amnesty International, China executed more people in the first three months of the campaign that began in May 2002, than did the rest of the world over the past three years. At least 2,600 people were put to death in China last year alone, according to Amnesty. Next to China, Iran had the second-highest tally of executions in 2001, putting to death at least 139 people, Amnesty said. Saudi Arabia was third with 79 executions, and the United States followed, having put 66 people to death, the organisation said.

John from the UK is planning to go from Hawaii to Fiji, New Zealand, Australia, Thailand, South Africa, Europe, the UK, the US, and Hawaii plus any points in between, depending on limitations of the ticket. Because he intends to start from Hawaii, the UK travel agents have been giving him some very high quotes. Can anyone help him by suggesting a good travel agent, not necessarily in the UK to give a quote? He would also welcome any advice on backpacker travel insurance for the over 50's, with sailing included. To contact John, please e-mail him on: Coehabit@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

The United Nations agreed last month to allow Botswana to have a one off sale of approximately 20,000 kilogrammes of ivory from elephant tusks, expected to be stockpiled by 2004. Similar bids have also been approved to take place in Namibia (who have 10,000kg of elephant tusk ivory) and South Africa, Zambia and Zimbabwe have also asked to do the same. Some environmental and conservation groups have reacted angrily to the news, saying the decision could “spell doom” for elephants and will encourage poaching. The African elephant population has fallen from 1.3 million in 1980 to between 300,000 and 450,000 today.

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. CPT

2. NBO

3. VCE

4. ORD

5. PRG

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

Orang-utans, like gorillas and chimpanzees, are often described as the closest relatives of humans. They are in grave danger of extinction, because their habitat is under threat from illegal logging, forest fires and gold mining. According to a report by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the annual 5% loss of habitat means there will be virtually no intact forest left for them by 2030. Wild orang-utans exist only on two southeast Asian islands, Borneo and Sumatra.

A secret population of orang-utans has been discovered in the forests of the island of Borneo. Conservationists believe about 2,000 rare apes are living out of sight in a remote lowland region of East Kalimantan. The find, if confirmed, will raise the number of known orang-utans in the world by about 10% and represents hope of saving the endangered primate from extinction in the wild. Primate experts have predicted that the apes will be found only in zoos by the year 2020 unless immediate steps are taken to protect them.

Source: BBC

Tourism revenues are a major and important earner for many countries in South East Asia. Consider, then, the effect of government travel warnings. We have already seen the deserted beaches in Bali, after more than 190 people were killed on October 12^th.

The US State Department recently issued a warning specifically mentioning Malaysia as a country where US nationals could be at risk of attack by the Jemaah Islamiyah (JI) terrorist network, blamed for the Bali bombing.

A Malaysian senior minister says: “Our forecast of visitors is now between one to 1.1 million (tourists every month) compared with 1.3 million before, which is 100,000 to 300,000 less that what we'd hoped for,” …..”if not for the travel advisory and the Bali bombing tragedy, the situation might have been better. Now everyone thinks the entire (Southeast Asian) region is affected,” he said.