Love them or hate them, the one thing McDonalds has, all over the world, is clean bathrooms! As a part of a cost cutting exercise, and increasing competition from the likes of Wendys and Burger King, McDonald's is to stop operating in three as yet unnamed countries, in the Middle East and Latin America. It also plans to close 175 restaurants shedding 600 staff to beef up profits.

A new “no-frills” international carrier, Qantas-owned Australian Airlines, launched its schedule with flights from the northern city of Cairns to Nagoya and Osaka in Japan. They plan to start services to other Asian destinations, most likely Singapore, Taiwan and Hong Kong and aim to bring thousands more tourists to the tropical north of Queensland.

The airline is taking over routes which parent company Qantas found unprofitable and intends to make them viable by cutting its cost base. Although Australian Airlines is looked on as a no-frills operation it will not be offering cheap fares.

Another new low-cost airline has started in Scotland. Flyglobespan is to start flights to Palma, Majorca; Nice, Rome and Malaga from Glasgow Prestwick Airport between April and November 2003. The airline is also to offer services from Edinburgh Airport to Palma, Nice, Rome and Barcelona.

The next time a United Airlines flight attendant throws a bag of peanuts at you, just bear in mind that they have just offered to take a 3.6% pay cut for most of their members to help United in its quest to restructure itself and avoid bankruptcy.

British Airways franchise carrier GB Airways has just launched a new scheduled service between London Gatwick and Almeria – twice a week during the winter months on Thursday and Sunday morning and from March there will be an extra Tuesday flight.

They say: “We will be the first airline to offer direct full-frills scheduled services to Almeria, which, although already popular with British holiday makers and villa owners, remains a relatively untouched area of Southern Spain.” The carrier has introduced year-round return fares from £149, including all taxes and charges. This fare does not require either an advance purchase or a minimum stay, but book early for the best offers.

Remember the Swedish man who tried to board a Ryanair flight from Vasteras Airport, near (note – NEAR!) Stockholm to London last August, with a gun in his luggage? Police have just admitted that they do not have enough evidence to suggest that the gun was intended to be used in hijacking the Boeing 737, nor has the man any links with any terrorist organisations. The man claimed he had brought the gun by mistake and had owned it for some time. Police say that he could still be prosecuted for gun offences.

If you are booked with Hawaiian Airlines, Hawaii's oldest and largest carrier, maybe worth checking you are covered if the airline goes belly up. Hawaiian Airlines, are cutting their workforce by around 150 (4% of total workforce) over the next few months to cut costs and they have also secured voluntary leaves of absence from 60 of its flight attendants.

Three men who arrived on a flight into Vancouver from Japan had their baggage searched and 16 kilos of heroin were discovered disguised as tea. “This seizure is the direct result of CCRA's targeting program,” said Revenue Minister Elinor Caplan. “These arrests clearly demonstrate how data from the advance passenger information systems assist law enforcement agencies in protecting the health and safety of Canadians”.

Ryanair, the Dublin based low cost carrier has just announced record net profits of EUR150.9 million (USD$150.5 million), a rise of 71 percent over the same period last year. Ryanair achieved this by attracting more passengers and, at the same time, lowering its operating costs. During the six months to September 2002, the airline carried 7.84 million passengers – a 37 percent increase. Fares dropped by 2 percent and costs by 11 percent.

Ryanair has bases in Ireland and the UK and has just announced a third in Europe at Milan Bergamo, has also unveiled plans to develop a second terminal at Dublin Airport costing an estimated EUR114 million and is said to be thinking about the idea of opening a Scandinavian base at Stavska Airport, near Stockholm.

Indonesia's national airline, Garuda, is ending its flights to Frankfurt in Germany and Fukuoka, Japan and also reducing the number of flights it makes to London. The number of flights from Bali to both Australia and New Zealand are being cut from November to the end of March 2003 due to security concerns raised by last month's bombing. Garuda says it is also postponing the launch of a new service between Perth and Jakarta and suspending its direct Adelaide to Denpasar service. Garuda emphasized that it hopes to restore some services when the security situation eases.

In the US, bankrupt National Airlines has stopped flying. National had a low cost economy and first class services between Las Vegas, the gambling centre of the US and major US cities in 1999 but filed for bankruptcy protection in December 2000. The abrupt announcement, made mid November left some passengers stranded at its Las Vegas hub. National says it will not be making refunds on tickets and customers must apply through credit cards companies. Some airlines have offered to fly National ticket holders on a standby basis.

BMI (British Midland), the UK airline will cut its transatlantic flights from Manchester to Washington from December 2nd but plans to resume in June 2003. Passengers already booked on winter flights will be offered either a refund or the opportunity to transfer to another carrier.

Britain and the United States are warning of the risk of an attack on the world's biggest camel fair in the deserts of western India and urged their citizens to stay away. The fair, which runs in mid November, draws thousands of foreign and Indian tourists to the lakeside town of Pushkar in the desert state of Rajasthan.

The British High Commission said on Wednesday that although it had received no specific threat against its citizens, it regarded the carnival as “a potential target of terrorist activity”. “Information has been received which suggests that there is a risk of terrorist activity at the Pushkar Camel Fair,” the U.S. embassy in New Delhi said in a statement. “While we have no indication of a specific threat to American citizens, we advise that they should avoid this event.”

Reynold from the US would like to hear from anyone with info and advice on independent travel in Laos and Burma. Please e-mail at ren477@yahoo.com He is also interested in any advice e-newsletter readers could give him on winter stays in Cyprus and grassroots trips to Cuba.

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 at 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

There are several reasons why travellers do not visit Colombia, but perhaps they come down to the same thing: the cocaine industry and the people who control it. Even the Colombian government acknowledge that 80% of the world's supply of the drug comes from Colombia, and 70% of this was now grown in the Amazon region.

Colombia is without doubt a very beautiful country with mountains, forests, beaches, colonial towns and cities, but it is just not safe. Everyone, from people who live in the towns and cities to the countryside, including tourists are at risk. It is one of the few countries in the world that the Beetle would not visit herself. The Beetle’s former Spanish teacher, a London based Colombian was herself viciously mugged within minutes of arriving in her hometown of Medellín.

The new Colombian government have just announced a policy called Trees for Drugs, under which poor farmers would be paid to protect the forest instead of growing coca and are appealing for international funding from the international community to help fund a scheme to pay poor farmers to protect trees instead of cutting them down to grow drug crops.

Cocaine-users across the world are helping to destroy the Amazon rainforest, Colombian Environment Minister Cecilia Rodriguez has warned. Dr Rodriguez said the message to the world's drug users was clear: “I should call the attention of all consumers of cocaine that they're are harming dramatically the tropical rainforest of the world, because this is what the world needs for its oxygen.”

A group of UK airline passengers representing 56 claims relating to passenger DVT-related deaths and injuries are starting a landmark legal case against 28 airlines for failing to warn them about the risk of deep vein thrombosis.

Their lawyers will argue a combination of cramped flying conditions and long hours in the air can give rise to the condition DVT, also known as economy class syndrome.

The airlines have denied liability, arguing that they are protected under the 70-year-old Warsaw Convention from paying compensation for medical problems classed as a passenger reaction to the normal operation of an aircraft.

The group legal action is aimed at persuading the high court in London that DVT should be classed as an 'accident' under the convention. If successful, this could lead to airlines having to pay out significant damages to victims or their families.

Tips to lower the risk of developing DVT include walking around the aircraft during a flight and wearing tight stockings.

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Those of you who are planning to come to London should be aware that because of a firemen’s strike, some of London’s deeper tube stations are closed where safety officials feel that the use of lifts may cause safety issues. To find a list of the closed tube stations, take a look at the London Transport website:

LondonTransport

If you have a travellers tale that you're [!!!] aching to tell, then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites

The FCO said early November: 'Following the terrorist attacks in Bali… in which Western tourists were deliberately targeted, the threat to British nationals in Thailand, including popular tourist areas, the island of Phuket in particular, has increased significantly.'

This statement has enraged not only the Thai and other South East Asian tourism authorities, but ABTA, that venerable travel industry association who have asked for greater clarity in the travel advice issued by the Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

Keith Betton, head of corporate affairs at ABTA, said: 'Surely they should tell us if they have had a specific threat about Phuket.' He added: 'The advice they have given has scared people and we have no idea whether it is reasonable. As far as we can tell Thailand is as dangerous for the 6,000 or so Britons there as London was for Americans when the IRA was bombing here.'

In response, an FCO spokesperson said: “We would not mark out Phuket just to be on the safe side. Our advice is drawn from a number of sources, including intelligence officials”.

Tour operators have been calling customers with bookings to Thailand, or travellers in Thailand, apprising them of the FCO advice and allowing them to postpone or alter their holiday plans. Airtours has dropped Thailand, and Thomson Worldwide says bookings have dipped.

Early November, the FCO updated its advice on 12 countries – including Honduras, Seychelles, Gibraltar and the Marshall Islands in the Pacific – advising travellers to be 'aware of the risk of indiscriminate attacks on civilian targets in public places' although no one at the FCO could explain what this risk is, and it has promised to discuss the practicality of its warnings with the Travel Advice Unit.

Foreign and Commonwealth Travel Advice is available on 020 7008 0232/3.

The Canadian Government has issued a travel advisory to its citizens about visiting the United States.

Because of tightened border controls in America, Canadians born in some Middle Eastern countries should now think carefully before entering the United States, Ottawa says.

American border regulations introduced last month require that people born in Iran, Iraq, Libya, Sudan or Syria be photographed and fingerprinted as they enter the US – even if they are now full citizens of other countries, including Canada.

That has prompted the travel warning from the Canadian Government.

This week it advised its citizens who were born in any of the five countries to “consider carefully whether they should attempt to enter the US for any reason, including transit to or from third countries”.

In the Canadian parliament on Wednesday, politicians accused Washington of harassing Arab-Canadians.

One Syrian-born member of parliament said the American rules make him a second-class Canadian.

Canadian Foreign Minister Bill Graham says he has already registered his strongest disapproval to US Secretary of State Colin Powell.

He added that he believes changes will be made to the American move when common sense prevails.

The American regulations come as a convenient target for Canadian politicians who sense growing unease amongst Canadians with US policy in the Middle East.

Many Canadians also worry about increased administration and delays at the border, which can be expensive for their export businesses.

Wednesday 4th December, 6:30 pm: CUBANA 36 Southwick Street, Paddington, London, W12 1JQ

£10 or (£8 for members) includes cocktail, tapas and entry to prize draw.

A different format from the African event, more mingling and no central presentation. There are 100 tickets avalible, for more information visit www.ifworldwide.com or contact is events@itchyfeet-uk.com or 07900 975 413