A team of explorers acting on a tip from a mule-handler have discovered the ruins of a lost city, Cota Coca, some 50 kilometres southwest of Machu Picchu in the Andes. Cota Coca is likely one of the places to which fleeing Incas retreated from the Spanish in 1532, before their total defeat about 40 years later. The team believe that the site has remained untouched for more than 500 years. British writer and explorer Hugh Thomson said the site, more of a settlement than what we would understand as a city, was in a “remarkable state of preservation”.

Mr Thomson, a co-leader of the expedition, said: “You're only going to find a new Inca site once in your life.”

Britain's Royal Geographical Society says Cota Coca's “constructed area” is more than twice as large as any found at the other Incan ruin whose discovery was announced just a few months ago. “This is an important discovery, because it is a sizeable centre of good — quality late — Inca masonry,” said John Hemming, a well — known Inca expert and former director of the Royal Geographical Society.

Over half of Cuba's 2 million visitors come from Europe, so it perhaps makes sense that tourists visiting Cuba's biggest tourist beach resort, Varadero, some 3 hours east of Havana can now use the European currency, the euro. Of course, you are still welcome to pay for good and services in US $ or Cuban pesos. News reports say that even small Cuban children have started to ask for euros!

You may have read recently about one of Buddha's fingers being brought from Thailand to Taipei in Taiwan. This got the Beetle wondering about other parts of Buddha and where you can see them. It is possible to see the casket containing the left incisor of the Buddha in the sacred temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The Beetle queued up for some time to walk past this sacred relic — it was certainly an experience! It seems that there are three of Buddha's teeth in existence: one in Sri Lanka, one in China and one in Thailand.

Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrate “Buddha Tooth Festival” which begins on 1st of August every year and lasts for twelve days. Every night during the festival, grand parades can be seen starting from 8:00pm until 11:00pm. The Chinese tooth was found by a monk in 475AD and hidden in what is today Nanking, in China. In times of war, it was taken to Beijing and placed in a stupa. In 1900 when Beijing was invaded, the stupa was destroyed, and monks found the tooth in the rubble. In 1964, the stupa was rebuilt and the tooth placed in the pagoda of Beijing. The third tooth is alleged to have passed into Tibet and transferred to India during the Cultural Revolution before its final resting place in Thailand.

Ever wondered who were the most corrupt countries in the world?

The Corruption Perception Index (CPI) lists those countries which are perceived by suppliers as requiring the most bribes of businesses. The countries that currently do worst on this score are Russia, China, Taiwan and South Korea, with Sweden and Australia faring the best.

Janice from L.A. suggests the Rose Tree Cottage in Pasadena for that great English cup of tea. The owners, Mary and Edmund Fry, (her husband Edmund dressed like Jeeves) run a delightful teashop in Pasadena and also organise tours. Including a trip to Kenya for tea and safari. Members of royalty and visiting dignities have all visited (and been photographed with the owners). The Rose Tree Cottage has also been named by Los Angeles Magazine as one of the best teashops in Southern California and was again featured in USA Today.

At the end of May, beginning of June, the UK was in party mode to celebrate 50 years of the Queen on the throne. Two public holidays added to the weekend lead to four days of celebrations. Street parties were held across the UK and thousands went to Buckingham Palace in the evenings for massive rock and classical concerts.

The English Tourist Council predicted that around one third of Britons took part in a Golden Jubilee event of some kind over the long bank holiday weekend. Also to celebrate the event there was almost 2,000 beacons lit across the UK and many more in all of the Commonwealth countries. The fact that the jubilee coincided with the start of the World Cup gave an extra boost to the festivities and resulted in far fewer (about 1.5 million people) people going abroad to take advantage of the 4 day holiday.

India and Pakistan. Due to the risk of conflict between India and Pakistan, the FCO's advice is that they still recommend against all but essential travel to India. British nationals already in India should consider their need to remain in the country, but we no longer advise they should leave. Our advice for Pakistan also no longer recommends against all travel. But we continue to advise against all but essential travel. Because of the continuing high level of security threat internally in Pakistan, those who decide they must still travel should have confidence in the security arrangements made for the entire visit. We further advise all British nationals in Pakistan to leave unless they have a compelling reason to stay, and similarly have confidence in their security arrangements. The situation is likely to remain uncertain for some time. We will keep our travel advice under constant review and will not hesitate to change it if necessary.

Not a lot of people know that John Lennon and Yoko Ono were married in Gibraltar, or that Prince Charles started his honeymoon there with Princess Diana. Gibraltar is, at the moment, a 3 square mile piece of independent territory in southern Spain overlooking Morocco with some 30,000 inhabitants.

The original settlers came from around the Mediterranean: from Malta and Italy. Both Spanish and English is spoken in Gibraltar and most of the population are, unlike Britain, Catholics. Back in the 18^th century, Spain ceded Gibraltar to Britain. Spain now wants Gibraltar back! In 1969, the people of Gibraltar included a proviso in its constitution that Gibraltar will only be returned to Spain if is population vote for this in a national referendum.

The Gibraltarians feel very passionate about not becoming part of Spain and Spain has been practicing all manner of restrictive practices towards Gibraltar, including causing a 3 hour wait to make a 100m drive across the border, even bribing ferry companies to move a few miles across into Spain to provide services to Tunis.

One has to consider the irony of this latest Anglo-Spanish diplomatic scuffle; true, Gibraltar with its geographical position almost at the mouth of the Med is well strategically placed, but equally, let's not forget that Spain maintains two separate territories in Morocco, which, strangely, Morocco wants back.

The Science Museum is vast and is a great place for both children and adults and there are many interactive displays that capture the imagination as well as being educational. However, it is so big, plan your day by identifying specific areas of interest so as not to spend too long – museum fatigue can set in fast! It is free, and the nearest tube is South Kensington. You could combine the museum with some therapeutic shopping at nearby Harrods or Harvey Nichols. Visit the website or tel: 0870 870 4771. Weekends are the busiest time since the admission fee has been scrapped, so try and visit during the week, if you can.

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

Source: scubatravel.co.uk According to the Divers Alert Network, the FBI is “interested in any information concerning suspicious individuals who started dive training but did not complete it”. They presumably mean that you were suspicious of them rather than vice versa, but fail to elucidate upon what your suspicions should be based. Visit: divers alert network website.

Tina is a segment producer for a TV show called “Radical Sabbaticals” which airs on the Fine Living Network in the United States. The show features passionate, inspirational stories about successful, professional people who have walked away from their careers to pursue a dream…i.e. the CEO of a multi-million dollar company who left to become a wine maker. They could also be on an open-ended sabbatical We are also looking for people who have also given up their career to move to Europe to pursue their dreams. If you could refer any people or stories to us, it would be greatly appreciated. Your response would be greatly appreciated. Tina can be reached at (818) 755-4800 ext. 207 or click here to email Tina.

The Magic of Cambodia – a celebration of Cambodia, its people and its culture Saturday 17 August 2002 10 am – 6 pm Venue: The George Pickering Postgraduate Centre, John Radcliffe Hospital, Headley Way, Headington, Oxford.

A fascinating day's events for those interested in Cambodia, or planning to travel there. Guest speakers on a wide range of topics to include Angkor & ancient temples, travel, health issues, culture, Buddhism, charities and volunteer work. 'Ask the experts' forum, Khmer classical dance display, video and photography presentations. Refreshments available, including Cambodian buffet lunch. The event proceeds will go to The Cambodia Trust and The Cambodia Arts & Scholarship Foundation

For further information, please contact the event convenors Tel. 01452 721833 or e-mail Andy Brouwer or Caroline Nixon

With thanks to sleepinginairports.net

Last month we had the winner, Changi airport in Singapore, which the Beetle can wholeheartedly agree with – it is a lovely airport! According to the website Sleeping in Airports, the runners up to the best airport to sleep in are as follows:

Runners Up (in alphabetical order):

• Amsterdam, Netherlands
• Auckland, New Zealand
• Hong Kong
• Melbourne, Australia
• Munich, Germany
• Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania
• Portland, Oregon
• Toronto (Terminal 3), Ontario
• Vancouver, British Columbia

Write in and tell us your best airport nominations! Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

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!!

When the Beetle was a very small Beetle one of the first books about travel she read was by Thor Heyerdahl, the world-renowned explorer and archaeologist. He must have fired the imaginations of millions with his exploits, trying to recreate the journeys of people from past times.

He was born in 1914, in Larvik, Norway and from his earliest days, he was an enthusiastic nature lover, and became a voracious explorer. His first expedition was to Polynesia in 1937-1938 when he was studying the origins of the island's life, that he became convinced that human settlers had come with the ocean currents from the west just as the flora and fauna had done. In 1947 he decided to build a replica of the aboriginal balsa raft (named the “Kon-Tiki”) to test his theories. In 1947, Heyerdahl and five companions left Callio, Peru and crossed 8000 km (4300 miles) in 101 days to reach Polynesia (Raroia atoll, Tuamotu Archipelago). Thor Heyerdahl managed to demonstrate that the ancient Peruvians could have reached Polynesia in this way.

Following the success of the Kon-Tiki Expedition, in 1952, Heyerdahl organized and led the Norwegian Archaeological Expedition to the Galapagos Islands, where it was demonstrated that once again, the people of South America had the means to travel much further than archaeologists had previously believed. In 1949, he continued his research on ancient navigation and turned his attention to the ancient reed-boats made of papyrus. These boats were deemed insufficient to cross the Atlantic as the reeds were believed to become water-logged after less than two weeks on open water.

Heyerdahl believed that contemporary science underestimated the ancient vessels and undertook to prove this by experiment. In 1969, he bought 12 tons of papyrus and worked with experts to construct an ancient-style vessel. The result was a 15 m boat which was launched at the old Phoenician port of Safi, Morocco. In the spirit of cooperation, Heyerdahl embarked under the UN flag with a crew of seven men from seven countries. The papyrus craft, Ra, sailed 5000 km (2700 nautical miles) in 56 days until storms and deficiencies in the construction caused the team to abandon their target only one week short of Barbados.

Thor Heyerdahl died in June of this year, aged 88.

One for backpackers! BUG – the Backpackers Ultimate Guide – is a comprehensive network of websites that include forums, an online ride sharing service and extensive destination guides to Australia, New Zealand and Europe that include transport information and over a thousand independent hostel reviews. You can find the home page at bug.bz, or go straight to the ride sharing service at bugride.com . The destination guides to Australia, New Zealand & the Pacific and Europe can be found at bugaustralia.com, bugpacific.com and bugeurope.com .

BUG also publishes an email newsletter every two weeks that contains travel news, an overview of upcoming festivals and information on updates to the BUG websites.

In an attempt to boost the city's flagging post-11 September economy, the mayor of New York City, Michael Bloomberg, has declared tax-free shopping days for people who shop downtown, where businesses have been hardest hit. A new study – requested by New York members of the US Congress – has found that the 11 September attacks cost the city $83 bn. Mr Bloomberg announced nine days of tax-free shopping over the next three months. “From Soho to the Lower East Side, from Chinatown to Battery Park City, I encourage you to spend your money – tax free,” said Mr Bloomberg.

The first tax-free stretch of three days will start on Sunday, to be followed by further three-day tax holidays in July and August.

Whatever people – tourists or residents – buy in shops and restaurants in Lower Manhattan will be free of the 8.25% sales tax, so long as purchases exceed $500 in value.