The Axumite kingdom in northern Ethiopia was established between 200 and 100 BC and was once one of the four kingdoms of the world. The legendary Queen of Sheba reigned in the region eight or nine centuries later. The region is home to some of the world's obelisks carved with 'doors' and 'windows' and are thought, like Stonehenge, to have some solar or astronomical measuring role. One of the obelisks was looted from Axum by Mussolini in 1937 and in 1947, Italy signed a pledge to the UN to give back the obelisk – but has not followed through until now. The obelisk – the only one on two continents weighing over 100 tonnes – was situated in a square in Rome in front of what was once the 'Ministry for Italian Africa' (now the FAO building). The obelisk has been cut into three sections, and has been awaiting its return in a warehouse near Rome airport. The top piece of the obelisk is now scheduled to leave Rome on a cargo plane in April but this has been postponed because the Italian culture ministry says Axum airport does not have radar, so the pilots must wait for good weather.

Whilst the value of the Rand has strengthened, the number of non-African visitors to South Africa dropped 2 percent in November 2004, to 198,605 people. French arrivals fell by 23 percent, to 13,142, and the number of German tourists fell 4.3 percent, to 33,495.

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

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

Monique is looking for people to share a jeep from beginning September to middle September for a trip down the Rift Valley lakes and into the southwest tribal areas. Cost is 120 USD per day, no matter how many people to the jeep – I will arrive in Addis on Sept 2nd and would prefer to leave the 3rd or 4th of September for a 15-18 days trip (flexible because of market days and so on). Monique can be contacted by e-mail: moniquejansen66@hotmail.com or monique.jansen@chello.be. She says that she is a freelance photographer, so her main goal is: people, villages, markets, less wildlife, birds. If this interests you, why not drop Monique a line.

Here's a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Senegal
2. Singapore
3. Sierra Leone
4. San Marino
5. Suriname

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

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at 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.

The 2005 World Airport Awards have voted for the 5th consecutive year Hong Kong International Airport as the world's Best Airport, in the largest customer survey of airport standards. Singapore's Changi Airport takes the Silver Award as runner-up, in what proved to be a close finish to the Survey. The two airports achieved more than 130,000 votes each, with the final margin between 1st and 2nd position being less than 500 votes.

The World's Top 10 Airports are as follows (2005)

1. Hong Kong International Airport
2. Singapore Changi Airport
3. Seoul Incheon Airport
4. Munich Airport
5. Kansai International Airport
6. Dubai International Airport
7. KLIA Kuala Lumpur
8. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
9. Copenhagen Airport
10. Sydney Airport

Spotted by webmaster Paul: Google Sightseeing takes you to the best tourist spots in the world via Google Maps' satellite imagery. http://www.shreddies.org/gmaps/ and also this for advice on jetlag: http://www.bodyclock.com

A baggage handler wearing a camel suit taken from a passenger's luggage has lead to Qantas Airways installing cameras in the baggage handling areas.

Passenger David Cox complained after he saw a baggage handler driving across the Sydney airport tarmac on Wednesday wearing the camel suit that had been packed into the baggage he had checked in only minutes earlier. Mr Cox, a marketing manager, had checked the camel suit and a crocodile costume onto Qantas flight 425 from Sydney to Melbourne in a large bag marked saying it was carrying animal costumes.

He said he was standing near his boarding gate and at first thought nothing when a child said “there's a guy with a moose head”. But then he looked up and saw his camel costume. Mr Cox later told ABC radio: “I obviously was flabbergasted.

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!!

Another TV production company, one who made the film Touching the Void is looking for an original tale from a different terrain i.e. – not a mountaineering story. If you think you could help, please contact Claire on claire.forsyth@darlowsmithson.com

Here is a marvellous opportunity to photograph our lives and submit to World Photo Day.

The World PhotoDay 2005 project is an exploration into the everyday lives of people on a global scale. The diversity of this planet we inhabit is grand beyond belief. While you are having breakfast reading the paper, what do you think the rest of the world is doing? You will find out what happens on just one single day in the lives of people worldwide. No one is excluded from participating – you can be a professional, an amateur, someone who has a 35mm disposable, or whatever. The intent here is to show us, humankind, as we are. If you are using the latest digital SLR, or a disposable camera, great! Submissions will not be accepted until June 1, 2005 @ 00:01 hours GMT.

All photos must be taken on this single day – 1st June 2005, please! Try to depict life on just one day in the world as seen through your eyes, the photographer. Pre-registration is required to participate. Submissions are limited to 1 (one) photo per person. This is due only to the organiser's limitations in handling multiple photos per individual.

Take a look at: http://www.worldphotoday.org

Congress passed a bill last year adding lighters to the list of items prohibited in the cabin. The ban started mid April 2005. Lighters haven't been permitted in checked bags for at least 30 years because they might start fires in cargo holds. The reason for the ban was the failed shoe bomber, Richard Reid, who tried unsuccessfully to light explosives hidden in his shoes on a trans-Atlantic flight in 2001. He used matches.

Marc writes from a TV production company called Ricochet. He says: we are currently producing the fifth series of No Going Back and I am looking for people who are selling up in the UK and moving abroad to start a new business venture. I would love to hear from anyone who is doing something along these lines. Please contact him on marc.lewis@ricochet.co.uk

Readers of the Globetrotter e-newsletter may be interested in a new English language bi-monthly magazine aimed at the enquiring traveller. hidden Europe was launched on 1 March 2005. The first issue sets the tone for a magazine which we think fills a distinct niche in the market. We take our readers beyond the usual tourist trails. Our brief is Europe wide, and we criss-cross the continent to publish the very best of what's new, what's old, what's odd and what's fun. We promise a zany look at the quirkier aspects of European people and places. A good read, always authoritative and packed with useful information. hidden Europe evokes the spirit of Europe's diverse landscapes, conjures up a sense of place and probes the curiosities of our continent's varied cultures.

Launching a new travel magazine may seem like folly at a time when we all suffer from information overload. But we think there's still a place for the quieter, more reflective, style of writing which we hope will become our hallmark. So in our first issue, you will find articles on slow food and slow trains – plus one that extols the merits of the slow boat. Join us on a journey that in this first number will lead us from rural Russia to the Scottish Hebrides, from Poland to Piedmont, and from Lithuania to Albania. Look for articles on Spanish Galicia, the Faeroe Islands and northern Portugal in hidden Europe 2 (in May 2005).

hidden Europe appears in A4 format and each issue is 48 pages. Single copies are £4.50 and an annual subscription, including postage anywhere in Europe, is £27.00. hidden Europe is produced by Gardner & Kries GbR, a small Berlin based publisher, run by Susanne Kries and Nicky Gardner, two women who have travelled more miles than most, and both experts on aspects of European cultures, languages, peoples and places. Visiting every inhabited Harridan island and crossing 33 borders in a couple of days are just two of the mad things we've done in the spirit of hidden Europe. Check out full details of the magazine, and register for our free electronic newsletter, at our website on www.hiddeneurope.co.uk

On March 3, 2005 after covering 23,000 miles in 67 hours, Steve Fossett became the first person to fly around the world alone in a plane without stopping or refuelling. Fossett, 60, holds many other records as a balloonist, pilot and sailor.

“I’m a really lucky guy now, I got to achieve my ambition,” the 60-year-old millionaire said after stepping out of the cramped capsule in which he had spent nearly three days. “It was a difficult trip … one of the hardest things I've ever done, to be on duty for three days, day and night, with virtually no sleep. It was an endurance test,” Fossett said.

While Fossett is the first to make the flight alone, it will not enter the record books since the Paris-based Federation Aeronautique Internationale has said it does not have a separate category for solo pilots.

Fossett's team however had said they hoped to qualify for distance and speed records, which remain to be certified.