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. MSY
2. FCO
3. MEL
4. LXR
5. CMB

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

Experts have found 80 hairline cracks in China's Three Gorges Dam, amid reports of poor workmanship on the world's largest water project, expected to take 17 years – completion expected in 2009. An estimated 250,000 workers are involved in the project and the reservoir will cover 632 square kilometres (395 square miles) of land. Government officials estimate that the dam will resettle 1.2 million people. Critics complain about substandard construction work, corruption and negligence in resettlement work. The project is expected to produce up to one-ninth of China's total output of electricity.

International Air Transport Association (IATA) has named Dubai as the world's favorite airport in a new passenger survey. This is the second year in succession that it has been rated top in overall passenger satisfaction. Singapore's Changi airport was in second place. The world's busiest airports did not rate well with passengers. Atlanta Hartsfield. and Chicago O'Hare in the US; London Heathrow and Haneda in Tokyo all failed to make the leading group. Canada's Vancouver International scored best in North America while Copenhagen was the European leader.

According to figures from the UK’s Government’s Office for National Statistics, Spain was the most popular destination for residents of the UK in 2002.

British people made 12.6m visits to Spain, up 7% on 2001, compared with the 11.7m (down 2%) people who visited France – in second place. Third most visited country by the British was the Republic of Ireland with 4m UK visitors, followed by the US with 3.7m.

Receiving visitors, the UK received most visitors from the US with 3.7m visits to the UK, followed by France with 3m; Germany, 2.5m; the Republic of Ireland, 2.3m and the Netherlands with 1.4m.

The survey also showed that tourist numbers in the last quarter of 2002 have returned to similar levels in the same period of 2000.

Can anyone give Sue some itinerary advice about 3 weeks in Australia in July 2004 and also the Bungle Bungles? Please contact her on : sue.learoyd@btinternet.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 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.

Qantas began flying to Rome in 1948 but is suspending services because of SARS and the threat of terrorism.

Low cost UK based carrier bmibaby is to start services from Manchester to both Prague and Barcelona. Fares start from £32.49 one way

US regional carrier Atlantic Coast Airlines, which operates as both United Express and Delta Connection, has bought 150 defibrillators to deal with in-flight emergencies when passengers or crew suffer suspected heart for 148 of its aircraft.

The WHO has lifted travel bans to both Canada and Taiwan due to SARS. The travel ban on Kenya has also been lifted, Mombassa remains restricted to UK carriers until security at the coastal airport is increased but transport officials are optimistic that flights will be resumed at Kenya's busiest airport for tourists.

Tickets are on sale for the inaugural journeys on the Alice Springs to Darwin extension of the Great Southern Railway’s (GSR) line between Adelaide and Alice. The journey will take 47 hours, and is 2,979km. The date for the first departure is still to be finalised but is expected to be some time in January 2004. The new A$1.3bn, 1,420km extension of the Ghan line is well ahead of schedule, 80% complete and will end Darwin’s isolation from the rest of Australia’s rail network.

The train service between Adelaide in South Australia and Alice Springs in the Northern Territory is known as the “Ghan,” in recognition of the early Afghan cameleers who pioneered the journey into Central Australia. This began in August 1929 and it was always intended to extend the line to Darwin, but it never happened.

On completion the line will make Australia the only country in the world to boast both north/south and east/west transcontinental rail journeys.

The Ghan will operate one weekly return service between Adelaide and Darwin and two weekly return services between Adelaide and Alice Springs.

For more info, see: greatsouthernrail.com.au

The Beetle has a real soft spot for Spain – great food, good wine, friendly people, wonderful language, easy to get around and fabulous paradores to stay in. A paradore is a government owned hotel, but don’t let that you put you off. Paradores are frequently old converted forts, castles, convents and monasteries – large sized rooms, well appointed, great food! Take a look at: www.parador.es

Anyone visited a paradore? Write and tell the Beetle.

Frank from the US is currently 3,000 miles and more en route from Texas to Alaska. He sent the Beetle an e-mail to say that in Dawson Creek British Columbia there is an e-mail shop at the Mile Zero on the Alaskan Highway. This place is the only one in town. Cost $3.00 for 30 minutes, $6.00 per hour. It might be of interest for any Globetrotters that might be coming this way. E-mail sales@softemp.ca they will be happy to help you out.

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!!

Anyone planning to visit Mallorca and Ibiza can now pop over to the Spanish mainland on a new high-speed ferry service. The catamaran service can carry up to 900 passengers and up to 265 cars. The routes include Palma to Ibiza in two hours, and Ibiza to Valencia in three hours. The journey will cost €56 per person or €65 to take a car. For more info, visit www.trasmediterranea.es

The Australian and New Zealand governments have both said they will commit to sending army and police forces to nearby troubled Solomon Islands. The on-going ethnic violence has resulted in the country being dangerous to visit, which is a huge shame as the Beetle can strongly recommend the wreck diving in the Solomons as being among the best in the world. Authorities fear that if the current lawlessness continues, the country will be used as a base by terrorists, money launderers and drug traffickers.

If you live in the UK, and have access to Channel 5, then switch on, tune on to Search for the lost city of Gold, Channel 5, 9pm Weds 9^th July> Thank you,

Visitor figures to the Balearic Islands have slumped because of a controversial eco-tax introduced just a year ago.

The tax, (around £12 million raised so far) paid by tourists to the islands, started in May 2002 to counter the environmental damage caused by mass tourism.

The levy proved very unpopular with families visiting Mallorca, Menorca, Ibiza or Formentera as it added as much as £70 to their total holiday cost.

The tax now looks likely to be abolished by the islands' newly-elected government.

Would you like to take part in a documentary we are currently making for Channel 4? It is provisionally titled Travellers Tales, and is about travellers who have experienced tropical illnesses. Perhaps… you unwittingly transported a bot-fly home from a remote destination? You got lost at sea? You are being de-wormed for tapeworms? You were made part of drug smuggling scam? You were held hostage by terrorists? You left the country on a mission to solve a medical mystery? You survived a natural calamity? Or are you still staggered by a memorable bout of Delhi Belly? Perhaps you even know a British traveller currently receiving treatment in a clinic or hospital abroad?

I would like to hear about your experience of the places you have been to in addition to accounts of any illnesses you might have had. I am concerned with illnesses ranging from diarrhoea to dengue and would be very interested to hear your story – funny or painful – with a view to including it in the documentary. Should you be interested in taking part, your journeys will be portrayed accurately and responsibly.

The idea is to tell people's cautionary tales as a way of helping viewers understand the need to prepare for travel to far flung places in the world and to offer some suggestions of how to deal with problems should they arise.

If you have a gripping story to tell or know anyone who has been afflicted by long haul travel OR have faced unplanned challenges, please do get in touch. If you have been ill contact catherine.brindley@rdfmedia.com If you have a story to tell about the severe hardships you faced the please contact danny.horan@rdfmedia.com

If you are into airplanes, then this is the place for you: Britain's National Museum of aviation features over 70 full-sized aircraft including a unique collection of British, German and Italian planes.

The Museum also houses a flight simulator, 'Touch and Try' Jet Provost Trainer and Sunderland Flying Boat 'walk through' experience.

Address: Grahame Park Way, NW9.

Open: Daily, 1000-1800

Tube: Colindale Rail: Mill Hill Broadway.

Enquiries: 020 8205 2266 Entrance: FREE.

The Canada Dept. of Foreign Affairs and Trade issued a statement dated 21^st June 2003:

Canadians should not travel to the islands off the southeast coast of Sabah, including Sipadan and Pandanan. The Abu Sayyaf Group from the Philippines kidnapped foreigners from a diving resort in Sipadan and Pandanan in April and September 2000, and from the resort island of Palawan in the southern Philippines in May 2001. Malaysian authorities have increased security in the southeastern part of Sabah in response to these incidents. Canadians should exercise caution in areas around Semporna and Tawau on the Sabah mainland.

Heightened tensions throughout the region, together with increased threats globally from terrorism, put Canadians at greater risk. Canadians should maintain a high level of personal security awareness at all times, as the security situation could deteriorate rapidly without notice. Exercise appropriate caution in large gatherings and crowded places, including pedestrian promenades, shopping malls, open markets, and restaurants. Canadians should monitor local developments and register and remain in regular contact with the Canadian High Commission in Kuala Lumpur or the Department of Foreign Affairs and International Trade.