For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.
Meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.
JUNE 7: Ladakh Ken Axen, who also presented the amazing Bhutan, will be back to present Ladakh. “In the forbidding terrain of the Himalayas, a robust people embellish their frugal lives with rich endowments of faith”, Thomas J. Abercrombie, National Geographic.
Experience the beauty of this exotic land through a slide show by Kenneth Axen, PhD, research scientist, graphic artist, and serious amateur photographer.
For details of forthcoming meetings e-mail newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for e-mail updates, click here at our website.
New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.
Globetrotters meeting 3rd May by Acorn
Our first speaker, Windy Baboulene spoke to us for over 45 minutes, without slides or props, of his time as a youngster in the merchant navy and some of the outrageous escapades he got up to.
His first story concerned his favourite safari hat, and how one of his children had thrown it out of the car window whilst in a controlled safari park in the UK; was he brave enough to get it back? That would depend on whether his story of lone survival on the Serengeti Plains was The Truth or not. He went on to tell us the actual events behind his Kenyan safari so we could decide for ourselves. He and his fellow shipmates had been on safari, but had not taken it seriously. They had played “dares”, such as running away from the safety of the truck and dancing – on the plains in the Rift Valley – around an imaginary handbag, whilst the nearby wildlife watched on, amused. During Windy's turn at performing a dare, his 'friends' drove off and left him. Just for a laugh, you understand. Was he brave…?
Another one of Windy’s stories was about being caught out boasting about his skiing prowess and being taken by helicopter along with some new found friends to ski from impossibly sheer cliffs in the Rocky Mountains of Canada.
Windy's story telling was not just funny – it was interesting and engaging too. To know more, you’ll have to buy his book, The 'Hilarious and often Bizarre true story' (ABTA Travel) entitled 'Blue Road', available from Amazon – to take a look and to see more reviews, visit Windy Baboulene's Blue Road
Our second speaker, John Harrison spoke of his seven canoeing expeditions up the Amazon. His slides showed the beauty and also the dangers of being in such an inhospitable landscape. We saw how John and his travel companions occasionally suffered the ravages of tropical diseases, including malaria when they swigged quinine out a bottle – until they ran out – and Leishmaniasis, (a horrible parasitic disease transmitted by the bite of some species of sand flies) that causes huge sores. We also saw pictures of the Amazon, the river, its tributaries, undergrowth, enormous spiders and insects, of hidden tribes protected against explorers. John finished up by telling us of the trouble he got into with the French Guyanese authorities for having crossed over into French Guyana without a visa – they had after all travelled up the Amazon! The immigration officials in the capital, Cayenne gave him such a hard time, threatening all manner of penalties, including a spell in prison, until he realised that French speaking John was actually British, and being a part of the EU did not actually need a visa to travel into French Guyana!
Saturday, 7th June
JACQUI TROTTER A Year travelling in South America
– Jacqui, a regular London “Globie” enjoys
a year travelling – sometimes with overland groups – and
sometimes “solo.”
SIMON MYERS China – Simon spent five years in China before riding a Chinese motorbike and sidecar back from Beijing to London. His first book “Adrift in China” has recently been published.
London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back in September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk
Meeting news from our branches around the world.
Win a Frommer’s guidebook on Seattle 2003. See www.frommers.com for info on Frommer’s guidebooks.
Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research; try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.
The winner of last month’s Moon guide is Andrew Hindley.
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
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:
For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.
Felicity would like help on staying in the Hawaiian Islands. She says she would like to stay and work on one of the Hawaiian islands for say a period of about 4 to 5 months after her exams. Can anyone help her with some info about visa’s, jobs, accommodation, weather, when it’s best to go, etc. Felicity can be contacted on: felicitybishop@hotmail.com
David from PA, USA says: “I have a small boat (850 LBS) in Van Nuys California at my brother’s house. I live in Pittsburgh, PA. I am willing to pay someone’s gas expenses if they are travelling across country and are willing to bring my boat east. What newsgroups would I post something like this on? I am new to newsgroups and would appreciate any help you could give me in getting my boat east”. If you can help David, please e-mail him on: dave43pa2003@yahoo.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
RDF Media are producing a documentary for Channel 4 in the UK about people who go travelling and do not return to the UK. We are looking for stories of British people who find alternative lifestyles, jobs, identities and relationships whilst travelling and resolve not to return home. We would particularly like to speak to travellers who can articulate why they have rejected UK lifestyle, and what qualities their new life can offer that Britain can not. We are also looking into stories of UK travellers that have gone missing whilst abroad. We would like to speak to the friends and family that are searching for them. If you would like to contact Kelly, you may e-mail her at: kelly.close@rdfmedia.com or phone her on 0207 013 4316.
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.
International Childcare Trust (ICT) is organising a coast to coast cycle across Sri Lanka 19-28 September 2003 to raise funds to help support programmes in Africa and Asia with some of the world’s poorest and most vulnerable children.
ICT is taking advantage of the long held peace process in Sri Lanka and cycling up into the north of the tropical island, an area which only very recently opened to tourism. As far as we know, ICT will be the first charity to cycle up into this virtually unexplored part of the island, where elephants roam free! We will unwind after the cycle by snorkelling near Trincomalee, at one of the most beautiful beaches in the world.
The cycle offers keen travellers the chance to tour Sri Lanka whilst keeping fit. Those who sign up will also be granted the opportunity to meet other travellers and visit two of ICT’s projects to see how the money raised will benefit some of the world’s most disadvantaged children.
Since the north of the island has opened to tourism, Sri Lanka is being written up in all the UK national papers as the new ‘hot spot’ to travel before it becomes too tourist driven. Over the next couple of years, it is anticipated that the tourist industry will grow and that the prices for travel in Sri Lanka will rise considerably.
Therefore, an entry fee of £250 for the cycle (which covers flight on Sri Lankan Airlines, hotel accommodation, provision of bike, etc) seems to good to be true.
The challenge for people is: can you get fit enough? And can you raise enough for ICT? We think that every individual is capable and it is a memory that you will have with you for the rest of your life.
If you have any further queries or questions please visit http://www.international-childcare-trust.org/cycle-and-trek-challenges
We have been contacted by Felisa Forteza who tells us about her new small and charming hotel in the very heart of Mallorca. Sa Rota d´en Palerm is an 18th Century house that has been lovingly restored and converted into a countryside hotel. They are offering a special 10% discount to readers of this e-newsletter on stays with them in Mallorca. For more details, take a look at: Sa-Rota website
Similarly, a French barge company approached the Globetrotters Club with some large discounts available on hiring luxury French barge boats. See www.bargefrance.com for more info.
Air Canada, the world’s 11th largest carrier has filed for bankruptcyprotection. They say they will continue to fly while it reorganises its operations. The company says that Air Canada customers around the world can continue booking with confidence that their travel plans will not be disrupted.
Want to fly to Kuwait? While most of the world’s large carriers are reducing their services in line with a down turn in demand, mainly due to the Iraq conflict, Dubai-based carrier Emirates is introducing extra flights between now and July. They plan to increase services to the Middle East by increasing frequency of flights to Doha, Tehran, Sanaa, Dammam and Kuwait.
Air Wales are planning to start a 50 seat daily flight between south Wales and London, the first for 40 years on April 28th. The service will run up to three times a day between Swansea and London City Airport, stopping off in Cardiff. The journey time will be 80 minutes – half the time of the train and will cost as little as £19 each way.
Singapore Airlines, who are celebrating their 21st birthday this year, have been named Airline of the Year at the prestigious OAG Awards. Changi airport also won the best airport title for the eighth year running.
US budget carrier Southwest Airlines topped the Best Low Cost Airline category, a title it has held for three years.
Midwest Airlines was named Best Airline based in North America and Canada.
A Czech woman, Hana Peskova of CSA Czech Airlines won the Outstanding Service Award an award given to airline or airport staff who have acted above and beyond the call of duty for her efforts to help the people of Prague during the floods of August last year.
British Airways and Air France have both announced that Concorde will be grounded permanently as from the end of November 2003. Passenger demand has fallen significantly since the Concorde crash near Paris in 2000. BA justified their decision by saying that maintenance costs have become too high for them to continue the service and the global downturn in demand for all forms of premium travel in the airline industry. France said “the deterioration of business results from the transatlantic service”, the aircraft’s only scheduled route.
Britain’s longest national walking trail, from Minehead in Somerset to South Haven Point near Poole in Dorset, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year.
The 630-mile South West Coast Path takes in steep, ‘hog’s back’ cliffs rising to 800 feet, fishing harbours, pretty villages and unspoilt countryside.
There will be a wide variety of events between April and October, including guided walks, talks and displays of works by local artists, writers, musicians and other performers who have been inspired by the path. For more information, see http://www.swcp.org.uk/
Source: Britain Express
Vineyard tours and wine tasting are planned to mark English Wine Week this spring (May 24 – June 1). There are 379 vineyards and 115 wineries all over the country and English Wine Producers aims to promote wider interest in them. For more information, please see English Wine Producers
If you are planning to travel to the Sahara in Southern Algeria, you may want to re-think your plans. 8 Austrian tourists have just gone missing, bringing the number of foreign travellers who have disappeared in the region since mid February to 29: 16 Germans (in several different groups), 4 Swiss and 1 Dutch national have all gone missing in the desert since mid-February. All were travelling by motorbike or car and most disappeared between the towns of Ouargla and the towns of Illizi and Djanet in the far south of Algeria. Smugglers and drug traffickers are known to haunt the area around southern Algeria, near the borders with Niger and Libya, and there are fears the tourists may have been kidnapped. Austria has also issued a travel warning for the country, urging all its citizens to leave the country or contact its embassy in the country.
For the first time this spring, visitors will be able to walk the full length of what was the northernmost frontier of the Roman Empire. Opening May 23, the 81-mile Hadrian’s Wall Path – one of 13 long-distance National Trails – is a signposted route from Wallsend (Newcastle upon Tyne) in the east to Bowness-on-Solway in the west, via the city of Carlisle.
Though ideal for a week-long walking holiday, 40 short walks have also been created for those with less time or energy.
Farmhouse and bed-and-breakfast accommodation is available near the trail. Tel: 01434 602 505 for more info or take a look at: http://www.nationaltrail.co.uk/hadrians-wall-path
Source: britainexpress.com
The tourism industry has been heavily hit by the current conflict in Iraq. Holidaymakers are avoiding Turkey and Cyprus and indeed, the most of the Mediterranean. Muslim countries, such as Egypt and Turkey, or those that have suffered recent terrorist attacks, such as Kenya, are the worst affected.
Destinations as far away from the war zone as Spain are also suffering. It looks like family bookings are the hardest hit, with six out of ten who went abroad last summer not yet having booked for this year.
People who are travelling appear to be shortening their holidays. The number of fortnight breaks booked in the UK for this year has fallen by half while the number of one week stays is down by only 20 per cent. Travel Trade Gazette deputy editor Ian Taylor said: ‘It is clear Easter is likely to be poor by industry standards and family bookings probably won’t come back in large numbers until a ceasefire.
You can contact Padmassana at padmassana@globetrotters.co.uk
Some thoughts by Padmassana, likening travel to yoga – or the other way round!
He says: “When you travel you are thinking about what you are seeing, where you are going to stay, how you are going to get there, the people you are with. You are absorbed in where you are at that moment in time, not thinking about the past or far into the future. In yoga you are thinking about the practice, the breath, the foot positions and the bandhas. As with travelling, you have so much to think about, you are absorbed in that moment.
In both yoga and travel, you are enjoying being where you are at that time and the clarity of mind and general happiness; you leave behind all the daily worries. I think that yoga has become a substitute for travel for me, for the 48 weeks a year when I am at home”.
You can contact Padmassana by sending an email to padmassana@globetrotters.co.uk