Globetrotters should be extra careful when booking flights with travel agents in the UK. High street budget travel agents, Trailfinders are, like most other companies, happy to sell you a ticket for any destination in the world and try to get you to cough up for their in-house insurance at the same time. They of course earn commission on this.

This Globetrotter booked a ticket through Trailfinders to Bali. I booked it well before the Bali incident and am due to fly to Bali at Easter. I was offered insurance, which I declined as I have my own. At a recent London travel show I enquired about the two different Trailfinder policies on offer, one annual and one single trip.

When I rang to ask to book the Trailfinder insurance a couple of weeks later, I was told that Trailfinders would not insure trips to Bali or any part of Indonesia. Whilst I totally understand the reasoning behind this, Trailfinders should not be offering insurance over the phone and at Travel shows and then reneging when people try to book it.

After the Bali bomb many companies in the travel trade took the step of contacting clients with existing reservations to Bali offering them money back or a change of destination. Trailfinders did not do this and now as time for final payment looms, the horrible truth of the situation is becoming apparent to UK travellers.

Our speaker last month was Norman Ford (Founder of the Globetrotters Club) who gave a wonderful presentation about present slides from his cycling trips. Plans for the Copper Canyon trip where also discussed. Everyone had a blast.

This month on March 18^th Joei Carlton a travel writer,will share her adventures with us.

For more information about the Texas Branch: please Contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or call Christina at 830-620-5482 or register for email updates at click here at our website.

PLEASE NOTE NEW LOCATION

We will meet at the VFW Hall on Peace Street instead of the library on Common St.

The hall is across from the entrance to Cypress Bend Park where the April 2002 picnic was held.

Peace Street is between the library and the river off Common St. Turn on Peace Street – the Fairgrounds are across the street so you can only turn one way. There is a sign for the VFW hall on the corner. Go to the dead end (cemeteries on both sides) and turn right into the parking lot for the VFW hall.

Mark your calendars – Dates of future meetings: April 12th,

The VFW folks will open their bar so we will not go to the Hoity Toit after the meeting. If you like, bring some nibbles to share for conversation time following the meeting – since we will miss the peanuts from the Toit.

For more information about the Texas Branch: please Contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482

If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

U. S. Soldiers Home Mac: during a century of travel (well 78 years!) both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder why). So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.

Beijing, China. The Imperial Palace in the Forbidden City in Beijing has 9,000 rooms. We agree that if we got lost and separated from each other we would meet in the Hall of Heavenly Purity (if they would let us in) At the time I was there the military did no wear rank on their uniforms (don’t know if this still applies or not) You could kind of get an idea of who outranked who by the number of pockets they had on their blouse of uniform. Someone with four pockets would have their baggage carried by someone with one pocket or no pockets.

In the hotels the orchestras (In the Peace Hotel in Shanghai I think they had some of the members or orchestra from the 30s) would play songs they thought we would like. Oh Susannah from a couple of decades ago seems to be making a comeback as well as Turkey in the Straw and Auld Lang Sang. At the end of each number the players would put down their instruments and applaud us in the audience. We could hardly wait for the Tuba player to unwind from his Tuba to applaud us. Everyone in our tour group caught colds (from the dust) except those that had taken Vitamin C for a couple of weeks before arriving in China. Mr Wu our guide referred to the Royal Bank of Canada (George from Canada wanted to get some money) as the Loyal Bank of Canada. One of the military said that when he was in China years before he took a piece of the wall and had a name plate put on it and sent it to movie actress Carole Lombard as he had read that she collected rocks. She threw it back. No she wrote and thanked him.

Our Chinese guide in Wuxi kind of had a high opinion of himself (unusual for Chinese) and though he was hip in Western ways. He liked to show off and showed us how he was proficient in Tai Chi (shadow boxing). Blonde vivacious Liza asked him to dance with her. He said No that he could not dance with a client but that he would arm-wrestle her Ha. He told long involved stories about the Kingdom of Wu and Dragons and such. George whispered: I wonder what he would say if we told him we didn’t want to hear any more dragon stories? If I were going to China today I would probably take my own plastic chopsticks. In Japan they have disposable chopsticks but in China they have plastic ones that you hope they wash after several others have used them. If going to China start a walking program at home. Walk around the block then next day further as in China even on escorted tours you are going to be doing more walking than you possibly do at home. Build up you let muscles before leaving home. I put as many Chinese stamps on letters sent home as possible for stamp collectors back home as their stamps are so colourful and unusual. While there their coffee was not very good so taking instant coffee along helped. The hotels had thermos bottle of hot water for tea in your room, which they replenished every morning and this was handy to make coffee with.

Kneehow (phonetic) in Chinese means hello. In China Carol who was from England and had a beautiful voice would sing slightly risqué Cockney songs and George would sing “My old lady and the lady next door went down the river on a barnyard door singing Ki Yi Yippie Yi ” and nonsensical songs. Miss Cha who was trying to learn English (she had taught herself) wanted to learn some of these songs so she could sing them to her next tour group. As some were risqué Carol said. “My dear I don’t think you really need to learn these songs” Les would give his excellent imitation of Peter Sellers imitating an Indian and his accent was hilariously correct. We should have been a USO troop. We laughed all the way across China. If you are in high altitude eating onions will help combat altitude sickness.

Next month, Mac discusses his travels through India. If you would like to contact Mac, he can be e-mailed on: macsan400@yahoo.com

Marcin, from Poland, but alliteratively travelling in Panama sent the Beetle this message: Hola Hombres, after only 3 hours in Panama, my host Johnny from Haiti and I went to the demonstration against the war in Iraq. It’s good that Panama also want to show that something is wrong in our world. There weren’t too many people but the atmosphere was great and the first time I saw nuns, priests and old ladies with rosary beads on the demonstrations walking along with young communists with Che Guevara flags, Indians, feminists everybody in the same spirit and I hope that our effort can make a change.

The Beetle attended the London march: who knows how many people plodded along the London streets – the organisers say 2 million, the police much less than that. It took three hours to walk from Blackfriars Bridge to Hyde Park at a slow shuffle. The atmosphere was marvellous, people of all age, race, shape, colour attended. Despite the cold and the bad sound system, it felt like attending a historic moment.

Part One:

We had listened with excitement to our friend’s description of his travels in the tribal regions of Kinnaur and Spiti, in the North Indian State of Himachal Pradesh. Bordering Tibet, these areas had only recently been opened to foreigners.

The following May we set off from Goa, where we spend our winters, and headed for Shimla, the former summer capital of the British Raj. It was our second visit to this bit of old England located on top of and spilling over both sides of a steep ridge in the foothills of the Himalayas. Even a scaled down copy of London’s Gaiety Theatre sits on the Mall, the town’s high street from where on a clear day you can see high peaks while strolling past and poking into quaint old shops, including Maria Brother’s Antiquarian Bookshop, where you never know what treasures you’ll find.

We inquired about Kinnaur and Spiti at the tourist office, housed in a Tudor-style building on the Mall. They tried to be helpful but there wasn’t much official information to be had about the region. That was ten years ago. The bureaucratic hassles involved in obtaining permission to enter this region at that time were so formidable that few travellers managed it, and of those who did, most received permission to stay for only a week and others were even required to take a police escort with them. Surprisingly, the officer in charge of a small district headquarters granted us a two-month unrestricted permit from simply because we had struck a friendly note with him. Such is the way things happen in India. In the past few years entry restrictions have been relaxed and we have been back many times.

The district of Kinnaur is largely Hindu, but being far from the centres of mainstream Hinduism, it has retained an archaic character: oracles go into trances and the gods of the villages speak through them. There are no Brahmins here to act as priests; Buddhist lamas conduct the major household rituals for the Hindus, those concerned with birth, marriage and death, a practice unheard of elsewhere in Hindu India. Spiti though, is Lamaistic Buddhist as is Tibet, but the religion is more archaic here, retaining ancient ways, magical practices and archaic rituals that long ago disappeared from Tibet.

Over the years, we’ve spent many months exploring Kinnaur and Spiti, living in small villages, walking the trails between remote villages and into the high, uninhabited mountains and attending festivals at gompas (monasteries)—colourful events when the lamas don gorgeous silken brocade robes, masks and headdresses and perform graceful dances to the sounds of kettle drums and unbelievably long, curved brass horns. Once we pitched our tent on top of a flat-roofed mud house and watched the lamas practice their graceful steps and leaps for a week before the festival began. The dances are dramatizations of stories from Tibetan Buddhist myths, all very well known to the lively and appreciative audience of villagers, decked out in their finest and most exotic apparel; they come from near and far to watch these shows. We sat among them and enjoyed being among these gentle and colourful, full-of-life people.

At a festival at Ki Gompa, which is built around the small, rubbly cone of an extinct volcano, when the dances were over, the audience got up and moved to the hillside behind the monastery. There they formed long, snaking lines and prostrated themselves to make a living carpet for the lamas to walk on. Talk about devotion! The people consider their lamas to be literally living gods.

Ki village is high above the Spiti Valley, north of Kaza, Spiti’s main town. The bazaar has the timeless feel of an ancient entrepôt. It is a meeting place of people from all over the Himalayas and the Indian plains who come here to trade donkeys, yaks, rugs, turquoise and coral, seed pearls and peas… (and Spiti is renowned for its fine riding horses able to navigate the narrowest of mountain trails, and also for its wily horse traders).

The town is dotted with small squares built around gleaming white, highly embellished chortens or stupas, the reliquary mounds found everywhere in the Buddhist Himalayas, and shaded by ancient gnarled poplars. And surrounding the town are stark, boldly hued mountains. In this high-altitude, desert-like region all cultivation must be carried on by extensive and ingenious irrigation schemes, complex networks of channels that bring water to the fields from glaciers in the mountains high above. The emerald fields of barley and peas are like jewels set into this rugged, rocky landscape. Massive mud-brick houses and monasteries washed gleaming white with distinctive black and ochre trim stand out against the green of the fields and the deep blue of the sky.

More in our next letter about Spiti’s distinctive style of architecture—it’s amazing what you can do with mud! And, what happened when it rained in this place where it never rains!

Martin and Carol Noval have been living in India for more than twenty years and organize and lead several special cultural tours and treks a year for small groups. They’ll be leading road trips and treks in Spiti next summer (2003). If you would like to get in touch, email them at tripsintoindia@usa.net and check their website www.tripsintoindia.com

If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, then why not write for the free monthly Globetrotters e-newsletter! The Beetle would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you.

You don't have to be a professional writer for other people to enjoy reading your travel stories. The core value of the Globetrotters Club and its e-newsletter is to provide a forum to share travel experiences and to offer help and advice to others. It’s a great feeling, knowing that around 7,000 subscribers read each e-newsletter, a rate that is increasing by about 3% month on month.

Please e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences up to 750 words, or any other hints and tips or questions plus a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address. The Beetle is frequently contacted by past contributors who say what fun it has been to correspond with others who have contacted them as a result of their article in the Globetrotters e-newsletter – send in those articles!! Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Nick from London says that he thinks that it does not really count if you have only been to the inside of an airport in a particular country, though others may argue this point. There are other brief visits I have made to countries. For instance, a couple of years ago I was holidaying in Thailand and took one of those long tail boat trips on the Mekong river in the Golden Triangle. During the short journey the boat driver called in at a jetty on the Lao side of the river for petrol.

Aha! I thought to myself, This is an opportunity to visit Laos! I leapt off the boat and walked up the jetty and spent a couple of minutes on the riverbank on the Lao side of the river. So I have had a very short “visit” to Laos, at least I have stood on Laotian soil, but of course I can't really say that I have been to the country in any usual sense. Perhaps others have similar rapid drop ins on countries? Write in and let the Beetle know what you think!

Bill from Los Angeles wrote in to say that he took a flight legally from L A to Havana to meet Dr Byron Barksdale and his Cuba Aids Group in Cuba. All went – really well. The USA Customs officers treated me very well and the Cuban people I met were most interested in talking with Americans. There are many fine hotels to stay in at all price ranges and above all, I felt very safe throughout my trip.

Havana is a must see before the embargo is lifted. I recommend the trip to all your fine members. This prompted the Beetle to investigate. Below is some more information from Byron about Cuba.

~~~~~~~~~~

Cuba, the “Pearl of the Antilles” and Havana, “the Paris of the West” are becoming the destination site in the Caribbean since the Papal visit several years ago. The Cuban government has relied on tourism to fuel the Cuban economy after the collapse of the USSR. In contrast to other Caribbean destinations, in Cuba, the traveller can find local restaurants where beer is 50 cents US and hard drinks (rum mojitos or daiquiris) can be purchased for $1.00.

The beaches in Varadero, Cayo Coco, and Cayo Largo are unspoiled and the gentle slope of the shore allows easy swims and wading in crystal clear waters. International arrivals are possible into Varadero, Havana, Holguin, and Santiago de Cuba. USA citizens may travel to Cuba legally through US Treasury Licenses for humanitarian purposes. An example is humanitarian travel through Cuba AIDS Project, www.cubaaidsproject.com, which supports Non Governmental Organizations (Monseratte Church, Caritas) in Cuba.

While in Cuba, travellers can find inexpensive lodging, which includes breakfast ($10-$25/night) in local homes (casa particulars) and cheap, but wholesome, meals at local family owned, private restaurants known as paladars. If hotels are preferred, modestly priced rooms can be found at Hotel Florida ($80/night) in Old Habana or Hotel Riviera ($75/night), including breakfast, on the Seawall (El Malecon). Art, old books, literature and music are available to enjoy and purchase in many “open air” markets throughout Cuba.

The time to see Cuba is before the USA Embargo is lifted. Once the USA Embargo is lifted, the innocence and mystery of Cuba will rapidly be overrun by millions of USA tourists seeking business and recreational activities in Cuba and Cuba may end up looking like South Miami Beach very quickly. Until then, for Globetrotters, the Great Possibilities of Cuba can be enjoyed for reasonable prices and uncluttered by too many USA tourists.

About the author: Byron L Barksdale grew up in South Florida and watched ships sail back and forth to Cuba from West Palm Beach in the mid 1950s. Currently, Byron is a pathologist in Nebraska serving small hospitals and clinics in Colorado, Nebraska and Kansas. Only after he became a physician could Byron find a legal humanitarian way to see and help the poor and needy in Cuba through Cuba AIDS Project, www.cubaaidsproject.com HIV/AIDS in Cuba is a public health concern for the USA since over 180,000 USA citizens travel to Cuba each year and millions will go to Cuba after the travel ban is lifted.

My partner and I (aged 55 and 65) went RTW for 12 months to April 2002. She has written a book on it but is looking for a publisher. I went to internet cafes to maintain a long journal. So rather than travellers' tales here are some notes on how we did it. The RTW deal was from Star Alliance, giving us 12 months, 15 stops and 39000 miles. A couple of times when in dispute with an airline the Alliance link was useful. Their miles include overland legs which seems unfair but it is still good value. They allow backtracking, which we needed for India to China.

We flew to Brazil for two lazy weeks to get over the strain of preparations, then to Lima. We took buses – we avoided 'luxury' or 'tourist' buses -round Peru and despite being told it was impossible found a cheap way to Macchu Picchu. Three-day trips to Colca Canyon and to the Peruvian Amazon jungle. Bus and boat (aided by the Bolivian Navy!) to cold La Paz then bus on 'the most dangerous road in the world' to lovely Coroico. Flew to Costa Rica, which seemed very wealthy and grotesquely American!

But we had a wonderful time there – eco-tourism on the Caribbean coast and in the cloud forest. I wrote a report on working conditions on the banana plantations. Then buses through sad Nicaragua, tough Honduras (staying with the Garifuna) and Guatemala with its staggering range of wealth. We were in luxury after three months of back packers' hotels and crowded but fascinating bus journeys. Then we bought a car in Florida and eventually sold it in British Columbia. (One could write a book this, as on each leg of the journey.) This was not as easy as it sounds – big problems with driver's licence and insurance. But surmountable. Boat and bus to Houston BC. Strange coming back to sophistication a few days after 9/11, a different world. Hawaii then fabulous Tonga. Real bliss as the only visitors on an idyllic island, and time to think. Here my partner discovered the magic of snorkelling.

NZ was surprisingly far nicer than expected, Sydney also amazes. We were kept busy there and in Canberra and Melbourne giving talks. Thailand where we made lasting friends, one a young man not half way through 25 years imprisonment for drug smuggling. Don’t even think about it! Interesting to contrast the type of tourists here with those in S America. Almost a different breed. So to the jewel. Three months in India lived up to all my hopes and dreams. A stopover in steamy sophisticated Singapore (the night time zoo worth a visit) thence to Beijing, and onto the trans-Asia train with stops including three weeks in Mongolia (hiring a jeep to traverse the Gobi), Siberia (Lake Baikal), Moscow and glorious St Petersburg.

Stockholm was refreshing and spring time in England utterly delightful. Total cost was less than £4,000 on fares, plus £400 a week rent we got on our London homes. We ate local workers' food. We often stayed in people's homes – fellow Quakers, a hosting organisation, far flung family and friends. Otherwise in the better rooms in cheap hotels. Motels (except some on Route 66) have no character but are great value. Or ashrams. The only problematic visa was that for Russia, though others such as India and China needed some care. I was surprised to find one of the most irksome problems was telephoning – one needs to see if mobiles can be adapted cheaply in each region. Only disappointments: despite three weeks in most places we usually seemed to be in a hurry, and sadly I lost several sets of slides.

Essentials include up-to-date Guides. We used Footprint guides for Latin America because it avoids having lots of volumes; and for India as well as Lonely Planet there and everywhere else. “Road Trip USA” for the side roads. Take both Visa and MasterCard (and Maestro if possible) as many areas take only one or the other. We had all the jabs recommended except expensive encephalitis. We never resolved all the arguments for and against anti-malaria tablets, and if so which ones. But insect repellent from day 1, and a hat if you are bald like me. I had to have scalp pre-cancer treatment on return. I was supplied with and shown how to use self-catheterisation by the NHS. Never had to do it but without it I would not have dared go to Tonga, or deep into the Gobi.

Medically we had very few problems, tummy bug twice, and chest complaints in the Andes. I got shingles when in Thailand but was easily able to get powerful drugs (for £50 – a fortune), which knocked it out. But we had quite a few strains from lugging our packs (and from 3 days meditating cross legged in a Buddhist temple!) We both had Karrimor wheeled rucksacks and seldom had to hump them. My advice – just DO IT! Don't worry about food and accommodation and robbery.

Ignore travel mags and ads. They make it scary so you'll use their expensive services. Just GO! Details on the web site (at http://home.clara.net/spetter/sp/, but sadly I don't have time and space to mention our lovely hosts and the travellers and locals we met. To contact Stephen for any hints or tips, please e-mail him on: spetter@clara.net

Since the New Year has on from its welcoming celebrations, many

travelling folk are spending the winter conceiving travels and tours for the forthcoming year. Such thoughts brighten up these grey months that stretch through to Easter and test our imagination. Can it be coincidence that travel shows thrive during this time? I’ve always found that there is considerable enjoyment to be had from visualising any possibility and anticipating what could happen along the way. If not planning, travellers can usually be found doing – indeed I’ve ‘lost’ friends to California, Canada and Australia in quick succession recently! Have you noticed that how our non travelling friends no longer caution against such exuberance? I’m sure we should spare them a thought or two, as they are subjected to our endless plans. To calm our intoxications perhaps we should all be given copies of Alain de Botton’s The Art of Travel to digest – he comes up with some bizarre and somewhat unsettling accounts of the ‘satisfactions and disappointments of travelling’.

In considering the ‘satisfactions’, where do I find myself on route to next and how has it got to this stage? Well, following on from a long weekend in Valletta a ferry should then take me across to Sicily, probably Siracusa or Catania, with a second taking me, a week or so later, on from Trapani to Goletta. Whether this will leave me time enough to wander fully along Tunisia’s Mediterranean coast towards Gabes and Jerab I’m not sure yet. However besides the improved climates I have high hopes for good snorkelling, spectacular views of Mount Etna in its current active state and a distinctive crossing into northern Africa, which as a region is still unknown to me. If anyone has additional experiences of this vague outline they’d like to share, feel free to get in touch. Through this planning stage the ‘I’ has become ‘we’ – as Steve and Colin, two friends from previous travels who will add their own practical and entertaining inputs to this tour, have joined me. Indeed their immediate ‘yeses’ to my proposals has provided extra organising drive, along with Steve disappearing to the French speaking Canadian ski slopes for three months! No doubt Steve’s improved French language skills will ease our way into Tunisia! As a result and somewhat unusually this scheme has advanced quicker than previous and the scratched out beer plan has already evolved through to map and ticket purchases.

Initially my observations were that I wanted to make my travels more demanding this year, more revealing and more elsewhere. Attending Globetrotters and the RGS had left me feeling that my some of my recent tours were pedestrian and unchallenging in their nature and destination. Further impetus came from reading of namesake Charles Montague Doughty’s early travels across the Mediterranean countries, whilst discussions with friends Charlie and Carrie updated me with what adventures could now be had in northern Africa. Michael Palin’s recent television trek helped to round off these thoughts, particular with his attitude of still wanting to learn from what he was experiencing – something I’d like to echo. Along with the pleasure of journeys, I would still like to understand more of how I like to travel.

Where could my ‘disappointments’ come from? My previous experiences of Africa have been sub-Saharan and very much centred around Anglo Portuguese influences on the continent, but I do wonder how we will respond to French legacies and whether we can appreciate if the Sahara is a major dividing line of the African continent and peoples. I’m not vain in the sense in thinking that my travels will offer anything other than interesting experiences to us three. I would like to gain a deeper insight into what this region is about and to return with a book full of tales but as yet I’m uncertain as to what I will find, particularly in Tunisia. Like many I am wary of guide books, packaged destinations and official opinion, and as a result I’m trying to stick to a single map, a few articles that I’ve found in the weekend supplements and first hand knowledge passed on. Previous attempts at such vague planning have left me lost in Santa Barbara’s unbelievably square grid system but revealed gems such as Connemara! As such Colin and Steve don’t yet know how seemingly ill prepared we may be – I hope they understand that I’m not trying to be careless, that I just want a little more from my time away…

Matt is happy to be contacted if you’d like some more information about planning your travels or about any of the places he talks about in his own travel planning. E-mail mattdoughty@tiscali.co.uk