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

Hello everyone, my name is Kamila. I’m planning to trek in National Parks of the Andes in December 07 for several months. And I’m looking for someone to join me because as everyone knows walking alone is not that safe. I’d like to ask anyone reading this if they are planning or just considering going to South America around December to drop me an email. The more people the more fun. My email is: abrakadabra.7@hotmail.com

News from the China Daily that taxi drivers in China’s financial capital of Shanghai are to be issued with “spit sacks” to curb their habit of rolling down their windows and hawking into the road. Spitting cabbies will soon have a sack fixed to the metal grill that surrounds the driver’s seat, so that both (delightfully) they and their passengers can make use of it. The special sacks will be distributed to 45,000 taxis by the Shanghai Patriotic Sanitation Committee to reduce spitting in public places, a habit Chinese authorities say they have long been trying to discourage. Perhaps this is pre-planning for the 2008 China Olympic games, though reports say that it is designed “to make people give up the ugly and unhygienic habit and present a healthy city for the 2010 World Expo.”

The value of having a photocopy of the first page of your passport proved to be true for a lady military friend of mine. On a Saturday getting off tour bus in Dublin gypsies stole her purse in which she had passport, military ID, plane ticket (she was due to leave London the next day to come back to the States) baggage checks etc etc but she did have a photocopy of

first page of her passport in a separate location on her from the passport. The tour bus driver drove her immediately to the American Embassy and it was amazing what she got done on a Saturday afternoon just before they closed. They gave her an emergency temporary passport and I

think she had numbers on her airline ticket written down separately too

although she had to pay a fine to get ticket reissued. While you don’t

want to lose our passport it you have photo copy of first page of your

passport not all is evidently lost.

Police recently arrested a Kazak man trying to smuggle 500 parrots in his car from neighbouring Uzbekistan. Border guards are said to have discovered a live cargo of 500 parrots in his Audi. It was unclear how the parrots fit into the Kazakh man’s Audi. Trade in wild parrots is banned around the world, according to the U.N. Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora.

Most EU citizens are not aware of their rights to seek help from fellow- members’ embassies when traveling abroad. A recent EU survey found only 23 percent of those questioned knew they could turn to other EU national embassies. Plans are afoot to increase awareness and protection of travelers.

A 41 year old Australian abalone diver recently told rescuers how he was partly swallowed head-first by a Great White Shark off Cape Howe, near Eden on Australia’s southeast coast but managed to fight his way free after trying to punch the shark in the eye. He escaped suffering a broken nose and bite marks around the chest. The diver told fellow divers he didn’t see the 3 meter (10 foot) shark coming as the water was so dirty that visibility was severely limited.

Spotted by webmaster Paul, here’s a great link to a Fodor website which outlines just some of the world’s great train journeys.

Guides aimed at the discerning traveller who wants to do more than simply tick off the sights. 15% discount to GT members when shopping online or via our mail order service. Enter/ quote the coupon code GT/07 at time of ordering. Shop at www.bradtguides.com or +44 (0) 1753 893444.

A 21-year-old German tourist who wanted to visit his girlfriend in Sydney, Australia managed to land 13,000 kilometres away near Sidney, Montana, after mistyping his destination on a flight booking web site. Dressed for the Australian summer in t-shirt and shorts, Tobi Gutt left Germany for a four-week holiday. Instead of arriving “down under,” Gutt found himself on a different continent and in the chilly state of Montana. “I did wonder but I didn’t want to say anything,” Gutt told the Bild newspaper. “I thought to myself, you can fly to Australia via the United States.” Gutt’s airline ticket routed him via the U.S. city of Portland, Oregon, to Billings, Montana. Only as he was about to board a commuter flight to Sidney — an oil town of about 5,000 people — did he realise his mistake. Mr Gutt, who had only a thin jacket to keep out the winter cold, spent three days in Billings airport before he was able to buy a new ticket to Australia with 600 euros in cash that his parents and friends sent over from Germany.

If you would like to sign an electronic petition to campaign against a proposal which inserts Islamic Sharia into the constitution of Kurdistan – go to this link. The petition organisers consider the inclusion of the Sharia clause as t a major attack on the basic rights and liberties of the people of this region. In particular, they say, it will have worrying consequences for the rights of women and for the space for secular and progressive opinion in Kurdistan to find a voice. We want to make the world aware of this threat and mobilise to counter it.