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.
The Ontario branch 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.
An online device that helps travellers find out whether they might be at risk of potentially fatal Tick Borne Encephalitis (TBE) in Europe is now available at the Tick Alert website (www.tickalert.org). The ‘TBE Travel Check’ takes less than a minute to complete and asks users a sequence of simple questions about where they are going and any outdoor activities they are planning to determine their level of risk. A message at the end of the test advises whether a user should consider seeking medical advice ahead of their trip. A Tick Alert spokesperson said: “The TBE Travel Check gives people a better understanding of their risk before they travel so they can think about the need for precautions against the disease.
“Many of us heading into Europe often don’t consider seeking travel health advice so we hope this quick check will help.”
The ‘TBE Travel Check’ is one of a number of new-look features to Tick Alert’s website (www.tickalert.org), which now includes the latest updates on TBE risk, prevention measures taken by health authorities in various destinations and an interactive map showing risk areas of Europe.
TBE is a viral disease contracted via the bite of an infected tick which is endemic in 27 countries in Europe. It leads to an annual average of 10,000 cases needing hospital treatment. Two in every 100 TBE sufferers will die from the disease.
Email for more details: lisa@tickalert.org, sam@tickalert.org or richard@tickalert.org.
Notes:
Regular contributor Mac ruminates on the world of travel & some of his adventures along the way
This time round heÂ’s reflecting on his Hong Kong experiences with tailors:-
I was stationed in Japan five and one half years in the military and my outfit made many trips to Hong Kong during this period. I think everyone should visit Hong Kong at least once. It used to be that planes were not allowed to land except in the day time because the landing was tricky but we were allowed to land at night. It always seemed that all the tailors in town knew we were arriving, how long we would be there, the name of our outfit and its commanderÂ’s name.
They always said he brought a suit off them on the last trip and was very happy with it. In the early days one could get a tailor made suit with an extra pair of pants, a shirt and tie thrown in and sometimes a free sightseeing trip of the city.
We stayed at a hotel that was used to our odd arrival and departure times and they would be there to greet us. On one trip there was a buddy of mine that had not been on these trips before and when we opened our room door there was already tailors inside. He said to me Mac who are these people ? I replied, I donÂ’t know I thought they were with you…Ha.
They would take you to their tailor shop where they promised a tailor made suit in 24 hours.
They would hand you a drink and a crew of tailors would surround you taking measurements. One asked me if I dressed left or right. I looked perplexed and my buddy said Mac they want to know which way you ding dong hangs so they can add extra cloth to hide it. I said I would have to look to see if I could find it and everyone laughed. We had had several drinks by that time.
It was a little disturbing that they knew so much about our arrivals and departures. It is possible the hotel let them know for a commission. When we were to depart that hotel desk would phone our rooms to tell us what time we should have our luggage outside our doors to be picked up to be taken to the airport. One time we got a second call and told to put our luggage out an hour earlier that first told and they added it would be picked up. Our luggage certainly was picked up but by con artists/thieves that were perhaps in connection with the hotel. There went our twenty five dollar suits, souvenirs we picked up and some military uniforms.
Then again some of the tailors used thread that was not strong and our suits sometimes fell apart before we even left town (we caught on to bring strong American thread to give them and hope they would use same).
I had one pair of tailor made shoes made. Before I left town I was walking down the street and the soles fell off my shoes.! They had glued them on instead of sewing.
Hong Kong was not only beautiful but it was fun for us GIs…
HereÂ’s an update on how the very useful & uniquely well written guide books are coming along…you may have seen the stand at the Adventure Travel show in London, earlier this year… The Ant
I expect you know Trailblazer guides but if you don’t we publish route guides for the adventurous traveller. Our particular strengths are:
Our mapping. We firmly believe that a good guidebook must have good maps, specifically tailored to the reader’s needs. For our trekking guides we create our own maps to the most useful scale and show the kind of information such as walking times, and places to stay or eat, not usually found on maps.
Our authors have a voice. Our authors are travellers first and authors second. These books are opinionated; we let the authors’ voice show through. They tell it like it is – bad as well as good.
Recently published
Kilimanjaro, the trekking guide 3rd edition by Henry Stedman. This is THE guide to climbing the mountain, now in its third edition so it contains everything you need to know about the climb. Price £12.99
Azerbaijan – with excursions to Georgia 4th edition by Mark Elliott. £14.99 The ONLY dedicated guide to the country.
Coast to Coast Path 4th edition
West Highland Way 4th edition
Forthcoming
Adventure Cycle-Touring Handbook 2nd edition by Steven Lord. The bible for planning a trip with your bike. Publishing due in May.
The Silk Roads 3 edition by Paul Wilson, due late June.
For more details contact caroline.gray@trailblazer-guides.com or visit http://www.trailblazer-guides.com
If you enjoy writing & travelling, why not write for the free Globetrotters eNewsletter ! The Ant 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. Over 14,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter eNewsletter.
Email The Ant at theant@globetrotters.co.uk with your travel experiences / hints & tips / questions. Your article should be approximately 1000 words, feature up to 3 or 4 jpeg photos and introduce yourself with a couple of sentences and a contact e-mail address.
Next award – I believe that the deadline for receiving applications for the first award in 2010 was 30 April, but I will confirm ASAP once I have heard from the busy organisers J
Background – A member of Globetrotters Club and interested in winning a £1,000 travel award ? Know someone who fits these criteria ? We have up to two £1,000 awards to give out this year for the best independent travel plan, as judged by the clubÂ’s Committee.
See the legacy page on the clubÂ’s web site, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent, travel trip. If your idea catches our eye we’ll take a closer look at what youÂ’re proposing !!
Web sites to muse about travel to:-
Need to convert a 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.
Hello all,
time for a catch up and a chance to pass on some interesting articles and comments Ive received lately. In this edition you can read about the latest Globetrotters Club Travel Award winner, follow Mac through surviving travel emergencies and learn about life in Calabria, Italy. You can also see that the London and Chester branches have continued to busy with very interesting programs… And Ive added a couple of sections in this introduction to highlight some news and events !
Artist Karen Neale and her partner Alex Lassuss Rodriguez have given birth to a baby son and are all doing well…congratulations to all of three of them
Photographer Dan Bachmann spoke at the Royal Geographical Societys Young Members Geographical Journeys: Young Members’ Micro LecturesÂÂ evening on 9 March on London…briefly recounting his visit to Karamojong people of north east Uganda. You may recall Dan undertook this quite unique journey by being partly funded by winning the Globetrotters Travel Award in June 2009…perhaps this is the start of a new speaking career, particularly as you can catch him at the Chester branch in May.
Committee member Francesca Jaggs, the clubs Publicity and PR officer, is going to Sarajevo as a volunteer for Healing Hands Network in May 2010. If you would like to help sponsor her endeavours and raise money for charity, click here for more details http://www.mycharitypage.com/francescajaggs
· As European Capital of Culture for 2010, Istanbul is hosting a plethora of events throughout the year across the city from heritage, visual arts & multimedia to film, theatre & dance, music, museums, literature & poetry. Many other projects are well underway, from restoration work on historic sites such as the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Suleymaniye Mosque and the Ataturk Cultural Centre to the construction of brand-new art and cultural centres, from ongoing festivals and arts events to the commissioning of new artistic works for 2010. For full calendar of events see www.en.istanbul2010.org.
Thats all for now heres to enjoying the spring and travels you might be about to start J
The Ant
theant@globetrotters.co.uk