Tentative future presentations:

• Fri., Nov. 18 – “Guatemalawith Horizons of Friendship” by Bruce Weber along with “Studying inAntigua,Guatemala” by Ilse Cloer

Ontario meetings are held at 8.00pm on the third Friday of January, March, May (4^th Friday), September and November, at Old York Tower, 85 The Esplanade, in downtown Toronto.

Everyone welcome especially visiting travellers J

For more information contact Svatka Hermanek at hermanek@yahoo.ca, Bruce Weber at bruceaweber@hotmail.com / on tel. 416 203-0911 or Paul Webb on tel. 416 694-8259.

With Simon Banks at the lectern, the London branch was introduced to two new speakers:-

First to entertain us, on a country that is often in the news for negative reasons was Russell Maddicks who spoke about Exploring Venezuela: A Land of Natural Wonders.  Russell highlighted how much variation in the country can be enjoyed…from stunning geographies, complex cultures & histories through to sociable peoples who know how to enjoy themselves!  In fact Russell’s many visits over a number of years have enabled him to author Bradt Travel Guides’ Venezuela edition J

Read more about Russell’s adventures at http://www.blogger.com/profile/03762827239193581989

Rona Cant in the second half of the afternoon gave the audience quite a different talk…Rona came to adventure travel later in life but since undertaking the BT Global Challenge Round the World Yacht Race, she has changed her outlook on her life & career.  Rona is convinced the she and many other people can benefit from the positive energy that independent travel can create.  Read more for yourself at Rona’s web site – http://www.ronacant.com/index.htm.

The London branch’s future meetings are detailed at London Meeting Programme.  

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, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: https://globetrotters.co.uk/local-meetings.html. 

With Jeanie Copland at the lectern, the London branch started into its new season with two contrasting speakers:-

Mary Kinipple – ‘Tapestry & Tibet’: 

First time speaker Mary showed how travel influenced & developed her professional career as a craft weaver.  Whilst Mary was always interested in textiles & design, it took an independent journey twenty years ago through Nepal & onto Tibet to provide her with a deeper appreciation of weaving as a craft & as a potential niche industry in the modern world.  Starting in Kathmandu Mary came across traces of yak hair weaving by local trading families and as she headed up to Lhasa, the lessening of 20th century demands allowed space for a more varied & widespread weaving industry.  Across wider Tibet she found traders operating out of small, family or village run factories…harnessing manual skills to produce intricate & practical objects such as traditional outfit, animal harnesses & small art objects.  Mary was fascinated by how a skill so manually based could produce so much detail & colour…

Read more about Mary’s UK life at http://www.goring-gap.co.uk/artists.htm

Jonny Bealby – Pakistan as a travel destination

Second up saw the return of a club favourite, Jonny Bealby!  Many of us have come into contact with Jonny…either via the club, travel shows or in the wide travel industry and we’ve all found him to be very engaging & welcoming J

Anyway this time round Jonny spoke, in warm details, about Pakistan and that despite its well documented struggles, there is so much to enjoy in that exuberant & vivid country.  Since the mid 2000s Jonny’s main engagement in Pakistan has been through the development of his Wild Frontiers company & adventure tourism in the wider region.  We saw & heard how local relationships could work to produce strong connections that would benefit tourists, business people & non-governmental organisations alike…adding power to the philosophy of “trade not aid”.  Jonny & Wild Frontiers have lately taken this one stage further via their Wild Frontiers Foundation…see http://www.wildfrontiers.co.uk/wildfrontiers/responsibletravel.jsf for more details.

Enjoy 🙂

Picture courtesy of Tony Annis

Hello all,

Autumn in the northern hemisphere is a time of change for many of us and 2011 is proving to be as busy as ever.  Despite difficult economic & political times for many, independent travellers are still venturing forth and then coming home to relate their adventures!  Within this edition you can hear how the London & Chester branches have opened their new seasons, what travel events can attract our attention and an interesting article by Brian Luckhurst on a holiday alternative.

What else is happening across the wider travel world?

• renowned travel book & map supplier Stanfords of London has launched an autumn season of speakers & presentations for 2011…see http://www.stanfords.co.uk/events/Events-at-Stanfords/list.htm for more details
• Frommer’s publish a list of global events that have plenty of ideas for travellers – enjoy at http://events.frommers.com/sisp/index.htm
• · follow the progress of the “It’s on the meter team” and their round the world journey by London taxi at http://www.itsonthemeter.com/blog.htm
• follows the progress of Sarah Outen’s “London2London” adventure at http://sarahouten.co.uk/london-to-london-via-the-world/

That’s all for now, enjoy the read and keep sending me more of your stories, adventures and articles 🙂

The Ant

theant@globetrotters.co.uk

Hello to everyone again,

It is 2 years ago this coming meeting that we started the Chester Branch of Globetrotters!!!  (Happy Birthday & congratulations – The Ant J)

We would like to send you an early reminder again for our next meeting of Globetrotters, which will be on Saturday the 19th of November in the Grosvenor Museum in Chester, starting as usual at 1.30pm.  The talks look very exciting again:-

· the first talk is by Don & Eve who will be telling us about their time in Cambodia in Impressions of Cambodia after Pol Pot

· the second talk is about a journey through Europe by boat by Derek Brown, entitled Travels around Europe by boat

We will have our usual refreshments in the interval where everyone can meet up and have a chat again.

Don’t forget we now also meet in the Bear & Billet pub (very close to the museum…read for more details http://bearandbillet.com/), after the meeting for a drink & another good natter.  We usually book a table upstairs and as it was quite successful last time, we will have to book a couple of tables more for November.

You can always get in touch if you have any ideas for future talks, we will need to fill a few more dates for next year again and if you aren’t sure on how to go about it, we can always help you get started with a presentation.

We look forward to seeing you all again on Saturday the 19th of November !

Cheers

Hanna, Angela and Eve

Chester meetings are held at The Grosvenor Museum, 25 – 27 Grosvener Street, Chester, CH1 2DD.

Tickets £3 including refreshments.

For more information contact Angela, Hanna or Eve for further information of this & future events at Chester via email at chesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk