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.
The Australian High Commission currently advises that there is currently an epidemic of the mosquito-borne disease Dengue Fever in Tonga on the main island of Tongatapu. Anyone visiting Tonga is strongly advised to protect themselves from mosquito bites at all times.
You do not want to catch Dengue Fever – see Ingrid Style’s article in this e-newsletter about her Dengue Fever in Thailand.
Can you help David and his wife and two young children who are planning to travel to Australia, New Zealand, Japan, the US, Canada and Africa. Can anyone give him some advice on work permits? David's wife is an occupational therapist. Also can anyone give David some advice on travelling with young children? If you can help, please contact David on: david.flower3@ntlworld.com
The Beetle would like to hear from anyone who has dived at Madang, Tufi or Walinde as she is planning a trip there at Christmas. Please e-mail the Beetle: beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
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
Globetrotters meeting on Saturday 13th September at 2pm
The Texas Branch of the Globetrotters Club will meet Saturday Sept 13th, 2003, 2pm at the New Braunfels Public Library 700 E. Common Street, New Braunfels, Texas 830-620-5482
The September meeting will Feature a speaker from “Friendship Force International” for more information, see their website: http://www.friendshipforce.org/
If you like independent, adventuresome, fun, daring, exciting, “off the beaten path” travel, this club is for you. Our meeting begins at 2 P.M. Come early so you won't be late! Enjoy handouts, travel talk time, and door prizes!
Dates of future meetings: October 11th, November 8th – Mark your calendars.
For more information about the Texas Branch or help Christina, please contact her by texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for email updates at our website (click here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482
Are you a UK resident, going on holiday in October or November, but haven't decided where? Do you fancy letting us plan it for you?
If you want a holiday with a difference then call us on 023 80 712568 or email us at iwthol@granadamedia.com for an application form.
September 27th is World Tourism Day. Tourists lodging in Bologna will receive a passport listing all services and advantages: discounts to museums, restaurants, bars, pubs, local transportation and unusual guided tours. http://www.commune.bologna.it
If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, 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. Over 7,500 people subscribe to the Globetrotters e-news.
To see your story in cyber print, e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences, hints and tips or questions up to 750 words, together with a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address to Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
Five galleries illustrate the history of the performing arts in the UK. The collection includes displays on theatre, ballet, dance, circus, puppetry, opera, musicals, rock and pop. There's usually a daily workshop on performing arts subjects, such as pantomime and making a play.
The museum is found in Russell Street, Covent Garden.
Open: Tue-Sun, 10:00-18:00.
Tube: Covent Garden
Enquiries: 020 7943 4700
Entrance: FREE admission for individuals.
Building work on a national Holocaust memorial in the German capital, Berlin, has begun. The memorial is being built in the centre of the city, close to the Brandenburg Gate and near the bunker where Adolf Hitler committed suicide in 1945. The monument should be completed by May 2005 – in time for the 60th anniversary of the end of the World War Two.
I went on my two month long trip of Indochina. I skulked a bit in Qatar eyeing up the tablecloth-clad gentlemen and in turn being the recipient of their roving eye. Thought maybe not. From Bangkok Railway Station there was a direct train. This leaves every night at 8:00pm or 8:20pm. You can book a sleeper berth complete with curtains to the Friendship Bridge at the Laotian border. Crossing the border is easy – the usual stuff – $20 and a British Passport and you are there. Vientiane is the next stop. One needs to speak a little French to admire Alleys, les baguettes, Les Arch de Triomphe. I walked everywhere – the whole place is less than three square miles.
If you happen to skip the French breakfast, the French colonial attitude and the temperature, go to Luang Prabang. It’s a beautiful place – until they get funding to finish the long runway.
If you happen to be female, make sure you are wearing the right underwear: the Buddhist monks on the top of the hill happen to be very observant
Then there was a little problem. Up the Mekong down the Mekong. Make sure you are fit rather than panting your lungs away along the waterfalls like I did.
After having had such a lovely time, it all went a bit sour: three days after flying back from Cambodia, I spent 40 minutes on the internet in Ko Chang (Eastern Thailand) Internet café. A local man asked me if I wanted to buy drugs. I politely refused. What happened next? The guy kicked me in the face and broke my nose, leaving me in a lot of pain, and bleeding all over the place. A Kiwi traveller called the police who arrived pretty quickly. After 4 hours of investigations and searching my possessions, they decided to find the offender. The court case took on the spot. By 2 a.m. the police and the translator were around and so was my attacker; very professional, except me bleeding all over trying to fix my broken nose. I identified my attacker and then I was taken to hospital where the costs of fixing up my poor nose were paid for. I flew back home to avoid the rest of the nonsense.
If you'd like to contact Busby, please e-mail her on: me@krystyna.com