JUNE 7: Ladakh Ken Axen, who also presented the amazing Bhutan, will be back to present Ladakh. “In the forbidding terrain of the Himalayas, a robust people embellish their frugal lives with rich endowments of faith”, Thomas J. Abercrombie, National Geographic.

Experience the beauty of this exotic land through a slide show by Kenneth Axen, PhD, research scientist, graphic artist, and serious amateur photographer.

For details of forthcoming meetings e-mail newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for e-mail updates, click here at our website.

New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.

As a result of the US Airways Charlotte, N Carolina commuter plane crash earlier in 2003, the FAA has notified US airlines operating planes with more than 19 seats to raise weight estimates for both passengers (by 10lbs) and carry on luggage by 5lbs. Meanwhile, airlines have been given 90 days to either introduce the new weight rules or carry out their own surveys.

UK airport operator, BAA, has called for three new runways to be built in the south east of England. BAA recommend one runway dedicated to short haul planes at London Heathrow, a second runway at London Gatwick and up to two more at home of Ryanair, and BAA’s fastest growing airport, London Stansted.

British Airways and Germany's Lufthansa have applied to restart services to Baghdad, the capital of Iraq. American carrier Northwest Airlines recently announced that it had applied for permission from the US Department of Transportation to start flights to Iraq. The UK's Virgin Atlantic, which has flown emergency medical supplies into Iraq since the end of hostilities, also expressed an interest in providing commercial services.

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.

Big Red Barn Ent. in Vancouver, Canada, are presently in post production on a documentary called “Bikes on Ice”, where they sent a small digi-cam along with a team of 3 arctic cyclists to the Yukon and Alaska. They documented their journey – in journal style – they successfully retraced the bicycle journey from Dawson City to Nome Alaska in 49 days, done by two men in the year 1900 during the gold rush.

They are now looking seriously at another 6-7 expeditions to present for the series “X-PLORE” for CTV Travel, OLN and Discovery. “Bikes on Ice” was considered the pilot and will air on CTV Travel June 24, 2003 in Canada. They are looking for unique and exciting expeditions we can document for the series (one hour doc's).

Do you know of any expeditions in the works – sailing, polar, skiing, kayaking, canoeing, they're looking for a variety of possibilities around the world.

Please visit the www.bikesonice.com site and have a look at what our pilot doc. for the series is about and do visit our company site www.brbmg.com

The Texas Branch of the Globetrotters Club will meet Saturday 14^th June 2003 at the New Braunfels Public Library – note back to old location. This month’s meeting will feature a Magical Mystery slide show of Europe presented by Chris and Julie. It was such a big hit at the May meeting we are doing it again, featuring different locales across the continent.

Dates of future meetings:

July 12th – China
August 9th – To be advised

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!

For more information about the Texas Branch: please contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk or register for e-mail 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

Win a Frommer’s guidebook on Australia 2003. See www.frommers.com for info on Frommer’s guidebooks.

Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do some research; try google.com or Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.

The winner of last month's Frommer’s Guide to Seattle is Tom Calvert. Please let the Beetle know your postal address so that she can send you your prize.

The airport is located some 15 miles (24 km) away from Dallas and 18 miles (29 km) away from Fort Worth. There are four terminals:

• Terminal A is for American/American Eagle flights.
• Terminal B serves America West, American, Continental, United, US Airways and most non-US airlines.
• Terminal C is for American Airlines.
• Terminal E is for Aeromexico, AirTran, Delta and Northwest flights.

History: the cities of Dallas and Fort Worth, Texas, have a rivalry going back a long time and this is true when it came to sharing an airport. Dallas first suggested sharing an airport back in 1927, but it was not to happen for many years, until 1968.

In 1940, when both Dallas and Fort Worth were looking for funding to prop up their respective ailing airports, the Civil Aeronautics Administration tried to persuade them to join forces and offered US $1.9 million to get it going, but nothing doing. In 1941, American and Braniff airlines keen to cut costs got together with the city of Arlington to develop Midway Airport. Nice try, but this time Dallas and Fort Worth fell out over the siting of the main terminal and again nothing happened.

More than twenty years on, in 1964 the Civil Aeronautics Board ruled that Love Field (Dallas) and Great Southwest International (Fort Worth) were unsuitable for future needs and gave the two cities just 180 days to find a site for a joint airport or it would do the job for them. Under J. Erik Jonsson, Mayor of Dallas and also chairman of an Interim Airport Board things began to happen. A suitable site was found situated about 17 miles from both cities. Money was raised, prairie land was bought and the Dallas Fort Worth Regional Airport Board created in 1968.

The first commercial flight landed at the new DFW on January 13, 1974 and it has been going from strength to strength ever since. In 2000DFWwas the world's fifth busiest airport and has expansion plans to get even bigger.