February is a slow month in the Costa Del Sol. This is why you can get
some of the best deals during that month. The temperature goes from 16-10
degrees Celsius. So you can still be in shorts.
I recently just got back from Costa Del Sol. I took advantage of the
airline price war that is going on right now. Arriving at the airport
I noticed that the traffic was not as heavy as it was during the summer
but still a fair number of the people getting off those planes were from
the UK, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Denmark and Germany. First things I noticed
was that I needed sunglasses and needed to take off my heavy winter jacket.
I just arrived from a Northern European country where that morning it
was -6 Celsius. It was also icy and snowing conditions.
I was smiling as I thought of my colleagues back home at work. I was
thinking that some of them do deserve their day in the sun. Some of my
colleagues had become as cranky as the northern weather in the northern
part of Europe and the sun would bring back their smiles. Productivity
would greatly improve.
The second thing I noticed is the smile on the Spanish people's
face. They seem that they were enjoying themselves. I thought what enjoyment
have I had before coming to Spain? In my Northern country I was stuck
everyday in traffic, I was driving 20 kilometres an hour on the highway
due to snow and icy conditions, I had 3 layers of clothes on because of
freezing temperatures. Coming to Spain I was no longer stuck in traffic,
there were no icy conditions to peril my well being, and I was taking
off my 3 layers of clothes in February!!! Therefore, I too had a smile
on my face.
Once in Costa Del Sol, you will be tempted to stop on the highway to
view the ocean. My suggestion is to drive west towards Marbella. Take
the coastal highway N-340 so that you can get the ocean view throughout
your journey. Stop somewhere where you can view the great ocean- like
the top of the Sitio de Calahonda. Calahonda is 36 Kilometres west of
Malaga and on the N-340. Once at the top there are bars and restaurants
where you can sit outside and see the breathtaking views. You will soon
forget your problems at work, your icy conditions, and your 3 layers of
clothes that you left back home.
About the Author: Fred Desrosiers lives in the coldness of the Swiss
Alps. He has been to the Costa Del Sol several times. He loves it so much
that he returns time and time again. He can help you if you’d like
to visit the Costa del Sol. View his website at Fred's Homepage
A recent report in Cyber Diver News
says that tourists and scuba diver numbers have fallen by almost a third
to between 300,000 and 100,000 a month. This is serious stuff for Malaysia
as tourism is the country’s second largest earner of foreign exchange.
The fall in numbers was triggered by the Bali bombing but a particularly
hard line message that sunbathers should cover up (e.g. no bikinis) has
not helped.
Seeds of Peace
is concerned with sowing the seeds of peace among children who have grown
up with the horror of war. They will be back for an encore presentation,
following their first visit to the New York branch of the Globetrotters
Club on January 4, 2003.
Speaking will be: Jeremy Goldberg and Rebecca Hankin of Seeds of Peace,
an organization that provides an opportunity for the children of war to
plant the seeds for a more secure future. The program focuses on Arab
and Israeli teenagers from ten nations in the Middle East but has also
brought youngsters from Cyprus, the war-torn Balkans, India, Pakistan,
Afghanistan and other regions of conflict to its unique coexistence program.
Seeds of Peace has been featured in The New York Times, USA Today, The
Washington Post, Time Magazine, The Christian Science Monitor, The Wall
Street Journal, People Magazine and on ABC, CBS & NBC network programs,
including “Nightline” (twice) with Ted Koppel, “60 Minutes”
with Morley Safer, “Sunday Morning,” “The Today Show,”
“Good Morning America” and on CNN, PBS and NPR. Jeremy Goldberg
is the Director of Corporate Relations at Seeds of Peace, Mr. Goldberg's
experience includes time spent on Capitol Hill, as well as at the Center
for Strategic and International Studies (CSIS), a Washington, DC-based
think tank. He is also the founder and former editor-in-chief of the Georgetown
Journal of International Affairs, a nationally distributed foreign affairs
publication. Jeremy is an honors graduate of the School of Foreign Service
at Georgetown University. Rebecca Hankin is currently Director of Media
Relations at Seeds of Peace, a position she has held since April 2002.
Since its founding, Seeds of Peace has graduated over 2,000 teenagers
representing 22 nations from its internationally recognized conflict-resolution
program.
For details of forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk
or register for email updates at click here
at our website.
New York meetings are held at The Wings Theater, 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.
Iris is a British lady of considerable character and pluck, on a 23
week overland expedition from Quito in Ecuador to Caracas in Venezuela.
After this, she plans to do a 3-month voluntary placement in Ecuador,
and then visit Central America for another overland trip between Panama
City and Mexico City, ending up with perhaps another 2-month voluntary
placement somewhere in South America again. This amazing journey will
take Iris one year. Here is an extract from Iris’ journey notebook.
30th November: The Journey to Cuenca
I sent my last emails from Baños, was there 3 days and it was
a lovely little town but, as I say, that volcano was brooding over it,
which made things a little scary! One of our number said he had read there
are evacuation arrows in the streets showing the population the way to
run should there be an eruption but he couldn't find them which rather
concerned him! But we evacuated from Baños without any trouble,
but my, what a journey we had to Cuenca – right through the Andes at a
minimum of 2,000 metres, sometimes going up to well over 3,000 metres.
Everywhere – mountains that seemed to be almost piled one on top of the
other, with the occasional narrow valley plummeting down to the depths
with hamlets nestled in them. Scary at times as the road was just cut
out of the mountainsides and there were some really incredible hair pin
bends – looking over the side I was thankful we were going so slowly with
no danger of going over the edge because we would have all been killed
if we had crashed over the side – probably drops of at least 300 – 1,000m
in places with nothing but rock to fall on!
We saw lots of local people – mostly shepherds in the traditional Andean
garb of trilby hat, colourful (often red) shawls and brightly coloured
skirts, minding their sheep, goats, donkeys, pigs, cattle or llamas. Unfortunately,
the cloud was low and obscured what must have been some very fine views
but every so often the scene (rather than the sky) would clear and we
would see some awesome sights – steaming volcanoes, two or three of them
in a line; sheer precipices and steep mountains with their tops obscured
in cloud.
We left Baños at 0745 (yours truly being the last on the bus,
not because I got up late, I was up at 0500 exercising and showering but
the restaurant which was supposed to open at 0600 was later opening and
then the girl who waited on table had to run off to the baker's to
get bread. But by the time we were all breakfasted (and some rolled in
in the early hours of the morning so had no breakfast as they were suffering
from hangovers) and I had collected my belongings and finished my ablutions
(the obligatory cleaning of teeth), I turned out to be the last on the
bus!
We then made our way slowly out of Baños to Cuenca some 366 kms
to the south but the terrain, coupled with the weight in our bus – full
water tanks as well as petrol tanks, and with two drivers and 22 people
aboard with all their luggage – we made slow progress up hills and all
sorts of vehicles were continuously overtaking us. We were ok on the straights
and downhills but on the downhill had to go slowly again because of the
weight being hurled down steep inclines and having to negotiate some hair-raising
bends.
We stopped for lunch on the roadside – our leaders/drivers (Heather
and Martin) had bought local produce at the market in Baños and
so we helped prepare a lunch of salad (lettuce, tomatoes, cucumber, radishes,
avocado pear, onions) and rolls, butter, ham and cheese for us all. We
go through an elaborate process of disinfecting our hands, using a spray
disinfectant after using the toilet and then washing our hands again in
disinfectant water and rinsing them again in disinfectant water and shaking
them rather than wiping them dry. All table surfaces and pots and pans
are sterilised and then work begins at cutting up and buttering and putting
things on plates and in bowls on long trestle tables and canvas stools
are put out for us all to sit on. Meanwhile, the local dogs congregate,
sniffing out the food and looking longingly at us, as are the local shepherd
population.
In the site where we were there were a couple of shepherds (women) with
their children, and their donkeys and pigs. The children were wide-eyed
but rather suspicious urchins (suspicious of us) and refused all requests
to have their photos taken, but hanging around watching these strange
tourists in their shorts and long trousers preparing food they could only
dream about. We didn't encourage the dogs with any scraps and we certainly
did not stroke any of them (dirty little mutts), but they all seemed innocent
enough and quiet if not friendly, but after we had all finished eating,
the food over was handed out to the shepherds and their children in the
form of ham and cheese and salad rolls, and bags of lettuce and tomatoes,
and for the pigs, all the swill resulting from the lettuce and other vegetables
used in the salad. So everyone benefited, even the local hospice (just
a dirty brick building with a small shop and rather disgusting loos but
at least we were able to use them and rinse our hands under the tap, hence
the strict regime of disinfecting our hands every time we used the loos
when we stopped.
At one stage, we experienced the necessity of relieving ourselves without
the aid of modern conveniences. The men went one way in a small wooded
area and the women went the other. It is at times like these one wishes
one was a man and could just open our flies without having to strip ourselves
half naked and crouch in the undergrowth. Of course, yours truly had to
choose a place with some rather long stems of grass, which tickled my
posterior regions as I crouched so I made a rather ungainly spectacle
of myself jumping around every time something touched me in a rather intimate
place! Then the ceremony of the trowel – burying the tissue we used in
the ground so that we didn't pollute the local area of scenic beauty!
I am sure this is going to be the first of many occasions when we will
need to wander off, trowel in hand, to seek out similar places for similar
purposes.
If you’d like to contact Iris, whether to wish her luck with her
trip or to ask questions about her itinerary and places visited, I am
sure she would like to hear from you. She can be contacted on: irisej2002@yahoo.co.uk
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Sent in by Bretislav in the Czech Republic, spotted
on cbc.ca
ST. JOHN'S – A woman who fell asleep on a flight
to Newfoundland and wound up in England has been offered 15,000 bonus
aeroplan miles by the airline. Air Canada apologized to Catherine Coyle
late Monday and offered her the air miles for her troubles. The airline
also said she was partly responsible for falling asleep on the 90-minute
flight from Halifax to St. John's and not waking up on time. Last
Thursday, the Cole Harbour, N.S., woman was on a flight to visit her ill
mother. She fell asleep and woke up to hear the pilot announce a 4-hour
flight time. The plane was half an hour out of St. John's heading
for London. Coyle had apparently slept through the landing at St. John's
and a 30-minute stopover before the flight for England. No one had tried
to wake her up to check her ticket. The pilot refused to turn the plane
around and she had to continue to Heathrow airport, where she waited two
hours for a return flight.
Write in and tell us your jokes, anecdotes, mishaps,
funny things you’ve seen! Drop a line to the Beetle! E-mail
the Beetle.
U. S. Soldiers Home Mac: during a century of travel (well 78 years!)
both in and out of service I have travelled to over 150 countries (I count
both North and South Dakota as countries) and for some reason have jotted
signs and happenings that I thought funny at the time (and now wonder
why!) So here is the perfect opportunity to share some of my anecdotes.
Here at the soldier’s home, we have just had some visitors from
London’s Royal Chelsea Hospital. Wonderful people: an officer and
his wife and four residents in their signature bright red coats. One time
when I was in England I went out on my own to the Royal Chelsea Hospital
and spent a few hours.
One of the members told me that Nell Gwynn, the mistress of King Charles
II saw some war veterans searching for food so she proposed to king Charles
that he build a shelter for them. He jokingly said he would build one
the size of her handkerchief. She then proceeded to unravel her handkerchief
by pulling out the threads from it to make a big circle for the size of
first home for the soldiers.
Maybe a tall tale but I think we here at our retired military home should
toast Nell anyway as we got ideas for our home from England. The person
that told me this said that he thought they should have a statue on their
grounds of Nell in gratitude. Maybe we should have one here too as our
retired military home was copied after England’s.
When I visited the London soldier’s home, it seemed to me that
the iron fence around the grounds even looked like ours or ours theirs.
The top position in our home was Governor (like England) until a few years
ago when it was changed to title of Director. We have garden plots just
like the ones in the UK.
If you would like to contact Mac, he is happy to answer any questions
even if some of his information may be a little out of date. Mac can be
e-mailed at:macsan400@yahoo.com
The Beetle likes the Aussie slang website
spotted by our eagle eyed webmaster.
Having just come back from Australia, she noticed a propensity
to end as many words as possible with “ie” as in, being asked
by an air hostess, would you like “brekkie” i.e. breakfast.
A barbecue is a barbie, football, footie and so on.
The website also provides the translations to mysterious
words like “onya” and the use of G’day and ‘oroo.
Incidentally, back to the site’s home page, there’s also an
English to American dictionary (and vice versa) British, Canadian and
American words.
If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell.
Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website
and share it with the world. Travel Sized Bites
Last July's trek over the 5600-meter (18,300 foot) high Parang La
pass from Spiti, a remote high-altitude Tibetan Buddhist region in the
north Indian State of Himachal Pradesh, to the vast, electric blue Tso
Moriri lake on the high Changtang Plateau in Western Ladakh was a trip
that we are all still raving about.
The scenery is spectacular and the wildlife and meetings with the nomads
who inhabit this area are unforgettable. It was the perfect trek–just
long enough to get into it and begin to feel that body and mind have been
transformed (nine days including two rest days). It was a group from Switzerland
that joined us. We'll be leading this 21-day trip again next July
(2003), and we're already looking forward to it. The drive into the
Himalayas follows a stunning route that really shows off the grandeur
and extent of these mountains and valleys. We toured, while at the same
time acclimatizing to the altitude, in Kullu, Lahaul and Spiti, not far
from Tibet and very much like it, before actually starting the walk.
In the lush, heavily forested Kullu Valley at the foot of the Great
Himalayan Range we visited ancient temples, the bazaar town of Manali,
and Naggar, the valley's ancient capital and home to the Roerich Gallery.
Nikolai Roerich, philosopher, mystic, occultist and painter, who was,
strangely enough, responsible for getting the pyramid with the eye put
on the US one dollar bill, was so taken with the beauty of this valley
that he made Naggar his home and painted splendid scenes of the mountains.
We walked through the impressive forest around Naggar to start stretching
our legs and lungs.
We drove over the mighty 14,000-foot Rohtang Pass into Lahaul, a land
of mountains, glaciers and mighty waterfalls. We were now in the heart
of the Himalayas. We crossed the Kunzum Pass and stopped at the top to
look at the chortens (Buddhist reliquary mounds) and Hindu temples, the
area strung with a multitude of, colorful, fluttering prayer flags, and
of course to admire the views. As we drove down the pass into Spiti a
herd of yaks came storming down the mountainside looking like big dogs
at play. What a sight! In Spiti we toured villages and dramatically perched
monasteries, repositories of Tibetan art and sculpture, with lively populations
of traditional people and maroon-robed lamas. It's a magnificent region,
the place where the Indian subcontinent first made contact with the Asian
mainland in that long-ago collision of continents that created the Himalayas.
On the morning the trek began our horses and crew assembled below our
hotel and loaded the supplies, gear and tents (dining and lounge tent,
kitchen tent and sleeping tents) while we started walking, carrying only
our small daypacks. It took us about 4 hours to reach our first camp with
a stop for lunch on the way. After reaching camp we had steaming bowls
of noodle soup and tea and biscuits prepared by Sonam, our ever-smiling
cook, and we began to take in this amazing place. What a spot it was:
nestled in a bowl of mountains with gorgeous peaks in every direction
and low growing shrubs covered in yellow flowers (caragana brevifolia).
We spent a rest day there to acclimatize and get into being in the high
mountains. Some of us did a walk to a spot on the edge of a cliff over
a river valley from where we had a view of the Parang La pass.
But it would be another two days of steep walking before we'd cross
it. The pass is 18,300 feet high, so even though we started walking high
in Spiti, at about 16,000 feet, we still had altitude to gain. These paths
are made for walking, for they are used by nomads, shepherds and traders
from Tibet, so even though we were gaining altitude the going was not
that difficult, no big steps or leaps, though some of the grades were
fairly steep. Our legs and lungs were getting a really good stretch now.
It felt as though we were on another planet and all thoughts of the “real
world” were far away. We just concentrated on where we were, drinking
in the sublime beauty of it all.
This trek has everything: the Parang La pass with great views in every
direction, an easy walk over a glacier on the other side, then three days
of great, full-stride, nearly level walking through a valley with hallucinogenic
formations, two river crossings, which were good fun as we all held hands
and waded through the knee-deep water, and finally, the lake, Tso Moriri-amazing
to come upon such a huge lake in these high mountains-truly awesome. Surrounded
by “soft” cream-coloured hills-a dramatic contrast to the rugged,
jagged mountain scenery we had been walking through-and meadows where
Changpas (nomadic shepherds) graze their flocks of pashmina goats and
yaks, Tso Moriri is a vast expanse of azure water, a blue that is other-worldly,
truly electrifying.
The colour of the lake changes throughout the day depending on the light.
And at times parts of it seem to disappear as if “captured”
by the reflections of the tan peaks behind it. On the 9-day trek we saw
herds of yak, marmots, kiang (wild horses), wild goats, bar-headed geese-mothers
and fathers bobbing on the lake with their goslings-lammergeiers (gigantic
vultures), and the nomads living in their yak hair tents. And the wildflowers!
The Swiss were amazed to see edelweiss growing in such profusion. After
a rest day at the lake and a climb up on the ridges behind it for great
views, we walked up the lakeshore to the village of Karzok, one of those
frontier villages that looks as if it's at the end of the world. And
then the drive to Leh, capital of Ladakh, India's “little Tibet,”
with its fascinating bazaars and palace, a mini-Potala, and the world's
highest polo field.
Flying back to Delhi, where the trip began, the Himalayan ranges spread
out below us. We toured Old and New Delhi, appreciated the architecture
and urban design of the British Raj, visited colorful temples, markets,
beautiful parks and the Qutab Minar, Asia's tallest ancient minaret.
We rode through Old Delhi in bicycle rickshaws and wandered the narrow,
winding lanes of its colorful bazaars. Martin and Carol Noval have
been living in India for more than twenty years and organize and lead
several special cultural tours and treks a year for small groups. They'll
be doing this trek again next summer; it's one of their favourites.
If you would like to get in touch, email them attripsintoindia@usa.netand check their website (www.tripsintoindia.com).
According to the Geneva-based Aircraft Crashes Records
Office, fewer people died in aircraft crashes last year than at any time
since 1947, according to figures released this week. The records are based
on most aircraft with the capacity to carry six passengers in its calculations
and include commercial and private flights, rescue aircraft, cargo planes
and military transporters.
The death toll was 1,379 worldwide and the total number
of accidents, 154, was the lowest for 37 years.
Most of the serious incidents took place in the first
half of the year, with three major crashes in May. That month saw the
year's worst accident in Taiwan, involving a China Airlines Boeing
747-200, which killed 225 people.
Although around 45 percent of accidents were in North
and South America that was a 14 percent reduction on the previous year.
Crash figures in Asia, however, rose by 15 percent. Europe saw a 4 percent
drop in accident numbers, but in Africa the figure rose by 5 percent.
The 46 crashes in the United States mostly involved small
planes. There were no deaths on commercial or cargo aircraft in the US
according to the Federal Aviation Administration.
~~~~~~~~
Australian aviation authorities have warned that the country's
air links with Papua New Guinea could be severed at the end of
January 2003 because of concerns over safety standards. The well used
daily service between the capital Port Moresby and Cairns, flown by Air
Niugini, is under threat unless PNG's civil aviation authority
matches up to international air safety requirements.
~~~~~~~~
A passenger travelling club class on a British Airways
flight from London to Los Angeles was found dead in a bathroom. A newspaper
report said the middle-aged man, who is believed to be a Swiss national,
was found hanged.
Members of the cabin crew broke into the bathroom after
it had been closed for 30 minutes and concerns were raised about the person
inside. A doctor who was on the flight tried to save the man, but he was
already dead.
~~~~~~~~
In 2003 British Airways is going to withdraw services
from Leeds-Bradford and Cardiff. In April 2003 it will begin
flying from London City Airport for the first time, launching three
new routes to Frankfurt, Paris and Glasgow. BA also plans a major boost
to its Manchester flights, adding more capacity and three new routes.
The bad news is that BA plans to cut 21 routes to be announced.
~~~~~~~~
Scandinavian airline SAS have just announced a
low fare private travellers program from March 30, 2003, serving European
destinations where SAS does not normally operate.
Although the new service will have its own identity, it
will not be a separate airline. The as-yet unnamed operation will be a
business unit of SAS.
Travellers will be able to fly from Copenhagen to Alicante,
Athens, Bologna, Lisbon, Malaga, Palma de Mallorca, Pristina and Sarajevo.
Flights are also planned from Stockholm Arlanda to Alicante, Athens, Barcelona,
Bologna, Budapest, Dublin, Istanbul, Malaga, Nice, Prague and Rome.
“It should be inexpensive and easy to travel. Travellers
will experience a totally new concept. We offer only one-way trips, one
class, no advanced booking rules and tickets must be booked and paid at
the same time,” said Eva-Karin Dahl, who is responsible for the new
concept. Passengers will also pay for on-board food and drink.
A unique Internet site is being developed for ticket sales
but, initially, tickets will be available via SAS's ordinary sales
channels as well as through agents.
~~~~~~~~
Middle East carrier Gulf Air, owned by Bahrain,
Abu Dhabi and Oman, is to launch the region's first all-economy class,
full service airline later this year aimed largely at the leisure market
and the large number of overseas workers in the area.
The airline, which will operate under its own name and
have its own livery, will make its first flight from Abu Dhabi, capital
of the United Arab Emirates, in June.
According to a recent UN report, more women are now infected with HIV/Aids
than men and more than 40 million people, globally are now living with
the disease. Around the world, 5m people were newly infected with the
virus in the past year and almost 25% of these were children under the
age of 15.
Southern Africa remains at the epicentre of the Aids disaster: an estimated
30% of the adult population in four countries – Botswana, Lesotho, Swaziland
and Zimbabwe are infected with HIV/AIDS. The UNAids states: “In four
southern African countries, national adult HIV prevalence has risen higher
than thought possible. The food crises faced in three of these are linked
to the toll of their longstanding HIV/Aids epidemics, especially on the
lives of young, productive adults.” The report, entitled Aids Epidemic
Update 2002, warns that worse is still to come.
Officials have also warned of major epidemics in Eastern Europe, China
and India unless action is taken to tackle the disease.
However, among the growing tally of HIV infections, there have been
some success stories – in Brazil, for example, where prevention programmes
have had a massive impact, and in African countries such as Ethiopia and
South Africa.
