True to her word, Christina in Texas held a slide show on a weird and wacky take on Americana over the ages at the New Braunfels Public Library. Thanks to Jon and Beth for sharing their great slides and stories. A magnificent 12 people attended and to start the theme, Christina organized a door prize of a “classic” US Travel Atlas. Trish has loved Globetrotters for 9 years, and won, so congratulations to Trish! The show was thoroughly enjoyed by all – and all that was missing was the popcorn!
Category Archives: enewsletter
What you did not know about Richard Burton
Sir Richard Francis Burton was born in 1821 in the UK and studied Arabic at Oxford University. He joined the British Indian Army where he mastered many more languages. He has been described variously as “brilliant and eccentric” but also as “one of those men who could never do wrong”. His major claim to fame lay in the controversy surrounding his involvement with the quest for the source of the Nile and also translating the 16 volumes of “The Tales of the Arabian Nights” and the Kama Sutra.
He was an explorer, an excellent linguist – said to speak over 29 languages, a writer, soldier and an excellent swordsman. He also loved travelling in disguise and in 1853 he entered the forbidden cities of Medina and Mecca, disguised as an Arab pilgrim. No account of Burton would be complete without a quick discussion of John Hanning Speke. In contrast to Burton, Speke was not very good at languages, and by all accounts, not terribly bright. Speke’s great passion was big game hunting and this was one of his motivating reasons for joining an expedition to seek the source of the Nile and also open up hitherto unexplored parts of Africa.
In 1856 the British Royal Geographical Society invited Burton to lead an expedition in search of the source of the Nile. Speke was part of the expedition. The two found Lake Tanganyika but both were too ill to explore the lake. Burton’s legs were paralysed through malaria and Speke was almost blind as a result of a beetle getting into his ear. They both returned to Tabora and whilst Burton was recovering, Speke made a trip north to Lake Victoria and guessed that this was the source of the White Nile – an inspired guess that was not confirmed by Livingstone and Stanley many years later. This started the disagreement between Burton and Speke. Burton was too ill to travel back to England, so Speke arrived back in London first. When Burton returned, he discovered that Speke had taken most of the credit for the discovery of Lake Tanganyika and that Speke had upstaged him.
Burton and Speke remained bitter public rivals. Mysteriously, Speke died after meeting with Burton the night before Speke was going to give a public talk about finding the source of the White Nile. About 14 years later, Burton was appointed British Consul to Trieste where he wrote around 43 books and translated many other texts. Queen Victoria knighted Burton in February 1886 and he died on Oct. 20, 1890, in Trieste.
Testimonial
Susan and Christina met at the first Globetrotters TX Branch meeting in July 2001. They have become good friends and will be travelling together to the Grand Canyon in November. Christina visits a National Park every year and Susan is ready to start the same tradition. They are doing budget travel together – exploring their options and having a trip to talk about. They’ll report on their trip at the December meeting.
The next Globetrotter meeting will be held at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. From 3 – 5 p.m. on Saturday, November 10th, 2001.
Christina’s advice is to come early so you won’t be late! The Beetle’s is – come early and eat all the cookies! Handouts and refreshments will be available. Anybody want to help Christina or enquire about meetings, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk
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Tibet from Tom
Tom from North Carolina wrote in to tell us about his time in Tibet: we (a small group of 8) had the usual difficulty with our visa delaying our entry to Tibet from Katmandu by a day even though this was planned and paid for in advance. We had to pay a second time and our original visa fee was eventually returned. Chinese officialdom also confiscated my Swiss army knife before I was allowed to board the airplane to Lahasa.
We toured the country in a small bus with Tibetan driver and Chinese guide both very pleasant. In addition to Lhasa, the capital, we also visited Shigatse and Gyantse, the next two largest cities, really small towns. This meant long rides (10 hours one day) travelling on dirt roads with no guard-rails but great scenery – neat farms, spectacular lakes, snow-capped mountains with steep drops and yaks.
We ate delicious food outside at a “one table” roadside place at very low prices. All the Tibetan people were very gracious and pleasant. At one lunch stop (two tables) while our food was being prepared we observed the ladies of the town in a Tug-of-war contest being cheered on by their men. The four ladies in our group were invited to participate.
Other than the scenery, the highlight of the visit was the Potala Palace in Lahasa where we spent an entire day climbing all types of steps and ladders to the thirteen levels of that seat of the Dalai Lamas. That is why Tom now has a bionic left knee.
Not to be Seen Dead In?
The CNN website cites Robert Young Pelton’s book The World’s Most Dangerous Places and say that the top 10 most dangerous countries are: Chechnya, Sierra Leone, Colombia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Yemen, Southern Philippines, Algeria, Angola and South Africa.
Italian Food… Rome
Rob from New York (yes, he of hiking in Grand Canyon) recommends the L’Hosteria da Isidoro near the Coliseum in Rome. He says that you sit down and ask for the tastings and basically they just keep bringing trays of pasta to your table until you say uncle. The pasta and risottos are excellent and have a great variety. If your table can eat 15 of these trays, then you get your meal free. The most he has been able to eat is 9.
Want to tell us about your favourite coffee corner or watering hole? Then contact the Beetle: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
Travelling up the Northern Californian Coast
Peggy from San Francisco wrote in to tell us about travelling in Northern California: it’s a terrific time and the crowds have vanished and the summer fog replaced by mild weather. A trip up the Northern California coast is a journey into forests of giant redwood trees and along a beautiful wild coast. Take a soothing walk through the Roosevelt Forest. This forest of 800+ year old giant redwoods is the largest remaining old-growth redwood forest and a truly magical place. A little further north you can hunt for agates, jasper and jadeite on Agate Beach in Patrick’s Point State Park. In Redwood National Park you may have eagles, osprey, hawks or ravens soaring just over your head and see Roosevelt elk from less than 15 feet away. A Native American museum tucked among the trees is just one of the hidden treasures of this area. The North Coast of California has many inns and, for the adventurous, there’s lots of public parks among the trees and along the coast for camping. This wild and lovely side of California is only a 4 to 6 hour drive north of San Francisco.
Peggy has kindly offered to give advice to anyone interested in exploring the North California Coast, San Francisco Bay Area, and the Sierra Nevada Mountains. If you would like to take up Peggy’s offer, please contact her at: peggy.werner@gte.net
Reader's Information/Fave Website
From Ben and Elfriede from Texas would like to share with us their experiences with the 5W Group that is HQ’d in England. They have just got back from a 2-month vacation in Europe. “We stayed primarily with members of “Women Welcome Women World Wide“. What a great way to travel and meet new people! If you’re doing genealogy research, they can usually direct you to the libraries, etc. All of our hosts provided excellent accommodations, food, and also advised us or showed us the best sights to see in their communities.
Usually husbands and/or children are welcome too. We highly recommend the 5-W Group. We stayed with couples that included a lawyer, a civil court judge, a criminal court judge, a home economics teacher, a deep sea diver, a professor of Russian literature whose husband is a professor of Russian history, a doctor of chemistry, a young couple who are both dentists, and also an owner of a travel agency. The 5-W Group sends a booklet listing the name, e-mail address, home address, phone#, age, profession, type of accommodations, religion, and interests (some of which include genealogy) of over 3,000 women world wide.”
The Beetle say thanks a lot, Elfriede Ben – sounds like you had a great time! Has anyone got any other info and good experiences they would like to share? If so, contact the Beetle on: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
Globetrotter Travel Award
Under 24? A member of Globetrotters Club? Interested in a £1,000 travel award?
Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?
Then see our legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent travel trip and we’ll take a look at it. Get those plans in!!