The South American Explorers Club are looking for new volunteers and interns in their Buenos Aires Clubhouse as they are expanding the services they offer. There are many exciting volunteer opportunities available for adventurous travellers in the Southern Cone. While Buenos Aires has razzle-dazzle nightlife and neighbourhoods made for shopping and exploring, take some time to volunteer with organizations assisting the needy throughout the city. You’ll see a side of Buenos Aires that few travellers do. Helping children with schoolwork, serving food at a community kitchen, and collecting food for the hungry are just a few of the opportunities available. If you are interested, contact: explorer@saexplorers.org
Category Archives: enewsletter
Mac's Travel Reminiscences
Mac has not been very well but is still e-mailing strong. Here is an account by Paul Haring, a US journalist writing about Mac’s exploits during WW2. The article is entitled: The ‘Greatest Generation.’
The World War II generation, called by Tom Brokaw the “Greatest Generation,” is well represented at the Soldiers and Airmen’s Home in Washington. Now rounding out the twilight of their lives, these veterans are the last living link to history that is fast taking its place among the annals of textbook knowledge. In honour of Veterans Days, here are excerpts from the lives of four World War II veterans who live at the home. (We have produced the one about Mac.)
Our Friends Ryanair
More news re Ryanair who have been told by the UK’s Office of Fair Trading(OFT) to remove their small print in their ticket info over their attempt to avoid paying compensation for damaged and lost baggage. Ryanair was refusing any liability for damage or delay to prams, sporting equipment, such as golf clubs, wheelchairs and musical instruments. Following the watchdog’s intervention, this get-out clause has now been dropped. The airline made passengers go through a whole host of red-tape when someone tried to make a compensation claim for lost baggage, requiring the traveller to report an item lost and then wait for 21 days to see if it turned up. They would then have to make a second claim, filling out a form, within the following 21 days or their claim would be rejected. Ryanair has now been ordered to drop the need to make the second report, which was seen as an obstacle to fair compensation. Ryanair also required passengers making a claim for damaged or delayed baggage to fill out a long and complex so-called ‘Property Irregularity Report’. This has now been dropped. Ryanair has also been told it must guarantee proper compensation and, if appropriate, overnight accommodation when it cancels or delays flights without good reason. The OFT has also put other budget operators on notice that they should not try to get out of treating customers fairly.
Michael O’Leary, the chief executive of Ryanair has ordered his entire fleet to serve only Fairtrade tea and coffee, which are generally regarded as more expensive than rival brands. After a successful trial period, Ryanair has switched from Kraft’s Carte Noir to a little-known brand with the Fairtrade stamp of approval, a certification that guarantees farmers and producers in the developing world are paid a fair price for their crops. The airline’s updated menu card now bears the distinctive blue and green Fairtrade logo alongside its new supplier, Saile & Sabga. Instead of accepting some kudos for attempting to be green (apart from the climate change implications of flying, that is,) Mr O’Leary insists that the switch is designed to save money, saying, “The fact that our new tea and coffee supplier is a Fairtrade brand is a welcome bonus, but the decision was based on lowering costs. We’d change to a non-Fairtrade brand in the morning if it was cheaper.” Supporters of the Fairtrade system say Ryanair’s conversion is proof that buying Fairtrade is not only principled, but also prudent. “It’s all about the bottom line with O’Leary, so it demonstrates to other businesses that buying Fairtrade is not just an act of generosity by the well- intentioned,” said Peter Gaynor, executive director of Fairtrade Ireland. “It can also make sound financial sense.”
Being Careful: Zambia
The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office advise against all but essential travel to parts of the north western Copperbelt, Central and Luapula provinces, which are close to the border with the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), particularly after dark. There are continuing reports of armed cross-border raids from the DRC. You should also be aware of landmines in this area, and on the borders with Angola and Mozambique.
The threat from terrorism is low. But you should be aware of the global risk of indiscriminate terrorist attacks which could be against civilian targets, including places frequented by foreigners.
Around 100,000 British tourists visit Zambia every year and most visits are trouble free, although armed robberies and car hijackings are on the increase. The main types of incident for which British nationals require consular assistance in Zambia are for stolen passports and drug and immigration offences.
We strongly recommend that you obtain comprehensive travel and medical insurance before travelling. You should check any exclusions, and that your policy covers you for the activities you want to undertake.
Globetrotters Travel Award
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!!
Russian Driving
Mosnews, the Moscow based online daily newspaper recently reported a Goodyear poll researching why Russians are among the worse drivers in Europe. They report that being such bad drivers can be largely attributed to a penchant for getting a little overly amorous while behind the wheel. Around 25 per cent of those quizzed for the Goodyear poll admitted to mobile rumpy-pumpy, and a fair percentage of those also admitted driving while drunk, chatting on the mobile, jumping red lights, not wearing a seatbelt and breaking the speed limit. 30 per cent have driven while drunk, while 36 per cent “regularly” exceed the speed limit. So be careful when driving in Russia!
In Bad Taste: the Crippendales
The British gave us the Full Monty, the Americans gave us the Chippendales, and now there is a troupe of disabled male strippers, who self-mockingly call themselves The Crippendales. The group of men are the subject of a new documentary which has been selected for the New York Film Festival. The film, which carries the tagline, “They might not have legs, but do they have the balls?” was screened for an audience of stroke survivors and “brought the house down”, according to a member of the group Different Strokes.
Climate Change and Flying
The Kyoto Protocol is the only global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions, though its attempts at reducing emissions and the effects of climate change are limited. The world’s biggest polluter, the United States, has rejected the protocol and it is not binding on emerging boom economies such as India and China. According to the US Environment protection Agency, in 1997, the United States emitted about one-fifth of total global greenhouse gases.
The UK has signed up to the requirements of the Kyoto Protocol and agreed to cut carbon dioxide emissions by 60 percent by 2050. Great news – except that a recent study conducted by Oxford University’s Environment Change Institute for the government-funded UK Energy Research Centre states that CO2 emissions from aviation in Britain are set to surge by between four and ten times 1990 levels by the middle of the century, accounting on their own for two-thirds of the government’s emission target for that year.
Therefore, the study says, the UK government must curb the huge expansion in air travel or risk overshooting its self-imposed target. UK government policy, however, is currently actively promoting airport expansion which could see passenger numbers more than double from 200 million to 470 million a year by 2030. “Unless the rate of growth in flights is curbed, the UK cannot fulfil its commitments on climate change. It has to undertake demand management. Relying on technological fixes alone is totally unrealistic,” said a spokesperson for the study.
Compulsory Golf Lessons in China
Golf, once frowned upon by China’s Communist Party, is now enjoyed by the country’s rich and powerful, and has grown in popularity in recent years. News comes from the China Daily newspaper that golf lessons are going to be made compulsory for some students at Xiamen University in Fujian province. The president of Xiamen University in south-east China was quoted as saying it would help produce “socially elite people with the best education”. Those majoring in management, law, economic and software engineering courses would “be required” to take the course, reports. One critic accused the university of “vulgar elitism.”
Bradt Travel Guides and Pub Quizzes
Bradt Travel Guides are holding a pub and travel quiz with other travel companies at various UK venues. Below are some of the destinations: Tue 7th Nov ’06 in Oxford at Smollensky’s, 17 Park End Rd, Oxford, OX1 1HU. Thu 9th Nov ’06 in Manchester at Stanfords, 39 Spring Gardens, Manchester, M2 2BG. Wed 15th Nov ’06 in Glasgow at O’Neill’s Pub, Merchant Square, 71 Albion St, Glasgow, G1 1NY. Sun 19th Nov ’06 in Edinburgh at The Chancer, 30-32 Bread St. Edinburgh, EH3 9AF. Wed 22nd Nov ’06 in Norwich at the Gardener’s Arms, 2-8 Timber Hill, Norwich, NR1 3LB. Thu 23rd Nov ’06 in London at the Hammersmith Ram, 81 King St, London, W6 9HW