A UK conservation group recently said that whale meat caught under Japan's “research” programme is so abundant it is being sold as pet food. The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society (WDCS) say that thousands of tonnes of whale meat has been stockpiled as more animals are killed each year. The Japanese government has attempted to sell the whale meat to schools but the price has continued to fall. “A quiet whale meat boom is starting,” says the website hakudai.com. “The number of pet-owners who care about their animals' health are growing, recognising the nutritious value of whale meat,” it adds.

There's a new car rental company started called the bio-beetle, the worlds first truly ECO rental car company in the world who power all their cars on vegetable oil biodiesel. Based in Los Angeles California and Maui, Hawaii right now and growing. Take a look at http://www.bio-beetle.com

Easyjet one of the UK's low cost airlines has just announced flights to three new destinations: London Luton to Rijeka starting 30^th June and also to Istanbul starting 29^th June plus London Gatwick to Marrakesh starting 4^th July. See their website.

Spotted by Tony of London: ever needed to know what the time was half way round the world? This website tells you the current time just about anywhere in the world.

In considerably bad taste, here's a website that offers tours to see Schappelle Corby in her prison cell in Bali.

The Space Adventures company, the American company that arranged for multi millionaire tourists to hitch a ride into space on Russian rockets is planning to turn Singapore into the world's main centre for space tourism. The company wants to set up its own launch pad and astronaut training centre on Singapore and also make the price of a space flight more affordable. Space Adventures currently charges $20m (£11.5m) per passenger to arrange a ride into orbit on a Russian spacecraft. But it says the new service will be a comparative snip at $102,000 (£59,000) a head.

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter – get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet – create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.

Sometimes you don't know you're being conned, but here's a scam surely to end all scams: a fake Zimbabwean traditional healer has been found guilty of scamming a businesswoman out of $30,000 to pay for “mermaids” to recover her stolen car. The healer said that money was necessary to import the mermaids from the UK and put them up in a local hotel and also to pay for a bull, whose genitals would supposedly help find the thief of her luxury vehicle. The woman healer also asked for money to buy mobile phones to contact the mermaids.

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

Chris needs your ideas: he is planning to travel to India buy an Enfield motorbike and ride it back to the UK. If anyone has any information or knows any websites that could help him, please contact him on: glanrid@tiscali.co.uk

Can anyone help Bob? Here is his appeal: please don't think I'm a bona fide nut but I am going daffy trying to think of the international association of people who partake of exotic and eccentric foods. It's a well known “club”, of sorts, but the name eludes my friends and I. If anyone can shed some light on our dilemma, we'd love to hear from you – many thanks, Bob. E-mail address: ching3us@yahoo.com

At a time when if you lock your case flying from the US, it will be forcibly opened and searched, news comes in from the Bureau of Transportation Statistics that more bags were lost, damaged, delayed or pilfered by U.S. airlines last year than in at least eight years.

Reports of mishandled bags on domestic flights rose 23 percent in 2005, from 4.91 per 1,000 passengers in 2004 to 6.04 per 1,000. That's an average of about 9,700 lost or damaged bags each day.

Of the 20 carriers that reported to the Transportation Department, Atlantic Southeast Airlines had the highest rate of baggage complaints — 17.41 per 1,000 passengers — and Hawaiian Airlines had the lowest, at 2.95 per 1,000.

The European Union has issued a blacklist banning 92 airlines from operating in the region, stating that they fail to meet international standards. Most of the airlines are African based, including 50 carriers from the Democratic Republic of Congo, 14 from Sierra Leone and seven from Swaziland. The list is available from the BBC here.