The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office have just updated its advice for Kenya, Ethiopia and Djibouti, referring to a high risk of terror attacks.

The FCO website (www.fco.gov.uk/travel) warns visitors to the three countries to be highly vigilant in all areas frequented by foreign visitors, including hotels, nightclubs, shopping centres and restaurants.

The website has been changed to underline the continued threat from terrorism: ‘The Foreign Office continues to receive information that Westerners are at risk from terrorist attacks in areas frequented by foreigners.

‘In particular there is a potential threat against western interests in Nairobi, Kenya.’

Despite the current warnings, the Foreign Office has stopped short of advising against all non-essential travel to the three countries.

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

Wandsworth Museum

Housed in the old court house, this local museum collection shows the development of social history in the borough of Wandsworth from medieval times to the present day. You can find out about local life in Roman times and learn about the London’s first black mayor. There are plenty of interactive displays and quizzes to keep children occupied and amused.

Address: The Courthouse, 11 Garratt Lane, SW18 Telephone: 020 8871 7074

Admission times: Tues-Sat, 10am-5pm; Sun 2-5pm

Costs: Free

Disabled facilities: Wheelchair access

Web: www.wandsworth.gov.uk

Win a Moon Handbook on Guadalajara. See www.moon.com for info on Moon 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 Moon guide of Guadalajara is Gavin Fernandes, so please let us have your postal address, Gavin.

Under 30? 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!!

1. BOS Boston Logan
2. MXP Milan Malpensa
3. SYD Sydney
4. NAS Nassau, Bahamas
5. FEZ Fez, Morocco

0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!

1-3 – not bad

4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!

5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?

The Beetle likes www.bunk.com a directory of university-owned accommodation for all UK universities and colleges, available to rent outside of term time in the UK. It’s a great way of staying cheaply in a town or city. Check it out!

Ever been to Mexico and Guatemala and looked at the wonderful remains of the Mayan culture? Climbed the pyramids and wondered what went wrong? New research indicates that climate change was largely to blame for the collapse of the Mayan Civilisation over 1,000 years ago.

At the height of the Mayan era, around the middle of the 8th Century, there were up to 13 million people, but within 200 years, it was all over, cities ruined and people gone.

Archaeologists have shown that the Mayans built sophisticated systems of canals and reservoirs to collect rainwater for drinking in the hot, dry summers. Now scientists are able to prove that in the 9th and 10th Centuries, probably just before the Mayan civilisation collapsed, there was a long period of dry weather and three intense droughts caused by climate change and this contributed to the fall of the Mayans.

Some 21 million Britons take a package holiday every year, with three-quarters travelling with the “big four” – Thomson (TUI), MyTravel, Thomas Cook (JMC) and First Choice.

The Consumers’ Association surveyed 30,000 of its members and asked them to rank UK tour operators for value for money and quality of service. Most customers of the “big four” tour operators said that they would not recommend the holiday to a friend, when asked by the Consumers’ Association.

Customers of smaller independent travel firms seem to enjoy their holidays the most. More than eight out of 10 customers of travel company Laskarina said that they would recommend their holiday to a friend, for example.

At the other end of the scale, Thomas Cook (JMC), the UK’s oldest travel operator, came last in the Consumers’ Association survey for the second year running.

Only one in five Thomas Cook (JMC) customers said that they would recommend their holiday to a friend.

TUI, which owns the Thomson brand, did the best of the big four – 47% of its customers were satisfied.

However, the average for all independent travel companies surveyed was 66%. “When it comes to quality of service, the smaller independent holiday companies are topping the ratings,” Which? editor Helen Parker said.

Top UK Holiday Companies

• Laskarina
• Great Rail Journeys
• Swan Hellenic
• Tapestry Holidays

Bottom UK Holiday Companies

• JMC (Thomas Cook)
• First Choice
• Golden Sun
• Airtours
• Unijet

Source: bbcnews.co.uk

A major exhibition about the ill-fated transatlantic liner ‘Titanic’ will be on view at London’s Science Museum from May 16 to September.

“Titanic: the Artefact Exhibition” will take visitors on a chronological journey, from the design and construction of the vessel to its maiden voyage in 1912; and from its sinking after collision with an iceberg to the scientific recovery efforts made by RMS Titanic Inc. in the 1990s. These expeditions recovered 6,000 artefacts from the wreck, and hundreds of them – including jewellery, crockery, clothing and personal belongings – will be in the exhibition.

Visitors will be given the name of a passenger, and explore what it was like to be a first- or third-class passenger – and then discover if they were among the 1,523 who died, or the 705 who survived. Full-size recreations of some of Titanic’s interior spaces, including a first-class cabin, also feature. The tragic story comes alive in the iceberg room, where visitors will learn what it was like to be in the freezing waters of the North Atlantic. Admission prices have yet to be announced – entry to the rest of the Science Museum is free. Tel: 020 7938 8000. Website: The Science Museum

Source: Britain Express