Category Archives: Sidebar

Globetrotter Travel Award to the under 30s!

Under 30? Been a member of the Globetrotters Club for 2 years – or want to take out a 3 year subscription? 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? We have just made the first award to Mike Dodd, a 22 year old mechanical engineering student at Warwick University, to help him with his trip to Vietnam, Cambodia and Laos.

Seeour 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!!

Buddha"s Finger in Taiwan

Tens of thousands of Buddhists have turned out in Taiwan to welcome what is purported to be a finger of Buddha (who died 2,000 years ago) on its arrival for a month-long stay on the island. The relic, housed in a jewelled casket, was flown in to Taipei from China, where it is normally on display at a temple in Xian. It was then driven amid tight security through chanting crowds to be displayed at a stadium in the Taiwanese capital.

Several other relics believed to be parts of his body – including a number of teeth – are preserved in various monasteries in Asia. Buddhists waving yellow flags lined the streets to welcome the finger. Later, thousands attended a ceremony at a Taipei stadium where the finger was placed on an orchid-decorated platform for worship.

“Looking at the bone is like seeing the Buddha himself,” Chinese monk I Kong said. “We hope Buddha”s finger could inspire friendly love and peace across the Taiwan Strait,” he said. Taiwan and China separated amid civil war in 1949. In recent years, many Taiwanese have visited Chinese temples to worship and to view their rich collections of Buddhist scriptures and relics.

Travel Tips

Compression bags are amazing things. They can compress bulky items such as sleeping bags and fleeces into small and manageable packages. So take that fleece with you for cooler evenings but compress it!

Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: the Beetle!

Varig Brazil Air Pass

The pass is available to Brazilians and non Brazilians living outside Brazil when you buy an international ticket. It costs the same amount no matter what time of year you travel. It is valid for 21 days starting on the day of the first flight and can be used for flights in up to 9 cities throughout Brazil. Packages vary from US $530 to US $930.

Mutual Aid

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

The Seychelles in a Nutshell

The Seychelles are in the Indian Ocean, 1,000 miles away from the African coast and the island of Mauritius. The capital is Victoria on the largest island of Mahe (17 miles by 5 miles) and they are about 11 hours flying time from London.

They consist of 115 tropical islands with some amazing wildlife, for example, the huge tortoises that freely roam some islands. The people of the Seychelles are called the Seychellois and are a mix of Creole, Indian, Chinese, French and British. It is not an easy or cheap country to travel around cheaply and most of the food is imported, making it quite expensive to eat too.

A useless fact: the local beer is called Seybrew!

Mutual Aid

Paula would be grateful for some help or advice: she is a single female aged 43 and a diabetic who wants information on travel to Ireland. She is planning a trip either next August or December. She is interested in music, Irish culture, meeting Reform Jews in the area and would be grateful for any advice on the best places to visit. If you are a music lover please tell her where the best CD stores are and where she can hear the finest Irish music. She is interested in classical music, Irish folk, pub music and pop.

She also wants information on safe accommodations, diabetic food spots, where the nicest Jewish temples are and best times to visit.

Please e-mail or write to: Paula Hurwitz, 7545 Murray Hill Road, #832, Columbia, MD 21046 or e-mail phurwitz@erols.com

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

Don't Upset The Elephants!

They really do have long memories! Research by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology has shown that elephants have very long memories, large brains and are highly emotional. Orang-utans are the cleverest of non human primates and can perform complex tasks such as opening doors by choosing the right key from a bunch of keys. Squirrels have a brain proportionally 1.5 times bigger than humans and can remember where they have buried 10,000 nuts!