Category Archives: Sidebar

Write for the eNewsletter

If you enjoy writing & travelling, why not write for the free Globetrotters eNewsletter ! The Ant would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you. Over 14,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter eNewsletter.

Email The Ant at theant@globetrotters.co.uk with your travel experiences / hints & tips / questions. Your article should be approximately 1000 words, feature up to 3 or 4 jpeg photos and introduce yourself with a couple of sentences and a contact e-mail address.

GT Travel Award 2010

News the winner of the last award for 2009 has been confirmed…congratulations to Doreen Tayler. Whilst we wait to hear more from Doreens fantastic sounding adventures, we can briefly quote her in her own words:-

I am now back [in the UK] after having spent 4/5 weeks in India following in Kim’s footsteps from Rudyard Kipling’s famous novel Kim of 1901. Much has changed, but surprisingly, apart from the modes of transport and town expansions, much is the same. It was a great adventure, and I was treated with much kindness and curiosity by the locals, on this my first trip to India, where in the course of duty, I was at times way off the tourist trail.

Next award “ I believe that the deadline for receiving applications for the first award in 2010 is 30 April, but I will confirm ASAP once I have heard from the busy organisers

Background – A member of Globetrotters Club and interested in winning a £1,000 travel award ? Know someone who fits these criteria ? We have up to two £1,000 awards to give out this year for the best independent travel plan, as judged by the clubs Committee.

See the legacy page on the clubs web site, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent, travel trip. If your idea catches our eye we’ll take a closer look at what youre proposing !!

Mac says

mac Regular contributor Mac ruminates on the world of travel & some of his adventures along the way.

This time round heÂ’s pondering over Budget Travel Magazine

asking its readers to name which they think is the most beautiful city in the world. The results will be in their October edition but they have already had many responses and they seem to be going something like this:-

  • Paris seems to be the winner with something like 20
  • Vancouver had something like 16
  • Prague got about 10
  • Florence, Italy about 7
  • Rio De Janeiro about 8
  • Capetown, South Africa about 6
  • Venice about 13
  • Sydney about 4
  • Oia Santorini (on island of Santorini) about 4
  • Dubrovnik about 3
  • Istanbul about 2 (should have had more)
  • Seville about 2
  • Charleston South Carolina two
  • Barcelona, Spain (maybe 2)
  • Santa Barbara, California 2
  • Cinque Terre (think five towns on coast in Italy ) 2
  • San Francisco, California 2
  • St Petersburg, Russia 2
  • Hong Kong 2 (should have had more)
  • Edinburgh, Scotland maybe 2
  • Positano, Italy maybe 2

As I said this is not a scientific list

You might want to make up your own list…I will mine later. Add any cities you wish. I think many just voted for their own home town.

My choices would be Rio De Janeiro, Hong Kong, Paris, I will refine list later. Can you think of any cities left off that you think

should be considered and which ones do you think should be dropped ?

Mac – my choices would be, in no particular order of preference:-

  • · New York
  • · Istanbul
  • · Rio de Janeiro
  • · Florence
  • · New Orleans
  • · Perth/Freemantle
  • · Varanasi, India
  • · Bangkok
  • · Capetown
  • · Halifax, Nova Scotia
  • · Prague

The common denominator is that they are mostly places IÂ’ve visited with long standing friends on long trips or as part of quick escapes ! The sights, tastes & sounds still resonate and I would head back to all of them at a momentÂ’s notice…

The Ant

Help offered

Hi,

at the Adventure Travel Show we came to an agreement with The Travel Bookshop that we have free entrance to their weekly talks…there would normally be £3 entrance fee). Members need to show their Globetrotter membership cards.

All talks start at 7pm and it is recommended to book a place in advance by emailing: post@thetravelbookshop.com or saara@the travelbookshop.com or ringing them on 020 7229 5260

Their website is www.thetravelbookshop.com to find out about the talks. Upcoming meetings for February are on 23rd and 25th.

Also Wanderlust has offered a free copy of the book “Weird World” for any Globetrotter members who subscribe to Wanderlust.

Best wishes,

Francesca

Publicity and PR officer, Globetrotters club

Write for the eNewsletter

If you enjoy writing & travelling, why not write for the free Globetrotters eNewsletter ! The Ant would love to hear from you: your travel stories, anecdotes, jokes, questions, hints and tips, or your hometown or somewhere of special interest to you. Over 14,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter eNewsletter.

Email The Ant at theant@globetrotters.co.uk with your travel experiences / hints & tips / questions. Your article should be approximately 1000 words, feature up to 3 or 4 jpeg photos and introduce yourself with a couple of sentences and a contact e-mail address.

GT Travel Award 2010

Next award – I believe that the deadline for receiving applications for the first award in 2010 is 30 April, but I will confirm ASAP once I have heard from the busy organisers J

Background – A member of Globetrotters Club and interested in winning a £1,000 travel award ? Know someone who fits these criteria ? We have up to two £1,000 awards to give out this year for the best independent travel plan, as judged by the clubÂ’s Committee.

See the legacy page on the clubÂ’s web site, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent, travel trip. If your idea catches our eye we’ll take a closer look at what youÂ’re proposing !!

Web sites to muse about travel to:-

From Francesca Jaggs re the oil company Chevron & the indigenous peoples of Ecuador – http://www.avaaz.org

From Matt Doughty after visiting the Adventure Travel Show in London at the end of January:-

sarah outen – round the world solo rower… http://www.sarahouten.co.uk

Ali Hendessi from Kootch Adventure talks knowledgeably about Iran http://www.kootch-adventure.com/

Leigh Purnell – round the world in a black cab http://www.itsonthemeter.com/

Mac says

https://globetrotters.co.uk/newsletter/wp-content/uploads/sites/2/2010/12/mac-small.jpgRegular contributor Mac ruminates on the world of travel & some of his adventures along the way

This time round he’s recalling Peru, via a few anecdotes:-

  • One time employees of the US State Department chartered a plane for a sightseeing holiday in Peru. As they needed more to fill plane they allowed some non employees to go at a reasonable price. Two of us from AFRH went. When we got to Cuzco my friend from the home got sick in the middle of the night from the altitude and all he could say was “Mac Oxygen”. I ran to the desk and hollared oxygen and they summed up situation immediately and brought oxygen giving him a gulp at a time. When he came to I said Hampton (his name) if you had died I didn’t know how I was going to get you down from this Mountain and back to the home. So I told him I was going to tell that his dying words were that he wanted to be buried up here with the Indians.
  • At the airport leaving Peru a couple that worked for Blue Cross who we had became friends with were having some Inca Cola when she decided she wanted to look at the jewellery in display. She was a tall stunning blonde and wore a fancy shawl over her shoulders. They brought a card with jewellery on it and one piece got caught. It was then explained to me that the vendor called over the police and they arrested our friends for stealing jewellery. I went up to the pilot and explained what happened – they said they already knew as the Embassy had phoned them. They took her to one jail where there were some prostitutes that had been picked up and took him to a different jail. The lady allegedly “jewel thief” later said that the prostitutes were very nice and sympathized with her. The couple when they did get out of jail had to pay their own way back to the States etc. They got even with Peru though as they wrote up in detail about the incident and it was published in the Seven Day Adventist paper to warn tourists to skip looking at the jewellery at the airport !
  • Another on the trip told me that one time before she had been in Peru and a nice dressed gentleman struck up a conversation with her as she was waiting for a taxi. He offered to help her and she turned away and the diplomatic gentleman and her luggage were gone…Ha.