Are you UK based and planning to go on holiday in October or November, but haven't decided where? Do you fancy letting us plan it for you? If you want a holiday with a difference then call us on 023 80 712568 or email us at iwthol@granadamedia.com for an application form. (Please note, you have to pay for the holiday, but you get a fantastic itinerary and good prices.)

An American diver has been arrested for penetrating the Yongala, the wreck of a steamship. The Yongala is a popular wreck dive off Townsville, Queensland, Australia. It sank during a cyclone in 1911, resulting in the death of all on board. Despite being told twice that he was not allowed to go inside the wreck, our hapless diver ignored all warnings, was arrested and fined A$2000. If you dive wrecks, particularly where there has been a loss of life please be respectful of this, says the Beetle, and follow local guidelines.

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!!

From Webmaster Paul, Budget Flight Directory

In a bid to raise awareness about and discourage underground trade in human skin, there is currently an exhibition of human skin at an international business fair in Dar es Salaam.

Police in Tanzania have uncovered a ring that has been skinning people. A total of six young people are thought to have been killed and skinned in the Mbeya region of southwestern Tanzania. They say that the skins are in huge demand outside Tanzania and that they are transported to Malawi, Zambia, Mozambique, South Africa and the Democratic Republic of Congo before reaching their final destination in West Africa where they are used in witchcraft rituals.

The prices of the human skins range from $2,400 to $9,600, depending on the age of the victim, police say.

To search this and past issues of our E-newsletter, just enter a word or phrase below, select the search options and click the search button.

Begin PicoSearch Query Box

Re-launched in July 2002 from British European UK as carrier FlyBe is to launch a new West of England low fares base at Exeter International Airport in March next year. The UK’s third largest low fare airline will offer three daily flights to Alicante, Malaga and Murcia in Spain and three domestic flights to Belfast City, Edinburgh and Glasgow in the UK.

Domestic one-way fares will start at GBP£19 (USD$31) and on the Mediterranean routes at GBP£49.

Good news for air fatalities: Flight International's Airline Safety Review of the first six months of 2003 notes that the number of people who died in airline crashes in the first six months of this year nearly halved in comparison with the same period of 2002.

Between January and June 2003, 362 people around the world lost their lives in 12 fatal accidents. In 2002 there were 712 deaths and 18 fatal accidents.

The biggest cause of accidents is still “controlled flight into terrain” incidents (flying into mountains). The report states that airlines from poorer or more immature economies record most accidents, suggesting that safety standards and aviation safety cultures still need to be looked at.

Qantas have been having a hard time recently, and not just being affected by the recent Iraq war and SARS. Mid July, a Vietnamese passenger en route from Bangkok to Sydney was stabbed in the neck with a fork. In May, a man armed with sharpened wooden staves tried to force his way into the cockpit of a Qantas flight to Tasmania and hi-jack the plane. Despite this, Qantas remain one of the Beetle’s favourite airlines.

UK carrier Virgin Atlantic has announced the Upper Class Suite – reclining leather seats, more space for meals and the longest airline flat bed in the world for sleeping. Virgin says it will charge business class rates for a first class service. The service will be available on all of Virgin's Boeing 747-400 and Airbus A340-600 planes from this summer, and will be on all aircraft based at London Heathrow by spring 2004 and those at Gatwick by autumn 2004.