Pete Martin describes St Basil’s in Moscow, one of the many places around the world that has taken his breath away and he now calls his Transformational Moments.
I enter Red Square. It’s un- believable. I have that same feeling I got in Times Square, in Tiananmen Square, at the Grand Canyon and on the banks of the St. Lawrence River. I experienced a similar feeling at the Taj Mahal.
In these moments, I am lost for words, totally taken aback that I am here witnessing a sight that I did not think I ever would. I have a feeling of being alive and seeing some- thing I had previously only thing I had dreamed of.
Congratulations to Kay Grey who won a year’s membership of the Globetrotters Club in the Winter 2018 picture quiz by correctly naming the location in which this picture was taken.
The location in the photo is Song Kol in Kyrgyzstan. There were a few incorrect entries this time but the text gave enough clues to narrow it down…
Song Kol is the alpine lake that was mentioned. The traditional nomadic dwelling in the picture can be called a yurt or a ger as well as a few other names but the only national flag to depict the pinnacle of this construction set into a yellow sun on a red background is that of Kyrgyzstan.
Would you have got the answer right?
Why not have a go at the latest question?
Globe 2018 Spring Picture Quiz
Have a look at these pictures and read the clues to answer the question – where in the world is this?
One of the world’s oldest republics and also one of the world’s smallest independent nations, this landlocked mountainous microstate is said to have more vehicles than people!
The civil police are dressed in blue and yellow (below) and the national guard who are found outside public palaces (inset) are attired in a green and red uniform.
Mardi Gras, America – Carol M. Highsmith’s America, Library of Congress, Prints and Photographs Division.
From Mardi Gras and exploring the historic French Quarter to cocktail themed tours there is something for everyone in New Orleans, a place where centuries old architecture is the backdrop for all ventures. Here are 10 reasons why visitors should visit in 2017.
1) It is easier than ever to get there…
From 26th March, 2017 British Airways will launch a four times a week service from London Heathrow to New Orleans. The route will be operated by a three-class Boeing 787-8, with return fares starting from £599. This service marks the first direct flights from London to New Orleans since the early 1980s.
2) The city is a culinary adventure
In a city with more than 1,400 restaurants to choose from, New Orleans offers a variety of cuisines. From foodie festivals, street food, cooking schools and restaurants galore, there are endless options available that are sure to take taste buds on a culinary adventure. Local chefs and restaurants are constantly evolving, utilising local and seasonal ingredients that reflect the uniquely diverse culture of New Orleans.
Some of the best cuisine is showcased during the annual COOLinary New Orleans Restaurant Month each August, with restaurants offering special discounts.
3) New Orleans is one big stage
It is said that in New Orleans, music echoes from every corner. The city is the birthplace of jazz and a mecca for gospel, R&B and ultimately, the rock and pop many love today. Musical magic is alive on the streets and in the clubs of New Orleans. Witness an impromptu live performance on Royal Street, experience unbelievable live musical performances from intimate venues on Frenchmen Street to places like the Smoothie King Center.
4) Mardi Gras
For a few weeks in the early part of each year, dozens of brightly festooned, themed Mardi Gras floats carrying krewe royalty, celebrities, and masked members lead marching bands and riders on horseback, flambeaux carriers and others through the streets of New Orleans. They bestow beads, doubloons, and other prized trinkets to millions of revellers witnessing “the greatest show on Earth.”
Carnival season officially begins January 6 every year and continues through Fat Tuesday, which falls on the day before Ash Wednesday. This year’s parades will take place between January 6th and 28th February, 2017. Click here for the 2017 schedule.
5) A lot more reasons to party!
Celebration is at the core of the New Orleans’ experience, and to get a true taste of the city, every visitor should join in one of these unforgettable festivals. Whether it is music, food or the arts one loves (or all of the above), they’ll want to join in as New Orleans lets its hair down and declares, “laissez les bons temps rouler!” (let the good times roll). Visit this page for a calendar of events. Many of these are free – French Quarter Fest, Satchmo SummerFest, Po-Boy Preservation Festival, Wednesdays at the Square and, and of course, Mardi Gras.
6) Free things to do
New Orleans offers a plethora of free activities to choose from. Walk among the centuries-old oaks of City Park, picnic in the picturesque Audubon Park or enjoy views of the Mississippi River at Woldenberg Park. Stroll along Bourbon Street, Frenchmen Street and Fulton, where jazz pours out onto the street, or duck into a club for the full experience. Many clubs don’t even charge a cover. Explore New Orleans neighbourhoods and their connection to jazz with six self-guided Jazz History Walking Tours. Click here for a list of free things to do in New Orleans.
7) New Orleans will host NBA All-Star 2017
New Orleans has been selected to host NBA All-Star 2017. The 66th NBA All-Star Game will be played on Sunday 19th February, at Smoothie King Center – home of the New Orleans Pelicans. This will mark the third time New Orleans has been the site of the league’s annual midseason celebration, having previously hosted the event in 2008 and 2014.
8) Visit the River Road’s plantation homes
The River Road is an easy jaunt from New Orleans. This is where visitors will find several majestic plantations including Oak Alley, San Francisco, Laura, Destrehan, Houmas House and more. These homes will sweep visitors back in time with period furnishings, folk art and craft demonstrations, lush gardens, landscapes and more.
9) Cocktails and brews
In New Orleans, a great drink is just as important as a great meal. New Orleans’ signature drinks are almost as famous as the nightlife bars and hot spots that make them, check out this list for a list of New Orleans cocktails and where to enjoy a Sazerac, Hurricane or French 75. There are cocktail walking tours which tell you the history of the city whilst you taste some of these classics and you can even bring your drink from one bar to the next in a “cup to go”.
Beer enthusiasts should not miss the 8th annual NOLA on Tap Beer Fest. The one-day event, taking place in New Orleans City Park in September is the largest event of its kind in the region and allows beer aficionados to sample more than 400 local, regional and nationally homebrewed and microbrewery beers.
10) Museums
From food, culture to music, New Orleans has a museum for every scholar at every age. Learn about the cuisine of South East Louisiana at the Southern Food & Beverage Museum, celebrate fine arts at New Orleans Museum of Art, ride a hummer during the WWII Museum Victory Theatre’s 4D cinematic experience and discover where Mardi Gras is made at Blaine Kern’s Mardi Gras World, the largest float-building warehouse in the world.
For a comprehensive list of museums please visit this page.
11) Lagniappe (A little something extra)
New Orleans is the perfect gateway to the rest of Louisiana and the Deep South, where visitors can enjoy beautiful state parks, a plethora of historic sites, take airboats tours in the bayous, and get a closer taste of the Cajun culture, and so much more.
Visit this page for a 3 days itinerary of New Orleans.
For more information, please visit www.neworleanscvb.com, @NewOrleansCVB on Twitter, ‘like’ on Visit New Orleans Facebook and follow us on Instagram (VisitNewOrleans). Or visit www.louisianatravel.com, @louisianatravel on Twitter.
Calendar 2024 Cover Rainbows, Hovsgol Province Mongolia by Gill Suttle
We are pleased to announce that our 2024 Calendar is now available for pre-order.
Thank you to everyone who entered our wildlife competition to have your photography included in the 2024 calendar, we have truly been blown away by the entries.
Every member will receive a free calendar in the post but we have extras available at a great sale price, they make great Christmas presents.
Why not Join or Renew your membership and get a calendar for free, we have extras available at a great sale price, and they make great Christmas presents.
* Postage and packing is at cost and just 75p in the UK and 2.20 worldwide.
The pre-order is now live, and this will be a limited print run, so to avoid disappointment order yours today.
We are pleased to showcase the final five winners below (images provided below).
September 2024 – Rainbows Hovsgol Province Mongolia by Gill Suttle
October 2024 – Cattle Herding Van Vieng Laos by Jay Ginn
November 2024 – River Ganges Varanasi India by Michal Ociepka
December 2024 – Lauca National Park Altiplano Chile by Juliet Wragge-Morley
January 2025 – Mastuj Valley Upper Chitral District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan by Sheila Jenkins
September 2024 – Rainbows Hovsgol Province Mongolia by Gill SuttleOctober 2024 – Cattle Herding Van Vieng Laos by Jay Ginn.jpegNovember 2024 – River Ganges Varanasi India by Michal OciepkaDecember 2024 – Lauca National Park Altiplano Chile by Juliet Wragge-MorleyJanuary 2025 – Mastuj Valley Upper Chitral District, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Pakistan by Sheila Jenkins
Calendar 2024 Cover Rainbows, Hovsgol Province Mongolia by Gill Suttle
We are pleased to announce that our 2024 Calendar is now available for pre-order.
Thank you to everyone who entered our wildlife competition to have your photography included in the 2024 calendar, we have truly been blown away by the entries.
Every member will receive a free calendar in the post but we have extras available at a great sale price, they make great Christmas presents.
Why not Join or Renew your membership and get a calendar for free, we have extras available at a great sale price, and they make great Christmas presents.
The pre-order is now live, and this will be a limited print run, so to avoid disappointment order yours today.
We are pleased to showcase the next four winners below (images provided below) we will showcase the final winners in the coming days.
May 2024 – Ascension Day Festival Santiago De Compostela Spain by Rosemary J Brown
June 2024 – Pathan Nutseller Peshawar Pakistan by Alan Palmer
July 2024 – Chefchaouen Morocco by Louise Keen
August 2024 – Cheetahs at Dawn Garonga Game Reserve South Africa by Paul Webb
May 2024 – Ascension Day Festival Santiago De Compostela Spain by Rosemary J BrownJune 2024 – Pathan Nutseller Peshawar Pakistan by Alan PalmerJuly 2024 – Chefchaouen Morocco by Louise KeenAugust 2024 – Cheetahs at Dawn Garonga Game Reserve South Africa by Paul Webb
Chris lived in Germany from the late seventies to 1996. Chris was first in Munich and then I went to live in Berlin. After I came back to London I took members of the Hampstead Photographic Society on many visits and road trips around Germany.
Glieneke Bridge Berlin Germany
2nd: Rebecca Lowe – The Slow Road to Tehran
In July 2015, as the Syrian War raged and the refugee crisis reached its peak, Rebecca Lowe set off on her bicycle across the Middle East. Driven by a desire to challenge preconceptions about this long-misunderstood region, her 11,000km journey took her through Europe to Turkey, Lebanon, Jordan, Egypt, Sudan, the Gulf and finally to Iran.
This is Rebecca’s talk about an odyssey through landscapes and history that captured her heart (and her stomach), but one – plagued by punctures, fearsome heat, repressive police states and an obscene number of kebabs – which also frequently came close to defeating her.
Rebecca Lowe is a freelance journalist who specialises in human rights and the Middle East. Publications she has written for include the Guardian, BBC, Evening Standard, Independent, Huffington Post, Economist, Sunday Times Magazine, Daily Mail, and IranWire.
Rebecca’s book about her journey through the Middle East, The Slow Road to Tehran, was published in March 2022 by September Books in the UK and will be published in September 2022 by MVG Riva in Germany. She was previously the lead reporter at the International Bar Association, where she focused on human rights, and in 2018 she contributed to the adventure travel anthology The Kindness of Strangers: Travel Stories That Make Your Heart Grow. Rebecca is a Fellow at the Royal Geographical Society, and holds a BA in English from Cambridge University and an MA in Journalism from Stanford University.
Doors open at 14:00 GMT in London, a condition of entry is proof of vaccination or a COVID lateral flow test within 48 hours or a positive PCR within 90 days having completed any required isolation, the easiest way of showing this is with the NHS Covid Pass which lets you show your COVID-19 status in a secure way. We will be carrying out temperature checks and asking visitors to confirm they do not have any symptoms on arrival.
We would ask that anyone with symptoms or who needs to isolate participates via zoom.
Last month meeting was very successful, the hall is well ventilated and we had no cases following the meeting.
£3 for members to cover our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from themembers area.
£6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.
a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.
Please sign up for meeting updates to get notifications for future meetings.
A description of two journeys to the Horn of Africa in 2018 and 2019, taking in Ethiopia, Djibouti and Somaliland.Encounters along the way include Lucy, a Chinese railway, one of the lowest places on earth, a camel market, hyena feeding, a Mig fighter and a cheetah sanctuary
David Redford is a retired hospital doctor who has fed his wanderlust by adding independent journeys to visits to low income countries on behalf of NGOs working in the field of maternal health.
2nd: Tharik Hussain – Looking for Muslim Europe
In 2016, following in the footsteps of the 17th century Ottoman traveller, Evliya Celebi, Tharik Hussain and his family went on a road trip across the Western Balkans in search of an indigenous Muslim Europe.
The result is his highly-acclaimed book, Minarets in the Mountains; A Journey into Muslim Europe, which was longlisted for the Baillie Gifford Prize and shortlisted for the Stanford Dolman Travel Award.
In this talk, Hussain explains why he had to ‘search’ for a Muslim Europe that has actually been there since the 8th century and in the process helps us better understand why Europe remains so uncomfortable with its Muslim self.
Doors open at 14:00 GMT in London, a condition of entry is proof of vaccination or a COVID lateral flow test within 48 hours or a positive PCR within 90 days having completed any required isolation, the easiest way of showing this is with the NHS Covid Pass which lets you show your COVID-19 status in a secure way. We will be carrying out temperature checks and asking visitors to confirm they do not have any symptoms on arrival.
We would ask that anyone with symptoms or who needs to isolate participates via zoom.
Last month meeting was very successful, the hall is well ventilated and we had no cases following the meeting.
£3 for members to cover our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from themembers area.
£6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.
a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.
Boxing Day! What’s that all about? And why do we eat turkey and mince pies during the festive season? If you think we have our funny ways, how about the town where running in your red underwear on New Year’s Day is a custom, or the place where you celebrate the season by pooing?
2nd Matt Bishop and Reece Gilkes, the sidecar guys – Siberia.
Matt Bishop and Reece Gilkes are ‘The Sidecar Guys’. They are called ‘The Sidecar Guys’ as they hold the very niche Guinness World Record for the longest journey by scooter and sidecar.
During a 15 month trip they travelled for 34,000 miles through 35 countries and 5 continents to successfully circumnavigate the globe by scooter and sidecar.
Matt and Reece will be talking about the Siberia portion of their around the world journey by scooter and sidecar.
They still do all sorts of different 3 wheeled adventures and recently completed a 10 day trip from Seattle to Los Angeles on a Ural motorcycle travelling across the Idaho, Nevada and California Back Country Discovery Route.
They run a sidecar experience centre in the UK and are also the hosts of The Armchair Adventure Festival, a festival based in the UK with the sole focus of celebrating any kind of adventure travel.
Find out more at: https://asseenfromthesidecar.org/
a recording to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.
Please reserve seats in the hall in advance as this speeds up entry at the meeting and allows us to plan staffing, we may charge more for unreserved tickets.
Ben will be speaking about his unsupported kayaking expedition on Lake Tanganyika. His aim was to kayak the lake from its southernmost point in Zambia to its northern tip in Burundi, making him the first person to solo kayak the longest lake in the world.
However, it soon became clear that the lake had other plans. Ben was hit by challenges from the start. The trip soon became less about covering the ground, and more about overcoming the obstacles on the way. As he paddled northward, Ben capsized in crocodile infested waters, caught a bout of malaria and got chased off by a hippo. However, the lake had not yet thrown up its biggest challenge. Two weeks in Ben was hit by disaster, and the trip was forced to take an unexpected turn. He is looking forward to giving the talk on the 8th January.
Starting in Samarkand, John crossed the Pamirs to Kyrgyzstan’s oldsilk-producing city of Osh.
On an earlier trip, guards shooed him away from the Chinese border, but in 2011 he made it through to Kashgar, and explored the previously off-limits Taklamakan Desert.
We’ll have a quick look at the Jiayuguan gate on the Great Wall, before finishing in Ürümqi which has been transformed from sprawling hovels into a modern Chinese city.
These are the lands of the Uyghur people, whose lives and culture have been uprooted in the decades since his first visit
New Year Party – Postponed
Unfortunately due to Covid-19 we will not be able to have our New Year Party after the meeting at the hall, we invite members and visitors to a local pub..
Date & Time:
Saturday, January 8, 2022
Doors open at 14:00 GMT in London, a condition of entry is proof of vaccination or a COVID lateral flow test within 48 hours or a positive PCR within 90 days having completed any required isolation, the easiest way of showing this is with the NHS Covid Pass which lets you show your COVID-19 status in a secure way. We will be carrying out temperature checks and asking visitors to confirm they do not have any symptoms on arrival.
We would ask that anyone with symptoms or who needs to isolate participates via zoom.
Last month meeting was very successful, the hall is well ventilated and we had no cases following the meeting.
£3 for members to cover our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from themembers area.
£6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.
a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.
We have had confirmation that the Church of Scotland hall is open and we will be running this meeting as an in person at the hall plus we will be streaming it on zoom and will be following the same procedures as the west end theatres.
Helen Crisp relates the story of a city and its people through the centuries, with a nod to well-known attractions and sights, as well as hidden gems.
Madrid is Spain’s art capital, with its ‘Golden Triangle’ of museums and myriad art galleries, Madrid is also a city of dazzling nightlife, with a profusion of cafés and bars.
Spain’s top city for tourism, Madrid attracts more than six million visitors a year. This is the story of a vibrant, energetic city, one that remains an enigma to many outsiders.
2nd Neil Foulks – Road Trip New Zealand
“If you’ve got money, your health and time, then do it. New Zealand is the best place in the world.”
That was the advice given to Neil by that famous overlanding Yorkshireman Ian Coates. Full of enthusiasm he quit his job and set off just 3 weeks after The Overland Event 2017. Neil then spent 6,000 kilometres travelling around both of New Zealand’s islands.
Find out more at http://naffphotographer.com/
For forthcoming meetings we have
a donation £3 for members to cover our costs. Members will be emailed a ticket code link allowing access to this option or you can access it from themembers area.
a donation of £6 for non-members, non-members may join the club for £12 per year and get this and future meetings at members rate for £12, members can also watch the 3 previous online talks, members also receive Globe our members magazine and our annual members calendar, why not join and enter your pictures.
a catch up to watch later will be available to members and non-member ticket holders.
We have had confirmation that the Church of Scotland hall is open and we will be running this meeting as an in person at the hall plus we will be streaming it on zoom and will be following the same procedures as the west end theatres.
Doors open at 13:00 GMT in London, a condition of entry is proof of vaccination, a COVID lateral flow test within 48 hours or a positive PCR within 90 days, the easiest way of showing this is with the NHS Covid Pass which lets you show your COVID-19 status in a secure way. We will be carrying out temperature checks and asking visitors to confirm they do not have any symptoms on arrival. We would ask that anyone with symptoms or who needs to isolate participates via zoom.
Last month meeting was very successful, the hall is well ventilated and we had no cases following the meeting.
