Category Archives: archive

Driving in Spain

Paul writes in with another piece of advice about travelling in Spain.

Another word of warning to novice travellers in Spain; be careful at the big hypermarkets as thieves operate in the car parks targeting small hire cars (easily identified as they silly sods always put the hire company name on the vehicle registration plates).

We got caught this way on our first trip and my girlfriend lost most of her clothes and a new digital camera, clothes weren't too much of a problem as we were on a naturist holiday but the rigmarole involved in getting a police report is mind blowing. I also had my passport stolen and getting that replaced was even worse !!. Silly to hide our stuff in the car I guess but a lesson well learned and often mentioned to fellow travellers as a word of warning.

Couldn't rob our car or cheat us out of fuel last trip cos we rode all the way down on my motorcycle.

Travel Quiz

Sorry, there is no quiz in this month’s e-newsletter. We will be back in next month’s e-news. you can however still enter last months quiz on Western Canada

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Dolphins Save Swimmers

A group of training lifeguards swimming off New Zealand were protected from a great white shark by dolphins. The lifeguards were training at a beach near Whangarei on the North Island when they were menaced by a 3-metre shark, before the dolphins raced in to help. The dolphins surrounded the swimmers for 40 minutes before they were able to make it safely back to the beach.

Marine biologists say such altruistic behaviour is not uncommon in dolphins. One lifeguard said that it was an uncomfortable experience, as they were circled by a great white shark, which came within a couple of metres, but the dolphins suddenly appeared and herded the swimmers together. The dolphins then swam in tight circles to create a defensive barrier as the great white swam beneath the surface. The swimmers said the dolphins were extremely agitated and repeatedly slapped the water with their tails, presumably to try to deter the predator as it cruised nearby.

Answers to: So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

Answers to: So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

  1. Congo – Brazzaville
  2. Madagascar – Antananarivo
  3. Oman – Muscat
  4. Azerbaijan – Baku
  5. Bangladesh – Dhaka

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?

Flag Quiz

Which countries are represented by these flags? For the answers, see at the end of the eNews.

1 2 3 4 5

Budget Airline Resource

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This website is excellent: a guide to low-cost flying in Europe that includes every budget airline route, with maps and associated information. It also has a news feed of low-cost airline news for European travellers – the only such feed to focus on budget news!

Explore Paradise with Moon Handbooks Fiji

Avalon Travel Publishing announces the release of the 7th edition of Moon Handbooks Fiji, the original travel guide to the 322-island Fiji archipelago.

Since 1985, Moon Handbooks Fiji has been the leading travel guidebook to Fiji. Author David Stanley began writing about the South Pacific in 1979, and over the years tens of thousands of Pacific travellers have used his guides to Fiji, Tahiti, Tonga, Samoa, and the South Pacific.

Unlike the maps in other guidebooks which contain confusing numbered keys, the 53 maps in Moon Handbooks Fiji are clearly labelled. To allow for detail, three maps of Fiji's capital Suva are included, and two of the gateway city Nadi.

In this 7th edition, all local telephone numbers are increased from six digits to seven, reflecting a recent change by Telecom Fiji. Internet and email addresses are now embedded in the listings for ease of reference.

Rob Kay of FijiGuide.com has this to say about Moon Handbooks Fiji: “Packed with great maps it also has resources such as a comprehensive bibliography, and tips on local etiquette. More importantly, Stanley excels at getting accurate information on hotels, inexpensive restaurants and tourist sites. However there is another reason why his guide is valuable. Stanley does not simply list the properties in alphabetical order and expect the reader to determine what's best. Based on personal visits and feedback from visitors, he will actually offer you an opinion and the straight facts.”

Priced at US$17.95, this book is distributed in the United States by Publishers Group West, in Canada by Publishers Group Canada, in Europe by HI Marketing, and in Australia and New Zealand by Bookwise International. For more information, visit http://www.southpacific.org/fiji.html

Fave Websites

If you are interested in forest conservation, then take a look at this: http://forests.org/

This website provides news from around the world on issues in countries about the protection of forests to volunteer positions.

Also, spotted by Padmassana: Christopher Rogers

He does some fabulous pictures of London, showing all the buildings, they come with a “Key” so you can pick places, buildings etc out.

Airline Responsible for Death

A US appeals court ruled that an airline that forced an elderly woman to check a bag with her medical devices must bear responsibility for her subsequent death after losing the bag. A lower court ruled in 2002 that Americans Airlines parent company AMR and BWIA International Airways should pay USD$226,238.81 to Caroline Neischer's relatives because she died soon after her bag was lost. Mrs Neischer’s said it was the first case of its kind. “The significance of the case is that never before has an airline been held liable for the death of a passenger caused by delayed or missing baggage.” Mrs Neischer, who spent most of her life in her native Guyana, died at age 75 after flying from Los Angeles to Guyana in 1997. After Mrs Neischer transferred from an American Airlines flight in New York, a ground agent forced her to check a bag that contained a breathing device to treat her respiratory problems. The agent promised she would be given the bag immediately upon arriving in Guyana. However, the bag was lost and Neischer died days later.