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If you like the Globetrotters E-news, then you’ll probably like Globe, the bi-monthly printed newsletter available to Globetrotters members only.
Karrimor are pleased to announce to all Globetrotters Club members (please note, club members only and not Including sale goods) a 25% discount through their factory shop. They offer a mail order service and all products can be found on their website www.karrimor.com
Further details are avalible in Globe or our online members area
The Foreign Office is urging travellers to avoid all non-essential travel to major Turkish cities following November’s bomb attacks in Istanbul which killed at least 27 people, including three British citizens, and injured 450.
Updated advice on the Foreign and Commonwealth website (www.fco.gov.uk) now reads: 'There is a high threat from terrorism in Turkey. We urge you to be vigilant in all parts of the country, and especially in the vicinity of potential terrorist targets.
'We advise against all but the most essential travel to Istanbul and other major cities, until the situation becomes clearer.'
The Turkish prime minister Recep Tayyip Erdogan, speaking on David Frost’s BBC programme, responded to FCO advice by insisting his country is safe for anyone to visit.
When you sit on that plane and feel for the sick bag, think again. Online auctioneer eBay has a section for unused sick bags from almost ever airline around the world, described as being in “mint and very fine conditions.” There are dedicated Web sites, including the Air SicknessBag Virtual Museum, which has bags from airlines, trains and ships — and even some from outer space. American Steven Silberberg, who runs airsicknessbags.com says: “I don't use them for their intended purpose, I just leave them at home in binders… most expensive bag I've ever seen sold was for $220. It was a Court Line Aviation bag, a company that folded in 1973,” he told CNN. Scandinavian bags are highly prized for the artistic impression on the bags where US airlines have plain bags.
A tour company in Kuala Lumpur are offering a tour on Asian ghosts, spirits and superstitions. It costs US $44 and starts at the site where more than a decade ago, a terrible triple murder occurred in Bangsar in Malaysia. Two children and their maid were killed by a security guard who had just started work that day at the expatriate’s home. The guard was caught, tried, sentenced to death and hanged in 2002. The tour takes in an Indian temple, a Chinese cemetery, a prison, old railway station and a den. For those of you who would like more info, see: KL Ghost and Spook Tour
Three cyclists, two German, one Irish are reported missing between the city of Bam and Zahedan near the Pakistani border – a notorious opium smuggling route from Afghanistan to Western Europe. A ransom is thought to have been issued. Kidnappings there, as in the rest of the country, have been rare in recent years. A number of European tourists were abducted in southern Iran in 1999. We hope for their safe release.
Malaysia’s Petronas Towers used to be the world’s tallest buildings. Taiwan intends to top this (groan… with a 508-metre (1,667-feet) tower, the Taipei 101 which is expected to be completed in November 2004. No inauspicious activities have been spared – feng shui and geomancy experts have been called in. The $1.7 billion skyscraper is meant to resemble a bamboo stalk, known for its sturdiness and vigour. It will have 101 storeys and will house the Taiwan Stock Exchange and offices for 12,000 people. There are plans for the world’s fastest lifts: 34 double-decker shuttles that can reach speeds of 60 km/h (37 mph) and take passengers to the 90th floor in less than 39 seconds. Wow! That will be some tourist attraction in its own right!
Meeting news from our branches around the world.
A recent report from Oxford University’s Wildlife Conservation Research Unit says that fewer than 20,000 lions may now survive in the whole of Africa, although they do not face immediate extinction. The greatest threats to the species are sport hunting and conflict with farmers over livestock. The estimate of 20,000 lions or fewer compares with a population put at about 200,000 in the early 1980’s. The researchers studied the impact of sport or trophy hunting in Hwange national park in Zimbabwe, surrounded by hunting concessions where the parks department allocates an annual quota: the hunters traditionally target male lions. Findings suggest the levels of hunting there were not sustainable. Of the adult males the team tagged or collared, 63% were shot by hunters in the surrounding area. WildCRU estimates there are about 42 adult male lions in Hwange, where between 1998 and 2002 the hunting quota in the concessions was set at 63 lions. It says the number shot annually far exceeded the recommended sustainable level of 4-10% of the adult males. The parks department is considering lowering the quotas.
With effect from Thursday 13 November, entry clearance will become mandatory for nationals of the ten phase one countries and all work permit holders (except for nine EU accession countries) who wish to stay in the UK for more than six months.
Nationals of Australia, Canada, Hong Kong (SAR passports), Japan, Malaysia, New Zealand, Singapore, South Africa, South Korea and the USA will require entry clearance before travelling for all stays in the UK of longer than six months.
The entry clearance requirement will also apply to all work permit holders staying for more than six months, with the exception of the nine non-visa national EU accession countries (Cyprus, Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Malta, Poland and Slovenia).
For more information, see: UK Visas