Be careful if you are planing to take a trip to Sri Lanka. Up to 400 people in Sri Lanka are feared dead or missing after floods have swept through the Southern part of the country – a region popular with tourists. The downpours have been region's heaviest for 60 years has also left around 100,000 people homeless and sparked a massive relief operation.
Category Archives: archive
Hilton Hotels
A recent article in the Wall Street Journal told of how the Hilton Hotel chain, all 21,000 of them have a new customer system called OnQ. This records all customer details and preferences of those who have stayed with them, including movies watched, what and how much you drank from the mini bar and any complaints made. You have been warned!
Write for the Globetrotters monthly e-newsletter
If you enjoy writing, enjoy travelling, why not write for the free monthly Globetrotters e-newsletter! The Beetle 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 7,500 people currently subscribe to the free Globetrotter e-news.
To see your story in cyber print, e-mail the Beetle with your travel experiences, hints and tips or questions up to 750 words, together with a couple of sentences about yourself and a contact e-mail address to Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
UK's Longest Coastal Trail marks 25 years
Britain's longest national walking trail, from Minehead in Somerset to South Haven Point near Poole in Dorset, will celebrate its 25th anniversary this year.
The 630-mile South West Coast Path takes in steep, ‘hog's back' cliffs rising to 800 feet, fishing harbours, pretty villages and unspoilt countryside.
There will be a wide variety of events between April and October, including guided walks, talks and displays of works by local artists, writers, musicians and other performers who have been inspired by the path. For more information, see http://www.swcp.org.uk/
Source: Britain Express
Italy Screens for SARS
Italy is to be the first EU country to introduce mandatory screening of passengers arriving from countries affected by the SARS virus and including passengers who have first made stops in other places.
Any passenger showing symptoms of Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, which currently has killed over 500 people worldwide, will be quarantined.
Travel Photography Competition . Open To All
Amateur and professional photographers alike, based anywhere in the world can compete for a share of the £45,000 prize package, and there's an additional competition to find the Young Travel Photographer of the Year, for those aged 16 and under. The Travel Photographer of the Year wins a trip for two people to the Islands of the Bahamas – where they can spend a day with respected underwater filmmaker Gavin McKinney. They also win £2,000 worth of prizes from Calumet, a UK photographic store and a bundle of Adobe imaging, web and design software worth approximately £3,000, a Lowepro Dryzone 200 waterproof camera backpack and a Manfrotto carbon fibre tripod. Individual category prizes include trips to Cuba, Iceland and the Galapagos Islands, and lots of other goodies.
The winner of the Young Travel Photographer title gets the once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to receive personal photo tuition from one of the UK's most famous photographers, Charlie Waite. Their other prizes include Fujifilm's state-of-the-art S2 Pro digital camera with lens. Full details and entry forms from www.tpoty.com
Our Friends Ryanair
Due to a computer crash, the Beetle has lost this month’s commentary on our friends Ryanair. We hope to return to our favourite love to hate subject of Ryanair next month, if there is anything news worthy to note.
Putting Your Life On Hold For An Adventure Overseas and Want To Be On TV?
Are you planning to drive across South America, take your family sailing around the Greek Islands, or to experience living in the Wilderness? An independent television company is looking for friends, couples or families who want to give up their existing lives for an adventure overseas. If this is for you, then e-mail Sarah and tell her where you want to go and what you want to do there, as she can help with the arrangements and provide some financial support. Her address is sarahg@ideallondon.com
Singapore Screens for SARS
Changi Airport in Singapore is using high technology to screen the foreheads of inbound passengers as they step off the plane. The infrared fever screening system has a thermal imaging thermometer that works like a camera. It takes a picture of each passenger and transfers the data to a computer screen. Blue dots indicate normal temperature and red fever. Anyone looks feverish is checked for SARS symptoms by a nurse.
Meeting News from New York
JUNE 7: Ladakh Ken Axen, who also presented the amazing Bhutan, will be back to present Ladakh. “In the forbidding terrain of the Himalayas, a robust people embellish their frugal lives with rich endowments of faith”, Thomas J. Abercrombie, National Geographic.
Experience the beauty of this exotic land through a slide show by Kenneth Axen, PhD, research scientist, graphic artist, and serious amateur photographer.
For details of forthcoming meetings e-mail newyork@globetrotters.co.uk or register for e-mail updates, click here at our website.
New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154 Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St), to the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first Saturday of each month at 4 pm.