Experts estimate that 100 million locusts swarmed over the Canary Islands in November. The locusts, nicknamed 'sky prawns' have invaded Fuerteventura and Lanzarote, the worst incidence in over 50 years. The desert locusts flew to the Canaries across the 60 miles of ocean from North Africa, where an infestation this summer wreaked havoc on crops. The insects, around 2.5 in long and two grams in weight, can travel twice that far in 24 hours. A 40 million swarm can eat 40,000 tons of vegetation a day.

Travel industry researchers estimate that demand for independently booked travel is set to rise by 80% in the next five years. Both Yahoo! and AOL recently announced that they were improving their travel offerings and setting up as online travel agents. Both companies are developing specialised travel search engines (due to go live in early 2005) that will allow users to compare prices from a range of different travel agents, airlines, hotel groups, resorts and hire car companies. The difference between these offerings and sites such as Lastminute.com or Travelocity is that the Yahoo and AOL travel site will include fares offered by budget airlines. At the moment, other companies do not include listings of many of the budget airlines as most refuse to pay a commission to list their services.

Everyone at the Globetrotters Club would like to pass their condolences and sympathies to all those affected by the tsunami on Boxing Day.

If you are thinking of going to Thailand, here is some up to date news on various resorts. The people in Thailand still need the support of the visiting tourists and are hoping that everyone will not stop coming to their country in their time of need.

Koh Samui, Koh Tao, Koh Samed, Pattaya and all other resorts in the Gulf of Thailand have been unaffected, and tourists are being routed there instead of visiting the West coast.

Koh Ngai has escaped unscathed.

Karon and Kata beaches are not badly affected. Along Karon beach you can hardly see any sign of damage, and the beach is full of people.

Patong beach will probably only take a couple of weeks to get back to normal.

If you are a diver, there are live aboard boats out in the Similan Islands area.

Ao Nang and Krabi only slightly affected.

Khao Lak and Koh Phi Phi totally levelled – thousands dead.

Koh Lanta damaged but not as badly as Phuket, Khao Lak and Koh Phi Phi.

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at The Globetrotters Currency Converter — get the exchange rates for 164 currencies The Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet — create and print a currency converter table for your next trip.

This is what the UK Foreign & Commonwealth Office say about travel to Sri Lanka: Information for families affected by the tsunami can be found at Sri Lanka: Information for Families.

We advise against all but essential travel to the north or east (other than Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Arugam Bay, but travellers should be aware that most hotels in these areas are closed because of damage from the tsunami). Much of the north and east of Sri Lanka remains heavily mined, particularly around the A9 road to Jaffna.

The recent tsunami resulted in extensive damage and large numbers of casualties on the south-western, southern and eastern coasts of Sri Lanka. A number of hotels and resorts on the southern and south-western coasts have now reopened. Anyone planning to travel to these areas should check with their tour operators and/or hotel before departing to ensure their hotel is operating normally. Most hotels in the eastern towns of Trincomalee, Nilaveli and Arugam Bay have yet to reopen. (For further details please refer to the Natural Disasters section of this Travel Advice).

There is a threat from domestic terrorism in Sri Lanka.

Carole from San Diego would like some help planning a trip to new Zealand. I am travelling to the south island of New Zealand in March and would love some suggestions from other members. We have our itinerary set-landing in Dunedin and going south and back up-crossing at Arthur's Pass to and leaving from Christchurch.

We are also planning to take a cruise into Milford Sound and from what we’ve read, the only company that has a cruise without a naturalist aboard is Fiordland Travel.

Are there others and if so, which is the best. Also, we are interested in doing some hiking in the area-but nothing strenuous.

The Kepler Track was recommended, but in reading about it, it appears that to go in for a few hours would only take us along the lake. Is there a walk w/more interesting/spectacular scenery?

Thank you in advance for your response.

Cmeredith1@aol.com

Need help? Want a travelling buddy or advice about a place or country – want to share something with us – why not visit our Mutual Aid section of the Website: Mutual Aid

In December 2004 Virgin Atlantic introduced 20 limited edition sickbags designed by artists from around the globe on its first flight from Hong Kong to Sydney. The sickbags will be in the seatbacks of all Virgin Atlantic flights for up to six months with a potential audience of over two million people. Co-collaborator Oz Dean started the 'Design for Chunks' project four years ago inviting talented designers to produce artwork for sick bags and submit them to the 'Design for Chunks' annual competition. The competition has been running for the past four years online at www.designforchunks.com

Lysette Gauna, Head of Media for Virgin Atlantic, commented, 'We felt that the ubiquitous sickbag was long overdue a makeover and when we came across 'Design for Chunks' it was the perfect opportunity. Sickbags are a mandatory requirement but rarely get used – so we thought we would brighten them up and turn them into a talking point. We're really excited about bringing art from around the world to such a huge number of people via our sickbags. It's a first in the industry and we're sure these bags will soon become a collectors' item.'