Kevin (Membership) Brackley from London says that he always carry a compass in Japan: the train stations are so vast, at least you know you are heading in the right direction for the exit you want!
Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them to: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
The Neem Tree Café inside the Old Fort in Stone Town is an oasis of calm where you can sit, hassle-free, drink the excellent lemonade and watch life go by at the local craft stores.
Want to tell us about your favourite coffee corner or watering hole? Then contact the Beetle: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk
Barbara Brooks, Committee member of the Globetrotters Club has arranged a stay at a gorgeous hostel: Alstonefield Youth Hostel, Gypsey Lane, Alstonefield, Derbyshire DE6.2FZ. There are five 4 bedrooms complete with en-suite facilities in two fabulous barns overlooking Dovedale. Lots of walking and fresh air on offer! The cost of accommodation only is £20 per person for the two nights. This offer is available to anyone, Globetrotter members and non members alike!
For more info, e-mail Barbara, She hopes you can join her!!
Jon from Red Wing, Minnesota, suggests visiting this site, http://www.confluence.org The idea is to visit each of the latitude and longitude integer degree intersections in the world, and to take pictures at each location. Pictures and stories will then be posted on the site. Take a look – it’s really interesting!
Members slides: we had a veritable marathon of Globetrotters showing slides. Part 1 included Dan Buckman showing slides on Belgium and Poland; Ernest Flesch showing slides on how people make their living: rice growing in China and Sumatra, threshing, picking and fanning rice; rubber tapping in Sri Lanka, and oxen pilled water wheel in Rajasthan and tobacco farmers in Yemen. Jean Clough, the Globetrotter gate keeper and more, showed slides on the funeral pyre of the grandson of the last king of Bali and regaled us with some of the more ghoulish facts on how bodies are burned.. Phil Koniotes, always good for excellent slides and anecdotes showed us some fabulous slides of fish. Not just ordinary fish, but sharks, huge bump head wrasses, parrotfish cocoons, unicorn fish and er…porcelain toilets. The Beetle was on the edge of her seat, salivating and counting the days to her next dive trip!
Part 2 consisted of Philip (The Whisperer) Ferguson who showed us slides of vintage cars and lorries and a train with Australia written on the side…in Cuba. Peter Mann started off with some slides of pubs in London called The Globe, yes, we know, any excuse Pete! He then sobered up and we visited a series of structurally and visually amazing bridges in Wales, Scotland and Ireland, the Netherlands, Germany and Austria. Dick (Curtis) made a couple of appearances at the projector and showed us a series of slides, all of which he reckoned had St Pauls in them. After much good humoured derision, he handed over to Jacqui (Trotter) his erstwhile stand in who finished the Members Slide show with some pictures of Tasmania and lots of people riding penny farthings…
Saturday 1st September
Next on 1st September, we have Beth Wooldridge talking on “My Many India's”, as a tourist, traveller, student, travel-author, and woman – Beth's experiences around the sub-continent were often coloured by her different guises. After the break, Justin Marozzi will give a talk on “The Slave Routes of the Libyan Sahara”, retracing the ancient routes totalling 1500 miles, 1200 of which were by camel. Justin is also the author of “South of Barbary” a story of the expedition.
London meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month. There is no London meeting in August, but we will be back on Saturday 1st September. For more information, you can contact the Globetrotter Info.line on +44 (0) 20 8674 6229, or visit the website: http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/
Tom Freemantle, a regular at the London Globetrotter meetings has planned a walking trip – 2,500miles with a mule from the Mexican border to New York following the journey of his ancestor Lieutenant Colonel Arther Freemantle in 1863, crossing America at the height of the Civil War.
He is aiming to raise $20,000 for Covenant House New York – a crisis shelter in New York for runaway and homeless children. It helps youth of all ages with everything from free food and medical facilities through to education and job training. If you can help, please e-mail Tom on tomfreo@hotmail.com
The latest details on the appeal and the journey will be on the web site www.mini-mule.co.uk
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
A quick reminder that the Globetrotters annual picnic is at Meaford, Ont. (on Georgian Bay), it will be held at Vera Blowers' on Saturday, August 11, 2001. Arrive on Saturday (August 11) around 10:30-11 am. You are welcome to stay over till Sunday & camp in her huge backyard. For the less hardy, Vera has a couple of spare beds.
All are welcome! Car pools will be arranged.
If you would like more information on the picnic, car pools and Ontario meetings, please contact: Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca tel. 416-503-2933, Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911, or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.
Meetings are held on the third Friday of September and November,January, March, May (with the next meeting on September 21) Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.
From Paul (Webmaster) Roberts: he says that Budapest is a great place to be on August 20; it is their national holiday. Paul says that you can see the hand of St Stephen being paraded around the streets in its silver box. There are fireworks over the Danube and, (strange, this, Ed) you can also catch the Hungarian grand prix (19 Aug) which is very affordable.
Robert from the US says he is going to St Petersburg in early September this year and wants to know what ballet performances are on during this time.
After a good deal of investigation, and surfing of very of Russian websites, the Beetle says that she has news that the Mariinsky Theatre (formerly the Kirov) will be closed between August 13th and October 5th, but that the Mussorgorsky Opera and Ballet Theatre will be showing Swan Lake over the period including 6th September.
The Beetle says – where are you all!!! Are you all on holiday?