The Globetrotters eNewsletter
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Regular contributor Mac ruminates on the world of travel & some of his adventures along the way.

This time round he’s pondering over Budget Travel Magazine

asking its readers to name which they think is the most beautiful city in the world. The results will be in their October edition but they have already had many responses and they seem to be going something like this:-

• Paris seems to be the winner with something like 20
• Vancouver had something like 16
• Prague got about 10
• Florence, Italy about 7
• Rio De Janeiro about 8
• Capetown, South Africa about 6
• Venice about 13
• Sydney about 4
• Oia Santorini (on island of Santorini) about 4
• Dubrovnik about 3
• Istanbul about 2 (should have had more)
• Seville about 2
• Charleston South Carolina two
• Barcelona, Spain (maybe 2)
• Santa Barbara, California 2
• Cinque Terre (think five towns on coast in Italy ) 2
• San Francisco, California 2
• St Petersburg, Russia 2
• Hong Kong 2 (should have had more)
• Edinburgh, Scotland maybe 2
• Positano, Italy maybe 2

As I said this is not a scientific list

You might want to make up your own list…I will mine later. Add any cities you wish. I think many just voted for their own home town.

My choices would be Rio De Janeiro, Hong Kong, Paris, I will refine list later. Can you think of any cities left off that you think

should be considered and which ones do you think should be dropped ?

Mac – my choices would be, in no particular order of preference:-

• · New York
• · Istanbul
• · Rio de Janeiro
• · Florence
• · New Orleans
• · Perth/Freemantle
• · Varanasi, India
• · Bangkok
• · Capetown
• · Halifax, Nova Scotia
• · Prague

The common denominator is that they are mostly places I’ve visited with long standing friends on long trips or as part of quick escapes ! The sights, tastes & sounds still resonate and I would head back to all of them at a moment’s notice…

The Ant

Hi,

at the Adventure Travel Show we came to an agreement with The Travel Bookshop that we have free entrance to their weekly talks…there would normally be £3 entrance fee). Members need to show their Globetrotter membership cards.

All talks start at 7pm and it is recommended to book a place in advance by emailing: post@thetravelbookshop.com or saara@the travelbookshop.com or ringing them on 020 7229 5260

Their website is www.thetravelbookshop.com to find out about the talks. Upcoming meetings for February are on 23rd and 25th.

Also Wanderlust has offered a free copy of the book “Weird World” for any Globetrotter members who subscribe to Wanderlust.

Best wishes,

Francesca

Publicity and PR officer, Globetrotters club

If you enjoy writing & travelling, why not write for the free Globetrotters eNewsletter ! The Ant 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 14,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter eNewsletter.

Email The Ant at theant@globetrotters.co.uk with your travel experiences / hints & tips / questions. Your article should be approximately 1000 words, feature up to 3 or 4 jpeg photos and introduce yourself with a couple of sentences and a contact e-mail address.

Next award – I believe that the deadline for receiving applications for the first award in 2010 is 30 April, but I will confirm ASAP once I have heard from the busy organisers J

Background – A member of Globetrotters Club and interested in winning a £1,000 travel award ? Know someone who fits these criteria ? We have up to two £1,000 awards to give out this year for the best independent travel plan, as judged by the club’s Committee.

See the legacy page on the club’s web site, where you can apply with your plans for a totally independent, travel trip. If your idea catches our eye we’ll take a closer look at what you’re proposing !!

From Francesca Jaggs re the oil company Chevron & the indigenous peoples of Ecuador – http://www.avaaz.org

From Matt Doughty after visiting the Adventure Travel Show in London at the end of January:-

sarah outen – round the world solo rower… http://www.sarahouten.co.uk

Ali Hendessi from Kootch Adventure talks knowledgeably about Iran http://www.kootch-adventure.com/

Leigh Purnell – round the world in a black cab http://www.itsonthemeter.com/

Need to convert a 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.

Regular contributor Mac ruminates on the world of travel & some of his adventures along the way

This time round he’s recalling Peru, via a few anecdotes:-

• One time employees of the US State Department chartered a plane for a sightseeing holiday in Peru. As they needed more to fill plane they allowed some non employees to go at a reasonable price. Two of us from AFRH went. When we got to Cuzco my friend from the home got sick in the middle of the night from the altitude and all he could say was “Mac Oxygen”. I ran to the desk and hollared oxygen and they summed up situation immediately and brought oxygen giving him a gulp at a time. When he came to I said Hampton (his name) if you had died I didn’t know how I was going to get you down from this Mountain and back to the home. So I told him I was going to tell that his dying words were that he wanted to be buried up here with the Indians.
• At the airport leaving Peru a couple that worked for Blue Cross who we had became friends with were having some Inca Cola when she decided she wanted to look at the jewellery in display. She was a tall stunning blonde and wore a fancy shawl over her shoulders. They brought a card with jewellery on it and one piece got caught. It was then explained to me that the vendor called over the police and they arrested our friends for stealing jewellery. I went up to the pilot and explained what happened – they said they already knew as the Embassy had phoned them. They took her to one jail where there were some prostitutes that had been picked up and took him to a different jail. The lady allegedly “jewel thief” later said that the prostitutes were very nice and sympathized with her. The couple when they did get out of jail had to pay their own way back to the States etc. They got even with Peru though as they wrote up in detail about the incident and it was published in the Seven Day Adventist paper to warn tourists to skip looking at the jewellery at the airport !
• Another on the trip told me that one time before she had been in Peru and a nice dressed gentleman struck up a conversation with her as she was waiting for a taxi. He offered to help her and she turned away and the diplomatic gentleman and her luggage were gone…Ha.

Long time club member and London branch stalwart Dick Curtis informed the December meeting that The Adventure Travel Show is changing format once again for 2010. This time round the original owners will be hosting the show at the Royal Horticultural Halls in Victoria, London – over the weekend of 29-31 January 2010.

See http://www.adventureshow.co.uk/ for more details including ticket prices and programme details.

Additionally Dick is looking to organise a group of members to stage a travel advisors stand at the show, with the organisers’ blessing. As in previous years we get space to offer non partisan travel advice, tips & stories to would be travellers as they try to make sense of all the information the show offers. Many members have spent time huddled around a map discussing a round the world route with a member of the interested public – its almost as fun as going yourself ! So if you’re interested in being part of Dick’s team either get in touch with him directly or send me an email at theant@globetrotters.co.uk

From Tiannah Viechweg at Twenty Twenty TV:-

Hi,

We are currently making a programme for Channel 4 in which we are following 4 families on their travels. At the moment we would really like to get one more on board. Through the films we hope to highlight just how rewarding, educational and most importantly possible it is to go travelling with the kids. I am trying to get in touch with families planning a gap break ideally for 3 months or more.

Our hope is that the programmes will inspire more parents thinking about this kind of trip to actually take the plunge and get involved around the world. We also want to highlight the positives of this kind of experience has on a family unit and the educational benefit for children. Each family

would be left with a unique travel-log of their journey.

We don’t plan to be with the family the entire time but would provide them with a small camera to record the events with us dropping in at certain key points along the way, because this is an observational series we feel that this is the best way for each of the families to really own the films. Each family will also get the opportunity to watch the programme before they air.

I am trying to spread the hunt for families as wide as possible, as you can imagine it’s a bit of a needle in a haystack trying to find people so any help at all would be greatly appreciated. If you know of anyone planning anything at all then I would love to hear from them. Please let me know your thoughts.

Tiannah Viechweg

Twenty Twenty Television

0207 284 2020

Visit our website at http://www.twentytwenty.tv

· From Glen & Lois Pattison in Canada:-

my wife and I have just completed “the world” of travel, A to Z. It has taken us 30 years and about 100 countries but we have recently completed the alphabet (no X) and wonder if there’s a club anywhere that might have formed with that goal in mind.

Regards

glpattison@telus.net

If you enjoy writing & travelling, why not write for the free Globetrotters eNewsletter ! The Ant 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 14,000 people currently subscribe to the Globetrotter eNewsletter.

Email The Ant at theant@globetrotters.co.uk with your travel experiences / hints & tips / questions. Your article should be approximately 1000 words, feature up to 3 or 4 jpeg photos and introduce yourself with a couple of sentences and a contact e-mail address.