0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!
1-3 – not bad
4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!
5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?
Win a Moon Handbook on Guadalajara. See
Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do
some research, try google.com or
The winner of last month’s Moon guide of Guadalajara is
Gavin Fernandes, so please let us have your postal address, Gavin.
1. Are there an estimated 29.2 million driving trips
or 9.2 million driving trips in Mexico City each day?
2. Which warrior civilisation created Tenochtitlan?
3. What principal language is spoken in Mexico City?
4. Which city close to Mexico City is nicknamed “City
of Eternal Spring”?
5. What would you do with a chimichanga?
Your Name:
Your e-mail address:
If you have a travellers tale that your aching to tell.
Then why not visit the “Travel Sized Bites” section of the Website
and share it with the world. Travel
Sized Bites
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:
A recent UK survey for the Department for Education found
that of over 1,000 adults, 30% felt unable to compare rates in exchange
bureaux. A similar proportion said they were not comfortable converting
foreign currency into sterling. Over a fifth of those surveyed admitted
they had wrongly calculated how much they spent on holiday, with 12% saying
they had run out of money.
The Globetrotters Club has just teamed up with Oanda.com
to provide people with information about currency conversions and cheat
sheets. To translate currency or make a cheat sheet, visit:
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.
While the Middle East conflict continues to hit air travel
badly, Asian carriers are also feeling the effects of a mystery respiratory
illness, similar to flu that originated in the region. Already some 50
deaths have occurred worldwide. The feeling is that the illness has been
spread by air travel. Singapore Airlines has admitted it continues to
see cancellations and a fall in bookings because of fears about the disease.
Italy’s national airline, Alitalia, is the latest major
carrier to raise the price of its fares because of a 30% increase in fuel
costs in the last 6 months. From March 15, Alitalia will charge an additional
EUR6 (USD$6.60) on domestic tickets; EUR8 on international flights and
EUR12 for inter-continental services.
Fares at Air Canada are to cost more. The airline is raising
its fuel surcharge on domestic long haul flights from March 11. The new
charges will also apply to services flown by Air Canada subsidiaries Jazz
and Tango. The price of tickets on flights over 300 miles is go up by
CAD$10 to CAD$25 (USD$17) each way. The surcharges will not apply to
short haul services where the charge remains at CAD$15.
The European Parliament voted to overturn an agreement
made between European airlines and US Customs officials. The agreement
was to allow European airlines to give data on passengers flying to the
US to US Customs. The European Parliament felt that this agreement infringed
data protection rules.
Paris based French airline Air Jet, started in the 1980s
has been put into receivership after filing for bankruptcy earlier this
week. Jet used to fly charter services and code-share flights on behalf
of Air France, and has suspended services from Paris to La Rochelle and
St Etienne.
In response to military action in the Middle East, Delta
has just announced capacity cuts of around 12 percent to both domestic
and international routes (but not Delta Connection.) Delta is to postpone
indefinitely the start of seasonal service between Boston and Rome and
daily service between Cincinnati and Rome. Both were set to start on
May 1.
With passenger numbers falling because of the Middle East
conflict, British Airways has cut flights and trimmed staff as have US
Airways, Alitalia, Japan Airlines System and Air France.
Latest figures show that reservations for the summer season
in south-western France are down by on average 50% compared with those
made last year following the Prestige oil disaster and the ensuing pollution.
Foreign tourists are also said to be shunning the area, according to the
report, in particular German visitors who are said to be particularly
sensitive to the impact of environmental disasters such as that caused
by the Prestige. Most beaches in the area remain closed except those
in the Gironde area around Bordeaux, but are expected to be re-opened
in time for the Easter holidays. Many local industries, such as the spa
centres the region is famous for, have also been affected because of unfounded
fears over polluted water, local reports say. Oyster producers have seen
their sales drop by almost 40% during the Christmas period, while fish
prices have plummeted by between 20% and 40% - even though their products
remain unaffected by the oil pollution.
New research on seismic events conducted by scientists
indicates that a massive earthquake could hit Istanbul in the near future.
This warning is being taken seriously by the Turkish government who are
now taking action to minimise damage if the prediction turns out to be
true. The seismic team predicted a quake in the coastal city of Izmit
in 1999 - but the specific warnings were ignored and some 25,000 people
were killed. The latest thinking is that earthquakes are connected and
can trigger each other and that fault lines close to the Turkish city
are under severe stress and will lead to a large quake sooner rather than
later.
Here’s a little Beetle quiz based on airport codes.
See how many you get right! Go on, have a guess!
Which cities are served by airports with the following
codes:
For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.
The Brooke Hospital for Animals (BHA) and the World Society
for the Protection of Animals (WSPA) have joined forces to provide free
veterinary care for working horses and donkeys in Jalalabad in southern
Afghanistan. The two charities hope their work will help to transform
the lives of the thousands of people in the city, who depend on equines
for their livelihood. The project, which is being helped by an Afghan
agency, Committee for Rehabilitation Aid to Afghanistan (Craa), plans
also to install fresh piped water at carriage stands. This will benefit
both animals and people, as the nearest water supply at the moment is
three miles (five kilometres) away. The Jalalabad project is being supported
by the American Zoo and Aquarium Association through funds collected by
the North Carolina Zoological Society.
The Globetrotters eNewsletter