The Globetrotters eNewsletter
eNewsletter Archive

Win a Frommer’s guidebook on Seattle 2003. See href="http://www.frommers.com/">www.frommers.com for info on Frommer’s
guidebooks.

Some people have said the quiz is difficult, we say do
some research; try google.com or
href="http://www.ask.com/">Ask Jeeves, if you need help with the answers.

The winner of last month’s Moon guide is Andrew Hindley.

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

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:

1. PHX
2. ATH
3. ZNZ
4. DPS
5. EZE

For the answers, see at the end of the e-newsletter.

Felicity would like help on staying in the Hawaiian Islands.
She says she would like to stay and work on one of the Hawaiian islands
for say a period of about 4 to 5 months after her exams. Can anyone help
her with some info about visa’s, jobs, accommodation, weather, when it’s
best to go, etc. Felicity can be contacted on: href="mailto:felicitybishop@hotmail.com">felicitybishop@hotmail.com

David from PA, USA says: “I have a small boat (850
LBS) in Van Nuys California at my brother’s house. I live in Pittsburgh,
PA. I am willing to pay someone’s gas expenses if they are travelling
across country and are willing to bring my boat east. What newsgroups
would I post something like this on? I am new to newsgroups and would
appreciate any help you could give me in getting my boat east”.
If you can help David, please e-mail him on: dave43pa2003@yahoo.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: href="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/mutual/mutaid.html">Mutual Aid

RDF Media are producing a documentary for Channel 4 in
the UK about people who go travelling and do not return to the UK. We
are looking for stories of British people who find alternative lifestyles,
jobs, identities and relationships whilst travelling and resolve not to
return home. We would particularly like to speak to travellers who can
articulate why they have rejected UK lifestyle, and what qualities their
new life can offer that Britain can not. We are also looking into stories
of UK travellers that have gone missing whilst abroad. We would like
to speak to the friends and family that are searching for them. If you
would like to contact Kelly, you may e-mail her at: href="mailto:kelly.close@rdfmedia.com">kelly.close@rdfmedia.com
or phone her on 0207 013 4316.

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.

International Childcare Trust (ICT) is organising a coast
to coast cycle across Sri Lanka 19-28 September 2003 to raise funds to
help support programmes in Africa and Asia with some of the world’s poorest
and most vulnerable children.

ICT is taking advantage of the long held peace process
in Sri Lanka and cycling up into the north of the tropical island, an
area which only very recently opened to tourism. As far as we know, ICT
will be the first charity to cycle up into this virtually unexplored part
of the island, where elephants roam free! We will unwind after the cycle
by snorkelling near Trincomalee, at one of the most beautiful beaches
in the world.

The cycle offers keen travellers the chance to tour Sri
Lanka whilst keeping fit. Those who sign up will also be granted the
opportunity to meet other travellers and visit two of ICT’s projects to
see how the money raised will benefit some of the world’s most disadvantaged
children.

Since the north of the island has opened to tourism, Sri
Lanka is being written up in all the UK national papers as the new ‘hot
spot’ to travel before it becomes too tourist driven. Over the next couple
of years, it is anticipated that the tourist industry will grow and that
the prices for travel in Sri Lanka will rise considerably.

Therefore, an entry fee of £250 for the cycle (which
covers flight on Sri Lankan Airlines, hotel accommodation, provision of
bike, etc) seems to good to be true.

The challenge for people is: can you get fit enough? And
can you raise enough for ICT? We think that every individual is capable
and it is a memory that you will have with you for the rest of your life.

If you have any further queries or questions please visit
www.cyclesrilanka.com and do
not hesitate to contact us or me, Karen by e-mail: href="mailto:karen@ict-uk.org">karen@ict-uk.org
Web: www.ict-uk.org Charity No: 326240

We have been contacted by Felisa Forteza who tells us about
her new small and charming hotel in the very heart of Mallorca. Sa Rota
d´en Palerm is an 18^th Century house that
has been lovingly restored and converted into a countryside hotel. They
are offering a special 10% discount to readers of this e-newsletter on
stays with them in Mallorca. For more details, take a look at: Sa-Rota
website

Similarly, a French barge company approached the Globetrotters
Club with some large discounts available on hiring luxury French barge
boats. See www.bargefrance.com
for more info.

Air Canada, the world’s 11th largest carrier
has filed for bankruptcyprotection. They say they will continue to fly
while it reorganises its operations. The company says that Air Canada
customers around the world can continue booking with confidence that their
travel plans will not be disrupted.

Want to fly to Kuwait? While most of the world’s
large carriers are reducing their services in line with a down turn in
demand, mainly due to the Iraq conflict, Dubai-based carrier Emirates
is introducing extra flights between now and July. They plan to increase
services to the Middle East by increasing frequency of flights to Doha,
Tehran, Sanaa, Dammam and Kuwait.

Air Wales are planning to start a 50 seat daily
flight between south Wales and London, the first for 40 years on April
28^th. The service will run up to three times
a day between Swansea and London City Airport, stopping off in Cardiff.
The journey time will be 80 minutes - half the time of the train and will
cost as little as £19 each way.

Singapore Airlines, who are celebrating their 21st
birthday this year, have been named Airline of the Year at the prestigious
OAG Awards. Changi airport also won the best airport title for
the eighth year running.

US budget carrier Southwest Airlines topped the
Best Low Cost Airline category, a title it has held for three years.

Midwest Airlines was named Best Airline based in
North America and Canada.

A Czech woman, Hana Peskova of CSA Czech Airlines won
the Outstanding Service Award an award given to airline or airport staff
who have acted above and beyond the call of duty for her efforts to help
the people of Prague during the floods of August last year.

British Airways and Air France have both announced that
Concorde will be grounded permanently as from the end of November 2003.
Passenger demand has fallen significantly since the Concorde crash near
Paris in 2000. BA justified their decision by saying that maintenance
costs have become too high for them to continue the service and the global
downturn in demand for all forms of premium travel in the airline industry.
France said “the deterioration of business results from the transatlantic
service”, the aircraft’s only scheduled route.