The Globetrotters eNewsletter
eNewsletter Archive

The Axumite kingdom in northern Ethiopia was established between
200 and 100 BC and was once one of the four kingdoms of the world.
The legendary Queen of Sheba reigned in the region eight or nine
centuries later. The region is home to some of the world's
obelisks carved with 'doors' and 'windows' and are
thought, like Stonehenge, to have some solar or astronomical
measuring role. One of the obelisks was looted from Axum by
Mussolini in 1937 and in 1947, Italy signed a pledge to the UN to
give back the obelisk - but has not followed through until now. The
obelisk - the only one on two continents weighing over 100 tonnes -
was situated in a square in Rome in front of what was once the
'Ministry for Italian Africa' (now the FAO building). The
obelisk has been cut into three sections, and has been awaiting its
return in a warehouse near Rome airport. The top piece of the
obelisk is now scheduled to leave Rome on a cargo plane in April
but this has been postponed because the Italian culture ministry
says Axum airport does not have radar, so the pilots must wait for
good weather.

Whilst the value of the Rand has strengthened, the number of
non-African visitors to South Africa dropped 2 percent in November
2004, to 198,605 people. French arrivals fell by 23 percent, to
13,142, and the number of German tourists fell 4.3 percent, to
33,495.

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. href="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/bites/">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: href="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/mutual/index.php">Mutual
Aid

Monique is looking for people to share a jeep from beginning
September to middle September for a trip down the Rift Valley lakes
and into the southwest tribal areas. Cost is 120 USD per day, no
matter how many people to the jeep - I will arrive in Addis on Sept
2nd and would prefer to leave the 3rd or 4th of September for a
15-18 days trip (flexible because of market days and so on).
Monique can be contacted by e-mail: moniquejansen66@hotmail.com or
monique.jansen@chello.be. She says that she is a freelance
photographer, so her main goal is: people, villages, markets, less
wildlife, birds. If this interests you, why not drop Monique a
line.

Here's a little Beetle quiz based on capital cities. See how
many you get right! Go on, have a guess!

What is the capital city of the following countries:

1. Senegal
2. Singapore
3. Sierra Leone
4. San Marino
5. Suriname

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

Need to convert currency?

Take a look at href="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/converter.html">The
Globetrotters Currency Converter - get the exchange rates for
164 currencies href="http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/trav_cheatsheet.html">The
Globetrotters Currency Cheat Sheet - create and print a
currency converter table for your next trip.

The 2005 World Airport Awards have voted for the 5th consecutive
year Hong Kong International Airport as the world's Best
Airport, in the largest customer survey of airport standards.
Singapore's Changi Airport takes the Silver Award as runner-up,
in what proved to be a close finish to the Survey. The two airports
achieved more than 130,000 votes each, with the final margin
between 1st and 2nd position being less than 500 votes.

The World's Top 10 Airports are as follows (2005)

1. Hong Kong International Airport
2. Singapore Changi Airport
3. Seoul Incheon Airport
4. Munich Airport
5. Kansai International Airport
6. Dubai International Airport
7. KLIA Kuala Lumpur
8. Amsterdam Schiphol Airport
9. Copenhagen Airport
10. Sydney Airport

Spotted by webmaster Paul: Google Sightseeing takes you to the best
tourist spots in the world via Google Maps' satellite imagery.
href="http://www.shreddies.org/gmaps/">http://www.shreddies.org/gmaps/
and also this for advice on jetlag: href="http://www.bodyclock.com/">http://www.bodyclock.com

A baggage handler wearing a camel suit taken from a passenger's
luggage has lead to Qantas Airways installing cameras in the
baggage handling areas.

Passenger David Cox complained after he saw a baggage handler
driving across the Sydney airport tarmac on Wednesday wearing the
camel suit that had been packed into the baggage he had checked in
only minutes earlier. Mr Cox, a marketing manager, had checked the
camel suit and a crocodile costume onto Qantas flight 425 from
Sydney to Melbourne in a large bag marked saying it was carrying
animal costumes.

He said he was standing near his boarding gate and at first thought
nothing when a child said “there's a guy with a moose
head”. But then he looked up and saw his camel costume. Mr Cox
later told ABC radio: “I obviously was flabbergasted.

A member of Globetrotters Club? Interested in a £1,000 travel
award?

Know someone who is? We have £1,000 to award each year for five
years for the best submitted independent travel plan. Interested?

Then see our
legacy page on our Website, where you can apply with your plans
for a totally independent travel trip and we'll take a look at
it. Get those plans in!!

Another TV production company, one who made the film Touching the
Void is looking for an original tale from a different terrain i.e.
- not a mountaineering story. If you think you could help, please
contact Claire on href="mailto:claire.forsyth@darlowsmithson.com">claire.forsyth@darlowsmithson.com