The Globetrotters eNewsletter
eNewsletter Archive

Air New Zealand and Qantas Airways confirmed have
barred men from sitting next to unaccompanied children on
flights. The
policy came to light after a man seated next to a child was asked to
change seats with a woman in another row and was told by a Qantas
flight attendant that the airline’s policy stipulated that only women
should sit next to unaccompanied children. The man asked to
move, Mark
Worsley, 37, was later told by the airline that Qantas wanted to err on
the side of caution. “I felt that it was totally
discriminatory,”
Worsley told The New Zealand Herald. A Qantas spokesman
confirmed the
policy and said the airline believed customers wanted the
policy.

Oasis Hong Kong Airlines, a new start up company aims
to be a low cost carrier but operate long haul routes. They
plan to
make their maiden flight from Hong Kong to London’s Gatwick Airport in
June 2006 as Hong Kong’s first low-fare carrier.

Oasis aims to price round-trip tickets starting as low
as HKD$1,000 (USD$128), although customers looking for such a bargain
would have to book months in advance, said Oasis Chief Executive
Stephan Miller, a founder and former chief executive of the city’s
second largest airline, Dragonair. Oasis will not be
alone. Qantas’
Jetstar arm and Viva Macau also hope to launch low-cost long-haul
flights.

The government of the Malaysian state of Johor says it
is to organise an attempt to track down a legendary ape man said to
roam its jungles. There have been a spate of sightings of Big
Foot,
known in local legend as Hantu Jarang Gigi - ghosts with widely spaced
teeth. Last November three fishery workers claimed to have
seen a Big
Foot family that left footprints up to 45cm long.
Conservationists say
that damage to branches suggested that the creatures could have been up
to 3m tall. There were similar sightings by members of the
local
indigenous minority who said they had seen a ‘King Kong’ covered in
black fur. Now, the chief minister of Johor, Abdul Ghani
Othman, says a
proper scientific expedition will track Big Foot’s big
foot-prints.

If you are found to be a stowaway on a ship, the ship
owners are obliged by law to bear the costs to send you home.

Unfortunately for seven Tanzanian stowaways who
recently boarded a ship sailing to South America at Mombassa in Kenya,
three Ukrainian sailors allegedly forced the seven stowaways to jump
overboard. Two of the seven Tanzanian stowaways are believed
to have
drowned while five managed to swim to safety, say police.

In December 2005, a drunken male passenger on a flight
from northern England to the Spanish tourist island of Tenerife was
dropped off at a small island off the African coast after he swore at
the cabin crew. Press reported that the plane’s captain
decided to
leave the man at Porto Santo, just 10 miles long and four miles wide, a
volcanic outcrop in the Atlantic, after he became abusive when he was
refused more alcohol. (The island does have a few hotels, so
he wasn’t
left to sleep on the beach in case you were worried. ) Needless to say,
police met the man at the airport who is due to appear in court in
mainland Portugal in January.

A Brisbane woman has been killed in a shark attack at
Amity Point, North Stradbroke Island near Brisbane. She was
swimming
about 15m (49ft) offshore when she was attacked in water which had
become murky and muddy after a recent storm. Police believe
that
possibly three bull sharks could have attacked the young woman as they
are known to be aggressive during mating season. Before you
start to
worry, let’s put this into perspective: there have been 10 fatal shark
attacks in Australian waters in the past five years.

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!!

If any Globetrotters member would like to start a
branch, whether it is in Aberdeen or Zanzibar, please see our FAQ or
contact our the Branch Liaison Officer via our Website at

Meeting
FAQ

.

The

British Foreign and Commonwealth Office

advise against all
but essential travel to Eritrea. We advise against all travel
to the
border areas with Ethiopia and Sudan. In recent weeks,
restrictions
placed on the UN Monitoring force by the Government of Eritrea have
further heightened tensions along the Ethiopia/Eritrea
border. This
advice includes Tesseney, near the Sudan border. We also
advise against
travel in the area north of Afabet in the Sahel region and along one
road in the west of the country (see Local Travel Section below for
details).

In November 2005, UN agencies in Eritrea withdrew
families of their personnel in response to increased tension between
Ethiopia and Eritrea over their disputed border. On 6
December 2005,
the Government of Eritrea told UN Mission to Ethiopia and Eritrea
(UNMEE) staff from USA, Canada, Europe and the Russian Federation to
leave the Mission within 10 days. The relocation of these
personnel to
Ethiopia is now complete.

You should be aware that there is a continuing threat
to Western, including British, targets from terrorism in Eritrea as
there is in other countries in East Africa and the Horn.

You should be aware that travel restrictions may limit
our ability to offer immediate consular assistance outside Asmara,
Keren, Dekemhare, Mendeferra and Massawa.

Travel options to and from Asmara are limited following
the cancellation of scheduled flights between Asmara and
Nairobi.

While thinking of ways to celebrate Globetrotters’
Club’s 60th anniversary we came up with the idea of awarding people who
have been members for 30 years or more, with a certificate.
Our
President, Janet Street-Porter has signed 17 certificates.

Using my own membership of exactly 30 years I was able
to use my membership number of 1202 as a useful gauge.
However, some
members ended up with new numbers if they renewed slightly late at one
point in our club’s history and the original numbers were
destroyed.
So, if you are one of these people and you know you joined before 1976
then please contact me:


e11fdj@yahoo.
co. uk


We offer our sincere apologies to anyone omitted from the list
below.

At our London meeting on 7th January 2006 we presented
the certificates to those there, the rest will be sent out.
One member,
who was omitted deserves a special mention. She has been
coming to our
meetings in London for many years and has been a member since
1968.
Joan McConn will receive her own presentation at a future
meeting.

The list of long serving members:

• Norman Ford
• Jean Clough
• Betty Dawes (Browning)
• Joan McConn
• Susan Mew
• Anne Ross
• Isabel Ramsay
• Margaret Hayward
• John Baker
• John and Julie Batchelor
• Jill Dunisthorpe
• Sylvia McMaster
• Francesca Jaggs
• John Barnes
• Winifred Manders
• Malcolm Kier
• Irene Richards