Vacation Dreams

Category: Events

  • London Meetings, Saturday, November 5th, 2016

    This month we have:

    1. AGM : The clubs AGM starts at 1:00pm (card carrying members only), then at 2.30 the meeting begins

    Speaking this month we have:

    1. Jeremy Perrin – All you need to know about the Camino de Santiago

    2. Jon Beardmore – The Great Game – 30,000 miles across Central Asia

      In 2013 Jon set out to retrace the 200 years immortalised in “The Great Game” – a term for the strategic rivalry and conflict between the British Empire and the Russian Empire for supremacy in Central Asia.

      Through interaction with the local people and landscapes, the aim was to compare the historical version with the modern day. He travelled from London to Russia along the Silk Road, through the “Stans”, China and SE Asia returning via India, Nepal, Pakistan, Iran and Turkey and finally back to Europe.

      His aim: to find out if Central Asia is really as dangerous as we’re led to believe.

      Links to the film website: www.thegreatgamemovie.com, https://www.facebook.com/TheGreatGameMovie/ and https://twitter.com/TheGreatGame30k

      Charity Links: Charity Fundraising Page

    London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

    Admission costs, £3 for Members and £6.00 Non-members. You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting approximately 40 minutes.

    There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

    If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here

  • London Meetings, Saturday, March 5, 2016

    Speaking this month we have:

    1. Daniel Evans – Footsteps Beyond the
      Pond

      Daniel has a special interest in the cryosphere (cold
      environments) and received a scholarship from the Royal
      Geographical Society when he was just 17 to travel and study in
      Alaska.

      After two months working as a field assistant at the University
      of Alaska Fairbanks, he undertook a tour of the US West Coast,
      absorbing the culture of Washington State, Oregon and California
      before heading up to Canada.

      Daniel has always had a passion for Geography, fostered no doubt
      from being brought up exploring his home county of Norfolk. With
      a desire to learn more about how the planet operates, Daniel is
      currently in the third year of his BSc Physical Geography degree
      programme and aspires to go on to achieve a Masters and PhD.

      Daniel is a keynote and after-dinner speaker to Rotary Clubs,
      the Woman’s Institute, schools and colleges across the
      country. He has also lectured at the Royal Geographical Society
      and many conferences. Recently, he was awarded the Ivan Palfrey
      Trophy for services towards the wider geographical community.

      Additionally, in his own time, he produces documentaries to
      inspire young people to study the landscape around them, writes
      essays and publishes all of this work on his blog: geographywithdan.blogspot.co.uk

    2. Jacqui Trotter – Israel.
    3. Unfortunately Alan Palmer has had to cancel.

      Alan Palmer – Diverse encounters in India's
      North-East Frontier Agency – Arunachal Pradesh, Nagaland and
      Assam.

      Alan Palmer previously presented for us at The Globetrotters
      Club three years ago when he delivered an illustrated talk about
      his experiences of trekking through the High Atlas and Ant-Atlas
      Mountains of Morocco. Having first visited the country in 1979
      and having regularly trekked there since 1986, he was in a good
      position to do so. More recently, he has focused upon the rich
      cultural diversity of North East India.

      During the course of two seasons in 2015, first through the
      deluge of the summer monsoon and then under the clear, blue
      skies of winter, Alan crossed the mountainous tribal regions of
      Arunachal Pradesh (inadvertently almost straying into Bhutan),
      traversed the plains of northern Assam, and then sought out
      remote traditional villages in Nagaland (accidentally wandering
      across the border into Myanmar, Burma).

      Alan will present an illustrated talk to us about his recent
      travels, focusing upon the remarkable ethnic and cultural
      diversity of the people he met in this remote corner of North
      East India.

      Alan is author of “Moroccan Atlas – The Trekking
      Guide” (Trailblazer
      Publications
      2010, second edition 2014).He has also
      contributed to
      Pakistan
      and
      The Silk Road
      (both by Insight Guides). In 2012 he formed
      his own company, Yak Travel Limited, planning and organising
      fully personalised treks and 4×4 tours for individuals and small
      groups in Morocco and North East India.

    London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

    Admission costs, £3 for Members and £6.00 Non-members. You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting approximately 40 minutes.

    There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

    If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here.

  • London Meetings, Saturday, February 6, 2016

    Speaking this month we have:

    1. Nathan Millward – From Sydney to London and beyond.
      Dorothy Revisited

      English traveller and author from Mansfield in the Midlands
      having ridden across the world by 105cc motorcycle named Dorothy
      and now back home in England, living in suburbia.

      Married last September in Las Vegas during another impromptu
      motorcycle adventure, proving that it’s not about the number
      of countries you visit or amount of miles that you cover.
      It’s instead about moving forward in life, however that
      happens to be represented.Talking about the trials and
      tribulations of the road and what travelling and adventure means
      to me now that I have two women in my life.

    2. Adam Lang – Sea and Sardinia – D.H. Lawrence’s
      Hidden Sardinia

      Five years ago I discovered ” Sea and Sardinia ” by DH
      Lawrence on an untidy shelf at Scriveners bookshop in Buxton,
      Derbyshire. Although I was not aware of the book it proved a
      very sound investment for just a pound. It coupled well my
      interests in Lawrence and Sardinia .

      In January 1921 DH Lawrence decided to take a break from living
      in Sicily and visited Sardinia with Frieda,his wife, whom he
      called the QB ( Queen Bee).He found a ” strange stony
      Cagliari ” with a street ” like a corkscrew
      stairway”. It was only a 6 day trip starting in the capital
      Cagliari and travelling third class on a narrow gauge steam
      train through the rugged interior.

      Lawrence and Frieda saw and spoke to a diverse range of people
      enabling him to write this little known Travel book which gives
      an illuminating and fascinating account of Sardinia and its
      people post World War One.

      130 years on from Lawrence’s birth in 1885, I attempted to
      retrace his and Frieda’s journey in the much more agreeable
      month of June with my partner Elizabeth,a ceramicist. Our trip
      showed how in many ways the island,its scenery, its life are
      little changed in a century.

      I am a published freelance writer,a former London Secondary
      Headteacher on ” a mature gap year ” with a passion
      for travel, education, the arts, music, sport and history.

    London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

    Admission costs, £3 for Members and £6.00 Non-members. You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting approximately 40 minutes.

    There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

    If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here.

  • London Meetings, Saturday, September 3rd, 2016

    Speaking this month we have:

    1. Denise Heywood – Sir Stamford Raffles Art Collector & Discoverer Of Singapore

      Raffles, whose name is synonymous with a luxury hotel rather than the greatest Buddhist temple in the world, was the enlightened 18th c colonial administrator of Java. This lecture tells the story of Raffles, a scholar and polymath. It looks at the objects he collected, reveals the temple, Borobudur, he uncovered in Java, shows Singapore, which he chose as a centre for trade and reflects on the legacy of his travels and life.

    2. Alan Palmer – Travels in India’s North East Frontier Agency (Part 1) – Amongst the Headhunters of Nagaland

      Alan Palmer previously presented for us at The Globetrotters Club three years ago when he delivered an illustrated talk about his experiences of trekking through the High Atlas and Ant-Atlas Mountains of Morocco. Having first visited the country in 1979 and having regularly trekked there since 1986, he was in a good position to do so. More recently, he has focused upon the rich cultural diversity of North East India.

      During the course of two seasons in 2015, first through the deluge of the summer monsoon and then under the clear, blue skies of winter, Alan crossed the mountainous tribal regions of Arunachal Pradesh (inadvertently almost straying into Bhutan), traversed the plains of northern Assam, and then sought out remote traditional villages in Nagaland (accidentally wandering across the border into Myanmar, Burma).

      Alan will present an illustrated talk to us about his recent travels, focusing upon the remarkable ethnic and cultural diversity of the people he met in this remote corner of North East India.

      From the history of Nagaland’s head-hunting tribes to opium smoking chiefs on the Burmese border,  and from the 19th century conflicts with the early British colonialists to the battlefields of the Second World War against the Japanese plus, of course, the wonderful 10-day Hornbill Festival.

      Alan is author of “Moroccan Atlas – The Trekking Guide” (Trailblazer Publications 2010, second edition 2014).He has also contributed to Pakistan and The Silk Road (both by Insight Guides). In 2012 he formed his own company, Yak Travel Limited, planning and organising fully personalised treks and 4×4 tours for individuals and small groups in Morocco and North East India.

    London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend.

    Admission costs, £3 for Members and £6.00 Non-members. You do not need to be a member to attend, and we do not sell advanced tickets, please just come on the day, the doors open at 2:15pm and the program starts around 2:30pm with each talk lasting approximately 40 minutes.

    There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh each September.

    If you would like to keep up to date with what’s happening at the Globetrotters London meetings and to be sent email reminders prior to the meeting, please sign up here.

  • Toronto meetings, Friday, November 18, 2016

    Speaking this month:

    • Monique Lemonnier and Bob and Sue Rodin will present their separate recent trips to “Iceland”.

    toronto-gts-20161118-iceland

    For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka : hermaneks@yahoo.ca or Bruce : bruceaweber@hotmail.com / tel. 416-203-0911. Meetings and travel presentations are held on the 3rd Friday in January, March, May (4th Friday), September and November at 8.00 p.m at Old York Tower, 85 The Esplanade ( corner of the Esplanade & Church St.) – two blocks east of the Union station. Public parking garage is at the foot of Church Street right next to the Old York Tower.

  • Chester Meetings, Saturday November 19th 2016

    Globetrotters in Chester

    Presents

    1. Peter Logan — “Mysterious North Korea”

      This is an illustrated talk accompanying his photographic slides, of his two visits to North Korea describing Pyongyang (the showpiece capital), the De-Militarized Zone (DMZ) with South Korea and the Mountainous interior.

      Originally from Lytham St Annes, he worked as an HM Immigration Officer at Southampton, Heathrow Airport, Dover and latterly at Aberdeen, involved with personnel on the North Sea oil rigs.

    2. Brian Anderson — ‘The Uttermost Part of the World’

      In 1519 Magellan became the first European to navigate a wild and remote channel linking the Atlantic and Pacific oceans. Sailing in search of a westward route to the Spice Islands, Magellan sighted many fires along the coastline. His sailors christened this uncharted area “Tierra del Fuego” or ‘The Land of Fire’. Sailing the same waters in 1577, Sir Francis Drake described this southern tip of South America as “the uttermost part of the earth”. Charles Darwin visited the region in 1832 and 1833 and described the Fuegian tribes as “The most uncivilised savages” he had ever encountered.

      Join Brian for the incredible story of Tierra Del Fuego and view his stunning landscape and wildlife images from 4 expeditions to the region. You will see the fuegian red fox, Penguins, Sea lions, magnificent caracaras, skuas and shags, plus many other animals and plants which survive in this most remote and inhospitable region of the southern hemisphere.

    November  Poster 2016
    November Poster 2016

    Doors open 1pm for 1:30pm Start till 4:30pm Entrance Fee £3.00 includes refreshments and two talks Grosvenor Museum 25-27 Grosvenor Street, CH1 2DD Enquiries to Hanna tel: 01244383392 or Angela tel: 01244 629930

  • Chester Meetings, Saturday September 17th 2016

    Globetrotters in Chester

    Presents

    1. Martin Thompson — “Bhutan by Bullet”


      This is the story of a 1,000 mile ride across the isolated Kingdom of Bhutan, on a Royal Enfield ‘Bullet’: Knee-rattling dirt roads, loosely attached to precipitous cliffs; a diet of chilies (3 times a day); cultural overload, with a quiz obsessed guide…..and 10 days shared with the most spiritual and welcoming people imaginable.

    2. Andy Lyon — “Researching Tourism in the Waterberg, South Africa “

      Dr. Andy Lyon is Head of Department for Marketing, Tourism & Events Management at the University of Chester. He has travelled extensively, lived and worked in the France, USA, Australia and Japan “Having travelled to the beautiful Waterberg area in South Africa on numerous occasions to visit friends, I really fell in love with the landscape, wildlife and people of the area. Following the creation of the Waterberg Biosphere Reserve in 2001, this led me to undertake a PhD on tourism development in the area. Biospheres are a UN designation which stipulates that the area should be developed in a sustainable way.


      This presentation is a summary of my stay and the research carried out in the area. It poses some interesting questions about how tourism can be a force for good, but there are also problems associated with its development. While I do have an academic background, I can assure you that the talk will be informative, hopefully interesting, thought provoking and there will be lots of pictures and anecdotes, especially about the crocodile farm!”


    Sept 2016 Poster
    Sept 2016 Poster

    Doors open 1pm for 1:30pm Start till 4:30pm Entrance Fee £3.00 includes refreshments and two talks Grosvenor Museum 25-27 Grosvenor Street, CH1 2DD Enquiries to Hanna tel: 01244383392 or Angela tel: 01244 629930

  • Chester Meetings, Saturday July 16, 2016

    Globetrotters in Chester

    Presents

    1. Linda White – Solo Travelling using Women Welcome Women World Wide

      This is a talk introducing Women Welcome Women World Wide (5W).

      If travelling solo or on some occasions friends will take 2 people. You are able to meet a local who will advise you were to visit and if they have time, will take you around. Certain friends are not just Day Hostesses, the rule being if convenient you can stay 3 days. I will cover travelling in Australia & New Zealand also Europe Copenhagen. I make all the arrangements myself that can be done with careful planning.

      I started off backpacking after retiring, staying in YHA accommodation in Europe & Australia (being 60+ was not a problem)
      see www.womenwelcomewomen.uk

    2. David Gregson – Living with the Masai

      Retired secondary school Assistant headteacher. In 2009 I went on safari to Tanzania. Whilst on holiday we came into contact with the Noonkodin Secondary school. This is a rural Maasai school located in a remote part of Tanzania. Over the years I have visited the school on numerous occasions and shared the difficulties of life of the Maasai. Nothing is ever what it may first appear to be. I’d be happy to share these experiences with the Globetrotters audience.

      I am a trustee of Serian Uk the charity that supports the Noonkodin school. The talk shows how travel can change your life and have an impact on other peoples life

    july 2016 poster globetrotters final 2 sp

    Doors open 1pm for 1:30pm Start till 4:30pm
    Entrance Fee £3.00 includes refreshments and two talks
    Grosvenor Museum
    25-27 Grosvenor Street, CH1 2DD

    Enquiries to Hanna tel:  01244383392 or Angela tel: 01244 629930

  • Chester Meetings, Saturday May 21, 2016

    Globetrotters in Chester

    Presents

    1. Afghanistan: Jim Holmes

      Afghanistan is seen as an area of darkness and conflict from border to border, there are still vast mountainous areas of this beautiful country that are peaceful and moving forward.
      The Hazara ethnic group sets itself apart through religious beliefs and their independent nature, inhabiting much of the rugged central mountains west of Kabul.
      I was commissioned to document a development programme that included rural power supply, water and sanitation, all vital aspects of the development process.
      Although initially sceptical, I was dispatched into the unknown. What I discovered on a 4 wheel drive journey was stunning mountain scenery welcoming communities and a people eager for assistance and stability. The early onset of winter snows was one of our only fears…
      see also www.jimholmes.co.uk

    2. Terry Callaghan: The Altai Mountains

      The slideshow is based on field visits to a research station in the high Altai Mountains, the journey there along one of the 10 most scenic roads in the world, and an off-road expedition to the Mongolian border to find ancient rock carvings.
      see also www.shef.ac.uk/aps/staff-and-students/acadstaff/callaghan

    may poster 2016

    Doors open 1pm for 1:30pm Start till 4:30pm
    Entrance Fee £3.00 includes refreshments and two talks
    Grosvenor Museum
    25-27 Grosvenor Street, CH1 2DD

    Enquiries to Hanna tel:  01244383392 or Angela tel: 01244 629930

  • Chester Meetings, Saturday March 19th, 2016

    Globetrotters in Chester

    Presents

    1. “Eritrea”: Pat Jones
      My trip to Eritrea in 2012. A fascinating country to visit with many wonderful things to see. I work as a Computer Consultant. I enjoy travelling to different places and aim to usually have 3 trips a year. These trips sometimes cover a number of countries. I try to see as much as possible of the countries I visit.
    2. Traversa: “A solo walk across Africa to the Indian Ocean”: Fran Sandham
      Critically acclaimed author, former Rough Guides editor and public speaker Fran Sandham took on the challenge of a lifetime, by walking across Africa solo: no backup, no support team, no one to carry his gear, no sponsors, no film crew, no journalists, no fuss, no cheering crowds, and no strings attached. Above all, it had to be on a one-way ticket: no safety nets, no get-out clauses and nothing to fall back on …

      ‘I found myself increasingly gripped’ THE OBSERVER

      ‘A lively and engaging speaker whose journey on foot across Africa needs to be heard to be believed’ BBC LONDON 94.9 FM

      For further details please visit www.traversa.co.uk

    March 2016 poster
    March 2016 poster

    Doors open 1pm for 1:30pm Start till 4:30pm
    Entrance Fee £3.00 includes refreshments and two talks
    Grosvenor Museum
    25-27 Grosvenor Street, CH1 2DD

    Enquiries to Hanna tel:  01244383392 or Angela tel: 01244 629930