Vacation Dreams

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  • April meeting news from the London branch

    Martin Featherstone: Hyenas Ate My Water Container! Return to the London branch of one of our most popular speakers…this time leading us through his adventures in East Africa and in particular Tanzania. As many of you already know Martin has lively, unique style of presenting…deliberately cheeky & yet very knowledgeable about all his subjects. As IÂ’d visited the same a few years earlier, I was more than interested in his time at Kilimanjaro & going on safari.

    Francesca Jaggs: Committee member Francesca showed us a short film of her impending visit to the former Yugoslavia, as part of the Healing Hands Network – http://www.healinghandsnetwork.org.uk/ The film detailed the immense pain that many people still endure as a result of the violent wars which the country broke up as a result of and how their small ground up charity tries to assist in the healing process.

    Jeanie Copland: Legacy Officer Jeanie regaled us with the first part of her epic ten week trip to Patagonia & wider South America. Yours truly started with one of the clubÂ’s most adventurous members in heading from Buenos Aires, south into the Argentine Patagonia before trekking the epic Torres del Pine W circuit. We went our separate ways on the road to Ushuaia – me up to the Chilean Lake District and Jeanie into Bolivia, Peru before…..

    Image courtesy of Lonely PlanetImage courtesy of Lonely Planet

  • May meeting news from the London branch

    Jeanie Copland: continuing her odyssey through South America. Jeanie looped through the eastern side of the country, learning Spanish along the way, heading into the silver mines at Potosi and complete her circle via Brazil & Rio de Janiero.

    Jacqui Trotter: Fellow Committee member and all round club stalwart Jacqui completed her own journey through the southern Americas…this time spending a number of weeks travelling by chicken bus through Central America. Armed with only two or three other travel companions plus there various talents of Wayne the driver, Jacqui headed from Mexico, through the myriad of nations to Panama and after her own year away, back to London.

    Details of the London branchÂ’s forthcoming meetings, through to July 2010, can be found at https://staging.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon10it.html

    The London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

  • Meeting news from the Chester branch by Hanna & Angela

    The next meeting is on the Saturday 22th May at the Grosvenor Museum at the usual time of 1.0pm meeting for a 1.30pm start. There will be two lectures, the first on the Ukraine given by Barbara Dickinson, followed by refreshments then a talk by Dan Bachmann on the forgotten tribes of Karamojong people in Uganda.

    Tickets £2 including refreshments

    Contact Angela or Hanna for further information of this & future events at Chester via email at chesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk

  • Meeting news from the Ontario branch

    For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

    The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.

  • Write in (1)…A Step back in time by Doreen Tayler

  • Write in (2) May 2010

    An online device that helps travellers find out whether they might be at risk of potentially fatal Tick Borne Encephalitis (TBE) in Europe is now available at the Tick Alert website (www.tickalert.org). The ‘TBE Travel Check’ takes less than a minute to complete and asks users a sequence of simple questions about where they are going and any outdoor activities they are planning to determine their level of risk. A message at the end of the test advises whether a user should consider seeking medical advice ahead of their trip. A Tick Alert spokesperson said: “The TBE Travel Check gives people a better understanding of their risk before they travel so they can think about the need for precautions against the disease.

    “Many of us heading into Europe often don’t consider seeking travel health advice so we hope this quick check will help.”

    The ‘TBE Travel Check’ is one of a number of new-look features to Tick Alert’s website (www.tickalert.org), which now includes the latest updates on TBE risk, prevention measures taken by health authorities in various destinations and an interactive map showing risk areas of Europe.

    TBE is a viral disease contracted via the bite of an infected tick which is endemic in 27 countries in Europe. It leads to an annual average of 10,000 cases needing hospital treatment. Two in every 100 TBE sufferers will die from the disease.

    Email for more details: lisa@tickalert.org, sam@tickalert.org or richard@tickalert.org.

    Notes:

    • The Foreign Office advises that travellers to TBE-endemic regions seek medical advice from their local surgery or clinic well before travelling.
    • TBE-endemic countries are: Albania, Austria, Belarus, Bosnia, Croatia, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Latvia, Liechtenstein, Lithuania, Norway, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine.
    • TBE-infected ticks are found typically in rural and forest areas from late spring and throughout summer. At-risk groups include all visitors to rural areas of endemic countries, particularly those participating in outdoor activities such as camping, trekking, hiking, climbing and cycling/mountain biking.

  • Welcome to eNewsletter March 2010

    Hello all,

    time for a catch up and a chance to pass on some interesting articles and comments Ive received lately. In this edition you can read about the latest Globetrotters Club Travel Award winner, follow Mac through surviving travel emergencies and learn about life in Calabria, Italy. You can also see that the London and Chester branches have continued to busy with very interesting programs… And Ive added a couple of sections in this introduction to highlight some news and events !

    Members News

    Artist Karen Neale and her partner Alex Lassuss Rodriguez have given birth to a baby son and are all doing well…congratulations to all of three of them

    Photographer Dan Bachmann spoke at the Royal Geographical Societys Young Members Geographical Journeys: Young Members’ Micro Lectures evening on 9 March on London…briefly recounting his visit to Karamojong people of north east Uganda. You may recall Dan undertook this quite unique journey by being partly funded by winning the Globetrotters Travel Award in June 2009…perhaps this is the start of a new speaking career, particularly as you can catch him at the Chester branch in May.

    Committee member Francesca Jaggs, the clubs Publicity and PR officer, is going to Sarajevo as a volunteer for Healing Hands Network in May 2010. If you would like to help sponsor her endeavours and raise money for charity, click here for more details http://www.mycharitypage.com/francescajaggs

    Interesting Events

    · As European Capital of Culture for 2010, Istanbul is hosting a plethora of events throughout the year across the city from heritage, visual arts & multimedia to film, theatre & dance, music, museums, literature & poetry. Many other projects are well underway, from restoration work on historic sites such as the Hagia Sophia, Topkapi Palace, Suleymaniye Mosque and the Ataturk Cultural Centre to the construction of brand-new art and cultural centres, from ongoing festivals and arts events to the commissioning of new artistic works for 2010. For full calendar of events see www.en.istanbul2010.org.

    Thats all for now heres to enjoying the spring and travels you might be about to start J

    The Ant
    theant@globetrotters.co.uk

  • March meeting news from the London branch

    Mark Kalch — Solo Crossing, on foot, of the Islamic Republic of Iran

    Mark was proudly born in Australia and has spent the last 12 or so years of his life working towards becoming a professional adventurer and explorer. Expeditions have taken him from Everest to North Africa, from Ethiopias Omo Valley to the mighty Amazon and from AustraIia’s outback to the forests of South-East Asia. He has run rivers in Southern Africa and trekked for weeks on end in the Andes of Peru, forged trails through dense jungles in East Africa and explored deserted tropical islands off the coast of Australia by sea-kayak. A true Globetrotter…

    However this time round his plans for the club went askew an injury to Mark meant that he spent his return from Iran recuperating rather than being able to prepare for us…this meant he talked about his rowing epic down the Amazon. See http://www.expeditionamazonas.com/ from more details of that trip or more generally about Mark on http://www.markkalch.com/.

    Jennifer Barclay — Return to South Korea

    South Korea is often called the best-kept secret of Asia, with most westerners hearing more about the closed state to the north and the DMZ that divides them than the fascinating country to the south. Jennifer Barclay, author of Meeting Mr Kim, has been researching and writing about the country for years and went back in September 2009 to dig deeper. She was served strange fish by one of the oldest diving women of Jeju, went walking in a volcanic lava tube, got a rare view of North Korea, met a robot and watched old men playing chess. See for more details about her travel & writing career generally.

    The next London Meeting will be on April 10th, this is the second Saturday of the month due to the Easter public holidays.

    Details of the London branchs forthcoming meetings, through to July 2010, can be found at https://staging.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon10it.html

    The London branch meetings are held at The Church of Scotland, Crown Court, behind the Fortune Theatre in Covent Garden at 2.30pm the first Saturday of each month, unless there is a UK public holiday that weekend. There is no London meeting in August, but we start afresh in September. For more information, contact the Globetrotters Info line on +44 (0) 20 7193 2586, or visit the web site: www.globetrotters.co.uk.

  • March meeting news from the Chester branch by Hanna & Angela

    The lecture was again well attended with regulars turning up for this bi monthly major event and they were treated to yet more travel exploits to distant lands via the following very different talks:-

    · Latin America by bike: speaker Clive Parker detailed his cycle tour of Central and part of Latin America. This incredible journey is the subject of his book “Pedalling Panama” and through mountains, heat and chill, Clive cycled over 7000 kilometres which he illustrated with a superb talk. See Clives web site for more details http://www.cliveparker.co.uk/.

    · A journey through Bhutan: speaker Mike Jones, an inveterate traveller, took us to the unique country of Bhutan. Just to tour there one has to be provided with a local guide as it is quite a reclusive society but one in that the people are both welcoming and so friendly, and a country that abounds with majestic scenery and monasteries often perched high on the sides of mountains.

    The next meeting is on the Saturday 22th May at the Grovsenor Museum at the usual time of 1.0pm meeting for a 1.30pm start. There will be two lectures, the first on the Ukraine given by Barbara Dickinson, followed by refreshments then a talk by Dan Bachmann on the forgotten tribes of Karamojong people in Uganda.

    Tickets £2 including refreshments

    Contact Angela or Hanna for further information of this & future events at Chester via email at chesterbranch@globetrotters.co.uk

  • Meeting news from Ontario

    For information on Ontario meetings, please contact Svatka Hermanek: shermanek@schulich.yorku.ca or Bruce Weber: tel. 416-203-0911 or Paul Webb: tel. 416-694-8259.

    The Ontario branch meetings are held on the third Friday of January, March, May, September and November. Usually at the Woodsworth Co-op, Penthouse, 133, Wilton Street in downtown Toronto at 8.00 p.m.