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.
Picture courtesy of Derek Clark : Perfect Pitch
Hi Ant
I’ve been receiving the newsletters for awhile now and thoroughly enjoy them.
I’m no globetrotter myself. I went to Switzerland three times in the early ’60’s and have been to Paris twice in the late ’90’s. I don’t like flying and find that I have no great desire to visit foreign parts although I have a vague plan to travel the Roman roads of Europe when my wife retires in four years time.
I am, however, very interested in the history of England and Wales and I travel about cycle camping. I am no great shakes as a photographer – I use my compact camera as a diary – but here is a photo from last year that won me a prize in the Perfect Pitch section of the Camping and caravan Club competition.
I hope that is of interest
cheers
Derek Clark
August 2009
Hello,
I am contacting you regarding CarolineÂ’s Rainbow Foundation new website, we are re launching the site after six years in operation. We are registered UK charity working to raise awareness of the importance of safe travel to young people, whether they are going aboard for independent travel, gap years, organised tours or simply visiting a different country.
We established Caroline’s Rainbow Foundation after the tragic death of Caroline Stuttle in 2002 in Bundaberg Australia whilst travelling on her gap year. Aimed at young travellers, CRF works with the education sector, The Foreign Office and other organisations, trusts and charities to provide easy accessible and helpful information about safe travel. In particular the charity provides information about personal safety abroad and encourages young people to recognise and prioritise lifeÂ’s values where ever they maybe in the world.
We are looking to give specific travel/personal safety information to a country or city in our Global Guide; other new features include podcasts and travel stories with safety tips, our “Time of Your Life” DVD and recorded presentations we give in schools and colleges to promote travel safety awareness and the importance of following your dreams.
The new layout for our site means that it is a great foundation for the expansion of travel safety information, the Global Guide will only grow, all our information has been gathered by researchers that have travelled to the places and experienced the culture and local customs. If you would like to contribute to the site in the way of personal and travel safety information please contact us.
Kind regards
Richard Stuttle
Founder
PO BOX 216
YORK
YO42 4WZ
Email: richard@carolinesrainbowfoundation.org
Website: www.carolinesrainbowfoundation.org
Registered Charity No 1095766
Uk Company Registration No: 4525003
Several things in the May 2009 Globetrotters E Mail Newsletter (besides what countries I liked, disliked etc Ha!) interested me. I would be interested in hearing other Globetrotters likes, dislikes etc..
Finding out from Jennifer Barclays visit to Tilos (Greek Island) and her telling that years ago Elephants, when water was shallow, came over from Africa to this island. They became smaller to adapt and they became just one half of a metre tall (I would like to know their diet). As I had just read Culture Shock, Saudi Arabia by Harvey Tripp and Peter North (which was excellent) it interested me that you get to hear of it in England and can see the TV series.
I am doing a lot of travel reading but not much travelling.
Thanks for remembering me. Mac
The Cook Islands chapter from Moon Handbooks South Pacific is now online at http://cookislands.southpacific.org/
I updated the information during a visit to Rarotonga after the 2004 edition was published, so whatÂ’s on the web is more up to date than whatÂ’s in the printed book. The 125 pages of my Cook Islands Travel Guide contain 15 detailed island maps and town plans, plus dozens of photos and line drawings. Many of the pictures are from my most recent trip while others appeared in previous editions of my guidebook.
The material has been specially adapted for the internet and I removed guidebook-style details such as telephone and fax numbers which can be easily checked online. The accommodations listings are grouped according to price with six pages devoted to Rarotonga and four for Aitutaki, organized geographically.
There are clear maps of Aitutaki Atoll, Aitutaki Island, Arutanga, Atiu, Avarua, Mangaia, Manihiki, Manuae, Mauke, Mitiaro, Penrhyn, Pukapuka, Rarotonga, Suwarrrow, and the Cook Islands.
Navigation is easy with top and side menus, plus a full site map. Many of the maps are clickable to more detailed maps and the highlight pages are linked directly to specific references. A search box is also provided.
These features make the site as easy or easier to use than a printed book. This is the seventh of the 15 chapters from Moon Handbooks South Pacific to go online, after the Samoas, Niue, Pitcairn, Tokelau, and Wallis and Futuna.
Vancouver – CANADA: Save the date for the 6th annual around-the-world travel adventure competition that crowns The World’s Greatest Travelers. The world’s only open international travel adventure competition known as The Global Scavenger Hunt™ that circles the global over three-weeks, is set to begin April 9th, 2010, is now accepting applications for the 25 Team limited open competition slots.
What: The Global Scavenger Hunt is the annual around-the-world travel adventure competition that takes Teams on A Blind Date With The World™ while performing culturally-oriented scavenges in off the beaten path destinations.
When: April 2010, over three-weeks between April 9th and May 1st. Teams will travel from the West Coast to the East Coast-–the long way!
Who: Limited to 25 Teams of two. Entry fee include all international airfare, First Class hotels, 40% of meals and special event gear. Travelers will be interviewed for suitability! Single travelers are welcome to apply. Travelers from 45 nations have previously applied for this truly international travel competition.
Prizes: The World’s Greatest Travelers™ trophy and crown. Winners are invited back to defend their title for FREE.
Where: A circumnavigation of the globe that touches down in at least 10 countries; that may include: Peru, Brazil, Japan, China, Cambodia, India, Jordan, Morocco, Kenya, Portugal, Greece and Italy. (These are only potential 2010 countries as The Global Scavenger Hunt is truly A Blind Date With The World™ for all its participants because travelers won’t know where they are going to until at least 3-hours prior to each departure.
Why: Bragging rights, trophy and Teams will be traveling 1 million kilometer to help raise the $1 million goal for ongoing charity micro-loans and elementary schools building programs in developing nations like: Kenya, Sri Lanka, Niger, Bolivia, Sierra Leone and Ecuador, among others.
How: For additional information visit GlobalScavengerHunt.com to apply, or call GreatEscape Adventures at 1.310.281.7809.
Press Contact: Pamela Finmark –310.281.7809 or mediarelations@GlobalScavengerHunt.com
Hello all,
You might have received an email from me recently – apologising for being very late with this latest edition…despite my tardiness I hope you enjoy what we’ve put together, as it’s a catch up from many different aspects of our travelling worlds. Summer in London and the wider country has been thoroughly enjoyable
This time round we have quite an eclectic mix included…a bumper catch up on the London branch’s activities, a special offer from Footprint books and news from Channel 4 & Peter Gostelow. We’ve also got an update on the club’s travel award for 2009, including the announcement of a winner and we catch up with regular Mac as he wanders to Tonga
One final item that I’d like to share with you. It is now over a year that Everest conqueror Sir Edmund Hillary passed away and one of the many commemorations is an announcement that The Sir Edmund Hillary Medal will next be awarded in 2010. This medal was authorised by Sir Edmund and is a project of Mountain Legacy, a Nepalese non governmental organisation – it is awarded to those engaged in projects perennially constrained by limited funding, as way of offering crucial support. More details can be found at http://www.hillarymedal.com/, including a history and ways to get involved. A fitting tribute to a man and a country he was thrilled to be part of..
That’s all for now… your summers and feel free to send through your news, articles & anecdotes…we’re always looking for more to talk about
The Ant
Luke Freeman – A Drovers view of Madagascar Luke’s talk was based on the time he spent with the cattle drovers, who take the long horned cattle from the highlands to markets on the coast. Cattle are currency in Madagascar, they can even be seen on the bank notes. These young men hope to earn enough from this hard existence to set themselves up in life. The Drovers carry only the basic’s, a blanket, polythene sheet which they use when it rains and as a shelter at night, cooking pot and some clothes. They buy food from markets along the way, though often end up having to pay for what their cattle steal from the same markets as well. As well as the obvious hardships, the Drovers also have to deal with local bandits, who raid villages. The Police also have check points where they check the cattle’s “Passports” and paperwork, each cow has its own document and woe betide the drovers if it doesn’t all match up. Luke is an Anthropologist and has come to the conclusion that in many ways the drovers of Madagascar are responsible for helping maintain the country’s cohesion and common language, despite the diverse ethnic make up of the country. One surprising fact about Madagascar is that its population eats more rice per person than any other country on the planet.
See http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/africa/3645594.stm for more details…
Our second speaker was Ed Gillespie whose talk was called “Around the World without the aluminium sausage!”. Ed set out to travel around the round with his girlfriend emitting as little carbon as possible. His original idea was to parody Phileas Fogg and go “RTW in 80 ways”, but he soon realised this would involve lots of animals! But in 381 days Ed managed to travel 45,000 miles via 31 countries emitting just 1.8 Tonnes of carbon. He left the UK by ship for Spain, then travelled across Europe by train to Moscow, across Russia to Irkutsk where his Scottish girlfriend was delighted to find Irn Bru being in a supermarket! Through China and then by cargo ship to Japan and Hong Kong, before resorting to buses on the backpacker routes through south east Asia. After a stop in New Zealand to visit his cousins, he travelled by rust bucket across the Pacific to Mexico and buses through Central America, before finding a container ship heading for Dover and home.
Ed is the founder of Futerra http://www.futerra.co.uk/
For the end of the season London meeting, we had the traditional Members’ Slides to entertain us and this time around we had as many new speakers as returning favourites. All provided the audience with a varied range of excellent journeys and adventures, illustrated with some stunning photos:-
Eric Hayman : slides and memories about the extensive steam rail network in Ireland that he travelled in the 1960’s, often by hitching a ride with the driver. A wonderful insight into times gone by and the life of those who lived nearest to the tracks.
Delia Cardnell : A colourful glimpse of Delia’s trip to Vietnam and especially her interactions with the children and families she met there.
Jacek Obloj : These fascinating portraits from a trip to Morocco showed both Jacek’s interest in the human face but also a close up and intimate look at a colourful and varied people in black & white.
Suneel Kaur : A recent trip to India to visit the Jain temples near Bundi provided the subject for this presentation. History, culture and lots and lots of steps added to the attraction of this ‘off the tourist trail’ site.
Liz Cooper : Beautiful close-up photographs of the insects, birds and animals of Thai and English islands. A timely reminder that it is not always necessary to travel a long way to see beauty in nature.
Kevin Brackley : A trip to Sweden to practice his yoga gave Kevin a fine opportunity to explore the quirky sculpture & art that seems to litter the urban landscape of Stockholm. Who could miss the Shrek roof decoration or the stickered bin?
Nick Preston : Katoomba and the Blue Mountains, west of Sydney, Australia, was the source of Nick’s inspiration. Waterfalls, Adam Lindsay Gordon, the Three Sisters and lots of leafy bush spoke of sun and warmth and Nick’s love of travel.
Neil Harris : the Crimea. Florence Nightingale, the charge of the Light Brigade, Yalta, Soviet architecture, beaches and the Russian naval base whose lease is almost up, all came up for a mention. Once a favourite vacation spot for the elite of the USSR, the Crimea is now the summer escape for Ukrainians, with package tourism starting to discover that the beauty & history of the region i.e. a real selling point.
Details of the forth coming meetings at the London branch, September to December 2009, can be found at http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/meetings/lon09it1.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 8674 6229, or visit the website: www.globetrotters.co.uk.
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.