Category: Sidebar

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. Travel Sized Bites

We think that all Globetrotters should go and visit
the new Frommer’s Budget Travel site on MNSBC. There are some great
articles, a notice board for sharing tips, posting issues and asking the
editors questions. For more info, visit: Frommers Budget Travel and check
it out.

Doctors aiming to make a cheap and effective malaria
drug available across Africa have been awarded a $1.5m grant by the Gates
Malaria Partnership, based at the London School of Hygiene and Tropical
Medicine, which was established with $40m from the Bill & Melinda
Gates Foundation in 2000.

Experts will look at the best way of using the anti-malarial
drug Lapdap. Tom Kanyock, manager of product development for TDR, said:
“It appears that Lapdap would offer a safe and effective low -cost
alternative to the drugs currently available. Both drugs which make up
Lapdap have been around for a long time, and used for other things”.

Air Canada and Australia's leading carrier, Qantas,
will both reduce flights over the next two months to Taiwan because they
say they cannot make enough money from them.

Canada's new low fare airline, Calgary based Zip,
(owned by Air Canada) took to the skies in September, launching short
haul domestic routes in the west of the country, flying initial services
between Edmonton, Vancouver, Winnipeg and Calgary.

Rumours abound in Oz that Singapore Airlines may revive
Australia’s failed domestic operator, Ansett. Sir Richard Branson’s
Oz based Virgin Blue (been going 2 years now) picked up much of Ansett’s
business when it went bust.

Talking of Virgin Blue, they have applied for permission
to fly to Hong Kong and are pursuing plans to start flights to New Zealand,
and possibly Bali.

Still in Australia, Australian, Australia’s newest
low fare operation, (owned by Qantas), is to start services to Japan next
month from Cairns. The first two routes will be to Nagoya and Osaka and
it plans to be serving six Asian destinations with its four aircraft before
the end of the year. (A good bit of competition may provide us Globetrotters
with more routings and lower costs!)

Cathay Pacific have announced plans to resume flying
to mainland China. They have applied for routes to Beijing, Shanghai and
Xiamen but has not said when it is likely to start services. The only
Hong Kong airline currently serving China is Dragonair, in which Cathay
has an 18 percent stake.

Boo hoo! US Airways have announced that they will no
longer be serving free alcoholic drinks on their transatlantic flights
to economy class passengers.

Delta Air Lines is cancelling its daily non-stop flights
from its Atlanta hub to both Buenos Aires and Rio de Janeiro due to losses
made on these 2 routes.

BAA, the world's largest airport operator, reported
a rise in traffic at its seven UK airports, and says that it has won the
backing of local planning authorities to raise passenger capacity at London
Stansted to 25 million.

A GBP£250 million (USD$391 million) scheme aims
to make Stansted, one of the country's fastest growing airports, capable
of handling an extra 10 million passengers by 2010.

­ Less than one in 10 people are estimated to have
been on an international flight

­ China is expected to unseat France as world’s
most visited country by 2020

­ 16% of foreign trips are in East Asia –
up from 1% in 1950

Sources: IATA, Worldwatch Institute

Bet you didn’t know that England, yes, England
as in the UK, produces wine!

Heart of England Fine Foods and Heart of England Tourist
Board have just produced a new brochure outlining vineyards to visit in
Herefordshire and Worcestershire.

Some 95 vineyards, located throughout the UK, are open
to the public and a number of these are in the Heart of England region.

‘The Wine Trail' lists a number of
vineyards at Astley, Frome Valley, Bodenham, Coddington, Halfpenny Green,
Tiltridge, Lulham Court and Wroxetter.

Many vineyards are in beautiful parts of the region,
making it viable to tie in a visit to a vineyard with a trip to another
attraction.

For further information or a copy of the ‘The
Wine Trail' contact HEFF on 01746 785185, Fax: 01746 785186, or E-mail:
office@heff.co.uk

Source: Britain
Express

The AUC (Air Transport Users Council– the UK airline
watchdog) recently issued a list of the 20 most complained about airlines.
They said there was “little evidence” that airlines were showing
“any real concern about the impact on passengers of damaged, delayed
or lost luggage”. Lost luggage, flight cancellations and problems
with tickets – particularly for those booked over the internet and by
telephone – were among the most common complaints.

The AUC said it was especially worried about budget
airline Ryanair which, it claimed, often displayed a poor attitude towards
its customers. Overall, Ryanair was the third most complained about airline
– receiving 77 written complaints, compared with 117 for the biggest carrier,
British Airways, and 110 for Air France.

The top 10 are as follows:

1) British Airways + subsidiaries: 117 2) Air France:
110 3) Ryanair: 77 4) KLM + subsidiaries: 53 5) Easyjet: 42 6) MyTravel
(formerly Airtours):39 7) Britannia: 33 8=) Air 2000: 32 8=)Go: 32 10)
BMI British Midland: 29

The Beetle says she is pleased to see Ryan
air in the list, and is not surprised to see most of the other low cost
carriers all represented.

The other day, a group of London based Globetrotters
started talking about slang and direct translations from one language
into another. This lead to Olwen, a Welsh language student, telling one
of us of a Welsh colloquialism that made us laugh.

In Welsh, the word Microwave becomes a microdion, and
an oven in Welsh slang is “Popty.” So guess what’s a microwave?

It’s a “Popty Ping”

Ben, from the US asks: does anyone have a good idea
for a small, inexpensive hotel, apartment anywhere on the Riviera where
I can stay for a few weeks in February 2003? I will be on the Costa del
Sol during January and take the train to France. My plan is to fly to
Paris early in January and return to USA sometime late in February. In
between I will travel by train. To contact Ben, e-mail him on: BenDukes@msn.com

John from Wales says he is planning his first trip to
south west China. Can anyone tell him the best time to travel is in the
Spring? Has anyone any experience they can share with John? If so, please
e-mail John on jjd2428@hotmail.com

Marie from France asks if anyone can help her find a
website concerning accommodation in monasteries. If anyone can recommend
any websites or other info and contacts, please contact Marie on: mariegus@club-internet.fr

(Marie, the Beetle says as one suggestion, you search
on Paradores in Spain as these hotels are often based in coverted old
forts, castles, convents and monasteries.)

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: Mutual Aid

Satellite pictures of northern Africa show that areas
lost to the Sahara desert during decades of drought are turning green
again. Analysis of images show deserts retreating in a broad band stretching
from Mauritania to Eritrea, according to research in British magazine
New Scientist. The driving force behind the retreat of the deserts is
believed to be increased rainfall. This helping to transform thousands
of hectares into productive fields – where nothing grew just a decade
ago.