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EXPLORE 2002
For anyone planning an expedition, EXPLORE 2002 – the place to be is the
26th annual Expedition Planning Seminar that will be running on 16-17th
November 2002 at the Royal Geographical Society (with IBG) in London.

The seminar covers all aspects of planning an expedition
including lectures on medical issues, insurance, PR, communication, mapping
etc and also workshops covering all environments from polar to jungle
to mountains or deserts!

This is the place to find inspiration, contacts and
practical advice that you will need to head into remote and challenging
environments. For more info and a booking form visit: www.rgs.org/explore

Mexican airports are returning to normal operations
after Hurricane Isidore battered the country on the weekend. The airport
authorities estimated that 89 flights at Cancun, were cancelled because
of the hurricane, but no damage has been reported and the airport is now
operating normally. One man died at Cancun Airport.

The Dead Sea is falling by about one metre (3ft) a year
due to declining rainfall, and an increase in the amount of irrigation
water being taken from the River Jordan. Water flows in from the River
Jordan and other sources, but there is no outflow – it simply evaporates,
concentrating the salts in the water into brine. Environmentalists warn
the salt lake could vanish by 2050 if nothing is done.

Israel and Jordan announced at the recent World Summit
on Sustainable Development in Johannesburg that they have agreed on a
plan to build an $800 million pipeline to pipe water north from the Gulf
of Aqaba in Red Sea to the Dead Sea.

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Cote d'Ivoire (a.k.a.Ivory Coast) is a developing
country on the west coast of Africa. The Foreign & Commonwealth office
advise against all holiday and other non-essential travel to Abidjan and
against all travel to any other part of Cote d'Ivoire at this time.
Abidjan is calm but tense. There is a curfew from 2000 to 0600, due to
be reviewed on 30 September. The northern towns of Bouake and Korhogo
are still held by rebels, but the government has begunmilitary operations
to re-take them.

Click here for FCO
website

The Museum is housed within the Bank of England, at
the heart of the City of London. It traces the history of the Bank from
its foundation by Royal Charter in 1694, to its role today as the nation's
central bank. Displays include: gold, bank notes and a reconstruction
of the 18th century office. In addition, inter-active systems allow visitors
to look behind the doors of the central bank or to examine the intricacies
of bank note design and production, and a computer-driven simulation gives
visitors an idea of what it is like to deal on the US Dollar/Sterling
spot market.

The museum is open Monday to Friday, 10.00 – 17.00 and
admission is free.

Historical Bank of England Trivia

Ø The Bank of England was founded in 1694 by
a Scotsman, William Paterson, and the Bank of Scotland in 1695 by an Englishman,
John Holland.

Ø The monarch's portrait didnot appear on
Bank of England notes until 1960.

Ø The highest value bank note issued by the Bank
of England was the £1000 denomination. It was last issued in 1943.

Ø The fiver (£5) is the longest running
denomination of Bank of England note: it was first issued in 1793.

Ø Bank of England notes were not wholly printed
until 1853. Until that year they were still signed by one of the Bank's
cashiers.

Ø Kenneth Grahame, the author of children's
book, The wind in the Willows, was the Secretary of the Bank of England
1898 – 1908. The book was published in 1908, the year in which he retired
from the Bank. It is possible that some of the characters in the book
were based on those people he knew and worked with.

Bank of England
web site

For true 007 fans this exhibition at the Science Museum
in London will display a vast collection of objects, costume designs,
storyboards and images. See Oddjob's killer bowler hat and Rose Klebb's
flick-knife shoe. Visitors will have a real behind the scenes look at
the work of the creative and technical teams of these world famous films.
Special themed areas will allow fans of Bond to gain a sense of what its
like to be the special agent. Visitors must embark on a 'death-defying
stunt' and negotiate 'the mirrored maze in the villains lair'
before they are granted secret agent status! The exhibition runs from
16 October 2002 – March 2003. For more info, visit:

London Events: Pearly Kings and Queens Harvest Festival

If you’ve never seen them, this is your chance:
if you are in London 6^th October, you will be
able to see the Pearly Kings and Queens. They are traditional Cockney
costermongers. The altar and the pulpit of St Martins in the Fields, Trafalgar
Square are arrayed with the fruits of the earth, and a Pearly King or
Queen reads one of the Lessons, while the congregation sings the hymns
of the harvest season.

Date: 6 Oct 2002

Location: St Martin-in-the-Fields Church, Trafalgar
Square, London, WC2N 4JJ Tel: (020) 7766 1100

Website: St
Martins in the Fields

It’s Real Beer Week in British pubs this autumn.
33 family run breweries that have each been in the business from 100 to
300 years want to encourage more people to try real ale. The 33 brewers,
are staging the first ever Real Beer Week in British pubs this
autumn (September 30 – October 6). If you are not sure you would like
the beer on offer, many pubs will provide a no-obligation free taste on
request. For more info, visit: Family Brewers

A number of boat tours and ferries operate on the Thames.
Below is a selection of the trips you can take.

Catamaran Cruises offer tours with commentary,
leaving from Waterloo and the Embankment. Waterloo: from 10.45
until 17.45 every hour (except 14.45) Embankment: from 10.15 until
20.15

Westminster: from 14.30 until 21.30 every hour

Circular Cruises offer return trips from Westminster
Pier (Victoria Embankment) as far as St. Katherine's Pier in the Docklands.
Cruises depart every 30-80 minutes with an option of getting off at London
Bridge Pier. You can also take boats the other direction to Hampton Court,
Kew, and Richmond.

City Cruisers offer a range of trips, including
service between London Bridge and Westminster Pier, and a Pool of London
hop-on, hop-off shuttle, calling at St. Katherine's Pier, Butler's
Wharf, HMS Belfast, London Bridge City Pier, and Tower Pier.

Note: with commentaried cruises the crew will
pass a hat at the end of the trip and you will be expected to toss in
a quid or two as a tip, so make sure you have some change!

Source: Britain
Express

Under 30?

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!!