The British Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO)
in the UK is advising against all travel to Afghanistan, Iraq,
Pakistan, Tajikistan and Yemen until further notice. Reprisals are
also feared against Western travellers in other parts of the world
including the Chechen Republic, East Timor, Indonesia, Macedonia,
Somalia, the West Bank and parts of Albania.
Category: archive
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Texas:
It was a marvelous meeting: Chris from Austin did a first
class slide show of the Greek Isles and provided a map for each of us
so we would know where we were for each slide. We exchanged travel
advice, ideas and materials. A bunch went to the Hoity Toit
afterwards for a great time. 21 people attended the February meeting,
5 of whom were new. Once again, thanks to Pauline and Frommer for
helping to publicise the Texas meetings – except, now Christina says
she really needs a secretary!In the March Globies, Chris will give a slide show of
Turkey and tabletop discussion of 2/3 night great get-aways. After
the meeting, for anyone who'd like to continue the discussions,
we will adjourn to a local hostelry, to be advised at the
meeting.Meetings are held at
3pm at the New Braunfels Public Library, 700 E. Common Street in New
Braunfels, Texas. The meeting ends at 5 p.m. If you would like to
continue travel talk on a more informal basis, we plan to adjourn to
the Hoity-Toit, a local New Braunfels establishment. If anybody would
like to enquire about meetings or help Christina, please contact her
on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk
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All you wanted to know about the United Arab Emirates
Where is it and why go? The United Arab Emirates (UAE) is a
collection of small states about 7 hours away from London. They have
gained wealth from their oil reserves and are often associated with
ex-pat oil workers. The UAE often hosts world class sporting events,
such as the Desert Classic (golf), the Dubai Open (tennis), horse
racing and rugby, to name but a few.Abu Dhabi is the capital of the United Arab Emirates or UAE. It is
the largest and richest state and widely known as the Garden City of
the Gulf. Abu Dhabi began as a fishing and pearl diving centre, but
is now one of the world's cleanest and most modern cities.Dubai has always been known for its cheap duty free and the luxury
cars it raffles off in the pink marble lined foyer of the duty free.
It's now also a very popular holiday destination in its own
right, boasting the world's first 6 star hotel, many other top
notch hotels, golf courses, trips into the desert, a souk etc. You
can still the old, traditional style of dhow plying up and down the
creek that separates the city into two. Incidentally, Dubai's
annual shopping festival takes place between
1st and 31st
March when most stores offer significant discounts and savings!Ras al Khaimah is on the northern tip of the UAE, only one hour
away from Dubai. Here you can escape the busy crowds and
commercialized shopping centres. Her you can find old forts and
watchtowers, old villages and mountains.Ajman is the smallest of the states and is some 25 minutes north
of Dubai. It does not have any oil reserves, so it retains its
traditional fishing culture.A good tour of the UAE and Muscat and Oman would be to initially
use Dubai as a base and explore: Day 1, spend time in Dubai, visit
the Jumeirah mosque, the Dubai museum, take a trip along the creek
and visit the souk. Day 2, take a day trip to Sharjah and wander
around the restored old town and the new souk. Continue to Ajman and
visit the museum that describes life in the UAE before the discovery
of oil. Day 3, take another day trip to the east coast and the state
of Fujeira. You can see mountains and gorges, oases and desert. Day
4, take another day trip to Abu Dhabi, see the skyscrapers and
palaces and visit the islands offshore. Day 5, take a trip into the
desert, climb up/roll down some sand dunes and visit the Haja
Mountains. You could stay over night in a camp and be entertained by
the inevitable belly dancer and cabaret – it's how it's done
over there!To extend the trip, you should continue down the east coast from
Fujeirah to Sohar in Oman. Here you can see the pre-Islamic Nakhal
fort, the Sohar fort and various souks. Stay overnight and on Day 6,
continue south in Muscat and visit the fish souk, the Muttrah souk,
Al Alam Palace and the museums. Stay overnight in Muscat and on Day
7, head south west to Nizwa and see the fort and souk and various
(Jabel Shams Wadi Ghul, Al Hamra, Tanuf, Misfah, Bahla etc. Stay the
night in Nizwa and on Day 8, head for Sur and see Izki, Sinaw, Wahiba
Sands Wadi Bani Khalid. Stay overnight in Sur and on Day 9 return to
Muscat.
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Cycling from England to New Zealand by Chris and Malcolm, Kiwis on Bikes!
Globetrotting Kiwis, Christine and Malcolm Clark are a little over
18 months and 8,759 miles into their epic cycling journey, from
England to New Zealand. Their trip is entirely self-funded and they
are also helping to raise money for the Gray Cancer Institute, a UK
based cancer research organization.Our route took us across France where we received much
encouragement from the French, hyped up by the recent Tour de
France. Picking up the Danube cycle path, we crossed Germany,
Austria, Slovakia and Hungary before leaving the river in Budapest.
Romania gave us a warm welcome and throughout our stay we received
honest hospitality and friendliness. This was in stark contrast to
the warnings we had received before entering the country. Bulgaria
was a totally different place to our experiences 13 years
previously. The two weeks there provided the opportunity to meet
many people and again be on the receiving end of much generosity.As we made our way through the city walls and down into the
backpacker settlement of Sultanahmet, Istanbul, the strains of
Crowded House blended in with the calls to prayer and the clink of
a cold bottle of beer contrasted with scarf clad ladies scuttling
along buying vegetables. The East of Turkey again showed wonderful
hospitality but also large packs of marauding dogs. These caused
many anxious moments but the Dog Dazer, an electronic device, saved
us from any serious maulings. It was with great trepidation that we
entered Iran and, for Christine, a whole new way of dressing. With
preconceptions of fundamentalism and chador clad women in our minds
we found instead a country struggling with its identity: desperate
to become more developed with a loathing of America idealism but
still coveting the American icons and materialism. However, the
people were welcoming and friendly, the hotels clean and the food
tasty and hygienic. The dual pricing system of all hotels and
tourist attractions was wearying but did not detract from the
stunning natural beauty of the country.It was a great co-incidence to cross into Pakistan on the same day
of the first cricket test between Pakistan and New Zealand. There
was more ribbing about the test results than any concerns about
border formalities. The ride across the Great Sandy Desert of
Baluchistan was stunning, isolated and contrary to what most guide
books say about the area – safe. With the right frame of mind and
appropriate dress code Pakistan is a truly enthralling destination.
A detour up the Karakoram Highway to the market town of Kashgar,
China turned out to be more complicated than we expected. The
events of the 11/09 closed the borders back to Pakistan and we set
off across Western Tibet towards the Nepalese border. Crossing
passes of over 4,500 metres with temperatures often below freezing,
it was the most challenging cycling we had ever done. Nepal however
welcomed us with friendly faces and calls of 'Namaste' rang
in our ears and we braved the rickshaws and tuk tuks of Thamel to
find our hotel. We are watching the events in India and Pakistan
carefully before we head down onto the plains.We are now using our journey to help raise money for a UK based
cancer research organisation, the Gray Cancer Institute. For more
details please see our website www.kiwisonbikes.net brought to
you with the tireless efforts of Guildford based Mike Fisher.Wow! The Beetle is truly humbled – this is so inspiring! If you
would like to contact the Kiwis on Bikes, visit their web site:
http://www.kiwisonbikes.net