Vacation Dreams

Tag: January 2005

  • Have you got a tale to tell?

    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

  • Meeting News from New York

    New York meetings will resume in February – subject will be
    TBD.

    Please contact me (Laurie) if you’re interesting in
    speaking or know of someone who is! For details of
    forthcoming meetings email newyork@globetrotters.co.uk
    or register for email updates, click
    here at our website.

    New York meetings are held at The Wings Theatre, 154
    Christopher Street (btw Greenwich St and Washington St ), to
    the right of Crunch Fitness, in the Archive on the first
    Saturday of each month at 4 pm .

  • Driving in Spain

    Paul writes in with another piece of advice about travelling
    in Spain.

    Another word of warning to novice travellers in Spain; be
    careful at the big hypermarkets as thieves operate in the car
    parks targeting small hire cars (easily identified as they
    silly sods always put the hire company name on the vehicle
    registration plates).

    We got caught this way on our first trip and my girlfriend
    lost most of her clothes and a new digital camera, clothes
    weren't too much of a problem as we were on a naturist
    holiday but the rigmarole involved in getting a police report
    is mind blowing. I also had my passport stolen and getting
    that replaced was even worse !!. Silly to hide our stuff in
    the car I guess but a lesson well learned and often mentioned
    to fellow travellers as a word of warning.

    Couldn't rob our car or cheat us out of fuel last trip
    cos we rode all the way down on my motorcycle.

  • Answers to: So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

    Answers to: So You Think You’re Well Travelled?

    1. Congo – Brazzaville
    2. Madagascar – Antananarivo
    3. Oman – Muscat
    4. Azerbaijan – Baku
    5. Bangladesh – Dhaka

    0 out of 5 – you need to get out more!

    1-3 – not bad

    4 – very good! You are a Globetrotter!

    5 – are you sure you didn’t sneak a look?


  • Meeting News from Texas

    Globetrotter meetings have temporarily ceased until further
    notice due to a bereavement in Christina’s
    family. If you can help Christina resurrect the Texas
    meetings, as she would really appreciate some help, please
    contact Christina on texas@globetrotters.co.uk'

    For more information about the Texas Branch: please
    contact texas@globetrotters.co.uk
    or register for email updates at our website (click
    here) or call Christina at 830-620-5482

    If anybody would like to enquire about meetings or help
    Christina, please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

  • Dolphins Save Swimmers

    A group of training lifeguards swimming off New Zealand were
    protected from a great white shark by dolphins. The
    lifeguards were training at a beach near Whangarei on the
    North Island when they were menaced by a 3-metre shark,
    before the dolphins raced in to help. The dolphins
    surrounded the swimmers for 40 minutes before they were able
    to make it safely back to the beach.

    Marine biologists say such altruistic behaviour is not
    uncommon in dolphins. One lifeguard said that it was an
    uncomfortable experience, as they were circled by a great
    white shark, which came within a couple of metres, but the
    dolphins suddenly appeared and herded the swimmers
    together. The dolphins then swam in tight circles to
    create a defensive barrier as the great white swam beneath
    the surface. The swimmers said the dolphins were
    extremely agitated and repeatedly slapped the water with
    their tails, presumably to try to deter the predator as it
    cruised nearby.

  • 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.

    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.

  • Flag Quiz

    Which countries are represented by these flags? For the
    answers, see at the end of the eNews.

    1 2 3 4 5
  • Budget Airline Resource

    .

    This website is excellent: a guide to low-cost flying in
    Europe that includes every budget airline route, with maps
    and associated information. It also has a news feed of
    low-cost airline news for European travellers – the only such
    feed to focus on budget news!

  • Copenhagen by Kevin Brackley

    A few days holiday to use and the hunt was on for a cheap
    flight to a not too far distant city that I had yet to
    explore. The Internet came up with a £50 flight to
    Copenhagen, so I hit the buttons on the PC and the next
    morning that nice little ticket came through the letterbox.

    Despite being a cheapie, the Maersk flight departed Gatwick
    on time and actually landed early. After collecting my bag,
    it was quite a walk from the gate to the baggage area. I
    bought a train ticket to Copenhagen Central Station, 25
    Kroner, yep the Danes still use proper money, not silly Euro
    Roubles! The efficient train takes around 15 minutes to the
    city.

    Next to find my hotel, the first thing to say about
    accommodation in Copenhagen is it ain’t cheap. My hotel
    The Cabinn was located a 10 minute walk south of the station
    and cost around £50 night including a good quality
    buffet breakfast. The rooms were small, but excellently
    designed, though the beds are a bit narrow, I did role out
    one night!

    Well off to explore, first stop obviously the Tourist office.
    They are extremely helpful, lots of information and maps. The
    walking tours which leave from the Tourist Information at 10
    am each day in the summer are excellent. They cost 75 Kroner
    and take around 2 and a half hours. They are in English
    explaining the city via its most famous son Hans Christian
    Anderson. One tip is that you are better off doing the tour
    on a week day as you can get into courtyards and see parts of
    buildings not open at the weekend. You also learn gems such
    as why the knee of the statue of Hans Christian Anderson is
    so shiny, its because tour buses full of oriental visitors
    pull up, and they sit on his knee to have their photo taken!

    Nyhaven is what you see in all the postcards, a lovely area
    full of sailing boats and little waterside cafes.

    Another tour worth doing is the 50 minute boat trip that
    leaves from Nyhaven (50 Kroner), you get a close up view of
    the new Opera house and you get to see the Little Mermaid
    statue from a different angle, you also get a riverside view
    of the new “Black Diamond”, this love it or hate
    it building is the National Library. The boat then heads into
    the canals of the Christianhavns area. Christiania as the
    area is known is home to an alternative community, which did
    have a reputation for drugs, but has cleaned up its act to
    some degree, though you can still walk down Pusher Street.

    For a great view over the city it is hard to beat the climb
    up the tower of the Trinity Church (20 Kroner), some great
    views, but the protective fencing at the top does get in the
    way of photos.

    If you want to explore further afield as I did you cant beat
    making the train trip to Helsingor up the coast to see
    Elsinor castle, famous in Shakespear’s Hamlet, it is
    expensive to enter, but the views around it are great. It was
    during a wander here that the lovely sunshine disappeared and
    a deluge of rain began, so I headed into Helsingor city and
    visited the town's museum, which is quite interesting,
    though there is little in English.

    Another trip I made was west to Roskilde, this town is home
    to a spectacular cathedral, but of far more interest to me
    was the Viking Ship Museum (75 Kroner), there are Viking
    ships, well bits of them in the museum and out on the water
    are new ones built in the old way. You can walk around and
    see the ships being crafted, there are areas where children
    and the young at heart can try their hand at crafts from the
    Viking era.

    Back in Copenhagen if you want to chill out after all that
    sightseeing The Rose Garden in Copenhagen’s second
    biggest park, Valby Parken is the place. There are quite a
    few themed gardens to wander round, number 3 has a maze and
    another has a Japanese theme.

    Copenhagen is perfect for a long weekend and if any of you
    Globies are into Geocaching, there are around 20 to do in the
    cities environs.

    The Beetle had told me Copenhagen was a bit boring when she
    had visited!

    This is a picture of me in the Rose garden, Valby Park
    Copenhagen. Beetle: where are the roses, Kev?