Vacation Dreams

Tag: May 2002

  • Readers comments: best airport nominations

    Koh Samui Airport, Thailand is good. No doors here! This has to be one
    of the prettiest airports around. Liz, England

    Koh Samui, The most tropical airport ever! The most beautifully in all
    Thailand:

    Sukhothai…I could live there 🙂 Greetzzz Erik Jan, The Netherlands

    A site recommended by Erik in the Netherlands, identifies good and bad
    airports around the world to sleep over night. Canadian Donna McSherry
    has put together a brill web site called http://www.sleepinginairports.net that
    allows people to make comments on which airports are good (and bad) for
    sleeping in. Donna has allowed us to show which airport web contributors
    feels is the best airport to sleep in:

    Best Airport – Hands down, the Best Airport Award goes to Singapore's Changi
    airport    .Unless the Singapore airport were to burn down, it is
    and will remain the reining mother of all airports that airport sleepers
    simply MUST visit on their sleeping travels. Airport sleepers worldwide
    will be brought to tears of joy when they find out all the wonderful amenities
    available. Several contributors have raved about this airport and I am
    almost inclined to travel to Singapore, just to camp out in the airport.
    Best of all, it is comfortable, safe, quiet (so quiet in fact that students
    study there during exams) and there's even a karaoke bar. One other
    fun fact about this little piece of heaven is the signs all over the airport
    that read ” no pets, no skateboarding, no smoking and no studying”.
    Check out the Singapore Changi web site before you
    go.

    More from Donna next month with the runners up!

    Write in and tell us your best airport nominations! the Beetle!

  • Travel Tips

    Things to take on your Travels – Padmassana’s rules

    As well as the usual Lonely Planet guide and phrasebook
    here are a few other essentials.

    1. Half the luggage you originally put out to take!

    2. A sense of humour for when you just miss that boat,
    plane or train.

    3. A sixth sense to keep you safe.

    4. A rucksack cover gives an extra level of security
    and stops straps being mangled on airport luggage conveyor belts.

    5. Combination padlocks, saves carrying/losing keys.

    6. A good compass and map, particularly for places (Japan,
    China etc) where you cannot read the local alphabet and where there are
    a definite lack of street names and building numbers.

    7. A bite Zapper, tiny almost weightless electric pulse
    to relieve those nasty bites and stings, worth it’s weight in gold!

    8. Little presents to repay good turns, like postcards
    of home.

    9. And when it’s time to go home be a responsible
    tourist, leave nothing but footprints and take nothing but photographs.

    Got any travel tips for the Beetle? Then e-mail them
    to: the Beetle!

  • Texas:

    The next Texas meeting will be completely open: please come and talk
    about your favourite place, travels, anecdote or listen to others!

    Congratulations to Christina, Chair of the Texas branch of Globetrotters
    on her new job on the San Antonio Riverwalk. Because of this, please note
    that Texas meetings will start one hour earlier, at 2pm and not 3pm.

    Meetings are held at 2pm 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

  • Buddha.s Teeth

    You may have read recently about one of Buddha’s
    fingers being brought from Thailand to Taipei in Taiwan. This got the
    Beetle wondering about other parts of Buddha and where you can see them.
    It is possible to see the casket containing the left incisor of the Buddha
    in the sacred temple in Kandy, Sri Lanka. The Beetle queued up for some
    time to walk past this sacred relic – it was certainly an experience!
    It seems that there are three of Buddha’s teeth in existence: one
    in Sri Lanka, one in China and one in Thailand.

    Buddhists in Sri Lanka celebrate “Buddha Tooth Festival”
    which begins on 1st of August every year and lasts for twelve days. Every
    night during the festival, grand parades can be seen starting from 8:00pm
    until 11:00pm. The Chinese tooth was found by a monk in 475AD and hidden
    in what is today Nanking, in China. In times of war, it was taken to Beijing
    and placed in a stupa. In 1900 when Beijing was invaded, the stupa was
    destroyed, and monks found the tooth in the rubble. In 1964, the stupa
    was rebuilt and the tooth placed in the pagoda of Beijing. The third tooth
    is alleged to have passed into Tibet and transferred to India during the
    Cultural Revolution before its final resting place in Thailand.

  • New Bus Service for Central London

    Plans for the first new bus service in central London
    for over a decade have been unveiled. The route to be known as Riverside
    1 (RVS1) will link together more than 40 arts and tourist attractions,
    five underground stations, three national rail stations and five river
    piers. It will go from the Tate Modern and the London Eye to the Tower
    of London and Covent Garden. The Beetle can vouch for the fact that this
    service has started.

  • Travel Quiz

    Due to technical hosting problems, we are going to run last month’s
    travel quiz again for those who did not receive last month’s Globetrotter
    e-newsletter.

    Win a copy of a map and guide of Scotland, courtesy of Harper
    Collins     who make this excellent series of map/guides.

    1.The Cairngorms includes some of Scotland’s highest peaks. What
    stone are they made from?

    2.Which Scottish city, on the northeast coast of Scotland is connected
    with the oil industry?

    3. What is the name of Scotland’s oldest University – and
    the current place of learning of Prince William?

    4.In which county is Balmoral Castle?

    5.Which polar explorer had a ship called the R.R.S. Discovery?

    YourName:

    Your e-mail address:

  • Not to be Seen Dead In?

    May 6th 2002, the United States has added Cuba, Libya
    and Syria to its “axis of evil” – nations it claims are deliberately
    seeking to obtain chemical or biological weapons. In a speech entitled
    “Beyond the Axis of Evil”, US Under Secretary of State, John
    Bolton said that the three nations could be grouped with other so-called
    “rogue states” – Iraq, Iran and North Korea – in actively attempting
    to develop weapons of mass destruction.

    Source: Reuters

  • Appeal for Sponsorship from Kiwisonbikes

    Since December 2001 we have chosen to dedicate our overland
    bicycle expedition to help raising funds for the Gray Cancer Institute.

    Many people know of someone who has been affected by
    cancer and there does not appear to be any discrimination. The Gray Cancer
    Institute is one of the leading centres for research applied to cancer
    treatment, working in close collaboration with clinicians at Mount Vernon
    Hospital. It was originally a radiobiology research unit with its focus
    on radiotherapy, but research in tumour physiology has led to new initiatives
    in cancer chemotherapy and it is introducing new ways of exploiting modern
    molecular biology.

    We would like to raise £1 per mile cycled but at
    the moment we do not appear to be doing very well.

    Our website is financially maintained solely by Kiwisonbikes
    and the generous donation of time by Mike Fisher. If you have been enjoying
    the website and to date we have had over 16,900 hits, please help us achieve
    our goal by donating some money to Gray Cancer Institute.

    It's simple. All you have to do is send a
    cheque or money order to: Gray Cancer Institute PO Box 100 Mount Vernon
    Hospital Northwood Middlesex HA6 2JR United Kingdom

    Please mark Kiwisonbikes clearly
    on the back of the payment.

    Or if you would like to donate online then Gray Cancer
    Institute uses the Charity Card system. Please then email
    us     or Grays to say the donation was on behalf of Kiwisonbikes.

    £1, £5, $10 or even more. Please give today
    and help make a difference. kiwisonbikes.net

  • London Markets: Petticoat Lane

    This is East London's famous Sunday morning market that has been
    trading for more than two centuries. In Elizabethan times, the market
    was called Hog Lane, because this is where pigs were sold. The Sunday
    market grew out of observance of the Jewish Sabbath on Saturday. Amongst
    the bargains hanging up on the rails were second hand goods, hence the
    expression 'hand me downs'.

    The name of todays’ market is derived from the petticoats that
    French immigrants used to sell in the area, but in 1846, the horrified
    Victorian authorities renamed the street Middlesex Street as it was deemed
    improper to have a street named after ladies underwear. However, it was
    too late and the original name stuck.

    Prices are rarely shown, so you should bargain with the trader for the
    best price, particularly if you're paying with cash. There is said
    to be over a thousand stalls spread over Middlesex Street, Wentworth Street
    and surrounding roads. The market is known for its cut-price fashion clothes,
    fabrics, jewellery, china, toys, textiles, household gadgets and electrical
    items. At the Aldgate East end of the market, there is a large area devoted
    to leather jackets. Frying Pan Alley', is at the opposite end of 'The
    Lane' close to Liverpool Street. It got its name from the ironmongers
    who used frying pans to identify their premises.

    The founder of the AMSTRAD Computer business and Chairman of the Tottenham
    Hotspur Football Club, Sir Alan Sugar began his career as a Petticoat
    Lane Trader. His earnings in 1999 totalled some £9.45 million.

    Middlesex St, E1. Open Sunday 9am to 2pm Wentworth Street also open Monday
    to Friday 10am 2.30pm Nearest Underground Stations – Liverpool Street
    & Aldgate East.

    Next month: Portobello Rd

  • Free London Museums: The V&A (Victoria and Albert) Museum

    Also free, the nearest tube is: A visit here can be combined
    with a visit to the Science Museum and the Natural History Museum, but
    maybe not all on the same day! This has a fabulous display of fashion
    over the last few hundred years and includes wonderful 1920’s gowns
    by Schiarpelli and Channel and some more outlandish but nevertheless design
    classics by such designers as Vivienne Westwood. Other exhibits include
    examples of design from Tudor times to modern day. Weekends are the busiest
    time since the admission fee has been scrapped, so try and visit during
    the week, if you can. Visit vam.ac.uk or tel: (+44) 020 7942 2000.