Tag: October 2001

Susan and Christina met at the first Globetrotters TX Branch meeting
in July 2001. They have become good friends and will be travelling together
to the Grand Canyon in November. Christina visits a National Park every
year and Susan is ready to start the same tradition. They are doing budget
travel together – exploring their options and having a trip to talk about.
They’ll report on their trip at the December meeting.

The next Globetrotter meeting will be held at the New Braunfels Public
Library, 700 E. Common Street in New Braunfels, Texas. From 3 – 5 p.m.
on Saturday, November 10th, 2001.

Christina’s advice is to come early so you won’t be late! The Beetle’s
is – come early and eat all the cookies! Handouts and refreshments
will be available. Anybody want to help Christina or enquire about meetings,
please contact her on: texas@globetrotters.co.uk

The Beetle has just come back from a diving expedition to Bermuda and
can share all the do’s and don’ts. Bermuda is without doubt a beautiful
green and lush island in the Atlantic, some 775 miles off New York. It
is very pretty with some great caves, lovely secluded little sandy bays,
nice walks (although walking anywhere other than the beach and the disused
railway tracks is very much discouraged – there are very few pavements)
and lots of history.

First off, tourists are not allowed to hire cars. To get around, you
have two options. You can pay $36 for a 7 day bus pass (which includes
the use of the ferry) or you can hire a scooter for about $175 a week.
The buses are clean and the network is reasonably extensive, but don’t
rely on them at night. Taxis are expensive – very expensive. Scooters,
on the other hand are just plain dangerous. The roads in Bermuda are for
the most part narrow, hilly and windy – and don’t forget, they drive
on the left! Scooter accidents are frequent. The speed limit is 35 kph,
but you cannot tell how fast you are going because all of the speedos
are disconnected – for obvious reasons!

If you are planning to sit by the sea and sun and swim, it is advisable
to stay somewhere on the north coast because the sea is calm enough to
swim without any worry on this side of the island. The sea has large waves
that sometimes preclude swimming on the south coast.

Bermuda is very expensive in terms of accommodation and eating out.
Both are poor value for money. In fact, it is cheaper to both eat and
stay in New York, comparing like for like. Take some basic essentials
with you, like ground coffee for your coffee maker, cookies etc.

The diving, quite frankly, is very mediocre. This is a great pity as
there are over 400 documented shipwrecks off the coast of Bermuda. The
dive boats resemble cattle trucks with up to 20 divers on them and the
wrecks are disappointing. It is also not possible to dive to depths greater
than 10 metres because the bottom of the ocean around the reef of Bermuda
is seldom deeper than 10 metres.

It is not a destination the Beetle would whole heartedly recommend to
anyone when there are so many other places in the world with similar activities
on offer at a fraction of the price with considerably less hassle. A final
warning, if you plan on staying at a certain guesthouse in Salt Kettle
– do not turnover your valuables for safekeeping. Somehow, somewhere
on the way, the Beetle’s wallet was $20 lighter.

If anyone would like to comment on an over rated travel destination
or share a disappointing experience – e-mail the Beetle on: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk

Attempt no 1: booked seat on tourist bus departing Pokara for the border
at 6.30 am last Sat 24 Mar. Woke at 3 am with violent diarrhoea and vomiting
so no way could I even leave the hotel, so attempt no 1 aborted.

Attempt no 2: felt better on Sunday so booked seat on tourist bus leaving
6.30 am Monday as last time. No bus at 6.30 as only 60% full, but we were
not told this until the 7.30 bus arrived which was only 60% full. Result
120% people for 100% seats, but I had a seat and I wasn’t moving for anybody.

Ensuing argument caused an hours delay, so effectively I was 2 hours
late. The bus left at 8.30 with everybody frazzled. One hour out of Pokara,
the driver attempted to overtake another vehicle on a narrow road, the
offside wheels dug into the soft verge and the driver lost control.

The bus rolled sideways down a 30 metre embankment, turning over three
times, and ended up sideways in a river. My side was in the water, and
I was up to my neck in water. My first instinct was to get out as I didn’t
know how deep the river was, and as I was opposite the door this was fairly
easy. Then others and myself not injured helped the rest get out and up
the embankment. Incredibly only four were injured, and only one could
have been other than broken limbs (since found out it was internal injury
to the liver with internal bleeding). The local villagers were great in
helping us get people to the top of the bank and rescuing our waterlogged
luggage. I was not injured except for bruises and scratches all over.
But all my belongings were under water for some time, so all books (including
LP guides), papers, photos, etc. were a mess, and everything was totally
wet. I lost my distance glasses and a pair of reading glasses, and of
course my camera, plus a few other comparatively minor items. Looking
back, we were incredibly lucky, as there were banana trees growing on
the bank that broke the fall of the bus, and the bank was only 30 metres
high. The road winds through the mountains, with some vertical drops of
100’s of metres. After the police had arrived and the ambulances had departed,
I got a local bus back to the hotel in Pokara, to get all my clothes laundered
and clean up myself.

Attempt no 3. After enquiring about flying and finding out the cost
and little saving in time, I booked on a local express (i.e. limited stops)
bus departing 9.30 am on Tuesday. The travel agent put me in a taxi and
told the driver where to go, but somehow I was put down in the wrong place
to catch the bus, which left without me!

Attempt no 4. Back to the travel agent, who personally conducted me
to and put me on the next bus at 11 am, and so I left Pokara eventually.
The journey to the border was good and getting through Nepali and Indian
Immigration was easy and quick. The trip on the Indian bus from the border
to Ghoraphur railway station was like all trips on Indian buses – a rattling
boneshaker, radio full blast with Indian music, the man next to me raving
on about how India had beaten Australia in the cricket etc. So to Ghorakphur,
where I managed to get a second class sleeper to Delhi on the train leaving
at midnight. But the train was 2 hours late, so I sat on my backpack on
the platform with two other travellers until the train arrived at 2 am.
Train eventually arrived in Delhi 5 hours late at 7 pm Wednesday night.
All a bit of a test of stamina, but then that’s Asia.

Next month: Tibet and how Harry Potter caused a stir
at the Indian/Nepal border by Kevin Brackley! Also, part 2 of David’s
adventure to be continued.

If you would like to get in touch with David, who is currently
studying Italian in Perugia and has several other stories we will be including
in future editions of the E-Newsletter, please contact Beetle@staging.globetrotters.co.uk/

The idea behind courier flights is that they are cheap economy (coach)
class flight tickets because the person flying has to accompany a parcel,
letter or some other item to hand over at the particular destination.
Why do courier flights exist? Many companies will send a courier because
it is cheaper than shipping freight by air cargo and also quicker as there
are fewer customs delays. What is sent as freight? Often the items that
are accompanied are time sensitive items such as weekly magazines or newspapers.
Courier companies have overnight shipments to cities such as London, Rome,
Hong Kong, Sydney, Tokyo, Singapore, Caracas, Stockholm, Jamaica, Madrid,
Bangkok, Milan, Frankfurt, Rio De Janeiro, Paris, Melbourne, and several
other locations in Europe, Asia, South America, and Australia.

How does it work? The courier company buys an economy (coach) class
airfare. They then resell the ticket to you and, in exchange for your
luggage space, give you a discount on the airfare. The courier company
uses your luggage space for the material it is shipping. A representative
from the courier company will meet you at the departing airport. They
will give you the manifest and all the shipping instructions. On arrival
at your destination, another courier representative will meet you. You
have to give them the manifest and that’s it! You are not usually allowed
to have contact with the luggage and may not actually see the packages
they are shipping.

They can be used by budget travellers as a cheap way of getting from
A to B. You are treated as a normal passenger on the plane and there is
no special designation that marks you out. You must be over 18 at the
time of travel to take advantage of a courier flight. There are often
restrictions on the amount of luggage you may take with you on your journey,
as the courier company usually uses your allocated luggage space to pack
their goods in, so it is best to ask. It is usually not possible to arrange
a courier flight with a friend, as courier flights tend to be one off
events on a given plane.

You can book several months in advance or, if you are flexible in your
destination, you can leave it quite late when deals will be cheaper. Your
length of stay is determined by the day of departure however, most tickets
are for at least 7 days. Others allow 10 days, 14 days, 21 days, and up
to 6 months – you must ask.

The pros? Well, you can get make substantial savings on the cost of
air tickets and you can go to a wide range of destinations. The cons:
you must usually travel alone, you are often restricted in the amount
of luggage you can take and can also be restricted in the amount of time
you can spend in your arrival destination. There are a number of websites
advocating courier flights. The majority sells courier flight information
or listings for anything between $5 and $10. Useful websites include:

• http://www.aircourier.org/
• http://beatthemonkey.com/cheaptickets/
• http://www.courierlist.com/

If anyone has experience – good or bad using courier flights,
then please write in and tell the Beetle: Beetle@globetrotters.co.uk