June Meeting News from London by Dan James Our first speakers this month were Katrina Manson and James Knight, who have just finished writing a new book on Burkino Faso for Brandt travel guides. While in the country Katrina and James were also working for the Reuters news agency and the BBC. They showed us…

May 2006 London meeting Despite competition from a giant elephant in Trafalgar Square and a spaceship near Waterloo, Globies was still packed this month. Our first speaker this month was Sam Manicom who showed us his yearlong motorcycle journey down the eastern side of Africa from Egypt down to South Africa. Sam was both amazed…

Meeting News from around he world

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.

The Beetle recently spent a couple of weeks staying with her friend Nicola in a beautiful village outside Philadelphia. Nicola wrote this article about a trip to China in 2005 that was both work and leisure related. In this article, Nicola reflects on the conditions and people she met with and gives us a fascinating…

Stuck between two very large local ladies with a yard of wet fish draped across my legs, gave a moment to ponder on an extremely different day out that I had just enjoyed! We had been filming a feature film (partly financed by C4) for about five months on location in Maputo, in the very…

The Camino de Santiago is a pilgrimage to the sacred tomb of Saint James located in the Northwest corner of Spain. Over a thousand years separate those first faithful footsteps and the steady stream of 21st-century pilgrims that currently wander the streets of Santiago de Compostela. The key to survival is adapting to change and…

RIDDLE: What do Schultz's 1000 Places [worldwide] to See Before You Die, Villani's 100 Best Art Towns in America, the American Association of Retired Person's list of the 15 best retirement towns in the US, and Time's list of the 5 best repertoire theatres in America have in common? ANSWER: Ashland, Oregon EXPLANATION: Population 20,000…

Forbes Magazine Most Dangerous Destinations 2006 (in alphabetical order) and the previous two years. It's interesting to see which countries have consistently been on Forbes' list over the last three years: Afghanistan, the DRC, Haiti, Iraq, Liberia, Somalia and Zimbabwe – four out of seven countries that are in Africa. Burundi and Pakistan made it…

Travellers and holidaymakers risk contracting a potentially life-threatening disease in Europe this year. The 'Tick Alert' campaign is warning UK travellers about Tick Borne Encephalitis (TBE), a viral disease contracted via the bite of an infected tick. It can lead to meningitis and in serious cases result in paralysis and death, with about one in…