True to her word, Christina in Texas held a slide show on a weird and wacky take on Americana over the ages at the New Braunfels Public Library. Thanks to Jon and Beth for sharing their great slides and stories. A magnificent 12 people attended and to start the theme, Christina organized a door prize of a “classic” US Travel Atlas. Trish has loved Globetrotters for 9 years, and won, so congratulations to Trish! The show was thoroughly enjoyed by all – and all that was missing was the popcorn!

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@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