Its only membership requirement is that you have “an anemic wallet,” and a zest—despite that condition—to rove the farthest reaches of the world. Its members of all ages make the readers of my dollar-a-day books seem like plutocrats.
They walk across all of Nepal; take local buses, regional jitneys, occasional mule trains, to cross the wastes of sub-Saharan Africa; sleep in the huts of Indonesian villages, cadge meals at the communal fires of New Guinean fishermen, trade bars of soap for trinkets crafted in the yak tents of Ladakh.
And then they return home to tell about it, at monthly public meetings in St. Martin’s Lane, London; in Toronto, Canada; or in the pages of their six-times-a-year newsletter, The Globe.
Surely the most distinguished travel group on earth, despite their “anemic wallets”—is the Globetrotters Club (founded in 1945), BCM/Roving, London WCIN 3XX, England (an oddly truncated, but perfectly adequate, mail-drop address), Web: http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/. Since officers are all volunteers lacking a full-time office and frequently changing, they use that simple pickup point to receive membership applications and communications. The fee is $29 per year, $54 for two years, and $75 for three years, for receiving The Globe every other month, as well as The Globetrotters Directory, listing names, addresses, ages, and travel experience of members (be sure to provide that information while applying), as well as purely optional offers by them of free accommodations or advice to other members. Because a great many members do, in fact, make such offers of lodging (in spare beds or cots of their living rooms or dens), the Directory is a rich source of free travel opportunities, though not primarily designed as such.
In the U.S., there are now local chapters in New York and Texas, and a small group of people currently looking for members to join a new branch in San Francisco-Sacramento region of northern California. The chair of the Texas chapter (located in New Branfels, a suburb of Houston ) is Christina Smith. “For me, the Texas Branch of the Globetrotters is a monthly support group to help me with my travel addiction,” says Smith. “I’m glad to meet others who like to talk about travel and share their stories.” The Texas group meets about once a month, at the New Braunfels Public Library or elsewhere in town, and there are usually a few dozen people in attendance. Contact Christina via e-mail at [email protected].
The New York City chapter has been in existence since February 2001, and after a slow start, now pulls in 30 to 50 people for its monthly discussions. Meetings take place from 4 to 5:30 p.m. the first Saturday of every month (unless it is a holiday) at the Wing Theater, 154 Christopher Street, between Greenwich and Washington Streets. A variety of travel experts enlighten listeners with tales and insiders tips from places such as Africa, the Far East, and South America. Admission is $8 for members and $10 for non-members. E-mail New York chairperson Laurie Blumenfeld at [email protected] to find out more.
Check the Globetrotter Web site (http://www.globetrotters.co.uk/) for times and schedules of local meetings of the group, which occur regularly in other cities around the world. Most meetings charge an admission fee (in London, members pay £2, non-members £4). The Globe also has a schedule for meetings as well as those accounts of members’ adventures in touring the Third World.