PAULO COELHO SAYS...

“If you think adventure is dangerous, try routine, it’s lethal.”

VIII | November 26th, 2020

THE EDITOR'S NOTE

Greetings, fellow sojourners!
The eight edition of Portmanteau is here! 

In this edition, we talk about preserving a way of life that needs preserving. Our feature story showcases the great American outdoors that's home to the largest hiking trail on the planet. We talk about Hokkaido, Japan's snowy secret that doesn't always make it to travel bucket lists. And with Thanksgiving on the verge, we thought it appropriate to share a recipe for some sumptuous pumpkin pie! 

We also have a rather serious take on one of the most prestigious districts of the world, and how the year 2020 has been rough on it. Our Reel showcases documentaries that you simply must watch for a better understanding and appreciation of this crazy thing we call life. And our Travel Record is stacked with new hits from America's country scene to jam to, either at home or on the road. 

We hope that this edition of Portmanteau is well received, and we always look forward to your comments and suggestions for the next one. 

Sharing the mutual love for travel!

Ashish

01 Stories That Matter

A deep dive into a story that's arcane, thoughtful, and sometimes humorous!

The Appalachian Trail

3500km of great American wilderness. Can you do it all at once? 

Every year, nearly 2 million people traverse through a hiking trail. Beginning in the state of Georgia, it goes through canyons, ridges and valleys before ending at Mount Katahdin, in Maine. What you wouldn't have noticed at first is that this is the Appalachian Trail, the world's longest hiking trail.    



This great American trail goes across 14 states, has a total elevation gain of nearly 465,000ft and covers every kind of terrain imaginable. It also goes through a sizable number of towns and cities, so it may not seem completely wild. But only those who've attempted a complete hike can understand the appeal of the trail. The Appalachian Trail is not just about a hiking path in the wilderness. Benton MacKaye, one of America's most celebrated foresters puts it eloquently: "A realm and not merely a trail mark the full aim of our efforts."  

The Appalachian Trail (AT for short) gets nearly 3 million visitors a year, some of them recurring, a good number of them that attempt the entire trail at once. Known as thru-hikers, they will attempt to traverse the entire stretch in the shortest time possible. The current record? A staggering 41 days, 7 hours, 39 minutes. Sans sponsors or big funding. Of course, that means surviving in the outdoors for days at a time, clocking nearly 60 kilometres a day on foot through paths both easy and difficult. And there aren't that many showering options available on the trail! 

So how is a 3500km trail through America preserved for future generations? The advent of urbanization may have shown some impact on these forests, but those that love the hills and everything they represent have already stepped in. Today, nearly 30 groups across America undertake the conservation of the trail. The most notable organization is the Appalachian Tail Conservancay, a non-profit that was established in 1925 to "protect, conserve and celebrate the AT." The conservancy is backed by the United States National Park Service and Forest Service, and many other nonprofit and state organizations. 

02 What You Missed When Grounded

 The land of musicals has been a silent spectator to the world throughout the year.   

Broadway's Absence In 2020


Where there were usually gleaming signboards and glaring neon signs on the streets of Broadway, this year was depressingly empty.  




Broadway. A phenomenon more than an area. Where the wooden floorboards and velvet curtains come alive every single night, and the stages become an entirely different world come evening. New York's theatrical district has been a piece de resistance for those that explore the world of acting and stage direction. Time and again, Broadway has given us performances like The Phantom Of The Opera, Les Misérables and the one show that may just have changed the face of theater in millennial America, Hamilton. Nearly 14 million people attended a Broadway show in 2019. 

The origins of this vivid experience were in the early 18th century, when art as such was just beginning to take the form of musical plays. By 1840, entertainment halls began springing up in Lower Manhatten that seated nearly 3000 people and hosted varying performances; plays, operas and the like. 1865 saw the revolutionary Edwin Booth deliver his Hamlet performance for a 100 consecutive seasons. With New York's golden age slowly rolling into play, more and more people ventured out on to the city for a gala night, and Broadway was slowly being shaped into the booming industry it is today. 

But since March 2020, there has been a lull. From the moment an usher at Broadway tested positive for the coronavirus, the entire street shut down completely. A 1.8 billion dollar industry overnight goes silent. The actor's union in Broadway eventually distributed nearly 13 million dollars to actors in need, but what of the performers themselves? 

Virtual plays were a relative success. The National Theatre streamed shows every week on Youtube, and younger audiences were also entranced into the world of the stage thanks to endless days of staying in quarantine. It is with this hope that Broadway plans to paddle on into 2021; tickets for some shows are already available on the internet starting June of next year. But we must hope that once things tide over, this grand spectacle manages to get back onto its feet again, transporting people once more into a new world of nuance and artistic endeavors. 

03 Let's Get Comical

When life gives you unexpected vacations, you take it. 

04 The Reel

Documentaries that show us just how vivid this world truly is, and what we must do to conserve our future. 

What would it be like to be in a movie where everyone was the cinematographer, director, producer and cast? Life In A Day is a crowdsourced film; produced by none other than Ridley Scott. The main goal of the film was to showcase what different lives across the world look like on any given day. People from literally all across the globe took videos of the same things: Getting up, breakfast, getting ready for their day.

While it may seem like a simple experiment, the results were profound. A clearer picture of our world’s diversity and uniqueness could not have been taken. 

From the tea seller in Kolkata to a soldier on deployment in Afghanistan to a young student coming out to his family and so many more; Life In A Day reminds us all that we are unique, while still having the same essential qualities that make us human. 
 

Have you ever wondered why birds dance? Or call? 

Dancing With The Birds is a feature documentary by Netflix, created by the same minds that envisioned Planet Earth and Our Planet. The show delves into the lives of the Birds Of Paradise found in Papua New Guinea, a race of birds that provide marvelous insights into evolution as a whole. 

New Guinea is home to around 42 species of these birds of paradise, each as distinct and vivid as the last. These birds are endemic to the islands and have always been considered a key insight into how things change over millennia. Where other birds across the world follow a certain pattern, the explosion of color and characteristic on New Guinea merits its own show. 

Dancing With The Birds is a merry yet mindful show that shows you just how unique our world really is.  

A more stark documentary about the effects of humans on the outside world, Racing Extinction is a view into the ticking time bomb that we have caused on our planet. 

Directed by  Louie Psihoyos, who has several other notable documentaries under his belt, the feature talks about how we are currently facing the greatest extinction event ever since the KT Event that wiped out the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Unsurprisingly, poaching, industrialization and globalization are the primary suspects. 

Whether it's large scale whaling in Japan and Norway or hunting for sharks in China or greenhouse emissions from countries like India and the United States, there has been a constant threat to the natural world from anthropogenic activities. A rather essential documentary in times like these. 

05 Improbable Places

Despite being Japan’s second largest island, Hokkaido is seldom on the mind of people looking to travel to the isles of this country. But this snowy domain holds its own secret surprises.
 

Hokkaido
Abode Of Snow In Japan


The island country of Japan is the last place you’d expect to find a snowy, isolated wonderland that’s akin to the arctic circle. And yet, Hokkaido is exactly that. What’s even more astonishing is that Hokkaido shares the same altitude as the South Of France, but is a land of snow capped mountains, ski resorts and more.  




Despite being Japan’s second largest island, Hokkaido is home to only 5% of the country’s population. And most of it is scattered about in small towns and villages across. But there’s a lot of charming intricacies associated with Hokkaido.
For one thing, this island is also the namesake for a breed of dog that’s a husky mix. These dogs are commonplace in Hokkaido, primarily used in dogsledding: A fast paced activity that takes years to master and makes for a great adventure through the woods!

Another thing you might witness in Hokkaido is the insanely fun yet gruelling sport of Yukigassen: Snowball fighting. It’s exactly what you think it is, high octane sessions of people throwing snowballs at each other, with the successful hits getting points. In fact, Yukigassen is taken as a serious sport in Japan.
Hokkaido is also the home of around 4 types of ramen. And arguably the best kind of them is miso, that ever delectable, umami rich broth that constitutes a good part of Japan’s ramen consumption. A steaming bowl of miso ramen is the perfect dish for a cold afternoon during a visit there.

And everything mentioned here, as with anything Japanese, is just the tip of the iceberg. The island’s capital, Sapporo, is in itself a treasure chest of areas to explore and things to do (like a beer museum!). The Sapporo Snow Festival is also a delightful affair that features snow sculptures among other things: Nearly 250 of them. And if you have the inclination, Hokkaido is also home to a number of geothermal hot springs, which make for a decadent bath experience out in the open, after a day of snowboarding or snowball fights. 

06 The Thinking Owl

Looks like someone in the illustration department finally listened to me, I can see straight now. 

07 Food for Thought

Thanksgiving is around the corner, which means it's pie time. Of the pumpkin variety. 

Pumpkin Pie

This traditional Thanksgiving treat will have your entire home smelling like goodness.

A fruit that has always been a native of North America, pumpkins are ubiquitous to American culture. The months leading up to the great American festival are when the ripest, most plump specimens are harvested; either for Jack O Lanterns in Halloween, pumpkin pies for Thanksgiving or pumpkin spice lattes for Christmas.

For this edition of Food For Thought, we thought it'd be fun to showcase how you can make the perfect slice of pumpkin pie to go along with a lazy Sunday brunch or a tea-time snack.

This recipe comes from www.allrecipes.com. 

the recipe...

The Ingredients

2 eggs
1 (16 ounce) can pumpkin puree
1 (14 ounce) can sweetened condensed milk
1 teaspoon pumpkin pie spice
1 (9 inch) unbaked pie crust 

   

Directions


  1. Preheat the oven to 425 degrees F (220 degrees C).
  2. Combine eggs, pumpkin puree, sweetened condensed milk, and pumpkin pie spice in a large bowl and mix until combined.
  3. Fit pie crust into a 9-inch pie dish; pour pumpkin mixture into the crust.
  4. Place pie on a baking sheet and bake in the preheated oven for 15 minutes. Reduce heat to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C) and bake until filling is set, 35 to 40 minutes.

08 The Travel Record

Music from the Americas, featuring both Latin American and North American classics. 

09 Puzzled?

Puzzles to get your neurons firing.
Email us a screenshot when done!

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