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EDITOR’S PHOTOGRAPH: ASHISH CHAWLA; MAKEUP BY VIPIN ARORAFOR MORE PHOTOS FROM OUR TRAVELS
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@pinterest/ruchiraboseFood, particularly sourdough bread... Last year, on a trip to San Francisco, I spent 128 hours planning
my ‘San Francisco Sourdough’ expedition, talking to people on Facebook sourdough groups, calling up
top chefs at hotels including The Palace Hotel and The St Regis San Francisco, for recommendations.
When I got there, I allocated a whole day to making pilgrimage-like trips to Chad Robertson’s Tartine,
the famous Boudin outlet on Fisherman’s Wharf, and a bunch of other Ivy League bread bakeries. I even
carried my 1.4kg hardcover copy of The Tartine Bread Book, so I could get it signed by Robertson. I landed
up at Acme Bread Company with an empty Kissan jam jar, begging for 100gms of their famous starter,
and armed with a Mogambo-like master plan of how that starter will survive the 19-hour fl ight back.
I’m also a big fan of Feluda, a fi ctional Bengali detective created by fi lmmaker Satyajit Ray. Over
the years, I’ve taken holidays that are plotted according to places his stories are set in. They were so much
fun. It was like retracing the character’s steps, and experiencing places and cultures through his eyes.
I’m that person who took her 17-year-old copy of Tintin’s The Seven Crystal Balls and Prisoners of The Sun
across three continents, just so I could read it on the Orient Express going up to Machu Picchu.
I’m not alone on my geek-travel planet. Within our team, we have a writer who turns her
favourite-book-of-the-moment into an itinerary, going to all the places mentioned in the book, eating
at the restaurants or visiting buildings that are part of
the story. We have a reader who is otherwise a hugely
respected media consultant, but on her own time, she
is a hardcore diver, founder of two environment NGOs,
and takes holidays which combine these two pursuits
at extraordinarily serious levels. She’s the sort who will
take two weeks off every four months, meeting award
winning conservationists and working with them in
exotic places to save turtles, or sharks, or something!
At Travel+Leisure India, we think if you don’t have
nerdospheric passion for travel, then you’re missing
something. So while it’s conventional to dedicate the
January issue to destinations you should look at for
the year, we decided to present these for those who
travel for particular passions. These are such intense
experiences, that we’re certain, even if you weren’t crazy
about it, you’d still fi nd them incredibly inspiring and
memorable. I’m not a big sports fan, but watching the
Monaco F1 from the Paddock Club with celebs like Brad
Pitt and Ryan Gosling around you, does sound amazing!
And there’s more. So here’s wishing you a very happy
new year, and many many brilliant journeys!I don’t know about you, but I’m
quite a geek about some things.
Editor’s Note
JANUARY 2017