CultureTrip: Travel Inspiration from Argentina to Israel
Last week I wrote about Jorge Bucay, an Argentinian writer, psychotherapist, and psychodramatist. In his books, Bucay uses his clinical experience to help the readers reflect on their inner world. Even though he lives and practices in Buenos Aires, his writings transcend frontiers and are of relevance to readers across the world, which explains his popularity in different countries. Coincidentally, once I wrote that post, I came across another Argentinian writer, Ariana Harwicz, who featured in the article ‘A Life In Stories’ in the inaugural issue of the CultureTrip print magazine.
I have been using CultureTrip for several years now and it is one of my favorite online resources when I’m (preparing for) traveling. There are two main reasons why I’m such a big fan. First, I find the website (as well as the app) very user-friendly, easy to navigate and engaging; there is a very good balance between text and photos. Second and foremost, it has great content created by more than 300 worldwide contributors. The posts are relatively brief (allowing for an easy read) but also trust-worthy, since they have been created by experts rather than the general public (as in Trip Advisor).
CultureTrip was founded in 2011 by Dr Kris Naudts, a Belgian psychiatrist who decided to quit his medical and academic career, and pursue his passion. Since then, the website’s popularity has soared: its visitors grew from just 132,641 a month in 2014 to 12.5 million in 2018. It is therefore not surprising that CultureTrip is now Britain’s third fastest-growing business. As the website continuously grows, it features posts on an increasing number of places around the world. I’m personally most interested in posts about sightseeing or restaurants, cafes and bars.
In October 2018, two additional resources were launched: an online series and a print magazine.
Hungerlust: Seek. Eat. Repeat.
Hungerlust, branded as CultureTrip’s first original series, premiered on the 25th of October. It features eight episodes all centered on food. They run about five minutes each and feature eight emblematic cities:
• Tokyo
• Paris
• Mexico City
• London
• Jerusalem
• Marrakech
• Austin
• Hong Kong
Each episode stars a local restaurateur and showcases mouth-watering food representative of the city’s culinary culture:
• Ramen
• Baguettes
• Pulque (a traditional smoothie-like lightly alcohol drink made by fermenting sap from the maguey plant)
• Sunday roast
• Shakshuka (an Israeli breakfast dish of eggs poached in a sauce made from tomatoes, peppers and onions, cooked down with a host of Middle Eastern spices)
• Tanjia or tangia (a stew from Marrakech cooked in a pot resembling a Greek urn, which shares the same name with the dish, not to be confused with the more famous tajine).
• Barbeque
• Yum cha (tea and dim sum)
CultureTrip print magazine
Alongside Hungerlust, a quarterly print magazine simply titled CultureTrip was also launched in October 2018. It is being distributed free at events, hotels, cafes, stations and airports in London and elsewhere. I personally grabbed a copy of the magazine at Heathrow Airport on my way to Martinique; my post on this beautiful Caribbean island will be published on 17th November.
In the inaugural issue of the CultureTrip magazine, I read the cover story ‘The World Nomad Games: Cultural celebration and intense competition combine at Kyrgyzstan’s biennial sports tournament’, as well as articles on various worldwide destinations: San Francisco, Greenland, Barbados and Russia to name just a few. But it was the following 5 articles the ones that I found the most inspiring and enjoyed reading the most.
A Life In Stories
Football. Tango. Evita. These are the words what probably springs to mind with every reference to Argentina. Yet, this South American country has a rich literary scene little known to Europeans. If you’re not familiar with Argentinian writers, this article is a great starting point. Ariana Harwicz, the highly acclaimed Argentinian author of Die, My Love
Tickets To The World
34-year-old Jessica Nabongo used to have a 9-to-5 job in pharmaceutical sales and later as a United Nations employee. She then quit her job, launched her travel blog ‘Catch Me If You Can’, and founded the boutique travel firm ‘Jet Black’, with the aim to promote tourism to countries in the African diaspora. Jessica is now an entrepreneur and a full-time traveler. She has traveled to 106 countries, and plans to have traveled to all 193 UN-recognised countries by the 15th of May 2019, when she will celebrate her 35th birthday. She will then be the first black woman to have done so. This will certainly be an impressive achievement, even more so considering the fact that traveling as a woman and/or person of color can be quite challenging in many parts of the world.
Places That Inspire Me
Steve Aoki is not only a worldwide famous award-winning electronic dance music producer and DJ, but in 2014 he was also the Guinness World Record owner for the ‘longest crowd cheer’, and for the ‘most amount of glow sticks for thirty seconds’. Having played 161 shows in 41 countries, he has also earned the Guinness World Record for the ‘most traveled musician in one year’. In this article, California-born Aoki talks about the places that inspire him for music fashion and adventure: Los Angeles, Tokyo and Ibiza respectively.
Adaptogens
Reading this article sparked my interest on adaptogens; these are herbal substances used in alternative medicine (such as Ayurvedic and traditional Chinese medicine) but not endorsed by Western Medicine. It is therefore not surprising that I had not even heard of them until fairly recently. Adaptogens are available in many ways from teas and supplements to tinctures. They include ashwagandha, astragalus, bacopa monnieri, chaga, cordyceps, holy basil, maca, mucuna, panax ginseng, reishi, rhodiola and siberian ginseng.
Their proponents claim that adaptogens can have a positive effect on our body’s physiology and homeostasis, by targeting the hypothalamic–pituitary–adrenal axis. In fact, this major neuroendocrine system controls our body’s reactions to stress and regulates many body processes, mood and energy. Claimed benefits of adaptogens include an increased resistance to (biological and psychological) stress, and improvement in mood, energy, concentration and memory, libido and fertility, and vitality. Some even claim that adaptogens can fight cancer and promote longevity.
As a doctor, I am reluctant to simply believe in such claims and support the routine use of adaptogens, unless there is rigorous scientific evidence from high-quality research that supports these claims about the benefits of adaptogens, and also shows that these benefits outweigh any potential risks and harm. However, having read this article and also The Kefir Solution: Natural Healing for IBS, Depression and Anxiety
Beautiful Hebrew Words
Being fluent in English (as well as Greek) I can probably get away without having to learn another language. However, I’ve always been fascinated by the different languages, which I view as getaways to different cultures and countries. For years, I tried to learn French, but I’m still far from fluent; more recently I took on learning Italian. Whilst traveling, I’ve realized that even the slightest attempt to speak in the local language can win you brownie points with the locals. So, every time I travel to a country where I don’t speak the language, I try to learn at least a few words and phrases in that language.
I’m yet to visit Israel, but reading this article has inspired me to learn more about the Jewish culture and the Hebrew language. Spoken by over 9 million people worldwide, Hebrew is the only truly successful example of a revived dead language. Having flourished during about 1200 to 586 BCE, it then ceased to be spoken until it was revived in the 19th century.
In this article, I also learned that the Hebrew Bible, also called the Tanakh, has three words that denote the soul: neshama, ruach and nefesh. Neshama is actually a cognate of nesheema, the Hebrew word for breath, whereas ruach is also the word for wind. Trying to understand the difference between these three words, I’ve come across the following diagram, illustrating the three different dimensions of the soul:
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Shalom Aleichem!
Alex
(the Traveling Psychiatrist)