http://dennyhatch.blogspot.com/2022/11/175-portillo.html
#175 Blog Post - Wednesday, November 30, 2020
Posted by Denny Hatch
Meet Michael Portillo. He Changed My life.
He Turned Me Into a Seasoned World Traveler.
I used to love traveling. I had international clients and speaking engagements. At the same time Peggy was president of USA Curling and, for a number of years, a longtime U.S. representative to the World Curling Federation. (Peggy's expenses were paid by US and World Curling; I paid my on way and bunked in with Peggy.) This enabled us to take a couple of grand trips a year overseas.
Two recent developments got in the way of Peggy's and my adventure travels: people dying like flies from COVID-19 and my reaching the mid-eighties. Trekking across the sands of the Sahara or slogging through the jungles of Belize in a world of nutty anti-vaxers is not the smartest of ideas. Peggy went with a Cosmopolitan Club excursion to the Venice Biennale (menfolk not invited). I have not traveled any distance from Philadelphia since January 2020. That's 3 years of progressive cabin fever.
My
Saviors in That Bleak Period:
YouTube and Michael Portillo
At some point I stumbled onto the amazing BBC series, Great Railway Journeys of the World, hosted by former British MP, Secretary of Defence and member of the Privy Council, The Right Honourable Michael Portillo. He had morphed from limey pol into an irrepressible goodtime Charlie, bon vivant, tour guide extraordinaire, dazzling teacher and conversationalist. Over the past three years he has escorted me personally all over the civilized world. Portillo is a railroad buff who travels second and third class and inner city light rail. He strikes up conversations with anyone he encounters and is my personal escort to myriad venues everyday tourists never see.
What's more, fluent in English and Spanish, he introduces me to fascinating experts—historians, scholars, scientists, museum curators, members of the aristocracy, flamenco dancers, hoteliers, chefs, restaurateurs, bartenders, horse trainers, zookeepers and naturalists. In short, my wimpy, stay-safe-at-home life has been deeply enriched by all these places and truly scintillating characters Michael has introduced me to over the years.
And, oh yeah, these splendid adventures all took place on my giant 55" LP television screen... in my living room. It's all been absolutely FREE!
Michael is never without his quirky 1913 Bradshaw's Continental Railway
Guide that recounts what travel was like for the uppity British tourist in the early years of
the last century. He gleefully compares trains in the good ole days with top
speeds of 15-to-25 mph to today's sleek speedsters whizzing along at three
figures. Portillo relishes describing the food, accommodations, sights and
sounds in those times of yore that inspired the dictum of French writer/critic Jean-Baptiste Alphonse Karr (1808-1890): “plus ça change, plus c'est la
même chose"—"the more things change, the more they stay the same."
Behind the Scenes of Michael's Magic
Michael Portillo has
created 411 travel episodes—several hundred delicious hours of rail journeys,
and grand touring, eating, socializing throughout the world—Britain, Scotland, Europe,
India, Asia, the United States, Canada, Alaska and Australia. The crawl at the end
of each episode lists a large retinue camera and sound technicians, directors,
producers, script people, editors, movers of equipment and impedimenta. To you and me, this extraordinary team is invisible. You never see any of them.
Below are three intimate moments you share with your oh-so-genial host and personal tour guide, Michael Portillo. He travels alone and is always delighted when you join him.
A Personal Confession
In this blog post, I chose one episode of the 411 Great Railroad Journeys by Michael Portillo—Madrid to Gibraltar with stopovers in Cordoba, Seville and Ronda. Peggy and I have traveled this route several times (exception: Jerez, home of Spanish sherry). The hour spent with Michael Portillo was all new to me and pure delight—the art, architecture, vistas, food, history, music and dance. Frankly, I was (and am) agog at how much we missed by not having Michael and the roster of brilliant men and women guest historians, guides, scholars and experts he assembled to make this journey come alive.
I guarantee you'll find every one of Michael Portillo's travelogues to be a thrilling adventure.
And—best of all— they're all FUN AND FREE on YouTube!
I wish you BON VOYAGE!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YbgXvuBtP0
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4YbgXvuBtP0
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Word Count: 691
292pp 6" x 9"
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