Santa's Magical Mystery Tour Advent Calendar[24] Quiz

Santa has been very careful not to disturb the native fauna and flora of Greenland when setting up his first depot. In spite of its cold climate, the island is home to large variety of birds, among them the greater snow goose which breeds in the northwest of Greenland. However, as the birds are wintering further south, he could safely build an igloo there to protect his stash.

Santa originally planned to hide the sports equipment he wanted to hand out in Toronto, but the Scotiabank Arena, home of the NHL's Maple Leafs and NBA's Raptors, was just too busy and there was never a quiet minute at the venue. So ultimately, he found some nice and quiet spots further west, in Whistler Olympic Park, site of many events of the 2010 Winter Olympics.

Planning to use Route 66 as his main path for the many deliveries he had to make in the United States, it was only natural for Santa to put the next stack of gifts near the western terminus of that route. Just for kicks, he chose the site of the world's first stack interchange - the crossing between Highway 101 and the Arroyo Seco Parkway, the latter of which gave him the perfect start to some eastbound Route 66 sledding.

By the time Santa reached Mexico, he was quite hungry, so he wanted to go for some tacos, but Dasher reminded him that the doctor had recommended he cut back on those filling tortillas to lose weight and fit more gifts in the sleigh. So after depositing a nice stash in a remote corner of Chiapas, Santa decided to have a light local sopa de pan, made with fried bread added to a chicken broth.

Brazil, with its vast stretches of Amazon rainforest, was an easy country to hide a substantial stack of gifts far off the beaten path. So, with a bit of time left, Santa quickly stopped over in Sao Paulo to have a chat with Lucas di Grassi, a former Brazilian Formula 1 driver and 2017-18 Formula E champion, to take a quick lesson in environmentally friendly yet fast driving - a skill much needed during the Christmas night!

During his stopover in Argentina, Santa once again got hungry. He opted for a pair of chorizos, but was a bit disappointed - these sausages had little to do with those he was used to from Spain. The locals explained to him that he would have had to ask for chorizo espanol if he wanted that; in Argentina, a chorizo can be any variant of coarse meat sausage.

He took note and purchased some more - this time the correct kind - to last him for the long ocean crossing ahead.

Arriving in New Zealand, Santa immediately noticed the many beautiful landscapes, but whenever he had found a memorable spot, he found it swarmed with tourists who wanted to see the many filming sites of "Lord of the Rings". In the end, he decided to hide his stash at Whakapapa Ski Field, hoping it would be reasonably quiet. Let's hope it's still there, because this was actually used in the movies as well - it's the battle site at the very beginning of the trilogy, where Isildur cuts off Sauron's finger with the ring!

While Santa would have loved to visit St. Petersburg on his trip - his friend, the Easter bunny, had recommended that he really visit the Fabergé museum and enjoy the collection of fifteen jeweled Easter eggs on display there, amongst other valuable artifacts - the western part of the huge country was just too far off for the stash he needed to distribute in northeastern Asia.

He loaded the contents of his sled into a disused building along the tracks of the Trans-Siberian Railway and left the country as quickly and stealthily as he had entered it.

While normally, Santa hates using money, in South Korea, he had little choice but to actually rent a storage building for his stash. At least, his landlord could offer him a contract for one in the equally densely populated Japan as well, so he had to do this kind of earthly business only once. As a bonus, the building owner invited him to a darye, the Korean tea ceremony which is quite different from the Japanese one - less formal for one. With a deep tradition, this ceremony had largely been forgotten in the 20th century but has been revived now as an intangible icon of Korean culture.

It was an ideal setting to chat and also pick up some information about trends. After all, it's a great idea for any self-respecting Santa Claus to know in advance what the kids will want next year so the Elves won't have to do just as much overtime in November again!

Not wishing to overtax his Korean host's hospitality, Santa took off towards Japan just after midnight. As he was over the island, in a clear night, he looked down and tried to locate his destination from the lights. He was looking for Kyoto, a city of about one and a half million inhabitants and the former capital of the nation from 974 to the 19th century. Picking it out of the sprawling metropolitan area that also includes Osaka was not easy, but with a little help from a glowing red nose, he managed to locate the storage building he had rented, which, as a former residential block, still had some furniture so he could get some rest right there before taking off again.

Well rested, Santa took off for the short flight to Shanghai where he planned to hide a stack of gifts - including lots of bicycles, which seem popular in this country - in a stretch of undeveloped swampland at the southeast tip of the city, right at the coast. However, there was no such thing; instead, Santa discovered an almost perfectly circular lake.

He muttered something about dated maps, but checked the internet (yes, his sleigh has Wi-Fi, if you need to know) and found that Dishui Lake was artificially created in the early 2000s, as the largest freshwater lake in China. As a leisure destination, this was now of course unsuitable for his aims, so he just headed over to nearby Yangshan port and put the gifts into a few empty containers that looked like they wouldn't be moved or opened any time soon.

Santa checked his notes on where to head next. "Australia... 28 degrees South Latitude... on the coast", his helpful navigator elf had written. "Oh no", he said. "Not the Gold Coast, another tourist town with amusement parks and night clubs that everyone seems to include on their road trips..." Then he remembered that, of course, Australia has not only an east coast but a west one too.

Another look at the map showed Kalbarri National Park - a perfectly remote location to hide some gifts and, as a bonus, much closer to his next destination.

Another long transoceanic flight lay behind Santa and... well... that means the old man got hungry again. Since he was headed for Rajasthan, he looked forward to having a hearty snack of churma, made of baati bread, ghee and some fruit. Knowing his reaction to pulses and not wishing to risk some unplanned landings on the next leg of his trip, however, he had it without the customary dhal, which, on the other hand, meant his stomach was not yet quite full.

We already know that Santa is a fan of sausages, so it can't be much of a surprise that, upon touching down in Kazakhstan, he opted for another helping, wanting something heartier after the sweet Indian dish. He chose some Qiymay, which is mostly made of ground meat (usually mutton) and then smoked and aged for several months. Establishing his storehouse in Kazakhstan was easy - his friendly hosts allowed him to use a not-quite-finished yurt for two weeks.

Santa next looked on his map... Iran. He made a mental note to really talk to his wife who had made the plans, because this was certainly not the best place to store a stash that was partially intended for Turkey and included some items that could get him in trouble in a strictly Islamic nation. Thinking quickly, he decided that a major archaeological site would probably not be searched; he hid the offending materials in some amphorae and ancient-looking chests and placed them near the Gate of All Nations, one of Xerxes' grand constructions in Persepolis, the ceremonial capital founded by his father.

While in Ukraine, Santa was appalled to see just how badly the country was affected by the ongoing war. After hiding an extra large stash of gifts in the ruins of a bombed power plant that was far beyond rebuilding, he took a detour to the front lines to pay an early visit some soldiers at the front lines to offer them food and drink.

Many of them declined to have a full meal due to the advent fast observed, but most would not say no to a glass of nalyvka - a homemade fruit wine that can be consumed even on most of the fast days predating Christmas Eve when a twelve-course dinner would be held while still observing fast rules - although most of those serving on the front would not be able to have any such luxury this year.

Santa would have appreciated leaving war behind after seeing Ukraine, but his next stop would not yet allow that as he needed to establish a depot in Israel. In 2024, Hanukkah would begin on Christmas Day - a coincidence that Santa saw as a promise that some day, the various religions and peoples would come back together and be able to live together peacefully as things happened after the Maccabean rebellion some 2100 years ago for several decades - but such wishes would, for now, just be wishes.

Finally past the war zones and heading towards Western Europe, Santa made a stop in Tunisia so he could establish a storehouse for the Mediterranean area. He decided on a location near the ancient ruins of Carthage and placed down his coat before unloading the gifts since it was quite warm.

When he was done and ready to re-dress, he noticed just how shabby the red fabric had become. "While I'm here, I could as well have it dyed with some real Tyrian purple", he thought, but a quick enquiry with the locals not only revealed he was at least 600 years late for that, but also that it would take many days to prepare the needed amount of dye, even if a fresh harvest of sea molluscs had been on hand.

With a major storm brewing over Germany and France, Santa decided to amend his flight plan and go a bit further west, setting up his stash in England first. Having been to Bristol, Liverpool, Birmingham and Newcastle-upon-Tyne for a summer trip, he wanted to go somewhere else. Secretly being a fan of English football, he used the opportunity to visit a few Premier League stadiums, one each located in Holloway, Fulham and Stratford, at three very different corners of London, and hide some gifts in disused weight rooms there.

Flying over Sweden, Santa turned on the radio. The first channel he was on just played an ABBA song, but he was looking for something newer. Alas, musical fate was not with him, as the next five channels he tried were playing the same band. Grumbling, he reached into his bag to find a CD by Time Bergling, better known as Avicii, originally intended for a boy who had only made the nice list due to an error. Unloading gifts to tracks such as "Wake Me Up", "Hey Brother", "Levels" and the dual "The Days" and "The Nights" was a breeze and he was back in the air for the next flight in no time.

Reaching Iceland, Santa almost felt at home already, even though he had two more stops to make. He hid his sleigh in a garage and grabbed his bathing suit to quickly head to one of the public thermal baths - taking an outdoor swim while under a freezing night sky was always fun.

He noticed a few locals discussing COVID and how it had not affected the island too much - very much in opposite to the Black Death, that, in 1402 and 1494, had hit the country twice, wiping out more than half the population on the first occasion and almost half again on the second. Seeing a storm was brewing, Santa hopped in his sleigh and quickly made for Europe.

With the storm still not yet subsided, Santa gave up on the idea of trying to fly into Germany. Instead, he stayed northwest of the worst winds and touched down in the Netherlands even though the gift-giving days in that country are earlier in December.

He happened on a small group of youth who were carving horns from birch saplings to blow on Christmas. A few others already had theirs finished and were practicing a melody together Santa had not heard. Asking about the song, one of the girls blushed. "It's 'Flappie', a local Christmas song", she said, "and you don't want to know the details, because it's rather dark." Santa laughed and said "It can't be more macabre than 'Grandma Got Run Over by a Reindeer'", but the girl replied "It definitely is."

Santa's last stop was to be in Spain - mostly for the gifts to be handed out to France, because the Spanish don't usually give gifts on Christmas, but on January 6, the feast of the three Kings. However, Santa, being a friendly fellow, of course delivers the goods for the Magi to distribute as well. It took him a few extra hours to safely hide everything, because on December 28, Dia de los Santos Inocentes is the equivalent to April's Fools and he certainly wouldn't want to have his stash fall victim to a prank!

That done, Santa departed for his flight back to the North Pole for a day of rest - and then hopefully a less stressful Christmas Night with a much lighter sled and less worry about the gifts falling off every one of the approximately three billion times he has to accelerate and brake in such a short time!