Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
That friendly local may be part of a tourist scam
That friendly local recommending a specific rug shop gets a hefty commission. From Istanbul to Rome, organized scammers pose as helpful citizens, aggressively…
Discover more
The Cold War bunker network beneath Beijing
An entire metropolis is hiding underneath millions of unaware commuters. During the Cold War, China dug a massive bunker network spanning 30 square miles to…
Discover more
Jumbo jets are held together by millions of metal rivets
Next time you hit turbulence, just pray the glue holds. The Boeing 747 is essentially a giant aluminum jigsaw puzzle physically clamped together by roughly…
Discover more
Vanuatu has a post office underwater
Sending a postcard from this island requires scuba gear and a death wish. The island nation of Vanuatu operates an official, fully submerged post office where…
Discover more
Why Juneau has no road connection
If you want to visit this state capital, you better have a boat or a pilot's license. Juneau is uniquely landlocked by impassable, jagged mountains and a…
Discover more
Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas is one of the only airports in the world where you can gamble directly at your departure gate, generating tens of millions of dollars in revenue each year.
Harry Reid International Airport in Las Vegas is one of the only airports in the world where you can gamble directly at your departure gate, generating tens…
Discover more
STACKY FOR IPHONEA bigger world.
One discovery
at a time.
Keep discovering with Stacky. Interesting facts in an app that is always within reach.
Welsh road signs have accidentally featured out-of-office email replies because local authorities blindly copy-pasted Welsh translations from auto-responders without actually speaking the language.
Welsh road signs have accidentally featured out-of-office email replies because local authorities blindly copy-pasted Welsh translations from auto-responders…
Discover more
Swab tests repeatedly show that the fold-down tray table at your airplane seat is the absolute dirtiest surface on the entire aircraft, harboring roughly eight times more bacteria than the lavatory flush button.
Swab tests repeatedly show that the fold-down tray table at your airplane seat is the absolute dirtiest surface on the entire aircraft, harboring roughly…
Discover more
Canada's 'longest street' claim had a catch
Urban planning often involves a staggering amount of geographical delusion. For decades, Canada proudly claimed Toronto's Yonge Street was the longest in the…
Discover more
Ilha da Queimada Grande is an island off the coast of Brazil completely overrun by thousands of golden lancehead vipers, making it so dangerous that the Brazilian navy strictly forbids public access.
Ilha da Queimada Grande is an island off the coast of Brazil completely overrun by thousands of golden lancehead vipers, making it so dangerous that the…
Discover more
Saudi Arabia literally imports camels and millions of tons of sand from Australia because the local desert resources are unsuitable for construction and their native camel populations are dwindling.
Saudi Arabia literally imports camels and millions of tons of sand from Australia because the local desert resources are unsuitable for construction and their…
Discover more
Tianducheng is a luxury real estate development in China that was built as an exact, albeit scaled-down, replica of Paris, complete with a three-hundred-foot Eiffel Tower and Haussmann-style architecture.
Tianducheng is a luxury real estate development in China that was built as an exact, albeit scaled-down, replica of Paris, complete with a three-hundred-foot…
Discover more
France boasts the longest domestic flight in the world, covering over nine thousand kilometers from Paris to the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.
France boasts the longest domestic flight in the world, covering over nine thousand kilometers from Paris to the island of Reunion in the Indian Ocean.…
Discover more
Vatican City features an automated teller machine that offers Latin as a language option for conducting your banking transactions.
Vatican City features an automated teller machine that offers Latin as a language option for conducting your banking transactions. Supplied by the Vatican…
Discover more
Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau are two municipalities that form a ridiculously complex border between Belgium and the Netherlands, with the international line cutting directly…
Baarle-Hertog and Baarle-Nassau are two municipalities that form a ridiculously complex border between Belgium and the Netherlands, with the international…
Discover more
Mount Rushmore contains a secret, hidden room chiseled directly into the rock behind Abraham Lincoln's massive granite head, originally designed to be a grand Hall of Records for American history.
Mount Rushmore contains a secret, hidden room chiseled directly into the rock behind Abraham Lincoln's massive granite head, originally designed to be a grand…
Discover more
Kijong-dong is a fake village built by North Korea near the demilitarized zone in the 1950s to look like a thriving utopia and lure South Korean defectors.
Kijong-dong is a fake village built by North Korea near the demilitarized zone in the 1950s to look like a thriving utopia and lure South Korean defectors.…
Discover more
Centralia is a nearly abandoned town in Pennsylvania where an underground coal mine fire has been burning continuously since 1962 and is expected to burn for another two hundred and fifty years.
Centralia is a nearly abandoned town in Pennsylvania where an underground coal mine fire has been burning continuously since 1962 and is expected to burn for…
Discover more
Salt concentration in the Dead Sea is nearly ten times higher than that of the regular ocean, making the water so dense that human beings naturally float on the surface.
Salt concentration in the Dead Sea is nearly ten times higher than that of the regular ocean, making the water so dense that human beings naturally float on…
Discover more
Falling coconuts are statistically far more likely to cause human fatalities on tropical vacations than unprovoked shark attacks.
Falling coconuts are statistically far more likely to cause human fatalities on tropical vacations than unprovoked shark attacks. The average coconut weighs…
Discover more
Pisa's famous leaning tower began sinking into the ground in 1178 during construction because the brilliant medieval architects decided to build a massive, incredibly heavy…
Pisa's famous leaning tower began sinking into the ground in 1178 during construction because the brilliant medieval architects decided to build a massive,…
Discover more
British colonial authorities actually built a massive scaffold of bamboo over the entire Taj Mahal during World War Two in order to disguise the glowing white marble monument from Japanese bomber planes.
British colonial authorities actually built a massive scaffold of bamboo over the entire Taj Mahal during World War Two in order to disguise the glowing white…
Discover more
Stonehenge is literally located a few yards away from the incredibly loud and perpetually jammed A303 highway in Wiltshire, completely ruining whatever mystical druid vibes you thought you were going to experience.
Stonehenge is literally located a few yards away from the incredibly loud and perpetually jammed A303 highway in Wiltshire, completely ruining whatever…
Discover more
Why Times Square is technically a state highway
Only in America could you legally define a pedestrian-choked tourist trap as a major automotive artery just to keep the neon lights on. Thanks to the Highway…
Discover more