Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
Why your rental car may have another state’s license plate
Ever wonder why you rented a car in California but the license plate proudly claims 'Florida'? It's not a geographical glitch; it's corporate tax evasion…
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Airline algorithms actively exploit your browser history
That sudden price jump on the flight you were just looking at isn't a coincidence; it is digital extortion. Travel booking sites notoriously utilize cookies…
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Machu Picchu was never actually the lost city of the Incas that explorer Hiram Bingham claimed it was, but rather a relatively standard royal estate built for the Inca emperor Pachacuti in the fifteenth century.
Machu Picchu was never actually the lost city of the Incas that explorer Hiram Bingham claimed it was, but rather a relatively standard royal estate built for…
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China spans five geographical time zones but mandates a single uniform time across the entire country, meaning people in the far western provinces often watch the sun rise at ten in the morning.
China spans five geographical time zones but mandates a single uniform time across the entire country, meaning people in the far western provinces often watch…
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Paris syndrome is a genuine psychological condition experienced primarily by Japanese tourists who are completely traumatized to discover that the French capital is a sprawling,…
Paris syndrome is a genuine psychological condition experienced primarily by Japanese tourists who are completely traumatized to discover that the French…
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Mount Everest is literally covered in hundreds of tons of human feces and frozen corpses that serve as highly morbid trail markers for aspiring mountaineers.
Mount Everest is literally covered in hundreds of tons of human feces and frozen corpses that serve as highly morbid trail markers for aspiring mountaineers.…
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Security screening protocols implemented by the TSA fail to detect weapons or explosives in roughly seventy to eighty percent of undercover tests conducted by the Department of Homeland Security.
Security screening protocols implemented by the TSA fail to detect weapons or explosives in roughly seventy to eighty percent of undercover tests conducted by…
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Why Las Vegas has so many hotel rooms
Where else can you lose your life savings and still have 150,000 different beds to cry in? The Strip boasts the highest concentration of hotel rooms globally,…
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Why McDonald’s is nearly everywhere
Cultural assimilation tastes exactly like a lukewarm chicken nugget. No matter how deep into the wilderness you venture, the aggressive expansion of American…
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Sioux City, Iowa, was assigned the unfortunate airport code SUX back in 1946, and after petitioning the FAA twice to change it and failing, the city finally gave up and trademarked the slogan "Fly SUX" in 2007.
Sioux City, Iowa, was assigned the unfortunate airport code SUX back in 1946, and after petitioning the FAA twice to change it and failing, the city finally…
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Mapmakers frequently insert entirely fake towns, known as paper towns or phantom settlements, into their officially published maps to act as copyright traps for lazy competitors…
Mapmakers frequently insert entirely fake towns, known as paper towns or phantom settlements, into their officially published maps to act as copyright traps…
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Why you can’t see the Great Wall from space
Sorry to ruin your elementary school trivia, but looking for a gray wall against gray rocks from low Earth orbit is optically impossible. Despite being the…
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Why TSA confiscates bowling pins
Thank God we’re being protected from the imminent airborne threat of rogue bowlers. According to the TSA's bizarre list of forbidden carry-on items, bowling…
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The snack dispute that changed airline policies
Ah, 'nut rage.' The perfectly rational phenomenon where a grown adult throws a fit over snack packaging. In 2014, a Korean Air executive forced a taxiing…
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Bhutan is carbon-negative—and charges tourists by the day
If you want to visit the only carbon-negative country on the planet, be prepared to literally pay for the privilege of breathing their superior air. Bhutan's…
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Why Tokyo has so few public trash cans
It’s a fun little game for tourists: carry your empty matcha cup for twelve miles because finding a garbage bin is statistically impossible. Following the…
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Your hotel key may still work after checkout
Despite the front desk agent threatening you with an aggressive 11 AM checkout, your plastic key card is surprisingly lenient. Hotels rarely program cards to…
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Only three countries still avoid the metric system
The United States proudly stands alongside a grand total of two other nations in their stubborn refusal to just multiply things by ten. While the rest of the…
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Tokyo's Shinjuku Station handles 3.6 million passengers a day
If you suffer from agoraphobia, Tokyo's transit system is basically your final boss. Shinjuku Station processes an utterly terrifying 3.6 million passengers…
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Mount Thor has Earth’s greatest vertical drop
Located in the freezing desolation of Baffin Island, this granite peak isn't just steep; it literally overhangs. With a terrifying sheer drop of 4,101 feet at…
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This crowded island built its cemetery elsewhere
If you value personal space, avoid this tiny Colombian island. With around 1,200 people crammed onto merely two acres of concrete, it is the most densely…
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This Vietnamese cave has its own weather
Why hike outside when you can go underground to experience a completely different atmosphere? This cavern in Vietnam is so incomprehensibly massive—featuring…
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Ethiopia’s landscape looks like another planet
If you want to vacation on another planet without leaving Earth, try this geothermal nightmare in Ethiopia. Sitting over 400 feet below sea level, it is one…
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Hamburg beats Venice in bridges
Venice might have the romantic gondoliers, but this dreary German port city completely destroys it in infrastructure. Hamburg boasts around 2,500 bridges…
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