Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
The tree that bleeds on a Yemeni island
Sitting alone in the Arabian Sea, this Yemeni island looks like an alien world generated by a sci-fi author on heavy hallucinogens. Its most famous resident…
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Jakarta is sinking nearly a foot a year
In a terrifying masterclass of catastrophic urban planning, the Indonesian capital is plunging into the sea at a rate of up to 10 inches per year. Thanks to…
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The road built with the dead
Known as the 'Road of Bones,' this grim 1,200-mile stretch in the Russian Far East was built by gulag prisoners under Stalin’s reign. Because burying the…
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Why runway numbers keep changing
Pilots aren't just doing math for fun up there. Those massive white numbers painted on the tarmac actually drop the last digit of their magnetic compass…
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Why Vatican City has a heliport instead of an airport
When you are God's representative on Earth, you do not wait in line at TSA. The smallest sovereign country in the world is a mere 109 acres, meaning a runway…
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Why some pilots detour to give passengers an aurora view
Sometimes the flight crew actually cares about your happiness. While most commercial routes are fiercely optimized for fuel efficiency, pilots flying over…
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Why takeoff and landing are the riskiest parts of a flight
Feel free to unclench your fists while cruising over the ocean, because the danger is strictly reserved for the beginning and the end. Aviation experts call…
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The Taj Mahal changes color throughout the day
The world's most extravagant mausoleum also moonlights as a giant mood ring. Because it was constructed from translucent white marble, the Taj Mahal absorbs…
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Machu Picchu was built with drainage in mind
While the ancient Incas get a lot of credit for their mystical mountain aesthetics, they were mostly just paranoid plumbers. The region gets hammered by…
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How 3,000 people cross Shibuya without crashing
Imagine the chaotic anxiety of Black Friday shopping, but every single day, every two minutes, in the middle of traffic. Shibuya Crossing in Tokyo is…
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Why GPS struggles near the poles
Don't bother trying to use Google Maps if you ever find yourself hunting for penguins or polar bears. Standard GPS relies on satellites positioned directly…
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Sleeping during takeoff leaves your ears vulnerable
Nodding off before the plane leaves the ground seems peaceful until your eardrums pop like cheap bubble wrap. Because rapid altitude changes severely alter…
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Alaska's giant dunes can reach 100 degrees
When you think of the frozen Alaskan tundra, you naturally picture... massive, sweltering sand dunes. Deep inside the Kobuk Valley National Park sits 25…
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Your rental car may remember your phone
You plugged in your phone just to listen to a Spotify playlist, and now Hertz knows everything about your life. Modern rental cars automatically download your…
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Why passports are canceled after their owner dies
Just in case ghosts try to flee the country, the government has a protocol. When a citizen dies, their passport must be formally canceled. Authorities will…
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British train tickets frequently cost more than flying
The UK rail system is so aggressively overpriced that logic has entirely left the station. Due to privatized monopolies and bizarre ticketing structures, a…
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Why Antarctica has firefighters
Despite being a frozen wasteland entirely covered in ice, the driest continent actually presents a massive combustion risk. The extreme lack of moisture means…
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Why airport scales may get your bag’s weight wrong
Airport departure desks notoriously use uncalibrated weighing plates that skew heavily against the traveler. That fifty-pound limit is enforced by a machine…
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Navigating bizarre bathroom fixtures
Every region seems perfectly determined to invent its own deeply confusing method of operating basic sanitary fixtures, turning a simple restroom trip into a…
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Renting temporary beds in strange rooms
We happily abandon our perfectly comfortable homes just to live out of a fabric suitcase and steal tiny complimentary toiletries. Paying an absolute premium…
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Albatrosses can fly continuously over open ocean
These massive seabirds can lock their wings and glide over the open ocean for absolutely ridiculous stretches, avoiding solid ground entirely.
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A Japanese hotel replaced its concierges with dinosaurs
The Henn-na Hotel in Japan decided human staff were entirely too mundane, so they fully replaced their front desk concierges with terrifying animatronic…
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Restaurants intentionally keep terrible menu translations
Places catering to out-of-towners often absolutely refuse to fix their hilarious, mangled english translations because tourists find the broken text charming…
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The world's smallest park is a two-foot dirt circle
Mill Ends Park is literally just a tiny two-foot dirt circle in the middle of a traffic median featuring a single small shrub. The city council officially…
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