Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
The penguin eggs that shattered an explorer's teeth
If you think your delayed flight is torture, consider Apsley Cherry-Garrard. In 1911, he and two companions dragged a sledge through the absolute darkness of…
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Orient Express passengers were told to pack revolvers
The inaugural 1883 run of the Orient Express wasn't exactly the serene Agatha Christie murder-mystery vibe we picture today. Sure, you had silk sheets,…
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The fake student IDs of the Hippie Trail
Long before trust-fund kids were taking gap years to find themselves on an ashram, boomers were hitchhiking from London to Kathmandu on a diet of hashish and…
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The medieval monk who pioneered digital nomadism
Centuries before trust-fund kids bought camper vans to find themselves, a 14th-century Japanese monk nailed the aesthetic. Yoshida Kenko wrote an entire…
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A 1911 exhibition made giant eyes a tourist attraction
Millions of tourists flocked to the 1911 Dresden exhibition just to gawk at a giant, pulsating model of a human eye and learn how not to die of cholera.…
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Butter royalty sold colonialism at Wembley
Convincing the British public that their crumbling empire was still a fun, relatable endeavor required literal dairy sculptures. The 1924 Wembley Exhibition…
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Walt Disney couldn't afford Disneyland's first hotel
Disneyland might be a billion-dollar mega-resort today, but Walt Disney originally blew his entire budget just building the rides. He had to beg his wealthy…
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The early scooters that folded into luggage
Micro-mobility gadgets are not a Silicon Valley invention, nor are they any safer now than a century ago. Early 20th-century inventors patented ridiculous…
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Japan's “Youth 18” pass has no age limit
The Seishun 18 Kippu translates directly to 'Youth 18 Ticket,' designed by Japan Railways to encourage cash-strapped teens to explore the country on cheap,…
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Why Europeans once couldn't buy Eurail passes
If you thought Eurail was a utopian project of European unity, think again. Launched in 1959, this infinite-rail-glitch of a ticket was aggressively gatekept.…
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Couchsurfing began with a student database hack
The utopian, trust-based lodging network of Couchsurfing actually originated from a brazen cyber-intrusion. In 1999, founder Casey Fenton found a cheap flight…
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The pilgrim passport created to stop food thieves
The Camino de Santiago's 'credencial' might seem like a cute, modern stamp-collecting habit for spiritual hikers, but its origins are purely anti-fraud.…
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How Japan's rail pass subsidized foreign tourists
For decades, the Japan Rail Pass was the single greatest cheat code in global travel, allowing tourists to ride ultra-expensive bullet trains for pennies on…
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When sheep had the right of way in Spain
Long before modern highways, the most powerful travel lobby in Spain was a cartel of sheep owners called the Mesta. Every year, millions of merino sheep…
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Why ancient Maya threw offerings into sinkholes
Forget your basic Instagram cenote photoshoot. For the ancient Maya, these limestone sinkholes weren't aesthetic swim spots; they were portals to the…
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Why flying to India once meant crossing the desert
Early commercial flight was less about enjoying a bad movie and more about not dying of exposure in a desolate wasteland. The Imperial Airways route from…
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Yellowstone tourists used to cook fish in hot springs
When Yellowstone was established as the first US National Park, the concept of conservation was practically nonexistent. Early Victorian tourists treated the…
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Why London’s blue plaques can raise home prices
Those charming blue circles plastered all over London houses to commemorate dead historical figures weren't initially born out of pure historical reverence.…
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The singer who disguised herself to enter Tibet
In 1924, the Tibetan city of Lhasa was strictly forbidden to foreigners, which naturally meant Alexandra David-Néel had to go there. This 55-year-old French…
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Sybille Bedford wrote about wine, roads and chaos
Most travel writers describe the landscape; Sybille Bedford mostly described the wine. In the gloomy, ration-starved aftermath of World War II, Bedford…
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The 1700s had their own TripAdvisor
Forget online reviews. In the late 1700s, early Grand Tour travelers like Thomas Manning and William Bray functioned as an elite, painfully slow gossip…
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The train with a bathtub for watching elephants
Who wants to look at wild elephants if you can't do it while submerged in a porcelain tub? In 1927, the Blue Train de Luxe gave wealthy colonizers a way to…
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The festival railway built to lift Britain's spirits
Nothing screams 'please forget our economy is in shambles' quite like a miniature train ride. During the 1951 Festival of Britain, organizers essentially…
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Monetizing damp wilderness via strict hiking schedules
New Zealand figured out early on that people will pay top dollar to walk through dangerous mud if you just call it a 'managed wilderness itinerary.' The…
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