Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
When a Guidebook Told Tourists What to Admire
The 19th-century Baedeker guides introduced star ratings for sights, and tourists became so devoted to them that they sometimes walked through Europe with…
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Cholera fears put returning pilgrims into quarantine near Suez
An 1891 public-health report described Egyptian measures after an outbreak in Mecca: sea travelers were to spend 21 days under observation at El Tor, while…
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One of Vienna’s historic monuments is a public restroom
The underground facilities on the Graben opened in 1905 and are protected for their Art Nouveau design. A practical street service received the decorative…
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The Simplon Tunnel put nearly 20 kilometers of railway under the Alps
When it opened in 1906, the tunnel was the world's longest railway tunnel. It linked western Switzerland to Italy beneath a mountain barrier instead of…
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Tourists once paid to watch the Panama Canal
When tourist cruises began transiting the Panama Canal in 1927, affluent travelers paid to sit in the tropical sun and watch its lock gates open and close.
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Why Victorian tourists walked over the sea
Victorian pleasure piers let visitors take in the sea air without the nausea associated with riding on waves. Engineer Eugenius Birch helped drive the British…
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Nellie Bly raced around the world against a rival she hadn't met
Bly set off in November 1889 to beat the 80-day journey in Jules Verne's novel. Cosmopolitan sent journalist Elizabeth Bisland on a competing trip, turning…
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The hippie trail led to dysentery
After arduous bus trips through Turkey, Iran, and Afghanistan, travelers could find themselves battling dysentery. When money ran out, some telegraphed their…
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Asking for a ride on a Nevada roadway is strictly illegal
Nevada law prohibits hitchhiking on roadways, so asking passing drivers for a ride can violate state law.
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Diplomats' parking tickets became a test of corruption
Researchers studied unpaid tickets issued to diplomats in New York, where immunity made enforcement unusually weak. Officials from countries with higher…
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Latitude dictates your wardrobe choices
Closer to the equator, high humidity can make lighter clothing more comfortable.
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Why countries charge you for a visa
A visa fee is essentially an entry charge: the government collects payment and issues permission to enter, often recorded as a sticker in your passport.
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Why highway distances aren't exact
Highway signs often round mileage to keep the numbers tidy, so the distance shown may not be exact—and your destination may be farther away than the sign…
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National parks are wilder than your vacation suggests
A park boundary doesn’t make the wilderness safe: predators and sheer cliffs remain indifferent to visitors.
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Town borders are completely arbitrary
Crossing a town line can change local rules on fireworks, alcohol, and speed limits—even when the boundary is just an invisible mark on a map.
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Fort Bragg's Glass Beach grew out of a city dump
Waste was once discarded along the coast, and the dump closed in 1967. Decades of surf rounded pieces of glass into the smooth fragments visitors recognize.…
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Some towns are named after cartographers' mistakes
Some settlements kept placeholder names such as “No Name” or “Error” after cartographers left them on official documents.
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The surprisingly literal origin of motel
Motel combines motor and hotel, a name coined for roadside inns where drivers could park near their rooms.
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Why luggage feels like dragging a tiny closet
Because every just-in-case outfit adds weight you have to haul—even up several flights of stairs when the elevator is broken.
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A tent can get wet inside without leaking
Your breath and damp gear add water vapor to the air. When it meets the cold tent fabric, it condenses into droplets, much like moisture on a cold glass. That…
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The diplomatic pouch can be an entire crate
Diplomatic pouches are exempt from customs inspections and need not be bags: entire shipping crates can be marked as diplomatic bags to transport government…
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Stepping across a painted line just to return
A visa run means leaving and re-entering a country to renew or extend a stay. Some travelers endure hours on a bus just to cross a nearby border and turn…
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What changes when you sail beyond territorial waters
Beyond a country's territorial waters, no single nation owns the ocean—but that doesn't make it a law-free zone. Maritime rules still apply.
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Refusing to leave the all inclusive compound
Some travelers fly halfway around the world, then spend the whole week inside the resort instead of exploring outside it.
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