Travel
Discover facts about travel. Small discoveries that change the way you see familiar things.
Travel
Bicycles vastly outnumber cars in many urban centers
Four wheels are apparently for amateurs. In plenty of major global cities, human-powered pedaling completely dominates the streets, turning morning commutes…
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Who decided where time-zone borders go
We like to pretend time zones are neat, logical slices of the Earth based on solar positioning. In reality, they are chaotic, jagged zigzags drawn entirely to…
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Our solar system moves through the galaxy
The sun is not just sitting in one spot; it is dragging all its planets around the galactic center at terrifying speeds. Every single day, you travel millions…
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Inside Wisconsin's bizarre bobblehead museum
Milwaukee tourism actively entirely embraces aggressively wobbly plastic desk toys. The highly cramped museum proudly crams its violently full shelves with…
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Orange traffic cones rely on highly specific reflective tape
It isn't just the bright orange plastic keeping you from hitting a pothole. The silver bands wrapped around them are engineered to reflect light back to the…
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The Canadian castle with a hidden tunnel
Building a massive pseudo-European castle in North America clearly requires some eccentric additions. The sprawling Canadian estate includes a hidden…
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French bistros cram tables closely
Personal space is entirely a myth in Paris. Classic bistros pack their tiny tables so tightly together that you are practically forced to share your intimate…
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Why Victoria's Secret catalogs can be confiscated in the Maldives
Your collection of glossy lingerie advertisements is apparently a weapon of mass moral destruction. The Maldives operates under strict Islamic law, which…
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The Great Blue Hole is an underwater sinkhole
From above, it looks like a beautiful dark blue eye in the ocean. Underneath, it’s a terrifyingly deep, submerged sinkhole filled with massive stalactites and…
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Why weekend ATM withdrawals cost more
Withdrawing cash on a Saturday means paying a steep premium simply because the financial markets are sleeping. Many banks freeze their exchange rates over the…
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Massachusetts has a museum for bad art
Massachusetts actively hosts a gallery where actual artistic talent is considered a massive liability. Curators meticulously source their highly aggressive…
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Why planes avoid flying over the Taj Mahal
It turns out that giant jet engines belching exhaust fumes are not particularly great for centuries-old white marble. The Indian government instituted a…
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Yelling on thrill rides changes zero physics
Despite what your panicked brain tells you, screaming at the top of your lungs does not alter your velocity. The tradition of shouting on large drops is…
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Turboprop planes burn less fuel over short distances
Those annoying aircraft with spinning external propellers are not outdated relics of the past. For short commuter hops, turbine-driven props are vastly more…
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Why Venice house numbers won't help you navigate
If you thought getting hopelessly lost in Venice was just a romantic accident, think again. The city maliciously numbers its houses based on when they were…
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The airport bigger than the country of Bahrain
King Fahd International Airport is a masterclass in unnecessary scale. Covering roughly three hundred square miles, this absolute behemoth of an airport is…
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The two countries with no route to the sea
If you ever feel hopelessly trapped in life, just look at a map of Uzbekistan or Liechtenstein to feel instantly better about your situation. These two…
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Rocky Mountain oysters are exactly what you fear
The name is a masterful act of culinary deception meant to trick unsuspecting diners. There are absolutely zero oceans near the Rocky Mountains; these crispy…
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Why authentic street tacos skip the cheese
Your late-night melted cheese cravings mean nothing here. Real street tacos focus entirely on the meat, utilizing only raw white onions and fresh cilantro for…
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Why sunsets are so sudden at the equator
Because of the angle of planetary rotation, the sun drops directly down past the horizon like a dropped stone here. Twilight is practically nonexistent,…
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Deserts frequently plunge to freezing temperatures at night
Pack a parka for the scorching wasteland. Without any moisture in the air to trap the blistering daytime heat, arid landscapes immediately dump all their…
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Maine has thousands of offshore coastal islands
A geographical nightmare for anyone trying to map the coastline. The northeastern US state is heavily shattered into over 3,000 tiny rocky landmasses, most of…
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Why Swiss supermarkets sell mayo in tubes
Nothing whets the appetite like squeezing condiments out of a toothpaste tube. Swiss supermarkets package everything from mayonnaise to mustard in metallic…
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The dance that makes feet look impossibly fast
Because human calves can apparently defy the laws of physics. Wearing heavily decorated masks, performers in Ivory Coast execute footwork so violently rapid…
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