Fun fact#901
The shortest scheduled flight is 90 seconds
The hop between Westray and Papa Westray takes about a minute and a half in fair wind.
Travel stories, quotes and fun facts, part 10
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Scotland, Asia, Ireland, East Asia, Bulgaria, Middle East and West Africa and 22 other places. Page 10 of 10.
Page 10 of 10
29 stories, 51 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Scotland, Asia, Ireland, East Asia, Bulgaria, Middle East and West Africa and 22 other places. Page 10 of 10.
Countries on this page
Every country page collects its entries in one place, with a fact sheet and the guides for going there.
Entries on this page
Fun fact#902
The longest flights exceed 18 hours
Ultra-long-haul routes such as Singapore to New York run close to 19 hours nonstop.
Quote#903
The frog in the well
The frog in the well knows nothing of the great ocean.
Story#904
The bag that arrived later
Three days without luggage taught me that I had packed twice as much as I needed and that laundries exist in every country on Earth.
Fun fact#905
Contrails are frozen water
Contrails form when hot humid exhaust meets cold air and freezes, which is why they appear only at altitude.
Fun fact#906
Turbulence rarely damages aircraft
Wings are tested to flex far beyond anything turbulence produces. The discomfort is real, the danger mostly is not.
Story#907
Missing the connection
We missed by eleven minutes and were rebooked for the next morning. The forced overnight became the best city we visited that year, and we had never planned to go.
Quote#908
Fall seven times
Fall seven times, stand up eight.
Fun fact#909
Duty free began in Ireland
The first duty-free shop opened at Shannon Airport in 1947 to serve transatlantic refuelling stops.
Story#910
Sharing a taxi
Four strangers at an airport at one in the morning splitting a fare into town. Two of them are still in a group chat with me eight years later.
Fun fact#911
Suitcases got wheels late
Wheeled luggage was only patented in 1970, and the upright rolling case with a long handle arrived in 1987.
Fun fact#912
Hotel keys became cards in the 1970s
Magnetic stripe keycards were introduced to solve the expensive problem of guests walking off with metal keys.
Quote#913
Better a diamond with a flaw
Better a diamond with a flaw than a pebble without one.
Story#914
The universal language of football
A ball, a wall and six children. Nobody needed to explain the rules and nobody kept score properly.
Fun fact#915
Room 420 signs get stolen
Some hotels skip or renumber room 420 because the sign disappears so often.
Fun fact#916
Many buildings skip floor 13
Superstition means a large share of tall buildings label the 13th floor as 14, especially in North America.
Story#917
Learning ten words
Hello, please, thank you, sorry, yes, no, how much, where is, delicious and goodbye. Ten words changed every single interaction of the trip.
Quote#918
Learning is a treasure
Learning is a treasure that will follow its owner everywhere.
Fun fact#919
Some Asian buildings skip floor four
In Chinese, Japanese and Korean the word for four sounds like death, so floors and room numbers often omit it.
Fun fact#920
Tipping customs vary wildly
Tipping is expected in the United States, unusual in Japan where it can cause offence, and rounded up in much of Europe.
Story#921
When the wifi fails
Three days without a signal in a mountain hut. By the second evening, everyone had stopped checking their pockets and started playing cards.
Fun fact#922
The nod does not mean yes everywhere
In Bulgaria and parts of Greece a head shake can mean yes and a nod can mean no.
Quote#923
A book is a garden
A book is a garden carried in the pocket.
Story#924
Eating alone
The first time is awkward. By the fourth you bring a notebook, sit at the bar, and end up talking to the chef.
Fun fact#925
Thumbs up is rude in some places
The thumbs-up gesture is offensive in several countries, so travellers are safer with words.
Fun fact#926
Queuing rules are cultural
Orderly single-file queuing is a strong norm in Britain and Japan but far looser in many other countries.
Story#927
The market breakfast rule
Go where the traders eat, at the hour they eat, and order what is already on the counter. It has never once failed.
Quote#928
Trust in God
Trust in God, but tie up your camel.
Fun fact#929
Left-hand driving covers a third of the world
About 35 percent of the world's population drives on the left, mostly in former British territories.
Fun fact#930
Some countries have no rivers
Around 17 countries, mostly desert or small island states, have no permanent natural rivers.
Story#931
A guidebook left behind
We found one in a hostel with four years of notes in three handwritings. We added ours and left it on the shelf for the next person.
Fun fact#932
Vatican and Monaco have no farms
Both microstates import essentially all their food, having no agricultural land at all.
Quote#933
The desert teaches
In the desert, the only thing you own is what you can carry.
Fun fact#934
Three countries do not use metric
The United States, Liberia and Myanmar are the main holdouts from full metric adoption.
Story#935
Postcards to yourself
Write one to your own address from each country. They arrive weeks later, out of order, when you have almost forgotten the day you wrote them.
Fun fact#936
Only a few countries have non-rectangular flags
Nepal's double pennant is the famous exception, while Switzerland and the Vatican use squares.
Story#937
The film camera experiment
Twenty-four exposures for a two-week trip forces you to look before you press. Half of them were terrible and four of them are framed.
Fun fact#938
Cities can have more than one time
Border towns sometimes straddle a time zone line, so neighbours legally live an hour apart.
Quote#939
The best time to plant a tree
The best time to plant a tree was twenty years ago. The second best time is now.
Fun fact#940
The equator crosses thirteen countries
The line passes through thirteen nations, including Ecuador, Kenya, Indonesia and Brazil.
Story#941
Walking a city with no plan
Pick a direction, walk for ninety minutes, then turn around. You will find more than any list of top ten sights.
Fun fact#942
The prime meridian moved
GPS uses a reference meridian about 100 metres east of the brass line at Greenwich, due to a different geodetic model.
Quote#943
A ship without a compass
He who has no destination will never have a favourable wind.
Fun fact#944
There are more than 40 landlocked countries
Around 44 countries have no sea access, and two of them are surrounded entirely by other landlocked states.
Story#945
The bench method
Sit on the same bench for an hour. A neighbourhood reveals its schedule: school, deliveries, lunch, dogs, old men, then children again.
Fun fact#946
Some borders run through buildings
In Baarle the border weaves through houses and cafes, with tiles marking which country your table is in.
Story#947
One night longer
Every good trip has a place where you stayed one night too few. The fix is a rule: if you say maybe on the first evening, book the extra night.
Fun fact#948
A hotel straddles two countries
The Arbez hotel sits on the France-Switzerland border, with the line running through rooms and a staircase.
Quote#949
Every exit is an entry
Every exit is an entry somewhere else.
Fun fact#950
There is a bridge between continents
Runners in the Istanbul Marathon cross from Asia into Europe partway through the race.
Story#951
Travelling with a stranger
We met on a bus and travelled together for nine days. Neither of us suggested it and neither of us mentioned when it would end.
Fun fact#952
The world's smallest park is a circle
Mill Ends Park measures about 60 centimetres across and is officially recognised as the smallest city park.
Quote#953
Not I, nor anyone else
Not I, nor anyone else can travel that road for you. You must travel it by yourself.
Fun fact#954
The longest place name is in New Zealand
Taumata whakatangihanga koauau and its full 85-letter form is the longest official place name in an English-speaking country.
Story#955
The last day rule
Do not plan the last day. Go back to the one place you liked most and do exactly the same thing again.
Fun fact#956
Some towns have no roads
Giethoorn's centre is reached only by canal or footbridge, with over 170 small bridges.
Quote#957
Afoot and light-hearted
Afoot and light-hearted, I take to the open road, healthy, free, the world before me.
Fun fact#958
Venice has no street addresses as we know them
Venetian addresses use a sestiere and a number that can run into the thousands, which is why locals navigate by landmark.
Story#959
Coming home wrong
The strangest part is the supermarket. Forty kinds of bread and nobody making eye contact, and you standing there wondering why it feels rude.
Fun fact#960
Japan has few street names
Most Japanese addresses describe blocks rather than streets, working from ward down to building number.
Story#961
The souvenir that mattered
Not the carving or the magnet. A bus ticket with a date on it, found in a coat pocket in February, worth more than everything on the shelf.
Fun fact#962
Some capitals are not the biggest city
Washington, Canberra, Brasilia, Ottawa and Ankara were all chosen over larger rivals to settle regional disputes.
Quote#963
Now I see the secret
Now I see the secret of making the best person: it is to grow in the open air and to eat and sleep with the earth.
Fun fact#964
Longest name for a capital is in Thailand
Bangkok's ceremonial name holds the Guinness record for the longest place name in the world.
Story#965
Cooking it at home
We asked for the recipe and were given a list of ingredients with no quantities. It took eleven attempts and it still is not right, which is the correct outcome.
Fun fact#966
The world has more than 4,000 airports with scheduled flights
Despite that number, a small handful of hubs handle a disproportionate share of global connections.
Quote#967
Keep your eyes on the stars
Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.
Fun fact#968
Trains beat planes under 700 km
On city-centre to city-centre journeys under about four hours, high-speed rail usually wins on total travel time.
Story#969
The photo nobody took
The best moment of the trip has no picture. Everyone was holding something, or eating, or laughing, and by the time anyone thought of a camera it was over.
Fun fact#970
Ferries carry more passengers than you think
Global ferry travel accounts for billions of passenger journeys a year, more than commercial aviation in some regions.
Story#971
Returning after ten years
The cafe was a phone shop and the owner had moved to another city. The view from the bridge was exactly the same and that was somehow enough.
Fun fact#972
The world's longest bus route ran to India
In the 1960s a double-decker ran from London to Calcutta, a journey of about 50 days.
Quote#973
Do what you can
Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.
Fun fact#974
Cargo ships still carry passengers
A handful of freighter lines sell cabins to travellers who prefer weeks at sea to hours in the air.
Story#975
Travelling with parents
Slower days, earlier dinners, more sitting down. We saw about a third as much and remember roughly twice as clearly.
Fun fact#976
Camping was invented as a hobby
Recreational camping was popularised in the early 1900s by Thomas Hiram Holding, who wrote the first camper's handbook.
Quote#977
Far better it is
Far better it is to dare mighty things than to take rank with those poor spirits who neither enjoy much nor suffer much.
Fun fact#978
The guidebook predates the railway
Karl Baedeker began publishing travel handbooks in the 1830s, inventing the star rating for sights.
Story#979
The first solo trip
Three days of feeling conspicuous, then a switch flips and you realise nobody is looking, and you can do absolutely anything you like.
Fun fact#980
Postcards started plain
The first official postcard appeared in Austria in 1869 with no picture. Illustrations came later and took over.
Story#981
Off-season logic
Half the price, a third of the people, and the weather does what it likes. Two out of three is a very good trade.
Fun fact#982
Souvenir means to remember
The word souvenir comes from the French for to remember, which is a better standard than whether it fits in the bag.
Quote#983
There is nothing like a dream
There is nothing like a dream to create the future.
Fun fact#984
Travel makes memory feel longer
Novel experiences create denser memories, which is why a week somewhere new can feel longer than a month at home.
Story#985
Shoulder season sunsets
Late September on a Mediterranean island: warm sea, empty beaches and every restaurant owner has time to talk. Nobody tells you this because they want to keep it.
Fun fact#986
Rain has a smell with a name
Petrichor is the smell of rain on dry ground, caused by plant oils and a soil bacterium compound called geosmin that the human nose detects at extraordinarily low concentrations.
Fun fact#987
The world's oldest hotel is Japanese
Nishiyama Onsen Keiunkan has been run by the same family since the year 705, making it the oldest continuously operating hotel on record.
Quote#988
He who is fixed to a star
He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.
Story#989
The hardest goodbye
A host who fed us for a week refused payment and asked only that we send a photograph when we got home. We did, and she printed it.
Fun fact#990
Sand dunes make noise
Some dunes boom, hum or sing when sand avalanches down their faces, producing a low note that can be heard several kilometres away.
Fun fact#991
Rome has a key hole with three countries
Look through the keyhole on the Aventine Hill and you see a garden in Italy, a dome in Vatican City and an avenue owned by the Order of Malta.
Story#992
Learning to be late
In some places, arriving on time is what is rude. It took a fortnight to unlearn a lifetime of arriving nine minutes early.
Quote#993
Once you have tasted flight
Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.
Fun fact#994
Boiling water freezes in Arctic air
At around minus 40 degrees, throwing boiling water into the air turns it into a cloud of ice crystals almost instantly, because the hot droplets are tiny and evaporate fast.
Story#995
A map on a napkin
Better than any app. Four streets, one landmark, an arrow and a name to say at the door. It worked perfectly and we kept the napkin.
Fun fact#996
Whale sharks are counted by their spots
Researchers identify individual whale sharks by their spot patterns using software originally written to map stars in the night sky.
Fun fact#997
Some trees are older than writing
Great Basin bristlecone pines in the White Mountains have been growing for more than 4,800 years, predating the earliest known written records.
Quote#998
Simplicity is the ultimate
Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Pack accordingly.
Story#999
Why we keep going
Not for the photographs and not for the list. For the twenty minutes on a bench in a place you cannot pronounce, when nobody in the world knows exactly where you are.
Fun fact#1000
Sunsets last longer near the poles
At high latitudes the sun meets the horizon at a shallow angle, so twilight can stretch for hours instead of minutes.
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Your turn
Propose your travel story
The missed ferry. The stranger who handed over a key. The meal that ran until midnight. If something happened to you on the road and you still think about it, send it - a few sentences is plenty, and we do the tidying up.