Travel stories, quotes and fun facts

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.

Some capitals are not the biggest city

Washington, Canberra, Brasilia, Ottawa and Ankara were all chosen over larger rivals to settle regional disputes.

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.

Longest name for a capital is in Thailand

Bangkok's ceremonial name holds the Guinness record for the longest place name in the world.

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.

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.

Keep your eyes on the stars

Keep your eyes on the stars, and your feet on the ground.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Do what you can

Do what you can, with what you have, where you are.

Cargo ships still carry passengers

A handful of freighter lines sell cabins to travellers who prefer weeks at sea to hours in the air.

Travelling with parents

Slower days, earlier dinners, more sitting down. We saw about a third as much and remember roughly twice as clearly.

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.

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.

The guidebook predates the railway

Karl Baedeker began publishing travel handbooks in the 1830s, inventing the star rating for sights.

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.

Postcards started plain

The first official postcard appeared in Austria in 1869 with no picture. Illustrations came later and took over.

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.

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.

There is nothing like a dream

There is nothing like a dream to create the future.

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.