Travel stories, quotes and fun facts

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.

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.

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.

He who is fixed to a star

He who is fixed to a star does not change his mind.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Once you have tasted flight

Once you have tasted flight, you will forever walk the earth with your eyes turned skyward.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Simplicity is the ultimate

Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication. Pack accordingly.

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.

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.