Story#601
Cassowary crossing
The signs say dangerous. Then one walks out of the rainforest two metres in front of the car and you understand the signs completely.
Travel stories, quotes and fun facts, part 7
30 stories, 50 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Europe, Fiji and 23 other places. Page 7 of 10.
Page 7 of 10
30 stories, 50 fun facts, 20 quotes on this page. It covers Australia, Canada, USA, New Zealand, Europe, Fiji and 23 other places. Page 7 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#602
The Rockies have a spiral tunnel
Two figure-eight tunnels were bored into the mountains in 1909 to reduce a dangerously steep railway grade.
Quote#603
Travel brings you home
The full use of your powers along lines of excellence is the definition of happiness, and travel stretches them.
Fun fact#604
Canada's national park is bigger than Switzerland
Wood Buffalo National Park covers about 44,800 square kilometres, larger than Switzerland.
Story#605
Sydney to Bondi at six
The coastal walk at six in the morning was full of runners, swimmers and one man doing tai chi on a rock. Nobody had a phone out.
Fun fact#606
Alaska is the widest state
Alaska crosses the 180th meridian, making it both the westernmost and easternmost state in the United States.
Story#607
Uluru at the wrong hour
Everybody goes at sunset. We went at eleven in the morning in 38 degrees, saw four people, and the rock was a colour nobody photographs.
Fun fact#608
Denali is taller from base to peak than Everest
Measured from its own base, Denali rises higher than Everest does above the Tibetan plateau.
Quote#609
I haven't been everywhere
I haven't been everywhere, but it's on my list.
Fun fact#610
Yellowstone sits on a supervolcano
Yellowstone's caldera is roughly 55 by 72 kilometres, and its heat drives more than half the world's geysers.
Story#611
The great ocean detour
We drove the whole road in one day, which is a mistake. Someone at a bakery in Apollo Bay told us to take three, and she was right.
Fun fact#612
Yellowstone was the first national park
Established in 1872, Yellowstone is generally recognised as the first national park anywhere in the world.
Quote#613
To my mind
To my mind, the greatest reward and luxury of travel is to be able to experience everyday things as if for the first time.
Fun fact#614
The Grand Canyon exposes two billion years
Rock at the canyon floor is nearly two billion years old, roughly half the age of the Earth.
Story#615
Tasmanian silence
We stood at Cape Grim in wind that had crossed the Southern Ocean untouched. It smelled like nothing at all, which is apparently the point.
Fun fact#616
Death Valley holds the heat record
A reading of 56.7 degrees Celsius in 1913 remains the highest reliably recorded air temperature on Earth.
Quote#617
I can't think of anything
I can't think of anything that excites a greater sense of childlike wonder than to be in a country where you are ignorant of almost everything.
Fun fact#618
Death Valley's rocks move by themselves
Stones leave long trails across the playa, pushed by thin ice sheets breaking up in light wind.
Story#619
Milford in the rain
Everyone hopes for sun. Locals told us to hope for rain, because that is when a thousand temporary waterfalls appear on the cliffs. They were right within an hour.
Fun fact#620
Route 66 no longer officially exists
Route 66 was decommissioned in 1985, but much of it survives as Historic Route 66 signed by individual states.
Story#621
The Tongariro crossing
Nineteen kilometres, four weather systems and a lake the colour of antifreeze. Somebody in shorts passed us going the other way at a run.
Fun fact#622
New York has more languages than any city
Researchers have identified over 700 languages spoken in New York, making it the most linguistically diverse city ever recorded.
Quote#623
Life is short
Life is short and the world is wide.
Fun fact#624
The Statue of Liberty was a gift and a kit
France gave the statue, which arrived in 350 pieces packed in 214 crates and was assembled on site.
Story#625
Hitching in the South Island
We waited eleven minutes and got picked up by a shearer who talked about sheep for two hours and dropped us forty kilometres past his own turnoff.
Fun fact#626
Central Park is entirely designed
Every hill, lake and outcrop arrangement in Central Park was landscaped. Almost nothing there is natural.
Quote#627
Travel is rebellion
Travel is rebellion in its purest form.
Fun fact#628
Chicago reversed a river
Engineers reversed the flow of the Chicago River in 1900 so sewage would drain away from Lake Michigan.
Story#629
Glowworm ceiling
The boat went silent and the guide pulled us along a rope in the dark. The ceiling looked like a star map and was in fact several thousand hungry larvae.
Fun fact#630
San Francisco's fog has a name
Locals call the summer fog Karl, and it has its own devoted social media following.
Story#631
Hangi under the ground
Food cooked in a pit with hot stones for four hours. The steam when they opened it was worth the entire wait and the whole meal tasted faintly of earth.
Fun fact#632
Hawaii is the youngest US state and still growing
Kilauea keeps adding land to the Big Island, and a new seamount is forming offshore for a future island.
Quote#633
Wanderlust
Wanderlust: a strong desire to travel, from the German for a lust to wander.
Fun fact#634
Hawaii has almost every climate zone
The Big Island contains most of the world's recognised climate zones, from tropical beach to alpine tundra.
Story#635
Fiji time
The boat was due at ten. It came at half past twelve. Everyone we asked said Fiji time with a smile and we eventually stopped asking.
Fun fact#636
Mauna Kea is the tallest mountain from base
Measured from the seafloor, Mauna Kea rises over 10,000 metres, taller than Everest above sea level.
Quote#637
Fernweh
Fernweh: a longing for far-off places, the opposite of homesickness.
Fun fact#638
Louisiana uses parishes
Louisiana is the only state divided into parishes rather than counties, a leftover from its French and Spanish past.
Story#639
Kava circle
You clap once, take the cup, drink it in one, clap three times. Your tongue goes numb and the conversation slows down and improves.
Fun fact#640
New Orleans buries above ground
High groundwater made underground burial impractical, so the city built tombs above ground in walled cemeteries.
Story#641
Land diving at Pentecost
The tower is built from vines and branches with no nails. The divers aim to touch the ground with their shoulders. The mothers watch from a distance and do not look away.
Fun fact#642
Alaska was bought for two cents an acre
The United States paid Russia 7.2 million dollars for Alaska in 1867, mocked at the time as Seward's Folly.
Quote#643
Resfeber
Resfeber: the restless race of a traveller's heart before the journey begins.
Fun fact#644
Mexico City is sinking
Built on a drained lakebed, Mexico City sinks several centimetres a year as groundwater is pumped out.
Story#645
Sailing between atolls
Two days out of sight of land and then a line of palms appears that is only three metres above the water. You understand navigation differently after that.
Fun fact#646
Mexico has 68 recognised languages
Alongside Spanish, Mexico officially recognises 68 indigenous languages with hundreds of variants.
Quote#647
Sonder
Sonder: the realisation that every passer-by is living a life as vivid and complex as your own.
Fun fact#648
Chichen Itza makes a snake of light
At the equinoxes, shadows on the pyramid's staircase form a serpent that appears to slide down to the ground.
Story#649
The bus that circled the island
There are two buses: clockwise and anticlockwise. You cannot get lost, and if you miss yours the other one arrives eventually going the long way.
Fun fact#650
Cenotes are collapsed cave roofs
Thousands of cenotes dot the Yucatan, formed along a ring of fractures linked to the asteroid impact that ended the dinosaurs.
Fun fact#651
Chocolate began in Mesoamerica
Cacao was drunk bitter and spiced by the Maya and Aztecs long before Europeans added sugar and milk.
Story#652
Diving with the mantas
They arrive silently and are far larger than anything in the briefing prepared you for. Our guide held up nine fingers, meaning nine metres of wingspan, and then just watched.
Quote#653
Hygge on the road
Hygge: the warmth of a small, well-lit room while the weather outside does its worst.
Fun fact#654
Monarch butterflies migrate 4,000 km
Monarchs fly from Canada to a few Mexican mountain forests, and no single butterfly completes the round trip.
Story#655
Waiting for the supply ship
The ship comes every few weeks and the whole island knows the day. Everything changes when it arrives: the shop, the menu, the mood.
Fun fact#656
Guatemala has a lake in a caldera
Atitlan fills a caldera left by a colossal eruption 84,000 years ago and is ringed by three volcanoes.
Fun fact#657
Belize has the second largest reef
The Belize Barrier Reef is the largest in the northern hemisphere and includes the famous Great Blue Hole.
Quote#658
Dolce far niente
Dolce far niente: the sweetness of doing nothing, best practised on a terrace after lunch.
Story#659
Sunday singing
Nothing is open and everything is quiet, until the churches start. We sat outside on the grass and listened to four-part harmony coming through open windows for an hour.
Fun fact#660
Honduras has a Maya city in the jungle
Copan's hieroglyphic stairway carries the longest known Maya text, over 2,000 glyphs on 63 steps.
Fun fact#661
El Salvador surfs a long point break
Punta Roca near La Libertad delivers one of Central America's most consistent right-hand point breaks.
Story#662
A sea that changed colour
The skipper said the reef changes every year now. He had been diving the same site for twenty-three years and pointed out exactly where the colour had gone.
Quote#663
Sobremesa
Sobremesa: the conversation that keeps you at the table long after the food is gone.
Fun fact#664
Nicaragua has an island of two volcanoes
Ometepe sits in a freshwater lake and is formed by two volcanoes joined by a low isthmus.
Story#665
Night dive with manta rays
We knelt on the sand with torches pointed up. Plankton gathered in the light and the mantas came to eat, rolling over us, close enough to feel the water move.
Fun fact#666
Costa Rica abolished its army
Costa Rica dissolved its military in 1948 and redirected the budget to education and health.
Fun fact#667
Costa Rica runs on renewables
For years Costa Rica has generated close to 99 percent of its electricity from renewable sources, mostly hydro and geothermal.
Quote#668
Saudade
Saudade: the presence of an absence, a longing for something that may never return.
Story#669
Volcano road closed
The road ended in black rock that had not been there two years before. A sign asked us not to take any lava home, which is apparently both disrespectful and unlucky.
Fun fact#670
Panama's canal uses fresh water
Every ship transit releases millions of litres of fresh lake water to the sea, which is why droughts slow the canal.
Fun fact#671
Panama sunrise faces the Pacific
Because of the isthmus's S-shape, you can watch the sun rise over the Pacific and set over the Atlantic in Panama.
Story#672
Snow on the Icefields Parkway
It snowed in June. We pulled into a viewpoint, three other cars did the same, and six strangers stood in a line watching a glacier disappear behind cloud without saying anything.
Quote#673
Ikigai
Ikigai: the reason you get up in the morning, worth searching for at home and abroad.
Fun fact#674
Colombia has two oceans
Colombia is the only South American country with coastlines on both the Caribbean and the Pacific.
Fun fact#675
Colombia grows most of the world's emeralds
Colombian mines have long supplied the majority of the world's fine emeralds, prized for their deep green.
Story#676
Bear bell arithmetic
We were told to make noise. After two hours of singing badly we stopped, and thirty seconds later a black bear crossed the trail ahead. We resumed singing immediately.
Fun fact#677
Bogota closes streets on Sundays
Ciclovia shuts over 100 kilometres of road to cars every Sunday, and hundreds of thousands of people cycle and skate.
Quote#678
Shinrin-yoku
Shinrin-yoku: forest bathing, the practice of walking slowly among trees with no goal at all.
Story#679
The tide at Fundy
We walked on the sea floor in the morning and kayaked over the same spot after lunch. Sixteen metres of water arrived while we ate.
Fun fact#680
Colombia has a river of five colours
An aquatic plant turns Cano Cristales red for a few months a year, mixing with green moss and yellow sand.
Fun fact#681
Venezuela has the tallest waterfall
Angel Falls drops 979 metres, so far that much of the water becomes mist before reaching the bottom.
Story#682
Poutine at two in the morning
Minus twenty outside and a queue out the door. The man in front of us explained that the cheese must squeak, and that anything else is not poutine but a tragedy.
Quote#683
Wabi-sabi
Wabi-sabi: finding beauty in what is imperfect, weathered and temporary.
Fun fact#684
Lightning strikes the same lake nightly
Where the Catatumbo River meets Lake Maracaibo, storms produce lightning on around 300 nights a year.
Fun fact#685
Guyana has a single-drop giant waterfall
Kaieteur Falls plunges 226 metres in one drop, roughly five times the height of Niagara, with almost no crowds.
Story#686
Northern lights over the highway
The driver pulled over without warning and turned off the headlights. Green went across the whole sky in about four seconds and then rearranged itself for an hour.
Fun fact#687
Suriname speaks Dutch
Suriname is the only South American country with Dutch as its official language, a legacy of colonial rule.
Quote#688
Meraki
Meraki: doing something with soul, creativity and love, leaving a piece of yourself in the work.
Fun fact#689
Ecuador is named after the equator
Ecuador is the only country named for a line of latitude, and the true equator sits slightly off the famous monument.
Story#690
The ferry through the fjords
The state ferry takes three days and you sleep in a tent taped to the deck. It costs less than a flight and you see four hundred kilometres of coastline nobody photographs.
Fun fact#691
Chimborazo is closest to space
Because the Earth bulges at the equator, Chimborazo's summit is the furthest point from the planet's centre.
Story#692
Grand Canyon at the wrong rim
We drove to the North Rim by accident, found eleven cars in the car park instead of a thousand, and had a viewpoint to ourselves for forty minutes.
Fun fact#693
Galapagos finches shaped a theory
Darwin's finches, each with a beak suited to different food, helped shape the theory of natural selection.
Quote#694
Ubuntu
Ubuntu: I am because we are.
Fun fact#695
Quito is the closest capital to the equator
Quito sits almost exactly on the equator at 2,850 metres, giving it spring-like weather all year.
Story#696
Descending is harder
Everyone warns you that going down is easy. On the way back up, in the last mile, a ranger handed out salt tablets and said the same sentence to every single person.
Fun fact#697
Peru grows thousands of potato varieties
Peru cultivates over 3,000 potato varieties, and the potato was domesticated in the Andes around 8,000 years ago.
Quote#698
Hakuna matata
Hakuna matata: there are no worries.
Fun fact#699
Machu Picchu was never found by Spain
The Spanish never located Machu Picchu, which is why its stonework and terraces survived largely intact.
Story#700
Diner coffee refill
The waitress topped up the cup four times without being asked and called everyone honey. The pie was better than any restaurant we ate at that month.
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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.