50+ Travel Facts That Will Amaze You

There are so many fun and interesting travel facts that will leave you wide-mouthed and in awe. We’ve found some of the greatest travel trivia out there and compiled this list, in no particular order, for you to know as general knowledge or to share with other fellow travelers while on your next adventure.

Despite what popular media would have you believe, it is impossible to open a plane door in the middle of a flight because of how pressurized it is in the cabin. It would take several strong people and a lot of effort to push it since the door has to be moved in and slightly turned before it would open.
If you do a lot of traveling across the nation, you may feel like your jet lag is worse when traveling from west to east. And if you do feel that, you’re right – research shows that our natural sleep cycle between being asleep and awake is slightly over 24 hours. This means that we get more disturbed on a journey traveling from west to east since that makes the day shorter. When you travel from east to west, it makes the day longer and our brains adapt to it more easily.
Approximately 64,640 selfies are taken around the world each and every single minute, and a majority of these people are on vacation at the time.
64,640 selfies are taken around the world
When a commercial airplane takes off from the tarmac, it’s going approximately 160 – 180 miles per hour, and can fly from 550 to 580 miles per hour.
Less than 5% of Libya’s land area is suitable for grazing livestock, making over 95% of the country desert and agriculturally useless.
There’s an island in Japan’s Inland Sea called Okunoshima that is inhabited entirely by bunnies. The rabbits are very tame, super friendly, and will often come right up to you and cuddle.
Japan’s Inland Sea called Okunoshima that is inhabited entirely by bunnies
Battle Creek, Michigan, more popularly known as Cereal City, makes more cereal than any other city in the world. It is the hub for breakfast cereals and is home to companies like Post, Kellogg Co., and more.
Pilots and co-pilots are not allowed to eat the same meal on a flight in case one of them causes food poisoning and upsets their stomachs.
Nearly 3% of Antarctica’s ice is made of penguin urine. Since it’s so cold there, the urine freezes in the ice, can’t be washed out, and cannot evaporate.
There are four times as many cows as people in South Dakota. With a human population of 844,877, the state’s cattle population soars at 3,650,000.
There are four times as many cows as people in South Dakota
The official full name of Bangkok is “Krung Thep Mahanakhon Amon Rattanakosin Mahinthara Ayuthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udomratchaniwet Mahasathan Amon Piman Awatan Sathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukam Prasit”. It is the longest city name in the world – no surprise there!
Speaking of long names, the UK has the world’s longest country names; its official title goes as “The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland”.
On the other hand, the following probably qualifies as the shortest town name: There is a town in Norway just called “A”.
Grab your wine glass when in Caldari di Ortona, Italy – the small town has a free wine fountain that flows with delicious locally-made wine.
Maine is the only state in the USA with a one-syllable name.
According to data collected in 2018, it would take a person 288 years to spend a single night in every hotel room in Las Vegas. This is probably longer now with the expansion of older hotels and the addition of newer ones.
The longest boardwalk in the world can be found in Atlantic City, New Jersey.
Though it has three official languages, there are over 820 languages spoken in Papua New Guinea.
The fear of traveling, more specifically ‘traveling by road’, is called hodophobia.
Gatorade is named after the University of Florida Gators, which is the campus where a group of doctors invented the drink in a lab in 1965.
University of Florida Gators
The Great Barrier Reef is the only living structure visible from outer space.
People are urged to travel to all different corners of the world, but there are few places that are almost impossible to get into such as Area 51, the Fort Knox Bullion Depository, the Google Data Center, and America’s highest security prison, the ADX Florence.
60,000 pounds of shrimp are consumed across the United States on a daily basis – except in Las Vegas, where the same amount is eaten daily in the city alone.
Almost half of the American population researches, plans, and books their vacations using only a mobile device. Gone are the days we needed travel agents or even laptops.
According to data compiled at the Aviation Safety Network, 85 aircrafts have vanished without a trace between 1948 and 2014. Bermuda Triangle, anyone?
Bermuda Triangle
Information from the State Department in 2014 showed that only 46% of Americans had a valid passport.
Nearly 30 million people in China live in caves. This is mostly around the Loess Plateau and the Shaanxi Province where the soil is porous which is easy to dig.
One out of every eight jobs in the United States is related to the tourism and travel industry – though that might have lowered drastically this year with the onset of COVID-19.
Certain parts of Mexico City are sinking by up to 16 inches a year. Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia, is the fastest sinking city in the world. Sinking islands is a big problem in cities all over the world.
Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia
The largest underground cemetery in the world can be found in Paris, France. The catacombs were created in 1777 amidst overcrowding in cemeteries and houses the remains of over 6 million people. It is now one of the city’s most popular tourist attractions.
There is only a one in eleven million chance of being in a plane crash when flying domestically in the United States.
Twenty-three million passengers ride the train in India daily. Also, if you were to lay the tracks from India’s railway network out in a single line, you’d be able to circle the world one and a half times.
If you’re going to San Francisco, don’t feed the pigeons! It is illegal to feed pigeons in the city and can get you a fine anywhere from $45 to $300. The local government enforces the law to educate people about the diseases that these pigeons could spread such as spreading salmonella and meningitis.
Can’t find your luggage on the carousel? 56 pieces of luggage are lost across the globe every minute.
Saudi Arabia is one of 17 countries in the world that doesn’t have a single permanent river flowing through it.
While Saudi Arabia is one of the driest countries in the world, Canada is quite the opposite. The country has the most lakes in the world – over three million lakes in fact. That’s about 60% of the world’s total.
Hate the rush when you’re traveling back home for Thanksgiving? You’ll hate flying during Chinese New Year then – over 385 million people travel back to their hometowns to celebrate with their families during this time.
Elopement more your wedding party style? Over 300 people get married in Las Vegas each and every single day.
If you think anchovies or pineapples are a weird pizza topping, you’re not going to believe Sweden’s most popular choices: banana slices paired with curry powder.
If you’re planning a vacation to Switzerland, make sure you never use salt or pepper in your food. Even though you might find it available on your table, it’s considered the biggest insult to the chef to do so.
Recent studies show that your personality has a lot to do with your vacation destination of choice; introverts are more likely to choose a mountain vacation while extroverts prefer busier areas like the seaside.
There are over 6,500 languages spoken all over the world today, yet given the choice of which one to learn on the language app Duolingo, 320,000 people have chosen to learn Klingon, which is the fictional language spoken on Star Trek.
New York was originally called New Amsterdam; the name New York didn’t come about until the late 17th century as a tribute to the Duke of York who helped in capturing the land from the Dutch.
There are so many proven benefits of traveling to a person’s mental and physical wellbeing. For example, studies have shown that people feel less stressed within the first or second day of a vacation, that travel helps depression, and that consistently going on holiday can even lower the risk of heart disease. Traveling has also shown improvements in problem-solving skills and overall brain health.
In the early 19th century, Alaska was not a part of the USA but rather, Russia. Even after it was sold to the Americans and became a U.S. territory, it wasn’t till about a hundred years later that it became a state.
Entrance ticket prices to Disney World were only $3.50 on opening day. Today, it could range anywhere from $116 to $170 depending on the amenities added for a single day’s entry.
Russia is the biggest country in the world. In fact, it’s bigger than Pluto.
The Golden Gate Bridge is one of the most iconic landmarks in the west coast. You can truly appreciate its beauty from the Golden Gate Bridge Vista Point. It is so large that the bridge has a makeover scheduled throughout the year – it almost never stops getting painted!
Many people swear that a Bloody Mary on an airplane tastes much better than one on the ground – and you know what, they’re not wrong! When you’re in high altitudes, about ⅓ of your taste buds are numbed which enhances the flavors you’ll find in tomato juice. It’s the same reason why most food on the plane tastes so bland.
Finland has more islands than any other country on earth – almost 180,000 of them in fact.
Do your skin and throat feel drier than usual during a flight? That’s completely normal since the pressurized air in the cabin is kept below 20% humidity. That’s similar to the humidity found in the Sahara Desert.
The Trevi Fountain is an iconic landmark and popular tourist attraction in Rome. People come from far and wide to throw their coins in the fountain and make a wish. In fact, the fountain collects almost 3,000 Euros on a daily basis! The haul is collected each night and donated to local charities.
An average Boeing 747 has about 150 to 175 miles of wiring inside. It also holds almost 24,000 gallons of fuel – that’s enough to fill over 1,200 minivans!
Even though China spans over five time zones, the entire country operates only on Beijing time.