Everyone knows that Tokyo is the world’s most populated city, and that the planet’s longest river is the Nile. But how about the less known facts that make travel really interesting, the stuff that make you to want to pack your bags immediately and relocate to Outer Mongolia?
Well, dear reader, look no further than these 36 travel facts.
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1. Hurrah for science! Yep, research has proved that going on holiday can lower your risk of heart disease.
2. Vilakasi Street in Soweto, Johannesburg is the only street in the world to have been home to two winners of the Nobel Peace Prize: Nelson Mandella and Archbishop Desmond Tutu.
#madiba #house #vilakasistreet #legacy A photo posted by Doraa Charliz (@doraa_charliz) on
3. Before the statue of Lord Nelson was placed on top of the 5m tall column in Trafalgar Square, London, 14 stone masons had dinner at the top.
#TrafalgarSquare #London Statues of George IV and Admiral Nelson #NelsonsColumn #Equestrian #EquestrianStatue #CanonSX50 A photo posted by @crohnoid on
4. The Rufus Roo Travel Jacket can hold your clothes, books, handbag, shoes, laptop, iPad, two bottles of wine, your passport, boarding card, phone and keys — all at the same time. (Check out 25 more awesome and unusual travel gifts.)
5. The entire country of Monaco is smaller than Central Park in New York City.
#nature #truebeauty #birds #monaco A photo posted by Sofia Mpasanioti (@sofiamp__) on
6. France is the most visited country in the world with 81.4 million visitors each year.
Thx #lecmn for this private visit in #igfarcdetriomphe #lecmnarcdetriomphe A photo posted by Gérard Trang (@superchinois801) on
7. All the money that is tossed into Rome’s Trevi Fountain is collected each night and donated to charity.
We visited Rome in the scorching summer months and visited the majestic Trevi Fountain. I remember the strong impulse to dive into that gorgeous cool water but I managed to resist and bought myself a massive #gelato instead #trevifountain #rome #italy #summer A photo posted by @jessipop24 on
8. The clever technology behind Smart Value shows you the flight that best balances price and journey time along any route in less than a minute. That’s the equivalent of 20 travel agents searching for 30 minutes, then comparing flight times and costs to produce the same result.
9. Each year, South Africa moves approximately 5.08cm away from South America as a result of plate tectonic.
The worldmap of 1925 #vintage #worldmap #world #kodak #stanford #globe #camera #brownie #wanderlust #vsco #vscogram #vscool #vscogrid #vscocam #vscobest #vscocool #bestofvsco #bestofinstagram #picoftheday #instamood #instagood #instabest #iphone #iphoneonly A photo posted by Jasmijn Hormann (@jasmijnhormann) on
10. There are 61,000 people in the air over the US at any given time on any given day.
Hard to beat the view from a #windowseat at #sunset #delta #airplanemode #30000feet A photo posted by Kevin Peterson (@kevbotuptop) on
11. The Chobi Cam One HD is the smallest digital camera in the world and has just one button that drives all its functionality — and yep, the quality holds up.
12. Despite hosting the world’s biggest population of skyscrapers, approximately three quarters of Hong Kong is rural.
Camping <3 #LongKe A photo posted by Percy Wong (@percywck) on
13. At 13,803km, the longest non-stop commercial flight is Dallas, Fort Worth to Sydney and takes just under 17 hours to complete.
19 hours later and I’m home #sydney #upintheair #dallastosydney #home #bestcity #aerialview A photo posted by kimmyrashleigh (@k1mmies) on
14. Beer in Thailand is served with ice cubs otherwise it would go warm within minutes of having been poured.
Dinner with beer #beer#orangejuice#thailandbeer#dinner#glass#bottles#instadaily A photo posted by NICOLE (@nicolerobino) on
15. South Africa has the world’s most officially recognised languages… All 11 of them.
That’s Zulu, kids. #zulu #zululanguage #southafrica #sodwana #sodwanabay A photo posted by Jacqueline M. (@jemchicago) on
16. One in three Aucklanders own a boat.
#auckland #newzealand #cityofsails #westhavenmarina #skytower #skyline #eyeonauckland #loves_new_zealand #kiwipics A photo posted by Kerry Kissane Photography (@kerrykissane) on
17. The colloquial nickname for the Parisian police is ‘the chickens’.
From Robo Cop to Rollo Cop. #parispolice. Better not rob le banque! A photo posted by Peter Castro (@pcastroeditor) on
18. Believe it or not, Dallas Fort-Worth International Airport is bigger than Manhattan.
19. Canada has the most lakes in the world, over 3 million of them!
20. Approximately 900 bird species are found in South Africa alone, which represents 10 per cent of the world’s total bird species.
21. Over 800 million currywurst are eaten in Germany each year.
Bestes Mittagessen – Currywurst mit Rosmarin-Kartoffeln #lunch #bistro #kleine #leckerei #Leipzig #amazing #best #currywurst #potatoes #rosemary #delicious #perfect #meal #food #foodpic #foodporn #goodlife #tasty #latergram #vscogood #vscocam A photo posted by @eiskater on
22. Las Vegas has the most hotel rooms of any city in the world (over 150,000)
Vegassss! #lasvegas #vegas #nevada #vegassign #palmtrees #blueskies A photo posted by Harri Le Seelleur French (@harrileseelleurfrench) on
23. Hartsfield–Jackson Atlanta International Airport is the world’s busiest airport with an average of 95 million passengers a year.
#airport overview. #atlanta #hartsfieldjacksonairport #ATL #planes #avgeek #aviation #airplanes #delta #boeing #717 #flying A photo posted by Trent Pickle (@wanderingp1ckle) on
24. Mumbai has a toilet deficit of 64,157 seats, meaning a significant percentage of the city’s population find themselves in sticky situations at the most inopportune moments.
Ledis & Gends #MumbaiToilets A photo posted by Ryan Ballard Photography (@ryanrballard) on
25. Although the capital of Thailand is popularly known as Bangkok, the city’s Thai name is actually the longest city name in the world: Krungthepmahanakhon Amonrattanakosin Mahinthara Yutthaya Mahadilok Phop Noppharat Ratchathani Burirom Udom Ratchaniwet Mahasathan Amonphiman Awatansathit Sakkathattiya Witsanukamprasit, and means City of angels, great city of immortals, magnificent city of the nine gems, seat of the king, city of royal palaces, home of gods incarnate, erected by Visvakarman at Indra’s behest.
#bangkok #BKK #kingspalace #wat #watphrakeo #krungthepmahanakhon #cityofangels #warrior #travel A photo posted by Leonie Dragun (@leoniedragun) on
26. South African grasslands have approximately 30 species per square kilometre, greater than the biodiversity of rainforests.
Pilanesberg #pilanesberg #nature #naturelovers #flowers #mountains #bushveld #beautiful #beauty #natural A photo posted by Karla Dussing (@karlavettie) on
27. Among the many things Londoners have left on the Tube are a stuffed puffer fish, a samurai sword, a human skull, a coffin and a didgeridoo tuned to E♭.
#london #londontransport #londonunderground #londontube #shepherdsbush #centralline #lu #tfl #subway #transport #station #train #centrallondon #shepherdsbushunderground #woodgreenstudios A photo posted by Wood Green Studios (@woodgreenstudios) on
28. Port Elizabeth and the surrounding area has more indigenous plants than the entire United Kingdom.
#Rheta’s Path at #Schoenmakerskop #seaside #village near #PortElizabeth #southafrica #geocaching led us to this amazing path. highly recommended walk cum hike on the outskirts of #nelsonmandelabay #BelvedereCottages #DoncasterCottages A photo posted by FriendlyCityPE (@portelizabethsouthafrica) on
29. The record for the biggest ever game of pass-the-parcel was set in Singapore and involved 3,918 participants removing 2,200 layers of wrapping paper.
#passtheparcel all set with #disney #princess paper, just for the false sense of security. A photo posted by Ed Breeds (@edbreeds) on
30. 20 per cent of the world’s cranes can be found in Dubai.
#dubaicranes #cranes #consteuction #dxb #mycity #alhabtoorcity #stregis #westin #whotel #dubai #uae A photo posted by Al Habtoor City (@alhabtoorcity) on
31. Despite being cast adrift in the Andaman Sea, two bridges connect the island of Phuket to mainland Thailand.
#SarasinBridge #phuket #thailand A photo posted by Dutsaya Potchanachinda (@fewdutsaya) on
32. There are more dogs in Paris than Parisians.
feeling super fancy in Louvre #parismonamour #paris #museedulouvre #louvre #fancy #fancydog #parisdog #frenchdog #instadog #dogsofinstagram #dogstagram #dogoftheday #britt #brittanyspaniel #spaniel #petstagram #instadoglovers #welovedogs #doglove #dogstagram #instagood #instadaily #instalike #picoftheday #photooftheday #moments #igerspoland #animals #animallover #brittanyspanielsofinsta A photo posted by Rona The Britt (@ronciasek) on
33. Mauritius was once home to the famous flightless bird, the now-extinct dodo.
Love the dodo! #dodobird #mauritius #dodomuseum #portlouis #ilovedodo #funtimes #dodokiss #thetourist A photo posted by Shirl (@helloshirl) on
34. Namibia is the second least populated country on earth.
#namibia #deadvlei #namibiadesert #travel #yourney #world_shotz #worldwide_shot #wonderful_places #nature #earth #earthpix #earthinstragram #earths_locations #special_shots #splendid_earth #splendid_horizon #photooftheday #pixoftheday #pictureoftheday #cool_capture #cool_capture_ A photo posted by Juan Caraza (@carazajuan) on
35. Johannesburg is the world’s biggest man-made forest, with over 10 million trees.
The secret garden. #kensington #johannesburg #jozi #joburg #jhb #manmadeforest #green #greencity #trees #urbanjungle #forest #bezvalley #bezuidenhoutpark #eastrand #summer #southafrica #garden #koppie #ridge A photo posted by @queenandcorgi on
36. South Africa has the highest commercial bungy jump in the world – Bloukrans Bungy at 216m.
3 2 1 BUNGY!!! #216m #southafrica #bloukransbungy #Tsitsikamma A video posted by Oscar Hawson (@oscar_1499) on
Featured image by Paul Gallo
