Travel Facts Generator

• [Travel fact 1] Spite Houses are impractical and often uninhabited buildings that people construct for the sole purpose of irritating their neighbors. For Example, in 1882, a house, 5 feet wide, 4 stories high and 104 feet in length was erected on Lexington Ave, New York City to “spite” the neighbor, and block his views.

  Travel, Worldsource

• [Travel fact 2] Queen Elizabeth II does not hold a passport. Since all British passports are issued in the queen’s name, she herself doesn’t need one. She just has to say that she is the queen.

  Monarch, Travelsource

• [Travel fact 3] The Amazon river was named by Spanish conquistador Francisco de Orellana. After skirmishes with a native tribe whose women fought alongside the men, Orellana derived the name from the Amazons described in Greek myth.

  People, Travelsource

• [Travel fact 4] The Arba'een Pilgrimage is the world's largest public gathering. Held every year in Iraq, it is twice the size of the more well-known Hajj pilgrimage to Mecca.

  Architecture, Travel

• [Travel fact 5] The word "siderodromophobia" is the fear of trains, railroads, or traveling on trains. "Sidero" is Greek for "iron" or "things made of iron," and "dromo" is Greek for "race course."

  Architecture, Travel

• [Travel fact 6] Cruise ships are required to carry body bags and maintain a small morgue in the event of a death onboard.

  Transport, Travelsource

• [Travel fact 7] The world's first commercial airline flight occurred on 1 January 1914 when the former mayor of St. Petersburg, Florida, flew 21 miles (34 kilometers) to Tampa, Florida. The flight took 23 minutes. Ordinarily, the trip would have taken 2 hours by steamship or 4 hours or more by rail.

  Transport, Travelsource

• [Travel fact 8] Marco Polo makes no mention of the Great Wall in any of his writings on China, which some people believe proves he never visited the country. This type of conclusion is called "argument from silence" and is a common logical fallacy.

  Architecture, People, Travelsource

• [Travel fact 9] Columbus never reached any land that now forms part of the mainland United States of America; most of the landings Columbus made on his four voyages, including the initial October 12, 1492 landing (the anniversary of which forms the basis of Columbus Day), were on Caribbean islands which today are independent countries. Columbus was also not the first European to visit the Americas: at least one explorer, Leif Ericson, preceded him by reaching what is believed to be the island now known as Newfoundland, part of modern Canada, though he never made it to the mainland.

  Places, Travelsource

• [Travel fact 10] A woman named Sarah Marquis walked 10,000 miles by herself through Asia and Australia. She only carried underwear, a pocketknife, antibiotics, tea-tree oil, a solar-powered charger, a beacon, a BlackBerry, a satellite phone, Crocs, a compass, an emergency stash of amphetamines, and pink pajamas with her.

  People, Travelsource

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