51 amazing travel facts

1. Lapland’s Finnish name is Lapin Li.

2. The Strait of Gibraltar connects the Atlantic Ocean with the Mediterranean Sea.

3. Greece is also called the Hellenic Republic.

4. Switzerland is Europe's most mountainous country.

5. Brazil is the largest country in South America.

6. Saigon is known today as Ho Chi Minh City.

7. Indonesia has about 13,000 islands.

8. The Biblical rivers of the Tigris and the Euphrates are in Iraq.

9. The popular holiday area between Marseille and La Spezia is known as The Riviera.

10. The Eiffel Tower is 984 feet tall.

11. GUM is the name of Moscow's largest department store.

12. Indonesia has more volcanoes than any other. It has 167 of the 850 active volcanoes known in the world.

13. The Leaning Tower of Pisa was built to be a bell tower.

14. The three largest cities in South America are Sao Paulo, Buenos Aires, and Rio de Janeiro.

15. Malaysia is the Asian nation that is home to the Petronas Towers, the tallest buildings in the world.

16. Istanbul in Turkey has spread to both sides of the Bosporus Straight and thus spans two continents.

17. Japanese tourists spend the most money per capita in foreign lands.

18. Chinese are the largest ethnic minority in Vietnam.

19. Paramount, a California town, was named after the major movie studio.

20. Chile is bordered by Peru, Bolivia, Brazil, and Argentina.

21. Africa is the continent that has the most countries represented in the U.N.

22. Kuwait is bordered by Saudi Arabia and Iraq.

23. The Mediterranean sea gets it's name from the Latin phrase meaning "sea in the middle of land".

24. Kenya is central to the books "Out of Africa" and "The Green Hills of Africa"

25. The abbreviation ORD for Chicago's O'Hare airport comes from the old name "Orchard Field."

26. KLM is the worlds' oldest airline established in 1919.

27. According to the Air Transportation Association of America, about 1.8 million passengers are up in the sky over the US on 24,600 flights on an average day. Hartsfield Atlanta International Airport, now the world's busiest, handled 80.2 million passengers in 2000.

28. Cholulu de Rivadahia in Mexico is the largest pyramid in the world (177 feet tall and covers 25 acres) .

29. The most densely populated country is The Netherlands followed by Belgium, then Japan

30. The country with the most number of islands is Finland.

31. The country that is the largest producer of cork is Portugal

32. Tennessee is bordered by eight states This is more than any other USA state KY, MI, AR, MS, AL, GE, NC, VA

33. Damascus (or Dimashq) has the reputation of being the oldest city in the world, perhaps being settled as long ago as 8,000 BC.

34. The Eiffel Tower was officially opened March 31, 1889. The date refers to the day the flag was hoisted to the top of the Tower.

35. The Eiffel Tower was indeed designed by Gustave Eiffel (1832-1923).

36. The Tower uses 7,500,000 kilowatts each year with over 500,000 for illuminations. It was built for the Universal Exhibition held in Paris in celebration of the French Revolution.

37. In 2000, 6,315,324 people visited La Tour Eiffel.

38. A KLM 747-400 flight from Amsterdam to Australia carries an average of just over 1,000 kilograms of food, and some 1,324 litres of drink - from mineral water to wine and whisky. Extra supplies are often taken onboard in Singapore, and for Business Class passengers alone there are close to a hundred bottles of champagne on board.

39. The Himalayas have 19 of the 25 highest mountains in the world.

40. The Hawaiian islands, situated more than 2,000 miles from the nearest major land mass, form the most isolated group of islands in the world.

41. If you moved the entire population of Manhattan to Alaska, each person would have 12 acress.

42. The longest river in the world is the Nile. Though not all of it is navigable, it flows for over 4,000 miles.

43. The world’s largest mall is the West Edmonton Mall in Edmonton, Canada. The mall has an indoor lake, with submarines, dolphin shows and even a casino.

44. The hammock was invented by the Maya Indians of Central America, who crafted this delightful form of relaxation from the back of the hamack tree.

45. The words "Do you have a reservation?" take on a whole new meaning at restaurant Kiliaen in Hasselt, Holland. This is the smallest restaurant in Holland; it is only open on Saturday nights and seats only two guests. They do not take reservations. Instead, wannabe diners drop by and leave their names for a draw held once a week. The lucky winners receive a free, five-course dinner for two, as well as a complimentary limousine ride to and from their home or hotel.

46. Juliet, the tragic lover from Shakespeare’s famous play, receives about 1,000 letters addressed to her every Valentine's Day, in Verona, where the story is set.

47. The shortest commercial airline flight in the world is said to be the
Westray-Papa run in Scotland's Orkney Islands on Loganair. It takes two
minutes, and there's no meal service.

48. The Grand Princess, the world's largest cruise ship, has 23,000 rolls of toilet paper aboard.

49. The shortest commercial flight in the United States covers a mere 20 miles,
from Appleton to Oshkosh

50. The travel and tourism industry is one of America's largest service exports with $93 billion spent by international visitors in the U.S. and $89 billion spent outside the U.S. by domestic travelers creates $4 billion in balance of trade surplus for the U.S.

51. Abu Dhabi Airport serices (ADAS) claims to hold a world record for the fastest full turn-around of a wide-body aircraft. The record was achieved when a British Airways flight, using a Boeing 777 arrived from London and needed to depart on time. ADAS staff supervised passenger disembarkation, baggage offloading, aircraft cleaning, loading cargo, mail, loading of baggage and supplies, and outbound passengers in just under 40 minutes - compared to a normal minimum time of 60 minutes.