We are rather knowledgeable about travel, aren’t we? False. It turns out that we don’t know anything about this world when we look beneath the surface. For instance, do you know how long the shortest commercial flight in the world lasts? (Hint: less time than boiling an egg.) What about the nation with no rivers? Or what unusual pizza garnish is most common in Sweden?
Now that international travel is off the table, why not take advantage of this opportunity to learn some surprising travel trivia? It will give you a few valuable minutes of sweet relief from the never-ending news cycle and provide some amusing facts to fill awkward pauses during video calls with friends and family. Nothing, we promise, fills a void like knowing how many steps you are from the closest trash can in Disneyland at all times.
The railway system in India is quite extensive. Getty Images’ travel and still life pictures
Cars, trains, and airplanes…
1. The longest commercial flight in history lasted almost thirty hours.
Qantas’ so-called “Double Sunrise” service, which operated from Australia to Sri Lanka between 1943 and 1945, frequently lasted more than 30 hours and allowed passengers to witness the sunrise twice. With an average travel time of 17 hours and 50 minutes, Singapore Airlines’ Singapore to New York route is now the longest commercial flight.
2.It takes less than two minutes to complete the shortest commercial flight.
Surprisingly, the shortest commercial flight takes only one and a half minutes to travel between the nearby islands of Westray and Papa Westray in Scotland’s Orkney Islands. Less than 50 seconds was the fastest flight ever recorded.
3. For delays longer than five minutes, Japanese railroads issue “certificate.”
If a train is more than five minutes late, passengers are given a “delay certificate” by Japanese trains, which are said to be the most punctual in the world. To justify a passenger’s tardiness, the documentation can be presented to supervisors or educators. Certain trains in Paris and Germany also give delay certificates.
4.The most costly taxi ride from the airport to the city is about £190.
Anyone who is on a tight budget tries to avoid airport cabs at all costs, but anyone who is watching their money should definitely avoid taking a cab from Tokyo’s Narita Airport. A survey conducted by foreign exchange company Moneycorp found that the travel costs an average of £191/$235 one way, making it the most costly airport-to-city transit in the world.
5. INDIA’S TRAINS TRANSPORT ROUGHLY 23 MILLION PASSENGERS EACH DAY.
That is all of Australia’s people. Furthermore, the tracks from India’s railway network could make a full circumnavigation of the globe if they were arranged in a single line.
6. There are no rivers in Saudi Arabia.
There are no permanent rivers in the Arabian Peninsula nation. It is among the 17 nations in the world where not a single river flows.
7.2013 is the current year in Ethiopia.
Due to a discrepancy in the date of the Annunciation—the announcement of Christ’s birth—Ethiopia’s calendar lags seven to eight years behind the Gregorian calendar, which is the norm for the majority of the globe. August 29 or August 30 is also the start of the new year in Ethiopia.
8. At both ends of China, the time is the same.
China has a single set time that is observed all over the country, even though it is spread over five different geographical time zones. UTC+8 is China Standard Time.
9.The longest country name in the world is that of the United Kingdom.
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the longest-known country name in the world.
10.In the United States, Alaska is both the western and easternmost states.
The only US state that is partially in the eastern hemisphere is Alaska, whose Aleutian Islands are really west of the 180th Meridian, which separates the eastern and western hemisphere
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