Travel Trivia!
Plus some fun links and recommendations
Hello and happy Friday!
Today we’re doing something different. We have guest trivia from
!My brother Rick runs a trivia newsletter hosted by a hilarious cast of animal characters. Subscribers get 10 questions every Thursday and those who upgrade to paid get five questions every other day of the week. Topics cover a wide range, from Valentine’s Day trivia to Barbie’s birthday, the “IDES” of March and this surprisingly hard one about state birds. If you at all like trivia, I promise you will love it! I’ve found it’s the perfect thing to pull up over drinks with friends.
Today we have a taste of
with five travel questions. Answers are at the end of the newsletter. Good luck!1 - In the classical antiquity period, wealthy Romans would travel to their summer homes in this city. In 79 CE it became a much different place. What is this ancient city that now welcomes more than 2.5 million visitors each year?
2 - Euromonitor and Mastercard both rank cities by the number of international visitors. What capital city in Southeast Asia is ranked 1st by Mastercard and 2nd by Euromonitor?
3 - This luxury train began operation in 1883 and most famously ran from Paris to Constantinople. It is used as a method of transit in Dracula and From Russia, with Love, as well as in another novel featuring the name of the train. What is this train?
4 - Unfortunately, Christopher Columbus did not have access to this newsletter when he landed on Guanahaní. He would have benefitted from some advice on how to be a better traveler. In what present-day country would you find Guanahaní?
5 - Phileas Fogg and Captain Nemo are both fictional adventure travelers created by what author?
Last week, paid subscribers got a guide to Los Cabos and next week they’re getting a guide to Jackson Hole for non-skiers.
Weekend Reading
Archaeologists discovered an ancient tavern in Iraq
National parks made my immigrant family American
A Midwesterner on the secret to loving winter
The arak revival is here, Atlanta
The best ski town you’ve never heard of is in Greece
A win for Wisconsin cheesemakers (Also last weekend I got to sing the praises of Wisconsin cheese in Louisiana)
Explaining Hollywood: how to get a job as a food stylist
👀⤵️
Is traveling to Antarctica environmentally defensible?
Related: Hawaii may soon pass a “green fee” for visitors
Digital nomads now come first for Mexico City’s gig workers (Some stand out quotes: "Almost none of these foreigners eat spicy food, we have to adapt for them.” “Very few of these newcomers are interested in learning Spanish.”)
I think the world has kind of forgotten about this crisis
Trivia Answers
1 - The eruption of Mt. Vesuvius drastically changed the reason people travel to Pompeii.
2 - Taking in over 20 million international visitors each year, Bangkok is possibly the most internationally visited city in the world.
3 - Known for providing trans-continental European travel and for a fictional mystery, this train is the Orient Express.
4 - Guanahaní was the Taíno name for an island in what is now the Bahamas.
5 - Phileas Fogg (Around the World in Eighty Days) and Captain Nemo (Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Seas) were both created by Jules Verne
How did you do? If you’re heading to any gatherings this weekend, quiz your friends and spread the word about
.Random Recommendations
Watch: Somehow, I had never seen “That Thing You Do” until last weekend.
Listen: I don’t have TikTok so haven’t seen the viral videos, but I still like “From Gaza, with love.” Pair with this NYT profile.
Cook: Made this classic last week and it was as comforting and delicious as ever.
Next time: are recreations worth it? And for paid subscribers, a ski season guide to Jackson hole for those who don’t ski.
If you liked the newsletter today, please pass it to someone you think would enjoy it. Have a great weekend and happy St. Patrick’s Day!
–Rebecca 💛
That Mozambique story! (a friend of a friend was there) I love Alex Perry's writing.