Some facts about the world just boggle the mind. Here are a few:
Did you know Russia has 11 time zones? And I went through each one of them when I took the Trans Siberian Railway back in 2014. At one end of Russia, it could be breakfast at 7am, but on the other end, dinner time at 6pm. Adding to the confusion, the Trans Siberian stays on Moscow time for the entire trip!!
It is possible, though seems hardly plausible, that you can walk form the U.S. to Russia. But if you walk, at certain times of the year, low tide obviously, between Big (Russian) and Little (U.S.) Diomede. They are about two miles apart. Both lie in the Bering Straits.
The Marianas Trench in the western part of the Pacific Ocean is quite large. How large? Large enough to fit Mount Everest inside! The Trench stretches for 1580 miles. Its depth, difficult to measure, runs anywhere between 34,911 feet to 35,463 feet.
Australia is wider than the moon. BTW, did you know how long it takes the moon to circle the earth? Exactly 27 days, 13 hours, 18 minutes, 37.4 seconds. The moon has its own time zone, called lunations, the period it takes for the moon to rotate and revolve around earth, or exactly 29.530589 Earth days.
The Dead Sea is sinking about one meter a year. Its depth is now 429 meters below sea level. It contains 33.7% salinity, or 8.6 times the salinity of the oceans. You can float on top of the Dead Sea with little effort. Its main tributary is the Jordan River.
California has more people (39.14 million) than all of Canada (35.85 million)!
Do you have any tanzanite jewelry? If so, hold on to it, since the world’s supply of tanzanite will run out in twenty to thirty years. It is found only in Northern Tanzania. I did not see any while I was there.
Air travel has been known to dull your taste by at least thirty percent.
Jet lag always feels worse traveling from west to east. Traveling east to west makes the days longer, easing the internal clock in our brain to adapt.
Experts say there is a better way to remember your vacation, Include some novelty or dramatic change of scenery somewhere in the middle of the trip.
How do you spend your money while on vacation? Psychologists say it is better (more happiness) to spend the money on experiences rather than objects. My solution? Do both!
The happiest language is Spanish, followed by Portuguese, English, Indonesian, and French. It is based on the amount of positive words in each language.
I never knew that frequent flying leads to weight gain. The most at risk group are business travelers who travel more than 21 days per month.
They say if you visit a place ten times with ten different people, it will be a completely different experience each time.
If you love apps, there is a free app that scans paintings in museums, and tells you their stories. I may do that next time!
Mishaps on the road makes you more resilient. I say it raises your stress level at the time, but provides a lasting, albeit not always happy memory.
Name your poison! Would you choose a 5 star hotel, and dine on the cheap? Or dine in a Michelin restaurant, and stay in a hostel or seedy hotel? Depends on the place, of course.
When visiting third world countries, I tend to donate my clothes and shoes to the needy. And come home with something new and different, maybe form our tailor in Bangkok, or just some useless T shirts form the hawkers in front of our hotels.
Whenever and wherever you go, I say, just go! Foreign or domestic, road trip or plane, cruise ship or train, it does not matter.
golfkat Travel Blog 
I’m pretty sure I’ve read quite a few people have died attempting a the walk to Russia. Do you know of anyone who has done it?
No, but “Cycling Across Siberia” is a fairly interesting book about travel across Russia.