Fun fact Friday!

This weeks fun world fact is:

The world is flat!

Only kidding, we already know this not to be true.

I am really passionate about language, both written and spoken. I love the different sounds of each word, the way the accents make me feel. Some places write from left to right, some from right to left, others right top to bottom. I like to look at the different letters - from weird upside down and backward letters in Greek to pictures in hieroglyphics - there is so much variety in the world and the way we all communicate with each other.

Hieroglyphics in an egyptian tomb

Wherever I go in the world, I always make an effort to learn at least a few words - it goes a long way to making friends with the locals. Sometimes language can be a real barrier, but I always find some way or another to communicate. Whether it be pointing, signing or even using pictures, there is always a way to get your point across and sometimes the results are hilarious if it doesn't go quite right!

Don't look at the monkeys in the eye
Kyoto, Japan

When my Grandad first moved to the South of France, he saw what he thought was potato pie on a menu. He hadn't had it in years so he ordered it straight away. When he asked for salt, the waiter shot him a strange look but gave it to him anyway. After smothering the pie in salt and taking his first bite, he realised his mistake - pomme means apple and pommes de terre means potato! He had to sit there and eat salty apple pie and pretend that he enjoyed every bite!

Bamboo forest - Kyoto, Japan

So, today's fun fact is:

There are approximately 6800 recognised languages in the world. I say recognised because there could be many, many more spoken in areas which have not been explored yet.

There are over 100,000 alphabets!

In Papua New Guinea, there are different languages between different families - 832 in total! There are only 230 languages spoken in the whole of Europe!

About a quarter of the worlds languages are spoken by less than 1000 people and as those people grow older and die out, gradually, so does the language.

Pavement artist - Chinese Calligraphy
Beijing

Sources: 


Linguistic Society of America
Wiki Answers

Welcome Wednesday

I just wanted to say a big 'Welcome!' to my new followers! Thank you for travelling the world in my back pocket, it's great to have you along for the ride. I'd love to hear from you!

I'll be doing another 'One Man's Backyard' before February is out so please feel free to contact me and tell me all about where you live - if you were a tourist in your own town, what would you go and see?

If I don't hear from you, I will share more about my hometown.

For now, I'll leave you with a photo:

Fishing boats on a low tide - Whitby, England

This is Whitby, a seaside town in East Yorkshire and one of my favourite places in England. I try to go here at least once a year (if for no other reason than the little shop which sells home made fudge in every flavour you could imagine). I'll share more photos and a story soon.

Fun Fact Friday

I am fascinated by interesting world facts... I set myself funny little challenges from time like learning the names of every country in the world or the population of every country in the world, or all the capital cities of the world. I'm not sure if I'm OCD or boring - either way, I really enjoy it. And it's good exercise for my photographic memory.

So, I have set myself a new challenge: to learn a new world fact every Friday and share it here - Fun Fact Friday! (I'm thinking a jingle in my head, it goes like this: Fun Fact Friday-der-der-der-der-der Fun Fact Friday!)

And here is today's fun fact:

The tallest building in America is the Willis Tower in Chicago. It has 108 floors and is 442 metres high. It has been used in lots of films, usually with someone falling or jumping off the top of it: Batman the Dark Knight and the new transformers film.

The Willis Tower, Chicago, USA

It was the tallest building in the world until 1998 when it was overtaken by the Petronas Twin Towers in Kuala Lumpur (both 452 metres tall).

Petronas Towers, Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

The tallest building in the world, as at 2010, at almost twice the height of Willis Tower is Burj Khalifa in Dubai (828 metres, 163 floors).

Burj Khalifa, Dubai

Images courtesy of Wikipedia.

The science of travel

In plane view - View out of the window on the way to Iceland

The cost of flying is constantly on the 'up' and the cost of fuel is the biggest factor.

Airlines have tried everything to reduce the costs; from thinner carpets to lighter drinks trolleys and yet we still end up paying more for our flights.

In a bid to lower fuel consumption and reduce carbon emissions, Easyjet will be trialling a revolutionary technology on some of their planes. It's called 'nano-technology coating' aka a new paint job.

The idea is, that this coating is smoother than normal paint used on aircraft so it will cause less 'drag' while the plane is flying through the air. The shiny surface helps to prevent build up of debris on the outside of the plane making it more streamlined. It is also a lot lighter - it only adds 4oz to the overall weight of the plane compared to 80kg for standard paint.

The technology has been developed by a UK based firm and has been used on US military aircraft for years but this will be the first commercial airline to test it on passenger jets.

Here's the science bit:

Before applying the coating, the plane is given a polarising wash to open the pores of the surface to be treated and electrically charges it with positive polarity (sounds like the kind of facial I need right now!) which allows the new coating to bond with the existing paint.

Can it really save money?

In 2010 Easyjet spent £730m on fuel. It's estimated that by applying this coating to all of their fleet of 200 planes, they could save 2% on their fuel bill - that's £14m!!! And Easyjet have promised to pass that saving onto their customers!

Aren't these scientists clever?

Soupy noodles

Sometimes, the food on holiday can make or break your trip.

Mostly, I look forward to trying out new cuisine. I'm not a fussy eater and will try almost anything once... but I do have my limits!

Star fish on a stick - In the Hutong, Beijing

When I went to China a few years ago, I was really looking forward to some authentic Chinese food. It wasn't for me. Everything seemed flavourless compared to the English interpretation of Chinese cooking. Meat dishes were not made from succulent pieces of meat as they are back home, but tiny bits of crumbled bone with the odd bit of gristle thrown in for good measure. Tofu was tasteless. The rice wasn't much better. There were no vegetables. There were scorpians, and starfish and sea horses on sticks. I couldn't handle the chopsticks and was flicking food all over the place. In the end, there were McDonalds and Pizza Hut!

Sea horse on a stick - In the Hutong, Beijing

I have to say though, even through all the bad food, we did manage to find something we liked - crispy duck! And you could pick it up with your fingers! We found a world famous crispy duck restaurant (Da Dong Duck Restaurant, Beijing) where they regulalry serve the stars, including past US presidents, singers and actors alike. The food was the best we ate in three weeks!

Outside Da Dong, Beijing

When I went to Japan, I spent months dreading the food. I had visions of a combination of Chinese food and raw fish flapping around on my plate gasping for air! I was releived to find though that the food was not at all what I expected! I discovered Soupy Noodles (ramen) and fell forever in love!

Soupy noodes with pork - Osaka, Japan

There were all different variations on this dish and I enjoyed every one of them! Fat ones, thin ones, wet ones, dry ones, brown ones and white ones.

Hoto noodle soup - A traditional dish in Mt Fuji, Japan

You could eat them with chicken, with pork, with tofu, with vegetables, with rice - the options were endless, and all delicious.

Spicy noodles with sticky rice and honey chicken - Nikko, Japan

I even figured out how to use chopsticks!

Planning the dream trip

The minute I set foot back on English soil, I want to start planning my next trip. After a few days of mooching around the house and wishing I was still on holiday, I finally snap out of it and get to work thinking about where to go next.

I keep all my copies of Lonely Planet magazine and as I'm reading them, I stick little tabs on all of the places that interest me. This is always my first stop. I spend hours leafing through the pages at all the things that caught my eye when i first read them. Once I've narrowed  it down to just a few potential destinations, I do some research around each place to see which one will win. I also check the local tourist advisory boards and make sure there is no political unrest or other dangers which might put me off going.

First, I have a look at the cost of flights, accommodation, food, transport, visas etc. If the overall cost is too high then I will park that country until I win the lottery. This usually helps me decide pretty quickly where I will be going.

Valentines Parade - Venice

Then I have to decide on when I will be going. I always buy the Lonely Planet guide book as I find them really easy to navigate and have most of the information I want.

4 days of rain - Tokyo, Japan

At this stage, I'm looking at the weather and any events which will either make the trip unmissable or far too expensive (carnivals, religious events, treats of nature like the Cherry Blossom in Japan or volcanoes erupting).

Volcano - The Big Island, Hawaii

Once I know when, I need to work out how. I trawl the internet (websites like Kayak, Sky Scanner, Expedia, Air Ninja etc), travel agents, teletext and even the newspaper looking for flights. If I find a good deal but haven't heard of the airline or the agent then I will also look at reviews on the internet. I have been caught out with a dodgy airline before and ended up missing a whole day of my honeymoon!

At the same time as booking the flights, I also book my transport from the airport - whether it be hire car, train or bus, I like to make sure I know I won't be stuck there! There is nothing worse than turning up at an airport in the middle of the night, tired, grumpy and hungry and without a clue where the nearest taxi rank is!

Now, the next bit varies from trip to trip. Sometimes I like to book just the first few nights accommodation giving myself the freedom to move from place to place - stay a bit longer if I love it or move on if I hate it. Otherwise, I book everything up front to save me the time and worry of trying to find decent, affordable accommodation when I should be off exploring.

When looking for accommodation, I always check out LP's 'our pick' first and if they aren't available or aren't what I'm looking for then I will also search websites like booking.com, hotelbookers.com, expedia, lastminute, kayak etc. I check reviews on trip advisor and also check where they are on a map (I don't want to have to travel miles each day to get to the main sites).

When everything is booked, I have a good read of the guide book and look at photos on Flickr and the Lonely Planet website. I make a list of all the places I really want to see and if there are any particularly photogenic places I want to see then I will plan them for the best times of day - when the light is at its prettiest and when there are less tourists around.

By the time I'm finished, I usually have a full itinerary all printed up and put in a neat folder (including flight, accommodation and transport details, a copy of my passport and visa, copy of my travel insurance, and anything else necessary for that trip), ready to stick in my bag when I travel and to carry with us throughout the trip.

The only thing left to do now is pack!