Mental Floss

TRAVEL

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From reality TV shows to The Beach Boys’ croons of Aruba and Jamaica, references to honeymoons are everywhere. But where did the term "honeymoon" first come from?

DeAnna Kerley








Paul Mannix, Flickr // CC BY 2.0

Last month, we took a look at some of the most beautiful museums in Europe. Now it’s time to hop across the pond and explore some of the loveliest museums in North America.

Jill Harness
Library of Congress

Around the World in 80 Days, a fictional account of one man's trip around the globe, wasn’t sci-fi by any means, since those means of traveling—steam ships, omnibuses, and railroads—did exist at the time. But it took one daring woman to make the made-up j

Roma Panganiban
iStock

We previously looked at beautiful libraries from across the globe, but if you’re looking to expand your travels to educational locales with beautiful architecture, you may also consider traveling to these lovely museums, starting with those in Europe.

Jill Harness


Airstream

In the late 1920s, Airstream’s founder Wallace (Wally) Merle Byam created a travel trailer in his backyard to satisfy his wife’s refusal to camp without her kitchen and her dislike of sleeping on the ground.

Tara Cox


BFI

In 1926, British-born filmmaker Claude Friese-Greene filmed the streets of London in breathtaking color. But only recently has the British Film Institute released an extract of their restoration of Friese-Greene's footage.

Bryan Dugan


Getty Images

Musical power couple Beyoncé and Jay-Z jetted down to a tropical and somewhat-forbidden destination last week for their fifth wedding anniversary: Cuba. Because of travel restrictions to the country, the couple’s trip raised the eyebrows of some U.S. lawm

Karina Martinez Carter


Ben Nilsson/Big Ben Productions

Lapland’s storied IceHotel, the world’s largest and longest-running luxury hotel made entirely of frozen water, is a little more involved than those bootleg igloos you constructed as a kid!

Jessanne Collins

While museums dedicated to Spam and barbed wire are strange in their specificity, some museums are just plain bizarre in their subject matter. Here are some of the weirdest museums ever curated. 1. Leila’s Hair

Jill Harness
iStock

If you ever find yourself in a Brewster’s Millions situation and have to burn through a fortune in a hurry, then all you need are this article, a few plane tickets and an empty stomach. (It never hurts to plan for the unexpected.)

Jill Harness


If you're planning a trip to Antarctica, here are some things you should know. 1. Nobody owns Antarctica. Although a few nations, including Australia, Argentina, and the United Kingdom, have tried to lay claim to it over the years, it remains free of gov

Bill DeMain


iStock/ilbusca

For most of its journey from Minnesota to the Gulf of Mexico, the Mississippi River takes a pretty direct path. Sure, it zigs east here and zags west there, but nothing too crazy. Around Kentucky, though, the river’s course gets a little convoluted.

Matt Soniak




Penny Britt/iStock via Getty Images

In the decades since the Adopt-a-Highway program was launched in 1985, it has helped keep America’s highways clean, saved taxpayers money, sparked a handful of free-speech battles, and even been featured on an episode of 'Seinfeld.' Here’s a brief history

Scott Allen
Crossing of the English Channel by Blanchard and Jeffries, 1785 (1890s). Artist: Anon

The English Channel (La Manche) is the part of the Atlantic Ocean that separates Britain from France. The actual channel is the length of the entire southern coast of England, and contains many inhabited islands. When people attempt new ways of crossing t

Miss Cellania