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From Sahara Sand to Cruise Deck: The Travel Wives Talk Trivia & 20,000 Ice Cream Cones!

We just wrapped up the most action-packed, fact-stuffed Travel Wives Live Stream: Travel Trivia yet, and wow, did we learn some things! We tested our geography smarts, navigated the aviation world, and dove deep into the wild and wonderful world of cruise ships.

For those of you who missed out on the live fun (or just want to bask in the glow of our epic knowledge!), here are the best moments, mind-blowing facts, and most essential travel reminders from the stream. 

🌍 Geography & World Facts: More Than Just Postcards

Did You Know: The Sahara is the world's largest hot desert, covering most of North Africa. But here's the kicker: the biggest desert overall is... Antarctica! (Cold deserts count, people!)

  • Hot Fact: Only about 25% of the Sahara is actual sand dunes. The rest is rocky plateau and gravel plains.

  • Travel Reminder: If a camel trek is on your bucket list, pack LAYERS! While the days are scorching, temperatures can drop dramatically (sometimes near freezing!) at night due to the lack of humidity.

We then swooned over the City of Love and plunged into the massive Pacific Ocean, which is so big it holds more than half of the free water on Earth and houses the deepest point on our planet, the Mariana Trench.

Finally, we wrapped up with the iconic Sydney Opera House in Australia, and Kahla had to ask: "Did anyone actually guess the Eiffel Tower in Sydney? Hopefully not!" (Shh, we won't tell!)

✈️ Aviation: Up, Up, and Away (Most of the Time!)

Flights are a necessary evil for us wanderlusters, and we got into some stressful facts about delays!

  • The Delay Anxiety: Did you know that somewhere around 20%-25% of flights are delayed by 15 minutes or more per day? It's the cascading effect, people or one late plane can affect several later flights in a hub airport!

    • Travel Tip: Seriously, always build in extra connection time for tight schedules!

  • A Busy Sky: Approximately 100,000 airplanes depart and land globally per day! That's a constant, busy network keeping the world turning.

  • The Endurance Flight: What's the world's longest commercial flight? It's a grueling 18 hours and 50 minutes! (Singapore to New York (JFK)). Shannon and I immediately started debating what we'd do to pass the time for nearly 19 hours. Any suggestions?

🚢 Cruise Deep Dive: Pirates, Pigs, and Pickleball!

Now for our favorite part, cruising! We sailed through some truly bizarre and fascinating facts.

  • Piggy Paradise: If you guessed The Bahamas for the home of the famous "Pig Beach," you were right! The swimming pigs on Big Major Cay learned to swim out to approaching boats to be fed, and now they're global superstars!

  • Ladies of the Sea: Only one cruise line names all its ships "Ladies", that's Virgin Voyages! (Scarlet Lady, Valiant Lady, etc.) They're known for their adult-only, modern vibe.

  • Cruise Capital King: The undeniable champion is PortMiami, handling the highest number of passengers and embarkations each year, solidifying its title as the "Cruise Capital of the World!"

  • Sporty Ships: Big shoutout to Holland America Line, which features pickleball courts on all its ships. This totally highlights the trend of cruise lines adding popular land-based activities!

  • The Free Cone Factor: Get this: a large cruise ship uses a mind-blowing 20,000 ice cream cones in one week! That's about 3,000 cones per day! (It makes perfect sense when it’s free and you’re by the pool!)

  • The Superstition: We learned that Deck 13 is the deck number most commonly skipped on cruise ships due to triskaidekaphobia (fear of the number 13). Does the superstition matter to you?

🐭 The Disney Details & Final Fun Facts

  • Disney's Magic: Did you know Disney got special permission from the U.S. Coast Guard to paint their lifeboats yellow instead of the required orange? It’s to match Mickey Mouse’s iconic shoes!

  • Most Visited City (2024): The winner, with over 32 million international visitors, was Bangkok, Thailand! (Followed by Istanbul and London).

  • Americans' Favorite Way to Travel: Turns out, Americans' #1 way to travel is by car (road trips)! We love our flexibility, affordability, and the appeal of sightseeing over the anxiety of flying.

🥳 Wrap-Up and What's Next!

Thanks to everyone who joined our trivia stream, we had a blast!

The Winners are: Lord Abraxos and i_like_t035!

Coming up next, we’ll take you back on a deep dive into one of our past adventures on the MSC Magnifica, and Shannon will share all the details on her upcoming trip on the Norwegian Joy!

Cameron and Derek, are you reading this? We're not letting up on those amazing Travel Agent rates for a Virgin, MSC, or Royal Caribbean trip! Time to book a couples' getaway! 😉

Don't miss a minute of the fun:

Stay sassy, pack light, and keep those trivia brains sharp! See you next time! 

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