Gadling

Welcome back to Tuesday Travel Trivia, the weekly quiz for fact-hoarding travel-lovers from all four corners of the wildly-distorting Mercator Projection map.

Last week’s winner was former champ Stolen, who beat out nine other trivia players by answering an impressive nine out of ten questions correctly.

Can you replace Stolen as champ this week? Check out the following ten questions and leave your non-Googled answers in the comments. The answers will be posted next Tuesday at 10:00 am– clear your schedule.

1. Of the world’s ten longest bridges, three are located in the same US state. Where are they?
2. The only internationally-recognized student identification card, which entitles holders to discounts at popular tourist spots worldwide, is known by what four-letter acronym?
3. What is the world’s most populous Muslim country?
4. Johanna Sigurðardottir– it’s okay, I can’t pronounce it either– recently became the world’s first openly gay prime minister. What country is she from?
5. What 2008 documentary about a French tight-rope walker named Philippe Petit recently won the Academy Award for Best Documentary?
6. In the 1999 campaign for the US Presidency, Texas governor George W. Bush told a Slovakian journalist, “The only thing I know about Slovakia is what I learned firsthand from your foreign minister, who came to Texas. I had a great meeting with him. It’s an exciting country.” Why was this statement by Bush considered a gaffe?
7. If the southeastern part of Italy looks like a boot, what largest Mediterranean island does it appear to be kicking?
8. What seven-letter Russian word for “castle” or “fortress” is used to describe the official residence of Russia’s president?
9. What early 20th-Century travel novella was the inspiration for the 1979 film Apocalypse Now?
10. What “beautiful, blue” river has four national capitals located along its banks, the most of any river in the world? [Jeopardy devotees will know the answer to this one.]

The answers to last week’s questions, as always, can be found below the fold…

1. Which two European countries are the world’s largest producers of wine? Answer: Italy and France
2. Which car rental company features the advertising slogan “We Try Harder”? Answer: Avis
3. Khmer is the official language of what Asian country? Answer: Cambodia
4. To expatriate is to leave one’s homeland in order to live abroad. What similar-sounding word describes the process of coming back to one’s native country after living abroad? Answer: Repatriate
5. Ecuador uses one of the world’s most well-known currencies. What is it? Answer: The US Dollar
6. Which two countries resumed sending mail back and forth to each other earlier this decade after 50 years of refusing to do so? Answer: North and South Korea
7. The Kentucky Derby is held on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in what city? (No points for guessing the state, Captain Obvious.) Answer: Louisville
8. Name two guidebook publishers whose names begin with the letter “L”. Answer: Lonely Planet and Let’s Go
9. If you’re traveling with your child on an airplane and circumstances force you to use oxygen masks (sorry for the morbid question), whose mask are you supposed to put on first: yours or your child’s? Answer: Yours
10. In what Central American country can you find the towns of Hopkins, Placencia, San Ignacio, and Dangriga? Answer: In beautiful Belize

Welcome back to Tuesday Travel Trivia, the Web’s most difficult ten-question, travel-related, weekly trivia quiz. Let’s just pretend there are other competitors for that title.

Congrats to trivia regular Eva, the winner of last week’s brutally hard round, who answered an impressive six out of ten questions correctly.

Think you can replace her as champ this week? Check out the following ten brain-busting questions and leave your answers in the comments. Come back next Tuesday for the answers. No Googling, would-be cheaters!

1. Which two European countries are the world’s largest producers of wine?
2. Which car rental company features the advertising slogan “We Try Harder”?
3. Khmer is the official language of what Asian country?
4. To expatriate is to leave one’s homeland in order to live abroad. What similar-sounding word describes the process of coming back to one’s native country after living abroad?
5. Ecuador uses one of the world’s most well-known currencies. What is it?
6. Which two countries resumed sending mail back and forth to each other earlier this decade after 50 years of refusing to do so?
7. The Kentucky Derby is held on the first Saturday in May at Churchill Downs in what city? (No points for guessing the state, Captain Obvious.)
8. Name two guidebook publishers whose names begin with the letter “L”.
9. If you’re traveling with your child on an airplane and circumstances force you to use oxygen masks (sorry for the morbid question), whose mask are you supposed to put on first: yours or your child’s?
10. In what Central American country can you find the towns of Hopkins, Placencia, San Ignacio, and Dangriga?

Check out the answers to last week’s questions below the fold…

1. Anthony Bourdain’s best-selling book Kitchen Confidential warned restaurant patrons from ordering fish on which day of the week? Answer: Monday
2. Which non-bordering country is closest to the continental United States? Answer: The Bahamas
3. Which US airport has been the country’s busiest for at least the last ten years? Answer: Atlanta’s Hartsfield Jackson International Airport
4. In Spanish, what second-person, plural pronoun is used almost exclusively in Spain and not in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world? Answer: Vosotros
5. Fill in the name of a northern European city to complete the lyrics to a song from the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen: “Wonderful, wonderful __________ / Friendly old girl of a town / ‘Neath her tavern light / On this merry night /Let us clink and drink one down.” Answer: Copenhagen
6. What were the names of the two main characters in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road? Answer: Sal Paradise and Dean Moriarty
7. Which travel blog provoked a reader backlash this past summer by setting its focus on the Hamptons? Answer: Gridskipper
8. If ever you’re in the mood for sitting in a chair and watching grass grow, follow the crowd to the largest public park in Paris. What is the name of this “Garden”? Answer: Luxembourg Gardens
9. What’s the name of the world’s largest passenger jet? Answer: A380
10. What is the significance of the order of this list of world nations? Monaco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tuvalu, Jordan, Nauru, Congo (Kinshasa), Slovenia, Togo, Iraq, Belgium. [Thanks to Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings for this question.] Answer: They’re listed in order of smallest coastlines.

Welcome back to Gadling’s Tuesday Travel Trivia! In political news this week, the US Senate has just passed a resolution to officially re-name “Tuesday” to “Triviaday.” This seems to me to be beyond their authority, but I appreciate the gesture nonetheless.

Last week’s winner, Evan, got a perfect 10 out of 10 on some very tough questions– and he even explained how he knew the answers, which earns him a completely unnecessary bonus point.

Want to become this week’s winner? Read the following questions and leave your answers in the Comments. Come back next week– same Bat time, same Bat channel— to find out how you did. And, oh yeah, no Googling!

1. Anthony Bourdain’s best-selling book Kitchen Confidential warned restaurant patrons from ordering fish on which day of the week?
2. Which non-bordering country is closest to the continental United States?
3. Which US airport has been the country’s busiest for at least the last ten years?
4. In Spanish, what second-person, plural pronoun is used almost exclusively in Spain and not in the rest of the Spanish-speaking world?
5. Fill in the name of a northern European city to complete the lyrics to a song from the 1952 film Hans Christian Andersen: “Wonderful, wonderful __________ / Friendly old girl of a town / ‘Neath her tavern light / On this merry night /Let us clink and drink one down.”
6. What were the names of the two main characters in Jack Kerouac’s On the Road?
7. Which travel blog provoked a reader backlash this past summer by setting its focus on the Hamptons?
8. If ever you’re in the mood for sitting in a chair and watching grass grow, follow the crowd to the largest public park in Paris. What is the name of this “Garden”?
9. What’s the name of the world’s largest passenger jet?
10. What is the significance of the order of this list of world nations? Monaco, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Tuvalu, Jordan, Nauru, Congo (Kinshasa), Slovenia, Togo, Iraq, Belgium. [Thanks to Jeopardy champ Ken Jennings for this question.]

Check out the answers to last week’s questions below the fold…

1. In the critically-acclaimed 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, the main character, Jamal Malik, was born and raised in the slums of what Indian city? Answer: Mumbai
2. What’s the name of Brazil’s currency? Answer: Real
3. The government of what island nation receives about US$4 million per year from those using its internet domain suffix “.tv”? Answer: Tuvalu
4. Anthony Burgess, best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange, also wrote a book set on the Malay Peninsula called Time for a Tiger. What popular product does that title refer to? Answer: Tiger Beer (mmm!)
5. A UNESCO World Heritage Site frequented by travelers to Southeast Asia, the city of Luang Prabang is located in which Asian nation? Answer: Laos
6. What TV tough guy became the youngest Brit to scale Mount Everest when he accomplished the feat at age 23? Answer: Bear Grylls (whose children, Wikipedia tells me, are named Jesse, Marmaduke, and Huckleberry.
7. Sean Penn’s 2007 film Into the Wild was based on a book of the same title written by whom? Answer: Jon Krakauer
8. What “The” city is the Netherlands’ third largest, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam? Answer: The Hague
9. The symbol pictured above, found on most maps, is known as a what? Answer: Compass Rose
10. What three-letter airport code forms a word meaning “not strict or severe; careless or negligent”? Answer: LAX

Trivia has been with us ever since Adam first quizzed Eve on which day of the week God formed him out of dust and blew life into his nostrils. (Spoiler alert: It was the sixth.)

Last week’s winner Alex got nine out of ten headache-inducing questions correct. Can you become our next winner? Look over the following questions and submit your answers in the comments. No Googling!

1. In the critically-acclaimed 2008 film Slumdog Millionaire, the main character, Jamal Malik, was born and raised in the slums of what Indian city?
2. What’s the name of Brazil’s currency?
3. The government of what island nation receives about US$4 million per year from those using its internet domain suffix “.tv”?
4. Anthony Burgess, best known as the author of A Clockwork Orange, also wrote a book set on the Malay Peninsula called Time for a Tiger. What popular product does that title refer to?
5. A UNESCO World Heritage Site frequented by travelers to Southeast Asia, the city of Luang Prabang is located in which Asian nation?
6. What TV tough guy became the youngest Brit to scale Mount Everest when he accomplished the feat at age 23?
7. Sean Penn’s 2007 film Into the Wild was based on a book of the same title written by whom?
8. What “The” city is the Netherlands’ third largest, after Amsterdam and Rotterdam?
9. The symbol pictured above, found on most maps, is known as a what?
10. What three-letter airport code forms a word meaning “not strict or severe; careless or negligent”?

The answers to last week’s questions, as always, are found below the fold…

1. What 1980 movie contains the following classic exchange: “Can you fly this plane and land it?” “Surely you can’t be serious!” “I am serious– and don’t call me Shirley.” Answer: Airplane!
2. What country is the world’s most populous democracy? Answer: India
3. There are cities named “Tripoli” in at least four countries. Name two of them. Answer: Libya, Lebanon, the US, and Greece
4. The fifth-largest banking center in the world, this group of islands in the Caribbean is home to more registered businesses than people. Answer: the Cayman Islands
5. How many countries in the world end with the suffix “stan,” meaning “land”? Answer: 7 (Kyrgyzstan, Kazakhstan, Pakistan, Afghanistan, Turkmenistan, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan)
6. What is geographically unique about the Russian territory called Kaliningrad? Answer: It’s an exclave, since it’s entirely surrounded by more than one state (and neither of them are Russia).
7. Michelangelo’s statue of David is located in a museum in what Italian city? Answer: Florence
8. The name of one African country contains in the middle of it (not at the beginning or end) the complete name of another African country. What are the two countries? Answer: Mali and Somalia (I thought this question was a doozy– congrats to all those who got it.)
9. True or false: The world’s 100 tallest mountains are all located in Asia. Answer: True
10. What American author wrote The Innocents Abroad, the story of his journey aboard a retired Civil War ship, the USS Quaker City? Answer: Mark Twain