Why do we board planes from the left? 30 great mysteries of travel, solved

Add articles to your saved list and come back to them any time.

Where are you going if your luggage tag says, “BOB”? Why is my jet lag worse coming back from Europe than it is on the way over? Why can’t the Americans make decent coffee?

Travel takes us into a world of mysteries, some easily unravelled, others that leave you scratching your head. But such mysteries are the sauce that helps make travel so delicious and intriguing.

Credit: Jamie Brown

Who hasn’t wondered why Japanese streets don’t have names or why the Colombians drink hot chocolate with salted cheese, and as for why the world can’t agree on a common electrical plug, that defies all understanding.

Well, even if you haven’t wondered about these, we still have the answers, and then some, so read on in this special guide to addressing travel’s great conundrums.

Do Spaniards have a tapas clock?Credit: iStock

Mediterranean countries tend to dine late, but the Spanish are in the wrong time zone. Although Spain lies at a similar longitude to the UK, which should put it on Greenwich Mean Time, Spain goes by Central European Time, one hour ahead of GMT. When Spaniards are sitting down to their patatas bravas, the clock says 10pm, but in level-headed Portugal, further west, it’s 9pm, since Portugal sets its time according to its longitude. Go figure, as they say. But Spain is about as likely to adopt GMT as it is to give up its claim to Gibraltar.

Airport codes aim to ease confusion.Credit: iStock

Heading for Bora Bora? Your luggage tag will say “BOB”. “DAD” is Vietnam’s Da Nang while “BRR” is Burra in Scotland’s Shetland Islands. Every commercial airport around the world has a unique three-letter code assigned by the International Air Transport Association. It’s a convenient form of shorthand. Nobody wants to grapple with “Governador Andre Franco Montoro International” in Sao Paolo, but the airport’s acronym, GRU, is easy. SYD, MEL and PER need no explanation but what about ODD? That’s Oodnadatta. And VAG? You’re heading for Varginha, Brazil.

In Mandarin, the number four is considered unlucky since the word “four” sounds like the word for “death”. For the same reason, some buildings in China don’t have a fourth floor and in some high-rise buildings the floor above level 39 is 50. The superstition is similar to the Western aversion to the number 13, but that doesn’t mean it’s cheaper to fly on the 13th day of the month, even if it’s a Friday. The only numbers the airlines really care about is the ticket price, and that has nothing to do with superstition.

Weird as it seems, it comes from an appreciation of human foibles. If a passenger lights up, disregarding the sign right next to the ashtray and the smoke detector in the bathroom, better to have them break the rules and stub out in the ashtray than toss their smouldering butt in the wastepaper bin. Aircraft have crashed and passengers have died from fires caused by careless smokers butting out in the toilet bin.

Australian passports are so expensive due to the security measures they feature ... according to the Australian Passport Office.Credit: Arsineh Houspian

The reason our passport, at $325, is the world’s most expensive, is that it has sophisticated security features. Well, that’s according to the Australian Passport Office. However, other countries have similar security measures in their passports and the cost is far less. In 2022 an Australian passport cost $308. That $17 increase in 2023 means the Australian Government will earn an additional $47.6 million from the 2.8 million passports expected to be issued this year.

The Airbus A350XWB is certified to fly for more than six hours on a single engine.

Each engine must develop sufficient thrust to allow the aircraft to operate safely on just that engine. Without that proof, an aircraft cannot be certified to carry passengers. Twin-engine aircraft have an extended twin-engine operations (ETOPS) rating, the maximum time that aircraft type is certified to continue flying with one engine out. The Airbus A350XWB has an ETOPS rating of 370 minutes, which means it can operate on any overwater route apart from flights over a small part of Antarctica.

Turbulence is usually not something to worry about.Credit: iStock

Oxygen masks tumbling down could mean a loss of cabin pressure or a leak. The pilot will probably descend to a lower altitude where more oxygen is available. Turbulence may shake you up like a milkshake but as long as you’re wearing a seatbelt it’s not as much of a problem. If the head steward comes down the aisle glancing anxiously out the windows, that could be in response to a request from the cockpit to check on an engine. Engine on fire? Spectacular, yes, especially at night, but not really a problem unless it’s the only engine turning, in which case it’s a big problem. Stay calm, statistically you’re much safer up here than behind the wheel of a car.

The reason is partly down to incomes. Service workers are paid a sufficient wage that does not require tips to supplement meagre pay, but the reason is also cultural. Whether it’s a waiter, a taxi driver or a hotel employee, Japanese workers take pride in their work. Self-esteem comes from doing their job well, not from tips. Tipping is not expected, and even impolite. The fact you are paying for their service is enough. If you want to show gratitude, “Arigato” (thank you) will do. America, please take note.

Coconuts are one of the items listed on the International Air Transport Association’s Dangerous Goods Register. The problem is copra, dried coconut meat, which is flammable. But the ban applies to coconuts generally, apart from retail packaged coconut products. In India, where flyers sometimes carry coconuts, either as food or as a sacred item, security screening staff might require a coconut to be broken apart before it can be carried onboard. There has never been an incidence of fire on an aircraft caused by a flaming coconut but better safe than sorry.

It remains a nautical tradition, and since it’s a big occasion it’s worth celebrating, and that deserves a bottle of fine champagne. It’s also a good photo op, with a celebrity on the podium and rousing cheers all around guaranteed to make the news. It’s not an exact science and a couple of royals, among them Camilla, at the time the Duchess of Cornwall, and Princess Anne, have had champagne bottles fail to break against shops’ hulls. There was no champagne bottle smashed against the hull when the Titanic was launched, it wasn’t part of the White Star Line’s tradition.

Jet lag - pilots are not immune.Credit: iStock

They’re professionals, so they look crisp and wide awake, but they suffer like the rest of us. Imagine a pilot flying Sydney-London. The time difference is 10 hours. They’ll probably spend a day or two in London during which time they’ll “adjust” by about two hours (adjustment for jet-lag is about one hour per day) so they’ll be eight hours out of synch when they start to fly home. Then, when they get to Singapore (with a time difference from Sydney of two hours) they’ll have “recovered” in the sense that their body clock is more or less on local time.

Passengers on the left, cargo on the right.Credit: Paul Rovere

In the early days of aviation, aircraft would taxi close to the terminal building to load and unload passengers. Since the captain sits in the left-hand seat of the aircraft it’s much easier for him or her to judge wing clearance on that side. The loading of cargo and passengers’ baggage and refuelling happens on the right side and therefore left-side doors make it safer for passengers to transit between aircraft and terminal. Once air bridges became common, the convention of loading via left-side doors was set in concrete.

To anyone used to a full-strength espresso, the brownish brew that Americans call coffee is weak, insipid and pointless, But, hey, that’s the way most Americans like it. The proportion of ground beans to water in their filtered coffee is far less than just about anywhere else. That allows them to drink multiple cups of coffee per day. The same quantity of Australian-strength coffee and they’d be twitching and banging down toilet doors. There are exceptions, of course, mostly in cities where people know how to pronounce and define “crema”, such as San Francisco, New York City and Portland, Oregon. Oh, and where Australian baristas and Australian-owned and run cafes and chains are in evidence.

“West is best, east is a beast”, as the saying goes, and it’s a fact that we are more affected by jet-lag when we return from Europe than on the way over. Our internal body clock works to a cycle slightly longer than 24 hours. We find it easier to stay up a couple of hours longer at night than we do to rise two hours earlier in the morning. In effect that’s what we are asking our bodies to do when we fly west. Therefore, the theory goes, travelling to Europe and waking and sleeping at a later hour comes more naturally than the early wake-up when you travel east.

Although outgoing passenger cards were scrapped years ago, we still have to fill out these cards on arrival back in the country.

It wants to know where you’re coming from, what you’re bringing in and where you’ll be staying. Some of that information – such as the question about alcohol or tobacco products or whether you’re carrying more than $10,000 in cash – require further investigation before you leave the airport. Questions 6-10 on the Incoming Passenger Cards ask if we are bringing in any food items, animal products or whether we’ve been in wilderness areas, and that’s crucial information that protects our orchards, farmyards and herds.

The cost comes from inter-operator charges. Once you leave our shores, unless directed otherwise, your phone will log onto the network of an overseas telecom provider. You can use their network to make calls and download data, but there is no cap on their data charges. They bill your telecom provider for any data you use, and the charge can be as high as $1000 a GB. The simple solution is to select a plan that allows global roaming at a fixed daily cost, such as from Telstra or Optus, or buy a SIM that gives you low-cost data roaming.

The rule that restricts liquids, aerosols and gels in carry-ons to containers no greater than 100 millilitres is gradually being wound back as Computed Tomography (CT) scanners are deployed at airports. The high-resolution 3D images these scanners produce allow operators to make a more accurate assessment of a bag’s contents, and airports are progressively increasing the limit for liquids in carry-ons to up to two litres.

The noise, described as a grinding or drilling sound, is typically heard on some Airbus aircraft during pushback from the terminal and in the initial stages of departure. That noise is caused by a hydraulic pump known as the Power Transfer Unit (PTU). The PTU maintains pressure in the aircraft’s hydraulic systems. When pressure drops below a specified level, the PTU is activated. Nothing to worry about, enjoy your flight.

If you want to sit down in Italy, expect to pay more. Credit: Bloomberg

That requires table service, and so it costs more, at least according to the Italian mindset. A cafe in a popular tourist spot, such as the iconic Caffe Florian in St Mark’s Square in Venice, might charge €16 ($26.40) for a small tart and €15 ($25.70) for a coffee with whipped cream. Have the same at the bar, and you’ll pay half, but you won’t get to sit outside in the sunshine and listen to the orchestra, and you can sit for as long as you like.

In most countries it’s a legal requirement. The UK and New Zealand are two of the only countries that allow Australians to drive without an IDP. While your car hirer is unlikely to ask to see your IDP, if you’re involved in an accident and don’t have one you could be charged with driving illegally. This could mean you’re driving uninsured, and that could end up costing a lot more than a $49 IDP

A pre-authorisation is a hold against your credit or debit card to cover any expenses you might incur during your hotel stay. If you depart with a bathrobe in your luggage or empty the minibar without fessing up, the hotel is covered. The daily amount can be as high as $200, and while the hold is not converted to a charge until checkout, it’s better to hand over a credit card rather than a debit card since the funds will be unavailable to you. After expenses are deducted the balance will be returned to your account, but it can take up to 14 days to happen.

Winglets, those small, upturned tips at the end of an aircraft’s wings, are now standard on large commercial aircraft. At the tip of a conventional flat wing, a vortex creates drag, reducing the lift generated by the wing. A winglet offsets the drag effect by reducing the passage of high-pressure air from below the wing to the low-pressure upper surface. Winglets increase an aircraft’s range and reduce fuel consumption by as much as five per cent, and that’s a big plus for an airline’s balance sheet.

All white, alright.Credit: Bloomberg

They’re reassuring, a sign of cleanliness. White linen and fluffy white towels come with a high feel-good factor, they’re crisp and fresh and that inspires confidence in the hotel’s cleanliness. Dark sheets, no thanks, who knows what that could be hiding. Also, white items can all be washed together, without any risk of bleeding colours. Another plus is that white sheets are ideal for packing. Pull back the covers, lay out your goods and chattels on a white bottom sheet and there’s little chance of leaving stuff out.

Taste buds get jet lag too: sweet foods taste less so, and you may find you add more salt in the air.Credit: iStock

The dry air in a pressurised aircraft cabin numbs your olfactory receptors by as much as one third according to Lufthansa, and that changes the way we perceive flavours. Sweet flavours taste less sweet, and we’re more inclined to add salt to the meal that comes off the trolley. Wine also tastes different in an aircraft, and subtleties are lost. Some flyers find tomato juice, overly sweet and salty at ground level, tastes deliciously fruity and refreshing in-flight.

The Concorde - too expensive to fly.Credit: iStock

The Anglo-French Concorde and Russia’s Tu144 were the world’s only supersonic passenger aircraft. The Tu144 only made about 50 flights while Concorde flew on a limited number of overwater routes, carrying passengers prepared to pay first-class prices to sit in a basic economy seat and travel at phenomenal speed. They also cost British Airways and Air France far more to operate than they earned in revenue and when an Air France Concorde crashed soon after takeoff from Paris, killing all on board, their fate was sealed.

Different countries have different ideas about what a plug should look like. Back when the question was being decided, people didn’t travel across borders much, and not with electrical equipment, so this wasn’t an issue.

Ayers Rock Airport is the airport’s official name. In deference to the wishes of the traditional owners, the name “Uluru” applies solely to Australia’s most famous monolith. The local township is known as Yulara, and the village where most of the accommodation and services are located is known as Ayers Rock Resort.

Once certain foodstuffs hit the large intestine, fermentation begins and your insides become a gas balloon. Also, since the cabin air pressure is lower than on the ground, gas inside the bowel expands and seeks its natural exit point.

Japanese addresses are identified by blocks, not by streets. Each block has a number, and that number will likely apply to three or four streets that make up a block. Confusing, but a GPS will usually sort it out.

Simple. It’s delicious (or at least it is to Colombians). The cheese thickens the chocolate and just like salted caramel ice-cream, the mild salt taste takes the deliciousness up a couple of notches. It’s umami, people.

Get exclusive travel deals delivered straight to your inbox. Sign up now.