Everybody’s got their reason for travelling, be it for the beautiful locales,
incredible cultural experiences, rugged landscapes, et al. But what about those
of us with extremely specific interests that reside outside of these (very
nice) reasons? Here’s a list of some of the weirdest and extremely specific
reasons to travel internationally.
You never forgot Lisa
Frank and you never will
In the ‘80s and ‘90s, many dreamed of living inside of a Lisa
Frank product but settled for staring at a notebook or trapper keeper. Well,
now you can book a stay at the Lisa Frank Flat, a hotel room decked the heck
out in everything Lisa Frank, created by Hotels. com. The pop-up will be
located in Downtown Los Angeles, starting on October 11 and lasting through
October 27.
Some important features of this rental are
a dolphin-shaped toilet paper holder, a kitchen stocked with a ‘90s era snacks
and a desk filled with all of the Lisa Frank school supplies.
You want to see this
highly radioactive and infamous part of Chernobyl
Since the miniseries ‘Chernobyl’ came out on HBO (and won
several Emmy awards), there has been a huge surge in Chernobyl tourism. People
have been flocking to the nuclear powerplant and site of the 1986 disaster that
resulted in an explosion that killed 31 people and exposed millions more to
deadly radiation. Tourists have been visiting Pripyat (the city of surrounding
the site) for years, but now Chernobyl tour companies have confirmed that the
Reactor 4 Control Room (previously off-limits) is now available for
touring—that is, as long as you wear a full hazmat suit (and get tested for
radiology afterward).
You love doughnuts,
but also are cool with robe swings and ball pits
This pop-up is essentially a doughnut shop created by the chain
Doughnut Time, but it’s also… a lot more than that? It’s a place deemed a
“playground for adults” to buy doughnuts and then also do things like swing on
a rope into a ball pit or take photos of your friends in front of colourful
backdrops and neon lights. There is also a diving board for the ball pit (which
they are referring to as “a pool”) and you can sit in loungers around the pool
(aka the ball pit).
Another thing you can do, and perhaps the
most important thing, is to order one of the chain’s cleverly named doughnuts
(a Philled Collins, anyone?) from the counter. Doughnut Time World is located
in Holburn, London. It’s open seven days a week and it’s free.
You LOVE bats
Bat tourism is a thing, and guess what, now’s time for
it—especially because bats are in trouble, due to loss of habitat and disease
caused by a fungus found in caves in the eastern to the central United States.
One of the best ways to help preserve these bats is by visiting them. “Bat
tourism is important because it helps communities have a reason to sustain
large populations of bats,” says associate professor at the University of
Nebraska- Lincoln, Lisa Pennisi.
This doesn’t mean you have to crawl into a cave— and, actually,
please don’t. Pennisi says the best places to see bats (safely) are places
easily accessible so that you don’t risk bothering them and endangering them
more. Bat conservation organisations can help you plan this, but a few of the
popular locations include Carlsbad Caverns in New Mexico, Bracken Cave, and
Congress Avenue Bridge (both in Texas).
You love to take
photos of yourself
Pop-ups specifically created for you to take photos of yourself in them (so, every pop-up, essentially) have become ubiquitous around the nation, the most “well-known” being the Museum of Selfies, which tours around and opened last year in Hollywood. Now the “museum” is popping up in the Miracle Mile Shops in Las Vegas starting on October 25—a convenient location for travellers who love to take photos of… themselves… because Las Vegas is also home to several other “selfie” sites. – fodors.com