Offbeat

Politics, health, sports, and breaking stories are all topics that affect our daily lives in significant ways, but nothing sparks our interest like weird news. Our brains often need enjoyable pauses to get through the daily grind, and reading or learning about something funny, odd, or completely bizarre is an easy, seductive outlet. Of course, offbeat news is not necessarily need-to-know information, or information we even thought we wanted to know. In fact, bizarre news doesn’t quite fit anywhere else—it’s just too fascinating to pass by. As a trusted travel news resource, Travel + Leisure stays on the pulse of even the oddest stories.The strange and the beautifulEver wondered about America’s strangest roadside attractions, or quirkiest cities? How about the world’s most unique holiday traditions, from covering Christmas trees in spider webs in Ukraine to leaving a plate of food by an unoccupied chair overnight for the ghosts of dead relatives in Portugal? Did you know that, among the world’s craziest airport attractions, you’d find a station for inhaling cinnamon-scented oxygen in Tokyo and an in-house dentist in São Paulo-Guarulhos International Airport? Speaking of air travel, themed airplanes are becoming more prevalent, from Star Wars to Hello Kitty to the Northern Lights.Meanwhile, unusual hotels—made out of salt, ice, or railway cars, built underground or on a fire watchtower—prove that guests will stay anywhere. And, when it comes to museums, if you can dream it, you can believe it. There are museums dedicated to the oddest of collections, from barbed wire to human hair to a house of some 80,000 salt and pepper shakers to art “too bad to be ignored.” There’s even one dedicated to items washed up on a beach, including two tombstones from the 19th century and an entire Harley Davidson motorcycle.The world is a crazy, confusing, and inspiring place. Travel + Leisure’s coverage on funny, odd, and bizarre travel stories serves as a simple reminder that we are all, in fact, human, and that someone, somewhere, is interested.