Flying back from Hungary recently, I was thinking about the toughest travel-related questions I’d ever heard. Even after travelling lots, it’s easy to think we know our world, but the truth is that some devilishly challenging questions are guaranteed to liven up any after-dinner conversation, pub quiz or long holiday flight.

So here’s a selection to get your grey matter working harder than the engines on that 737-800 from Budapest’s Ferenc Liszt International Airport. But be warned, one is so fiendishly tricky – and its answer so surprising – that I’ve seen it cause serious argument with disbelieving Francophiles who thought they really knew ‘L’hexagone’! But first, to ‘Motor City USA’.

Fly south from Detroit

I love classic 1970s American cars and anything by veteran Michigan-born rocker Bob Seger, which leads nicely to Detroit and my first question. If you are in the city’s central business district, somewhere between Grosse Pointe Park and Ford’s River Rouge factory, then fly due south, what’s the first country you reach outside the USA?

While you’re thinking about that, let’s spin an imaginary globe and ponder where to find the world’s two nearest capital cities. We’re getting warmed up nicely now, getting closer to the mind-bending Big Daddy of geographical quiz questions. Meanwhile, how about another ‘easy one’? Do you know the only two places in the world with a square national flag? Clue: as well as their vexillological link, they have another famous connection.

One for Francophiles

Okay, the moment has come to test your knowledge of France – and put your lateral thinking hat on. Since getting this wrong last year and subsequently asking anyone who will listen, I’ve only met one person who answered correctly – and they’ve been on Mastermind twice! So here goes... Which country shares the longest land border with France? I can sense brain cells sizzling and metaphorical cogs spinning across Gloucestershire. Ah, the quizmaster’s power!

There are more, but I’ll leave you to research the surprising answers: the state with the USA’s southernmost point? The world’s largest city by area? The only continent in all four of the Earth’s hemispheres? Have fun if these come up in a pub quiz or you need to occupy the kids on a long journey. In the meantime, we’re off to the home of the world’s largest tyre manufacturer. And, no, it’s not the USA, France or Japan!




Answers: Canada; Kinshasa and Brazzaville; Switzerland and the Vatican City State; Brazil.