Atlas Obscura travel tips

Give all your favorite travelers the gear and gadgets they want for their world adventures–trust us, they’ll find space in even the smallest carry-on to fit these! With presents starting at $2, there’s something for every holiday budget on this list.

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

Secret Obsessions is Atlas Obscura’s column where we ask wondrous people to take us down a rabbit hole. This edition features chart-topping pop duo Aly & AJ—sisters Aly and AJ Michalka.

Atlas Obscura’s Wondersky columnist Rebecca Boyle is an award-winning science journalist and author of the upcoming Our Moon: How Earth’s Celestial Companion Transformed the Planet, Guided Evolution, and Made Us Who We Are (January 2024, Random House). She shares the stories and secrets of our wondrous night sky.

If you spend a lot of time outdoors at night in the summer, you might be used to seeing shaky, silhouetted creatures flitting above. Maybe you’ve stopped to watch them skim over your garden at twilight, or you’ve caught them while you’re camping near a lake, or you just sense a brief flash of movement outside your window. Birdwatching is great, but bat-watching is another world entirely.

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

Between 1850 and 1852, a mighty, squat stone fort rose from a low-lying island in the Milford Haven Waterway in Wales. Originally proposed by Thomas Cromwell, chief minister to King Henry VIII, more than 300 years earlier, Stack Rock Fort—about 800 yards off the coast—was built to protect the Royal Dockyard at Pembroke Dock from attack by sea. It had a 30-foot tower, walls nine feet and nine inches thick, and housed three large cannons and one smaller one. A few years later casemates were added, and by 1870, the fort got a major makeover, inspired by the threat of Napoleon III. A new battery was added, able to hold up to 175 soldiers and five officers. Most of the fort’s useful life was spent undergoing upgrades, and it only really saw active use during World War I. In 1929 it was finally decommissioned, disarmed, and scoured for useful materials. Since then, the lonely three-story fort has sat vacant but for crashing waves, nesting gulls, and opportunistic plants.

Travelers flying with Delta Air Lines have something to look forward to on their next flight. Delta has announced Delta Sync, a new feature on flights that brings entertainment experiences to individuals. In addition to the upcoming Delta SkyMiles for Business changes expected in a few months, here are some things to look for on your next Delta journey.

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Listen and subscribe on Stitcher, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and all major podcast apps.

This Atlas Obscura–themed crossword comes from independent crossword constructor Brendan Emmett Quigley. He has been a professional puzzlemaker since 1996, and his pieces have appeared in dozens of publications. He’s also a member of the Boston Typewriter Orchestra.

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