Mt. Rushmore is for suckers. The cool kids visit Hôtel Sidi Driss.
People take road trips for all sorts of reasons: moving across country, “finding themselves,” or simple sightseeing. But what are you supposed to do when you like where you live, already know exactly where you are, and think the Grand Canyon is just an over-hyped, massive gash in the ground? Bizarre Magazine has answered with a wonderful collection of 31 completely nerdy destinations that will give all flavors of geek a reason to leave their chair for the road.
Starting in the U.S., Bizarre recommends Funspot (the arcade from King of Kong) in New Hampshire, Jay and Silent Bob’s Secret Stash (Kevin Smith’s personally owned comic book shop) in–you guessed it–Red Bank, New Jersey, and a Dungeons & Dragons-themed park that was erected in honor of a D&D fan who tragically died in a car accident in Carbondale, Illinois. Perhaps unsurprisingly, there’s also mention of Seattle’s Science Fiction Museum, Mountain View’s Computer History museum and, of course, what trip would be complete without a visit to Area 51 in Nevada.
Those heading to Europe may consider popping by Tunisia’s Hôtel Sidi Driss, perhaps best known as the hotel in which Luke’s home was filmed for Star Wars. You can even have lunch there (Aunt Beru and her blue milk not included). If science non-fiction is more to your liking, Pythagoras’ home is open for visting in Samos, Greece, while the more modern among you may prefer a jaunt to Geneva for a quick tour of CERN. Just please don’t bring any universe-destroying black holes home with you.
Moving east, couples can head into Hong Kong, where Bruce Lee’s house has been transformed into a seedy “love motel” where you can rent rooms by the hour to have some, uh, private time to practice your love-fu underneath the ever-watching ethereal gaze of Lee’s ghost. If doing the horizontal tango near to where a famous martial artist once ate his cereal wasn’t enough to sate your amorous leanings, then perhaps a nice picnic under the Rashomon Gate in Kyoto will help. Yes, it was popularized by Akira Kurosawa’s film, but historically, it was the unofficial dumping site for corpses and unwanted babies. Lovely!
I feel like our road trip took somewhat of a creepy turn toward the end (and I’m not sure there are actually roads connecting all of these places I just listed), but you can check out the full list of 31 global hotspots you don’t want to miss on Bizzaremag.com, all the same. And if any of you hit one of these up, be sure to send us the pictures! Well, maybe not the ones from Hong Kong.
Published: Apr 18, 2012 09:17 pm