Would you believe this is the most-booked tourist attraction on TripAdvisor?

The popular vacation booking site TripAdvisor recently released its 2018 Experiential Travel Trends report, which hashes out the annual top tourism trends for the “experiences” segment of the site.

Naturally, iconic structures like the Empire State Building, the Eiffel Tower, and the Colosseum were among the top ten most-booked places and experiences. (Here are 13 tourist traps around the world that are actually worth visiting.) But the number one most-booked experience was different than we expected.

We thought it would be excursions like snorkeling around a natural shipwreck, going on a week-long wine tour (don’t miss these eight tips for planning the ultimate wine tour), or skiing down the Alps after a fresh bout of powdery snow. But the real winner is a skip-the-line pass for the Vatican Museums, St. Peters, and the Sistine Chapel, that boasts a 5-star rating, a Certificate of Excellence by TripAdvisor, and 15,764 reviews. Don’t miss our guide to the top seven destinations in the best-selling 1,000 Places to See Before You Die.

TripAdvisor users, we’re officially impressed by your affinity for culture. These European icons have stood the test of time, both physically and in the hearts of travellers.

The tour is hosted by City Wonders, which offers skip-the-line passes to other places besides the Vatican like Pompeii and Mount Vesuvius, Montserrat, Buckingham Palace, and Stonehenge. Their Vatican, St. Peters, and Sistine Chapel tour is so wildly popular because the lines to get into these museums are typically very long, you can gain insider knowledge from fun, local tour guides, and the tours are always smaller than 25 people. Plus, it’s a great deal: the whole experience will only set you back $131. Not too bad to see some of the most incredible art and architecture in Europe! (If you’d prefer to avoid the crowds, check out these beautiful and wildly under-rated European destinations.)

Once you’re done with the tour, explore the surrounding city independently. Make sure to read about the top 10 things to do in Rome, visit the Trevi fountain, and snap photos of the Pantheon. The opportunities are endless!

Staying in Canada this summer? Check out our guide to 25 essential experiences in the Great White North.

No, Meghan Markle isn’t breaking royal protocol

Meghan Markle has a lot of learning to do as a new member of the British royal family. In addition to learning the various etiquette traditions, Markle will also have to remember various fashion rules too. For example, she must keep her nails lightly coloured, travel with mourning clothes, and keep her legs uncrossed. And Markle is off to a good start on all counts, despite various reports of her “breaking” a major fashion rule—bare legs. (Here are the etiquette rules everyone in the royal family must follow.)

Yes, Queen Elizabeth II does expect female family members to cover their legs with skin-tone-coloured tights. But Markle has yet to go against this style tradition. Prior to her wedding to Prince Harry, however, Meghan was spotted on a few occasions with bare legs. Most notably, she had no stockings on during her engagement announcement back in November 2017. Many people forget though that she technically wasn’t an official member of the British royal family at the time.

It is also worth noting that the now Duchess of Sussex didn’t “break royal protocol” either, as many outlets report. According to royal expert Victoria Arbiter, this buzzy term is being used too lightly and inaccurately in the media. “When it comes to the royal world, protocol is a code of conduct. It’s etiquette; it’s custom; it has nothing to do with clothes,” Arbiter says. Although Markle has yet to actually “break” this rule, it doesn’t look like judgments on her clothes will be going away anytime soon.

Next, check out why Queen Elizabeth always wears neon outfits.

Here’s the secret meaning behind those airport taxiway signs

The worst part of every flight is indubitably the time before you even get off the ground. The plane is packed, everyone is anxious to get off the ground, and the pilot is taking upward of 15 minutes to taxi around the airport. Is the airport even this big? Where could this plane possibly be going? For something that’s about to take us thousands of feet into the air at nearly 500 kilometres per hour, we certainly don’t know much about planes—check out these 21 things your flight attendant won’t tell you to fill some of those knowledge gaps.

There’s actually a pretty complex system of taxiways and runways that pilots have to navigate before each flight, but luckily, they are well-marked—so even passengers can follow along if they know what they’re looking at! The signs that appear most frequently on taxiways are black and yellow and have numbers or letters on them. Letters denote taxiways, while numbers indicate runways, according to The Points Guy.

A black sign with yellow letters means that you’re on the taxiway it identifies. So, if you see a yellow letter “B” on a black sign, you’re on taxiway B. Often, these are accompanied by directions to other taxiways, the signs of which are yellow with black lettering and a black arrow that points to where that taxiway is located. They will always be on the left side of the taxiway before the intersection, according to the FAA, and are arranged from left to right based on their location, clockwise, in the intersection. The same colour rules hold true for numbered signs; the numbers just mean that it’s a runway instead of a taxiway. Back on the plane, here are some hidden airplane features you didn’t know existed.

If you think those red signs look a little more urgent, it’s because they are! Pilots need special clearance to pass these because they indicate that the plane is headed for the intersection of a runway, where another plane could be gearing up to take off. So if you’re feeling impatient while taxiing before your next flight, remember that it’s because your pilot is following certain rules to keep you safe. Nervous fliers, check out these facts about flying that will help you stay calm on your next flight.

The story of a forgotten Royal Family documentary

Queen Elizabeth II has remained a consistent presence over the years as Britain’s longest-reigning monarch, despite a society that has rapidly changed around her over the course of nearly seven decades as sovereign. But we can’t attribute it all to the devotion of the British people—the Queen and her advisers have had to figure out some unusual ways to keep up public support of the monarchy. Through periods of countercultural surges (like those of the 1960s), the changing relationships between figures of authority and the public have required the current royals to step into the public eye like no others in British history—a particularly challenging task for Queen Elizabeth as she’s the world’s most famous introvert.

Compared to the protests, free love, and social change going on in 1969, the royal family’s steadfast devotion to tradition began to look a bit stuffy in comparison. According to a video from the Smithsonian Channel, the Queen’s advisers came up with an idea to release a documentary film so that the public could catch a glimpse into their private lives. Upon first watching it, the Queen only questioned whether the two-hour film had to be so long. But after it was aired on television to a whopping 37 million viewers, she ordered that no one should ever see it again.

For Queen Elizabeth II, as both head of state of the United Kingdom and head of the Church of England, the documentary presented her in a way that had rarely been put on display before: in her role as a wife and mother. Short clips of the documentary released in 2011 for an exhibition in honour of the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee showed the royal family eating together (possibly alluding to their royal etiquette rules), having a picnic, and even playing with puppies, though the clips did not include a cameo from the Queen’s beloved corgis. The 1969 broadcast did indeed achieve its goal of strengthening public support, but the Queen and her advisers “realized that being too normal was as dangerous as being too different,” according to the Smithsonian Channel, attesting to the unique position the royal family occupies in British society.

We may never know the rest of the contents of the film, locked away since that first broadcast. The royal family’s high profile, however, coupled with the degree of privacy they maintain, has given way to more than a few false myths—here are some of the strangest myths of the royal family.

Next, don’t miss these other fascinating facts about Queen Elizabeth II.

How Royals Sneak Out of Kensington Palace

When your home is a major tourist attraction in London, it’s not so easy to just slip out the front door. People are always hoping to catch a glimpse of the royals when they visit Kensington Palace. So, to avoid getting caught up in shaking hands and taking pictures, the royals had to think of an alternative escape plan—instead of walking out the front door, they leave through the sky. (Here are eight London landmarks Princess Diana frequented.)

According to Hello! Magazine, the members of the royal family arrive at and depart from the palace on a helicopter. The helicopter lands on the grounds of Kensington Palace in Hyde Park, where armed police officers stand by and a chauffeured car is always waiting to take them to their home.

The grounds of the park are open to the public, so tourists are able to watch the royal family take off and land. There is a short fence, however, to keep commoners from getting too close.

So, if you’re ever in London and want to catch a glimpse of the royals, the place to be is Hyde Park, not the front of Kensington Palace. Or, keep an eye out for the chopper overhead!

Next, read about these wild secrets you never knew about Windsor Castle.