Answers to the Merry Christmas Travel Quiz

What town is named after this “jolly old elf”?

I hope you’re all having a wonderful holiday season.

Mine has been truly memorable, as our family welcomed its newest member and my first grandchild into the world at 6:33 a.m. on December 26 in Tucson, Arizona. Baby, parents, and grandparents are all doing fine…who needs sleep when the greatest Christmas gift of all arrives early the following morning?

Perhaps needless to say, we’re already plotting our first big trip with the newborn; I’ll keep you posted! (Multi-generational travel is one of the big trends in baby boomer travel, and we intend to do our share.)

Now for the answers to our first annual Merry Christmas Travel Quiz. In case you missed the earlier post and would like to take the quiz, I’m listing the answers at the bottom.

1. Christmas Island was discovered by British Royal Navy Captain William Mynors on December 25, 1643, hence the name. Which ocean would you travel to to spend the holiday season on Christmas Island?

a. The South Pacific

b. The South Atlantic

c. The Indian Ocean

d. The Antarctic Ocean

2. Which U.S. state would you travel to in search of a town named Santa Claus?

a. Indiana

b. Ohio

c. Michigan

d. Illinois

3. Where would you travel to retrace the footsteps of the original St. Nicholas, a 4th-century bishop whose reputation for gift-giving and miracle-working eventually provided the model for the modern-day Santa Claus?

The original St. Nicholas is sometimes depicted with a Santa Claus beard.

a. Sweden

b. Holland

c. Russia

d. Turkey

4. If you’re reading the first printed version of Clement Moore’s famous poem “A Visit From St. Nicholas” (better known as “The Night Before Christmas”), what are the original names of two of Santa’s eight flying reindeer? (OK, I know it’s a stretch to give this a travel angle, but they do fly, and I like the question.)

a. Donner and Blixen

b. Donder and Blixen

c. Dunder and Blixem

d. Dunder and Nixon

5. Where would you travel to find reindeer herds tended by the nomadic Sami people?

a. Northern Scandinavia

b. Siberia

c. Alaska

d. Nunavut, Canada

German Christmas markets are a colorful sight during Advent.

6. The two most popular cities for German Christmas markets are:

a. Nuremberg and Dresden

b. Berlin and Cologne

c. Frankfurt and Stuttgart

d. Hamburg and Munich

7. If you visit West Point, the beautifully situated U.S. Army academy on New York’s Hudson River, you may hear tales of the 1826 caper staged by several cadets who smuggled in whiskey and rum to spike the eggnog at the academy’s Christmas party, violating West Point’s strict prohibition of alcohol. What later famous Civil War figure was among the cadets involved?

a. Ulysses S. Grant

b. Robert E. Lee

c. Stonewall Jackson

d. Jefferson Davis

8. Where would you travel to find the world’s largest gingerbread village, as recognized by the Guinness Book of World Records?

a. New York, New York

b. Nuremberg, Germany

c. Bryan, Texas

d. Minneapolis, Minnesota

9. Where would you travel to see a Christmas tree made out of paint buckets?

Where is this Christmas tree made from paint buckets? Photo by Jade Chan.

a. St. Petersburg, Florida

b. Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia

c. Shanghai, China

d. Prague, Czech Republic

10. What city claims to be the inspiration for the fictional Bedford Falls in the 1946 classic Christmas film, It’s a Wonderful Life, and hosts an annual It’s a Wonderful Life festival each December?

a. Twin Falls, Idaho

b. Seneca Falls, New York

c. Columbia Falls, Maine

d. Bedford Hills, New York

Answers: 1. c  2. a  3. d  4. c  5. a  6. b  7. d  8. a  9. b  10. b