Where else but in Japan? The Central Japan Railway Company announced plans last week to introduce the world’s fastest magnetically levitated passenger train, at a cost of $44.7 billion US Dollars. Planning to top speeds of 500 KMH (310 MPH), the CJRC maglev train will become the fastest in the world, beating out the current champion which tops out at snails-pace of 430 KPH in Shanghai.

Going on holiday and want to stay somewhere off the beaten path? Then go no further than the Unusual Hotels of the World Guide, a solid database of some of the strangest locations turned hotels I’ve ever seen. Whether you want to stay in an abandoned, haunted prison in South Africa or a trojan horse-like replica of a beagle in Idaho, the Unusual Hotels guide has it all in a presentable and easy to browse format, rating hotels with 5 easy terms, starting with Different and working it’s way up to Outrageous and WOW.

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We all know that the US is strange, but, this takes it to a new level. Just a few minutes looking at StrangeUSA.com, a database of strange places in the United States, one would think the whole country is one giant haunted, zombie-infested ghost town. StrangeUSA consolidates all the information it can find on haunted buildings, spooky cemetaries, unidentified monsters, ghost towns and all the scariest places they can find, collected by users and urban explorers to give you the best darn database of haunted stuff your side of the Mississippi. Oh look, that church whose bells I used to hear down the street, haunted. Super.

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What do you do if you’re a huge fan of television’s Lost and happen to stumble-upon an un-guarded film set while on holiday in Hawaii? You make yourself at home naturally! A few college students did just that while enjoying some sun in the vicinity where Lost shoots in Hawaii. While exploring some pristine beaches, they stumbled upon a completely empty Lost set, which appears to give some spoiling insight into some upcoming episodes. The students found tents, a cage (?), racks of Dharma branded food, cans and toilet paper (which I hope they ‘borrowed’), among many other things. Thankfully (?), they documented their trespassing and are sharing the complete photo set on Flickr for us land-locked Lost fans to enjoy.

Welcome new readers. Bunch of Nerds is a collection of nerdy topics from around the internet, covering our favorite television shows (Lost, Battlestar Galactica, Arrested Development and Deadwood in case you were wondering), gadgets, web development, and so much more. If this sounds interesting to you, feel free to sign up to our handy newsfeed and get the latest nerdy topics delivered straight to your newsreader.

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Journalists Diego and Paola have been documenting Europe’s megalithic and prehistoric sites since 1996, during their many holiday travels. During this time they’ve taken thousands of photographs and written many stories on the history behind Europe’s many prehistoric sites, which they’ve combined into a large online travel guide, taking readers on a virtual tour of prehistoric locations throughout Europe. Thousands of images and panoramic 3d images are available on the ‘tours’, as well as travel diaries, maps and local resource links in case you decide to take the plunge and visit one of these beautiful locations in real-life. Today’s a good day to be bored at the office.

Read more: Virtual tours of Europe’s megalithic and prehistoric sites | Cartabianca Books

The Los Angeles Public Library system is having a virtual art show featuring brilliantly drawn art deco (some futurist) travel posters from the 1920s and 1930. The Golden Age of Travel as it’s called, these posters emphasis that traveling was once a stylish and graceful experience, opposite of what we experience today on basically any flight with other people on it. Some of the highlights include the Orient Lines poster and some beautiful early airline travel posters (Air France is lovely). This is the first time that the LA Library System has shared it’s collection, which is quite exciting for the inner art-nerd in us.

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If you’re like me or half of the vacationing world, you end up with 2 or 3 bags full of junk when travelling, especially on long holidays. But thanks to Doug Dyment, my next trip will be lightweight and hopefully a little less stressful when it comes to check-in time. Doug has created a travel how-to named One Bag, covering what he calls the art and science of travelling light. His site is full of useful tips and how-tos on travelling light for your next holiday or business trip, such as different ways of doing laundry while on your trip (it seems every smart traveller plans on doing laundry on their trip!?) or the most efficient ways of packing and bundling just about everything you could imagine. Bon voyage…

Read more: One Bag: The art and science of travelling light