Travel games are a great way to pass the time on the road. Two of our most popular riddles for people who love to travel are: “How do you balance an egg on a pole?” and “What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?”
What Can Travel Around the World While Staying in a Corner?
At first glance, the statement sounds contradictory—how can something move around the world yet stay in a corner? The trick is understanding frames of reference. In other words, movement is always relative to something else (relative motion). Once you choose the right frame of reference, the answer becomes clear: a postage stamp.
The Postage Stamp Riddle Explained
Travel is about experiencing the world together, and riddles like this add a little fun to your journey.
Think about motion in everyday life. If you’re sitting in your room, you may feel stationary—but the Earth is spinning beneath you. At the equator, our planet rotates at roughly 1,000 miles per hour, and it orbits the Sun at about 67,000 miles per hour (NASA: Earth’s rotation). Whether something is “moving” or “still” depends on what you compare it to.
A postage stamp is a perfect example. Once a stamp is affixed to the corner of an envelope, it remains fixed in that corner—stationary with respect to the envelope. Yet when that envelope is mailed, the stamp travels with it across towns, countries, and even continents—moving with respect to the world. That’s why the answer is “a postage stamp.”
If you’re curious about the history and role of stamps in mail delivery, explore more here: What is a postage stamp? and how international mail works.
This classic riddle also appears in a few different forms:
- I sit in the corner while traveling around the world.
- What travels the world but stays in one spot?
- I always stay in my corner, but I travel around the world. Who am I?
- I can travel the world without leaving my corner. What am I?
- What can travel around the world while staying in a corner?
- What stays in the corner and travels the world?
- I stay in the corner but travel around the world.
- It goes around the world but stays in a corner.
And the right answer is:
A postage stamp!
FAQ Section:
A comb.
Bacteria.
A metronome.
A river. A river can run but not walk. It also has a mouth but never talks, and a bed (riverbed) but never sleeps.
A clock. It has hour and minute hands but cannot fight.
A deck of cards.
A glove.
An envelope. It starts with “E” and may have only one letter inside it.
The letter “M.”
A piano (or a harmonium).
Your name.
An egg.
Mount Everest.
Your legs. Your “bottom” sits at the top of your legs.
A postage stamp.
A coffin. It’s made for someone who has died, so the maker and buyer don’t use it, and the user can’t see or feel it.
A postage stamp.
A chair, table, or bench.
A book.
