Certainly the most epic journey you can ever take – traveling the world in 80 days, following in the footsteps of Phileas Fogg, created by 19th-century writer Jules Verne, and TV globetrotter Michael Palin. This is not a matter of flying around the world, but, you must follow Fogg’s 28,000 miles route as closely as possible, using only transportation means available in Jules Verne’s era.
Start the trip at Pall Mall in London and then take a train to Folkestone, a ferry to France and again a train to Venice through the amazing Alps, fantastic Switzerland, tiny Liechtenstein, and green Austria. After you reached Austria, a boat through the Corinth Canal will take you to Crete in Greece and then to Egypt.
After reaching the Persian Gulf and visiting several countries like Saudi Arabia, Qatar and the UAE, another week on a sailing boat will take you to Mumbai in India that opens up a passage to Singapore and Hong Kong. Next, you take a few trains across China until you reach Shanghai and then a ferry to Japan. From Japan, you have to get on a container ship to cross the Pacific up to the USA, where you tour the country by train. The journey’s end in England is reached from New York on a ship.
Not many people can commit to such an adventure, but this is really the epic journey of a lifetime!
When to go? Any time of the year, as long as you can take a very long vacation!
Highlights of the journey?
Venice – use a precious day to explore this special city, once a stop on another great journey – the 5,000 miles Silk Road linking the Orient with the Mediterranean.
The Great Pyramid of Giza, near Cairo, and the enigmatic Sphinx – the former is the last survivor of Seven Wonders of the Ancient World.
Great Nicobar – this sparsely populated island is India’s southernmost point, largely covered by a unique rainforest Biosphere Reserve.
You should also know that although many people associate travelling by hot-air balloon with “Around the World in 80 Days”, this method of travel was never actually used by Phileas Fogg and his French valet Passepartout.