Around the World in Eighty Days

Understand

Unlike much of Verne's work, Around the World in Eighty Days is not a work of science fiction. Widespread deployment of steam power on land and sea was slashing travel times on an unprecedented scale in the mid to late 1800s; an intercity journey by stagecoach that used to take a week was often completed same-day by rail. Advances such as the ceremonial last spike in a first transcontinental railroad in the United States of America (May 10, 1869), construction of the Suez Canal in Egypt (1869) and linking of Indian railways across the sub-continent (1870) were ushering in an era where—at least for a wealthy few—passengers on common carriers would be able to readily purchase around-the-world journeys which formerly were multi-year adventures attempted on sailing ships by a hardy, pioneering minority. The journey, as described in the story, was technically possible with the new technology of its era. In a certain sense, the story was also a showcase of the vastness of the British Empire at that time, as the majority of places visited by Fogg were British colonies. Such places include Egypt, Yemen, India, Singapore, Hong Kong and Ireland, with Shanghai also home to a British concession at that time.

Publication and adaptations Around the World in Eighty Days was first published as a serial from October to December 1872, causing some readers to believe that the journey took place in real life. The book was published in 1873. The complete text of the novel is on Wikisource in the original French and in an English translation. The book is available for free from Project Gutenberg with a free companion audio book. The story was so popular with the public that it has spawned many film and TV adaptations. The 1956 film version starring David Niven and Cantinflas won 5 Academy Awards, including Best Picture. It was a star-studded cast featuring cameos by Frank Sinatra, Marlene Dietrich and others. At a time when round-the-world travel was becoming far more accessible due to commercial flights, it sparked massive interest in travel and tourism. Some of the adaptations have set up Fogg and Passepartout travelling a leg of the journey in a hot air balloon. While balloons

Prepare

Travellers retracing the original 1870s voyage proposal in the modern era will find that much has changed; overland travel times have been slashed by more than half as diesel and electrified rail has replaced twenty mile-per-hour steam trains, while the number of ocean-going passenger vessels has greatly diminished as air travel has taken much of the trans-Atlantic and trans-Pacific passenger volume. While one Cunard passenger liner still plies the seas, most passenger ship travel is by cruise ships designed as entertainment rather than as the backbone of an efficient transport system. Departures are less frequent and the entire round-the-world overland journey may need to be structured to accommodate which sea crossings are available on which days; many only run seasonally or infrequently. On some crossings, freighter travel might be an option if there is no passenger ship, but the number of spaces on these vessels is limited; a private ocean-going vessel (such as a yacht) may also be an option. The "world cruise" offered (usually as a once-a-year tour) by cruise ship lines cannot be completed in eighty days as it's designed for sightseeing; it takes a hopelessly indirect route, calls in every port, and stops for a day or two to allow the traveller to tour each city. Certainly no replacement for the historic ocean liner, which was built for speed. By the time the passenger returns home, 120 days or so would have passed and any bets or wagers on the rapidity of this seemingly-mighty vessel would have been lost more than a month ago. Phileas Fogg would not be impressed. Passport and visa restrictions are not to be neglected, especially as overland travel requires entering a long list of multiple nations instead of merely flying over them. The days of passports claiming "An Australian (or Canadian, or whichever realm) citizen is a British subject" and that claim being largely respected throughout a vast Britannic Empire are long gone; every country applies its own arbitrary restrictions to the global traveller. A few points under British control in the depicted era are no longer part of the empire or Commonwealth; the Suez Canal is now controlled by Egypt, the pol

The original itinerary

Phileas Fogg and Passepartout started out in London.

London – Paris – Turin – Brindisi by rail and boat

Fogg travels from 1 London, to 2 Paris, 3 Turin and 4 Brindisi within three days. The novel describes this leg indirectly and without detail, through a laconic quote from Fogg's journal. Verne might have implied that Europe was the easiest continent to traverse. This remains possible; in the modern era one may take Eurostar from St. Pancras in London to Paris, then trains through Munich and Bologna to Brindisi in southeastern Italy, 29 hours total. While various proposals for a Channel Tunnel had been made as early as 1802, no one had attempted to build one; an 1881–82 attempt was abandoned after the first mile. Fogg would therefore almost certainly have crossed the English Channel by boat. A more authentic way to replicate this route would thus be to take a train from London to Dover, cross the English channel to Calais by ferry, then catch a train onwards to Paris from Calais. From Paris, take the Milan-bound TGV and get off at Turin. You can board a Frecciarossa high-speed train in Turin that takes you to Brindisi.

Brindisi – Suez – Aden – Bombay by steamer Fogg takes the Mongolia, which arrives at 5 Suez in 4 days, stopping in 6 Aden to take on coal, reaching 7 Bombay 6 days later. In Suez, a Scotland Yard detective named Fix — who has been sent out from London in pursuit of a bank robber — notes that Fogg fits the description, so he follows them on the rest of the journey. This may be difficult to replicate as written, as Somali piracy disrupted sea traffic entering the Gulf of Aden from 2000 to 2017. Sailing on a freight ship or on a cruise may be possible. Otherwise it's going to be hard, time-consuming, expensive, bureaucratic and dangerous if you want to duplicate this leg as closely as possible. Additionally, because of Yemen's on-going civil war, stopping off in Aden is very dangerous and strongly discouraged (as of 2024). Cruise lines no longer ply the route from Europe to Alexandria, so you will have to go either via Malta to Tunisia or via Greece or Cyprus to Israel (though it's a bad idea to get an Israeli stamp in your passport, unless