Around the World in 80 Days? How viable would it be in 2022?

[StephenHunter]

I'm working on a novel (working title The Phileas Fogg Challenge) whereby a pair of social media stars decide to travel around the world in under 80 days, to increase their subscriber numbers. I can of course exercise dramatic licence with certain things, but would appreciate some thoughts about routing, events that could occur, challenges etc. The self-imposed rules/notes are:

• Start from The Reform Club in London and proceed in an easterly direction
• The Tropic of Cancer must be crossed at some point in the journey
• No heavier-than-air flight is allowed (so balloons are OK)
• My leads are a white male (who is the camera/sound guy) and an Asian female (the main personality). They have no romantic inclinations towards each other and I have no plans to go that way.
• The two leads are in their 20s and reasonably fit.
• My leading lady is planning to do the thing dressed in Victorian costume.
• They will crowdfund the trip.
• Other influencers will be able to assist them with lifts etc. if required.

So, yes. Let's have your thoughts?

 

[Gloster]

I would have thought that a major problem is getting between the continents. The rest can be done by road and rail, with the tropic possibly crossed in India (better than Saudi Arabia if you have a woman travelling), but the lack of trans-ocean shipping could be a problem. Scrounging lifts on freighters might not be the most exciting episodes.

 

[stuu]

The Russians have ruined the easy route - various trains to Hong Kong could be done in ~12 days, then a long wait for a berth on a cargo ship across the Pacific - as Gloster rightly points out, that's the problem.

The obvious route now is via Turkey-Azerbaijan-Caspian Sea-Turkmenistan-Kazakhstan-China, possibly going via Tibet and Nepal to India and then SE Asia and trying to find a ship in Singapore or something.

It sounds an interesting idea, keep us posted

 

[Gostav]

Due to border controls still in many countries (especially China) since the coronavirus, I think 2022 is still not good for this plan.

 

[StephenHunter]

Due to border controls still in many countries (especially China) since the coronavirus, I think 2022 is still not good for this plan.

I'm going to jump the story forward a few years in any event.

 

[TPO]

Suggest you take a look at the BBC TV series/ book presented by Michael Palin in the 1980s, Around the World in 80 Days. Available on DVD. He also did a follow up programme 20 yrs or so later where he went back and tracked down people he'd met during the trip.

One of the episodes went through Ukraine, poignant given what is happening there now.

Palin crossed the oceans on freighters. I believe that these days some freight ships do carry booked passengers, look at low carbon travel specialists.

TPO

 

[Gloster]

Other than freighters and sail-it-yourself yachts, the only choice might be positioning moves of cruise liners. That might tie your time schedule down, but you could try a ‘Will they/won’t they make the port in time to catch the last positioning move of the season.‘

 

[StephenHunter]

Suggest you take a look at the BBC TV series/ book presented by Michael Palin in the 1980s, Around the World in 80 Days. Available on DVD. He also did a follow up programme 20 yrs or so later where he went back and tracked down people he'd met during the trip.

One of the episodes went through Ukraine, poignant given what is happening there now.

Palin crossed the oceans on freighters. I believe that these days some freight ships do carry booked passengers, look at low carbon travel specialists.

TPO

I've watched the 1988 series - it got a repeat when the David Tennant series was aired. He didn't go through Ukraine on that trip - that was 1991's Pole to Pole just before independence and he went again during the 2006-2007 New Europe trip.

He did go through China a few months before Tiananmen Square, which happened between filming and broadcast.

 

[LNW-GW Joint]

One of the episodes went through Ukraine, poignant given what is happening there now.

Ukraine was one of the Pole to Pole episodes, not 80 Days (which went Italy-Egypt-Saudi Arabia etc).
In Pole to Pole he was trying to keep near 30 degrees East and travelled from Leningrad via Kiev to Odessa (Russian spelling then), then by ship to Istanbul.
In Istanbul he discovered that the Soviet Union he had just passed through had been abolished (December 1991), replaced by the CIS states.

 

[Peter Mugridge]

Other than freighters and sail-it-yourself yachts, the only choice might be positioning moves of cruise liners. That might tie your time schedule down, but you could try a ‘Will they/won’t they make the port in time to catch the last positioning move of the season.‘

The Atlantic at least would be easy: The Queen Mary 2...

 

[MotCO]

Top Deck Travel used to do Australia - India - Europe - England in Bristol Lodekkas. Not sure if there is anything similar now, but I do recall a London - India overland by coach recently.

 

[plugwash]

I think it would be very difficult at the moment without access to ocean-going private watercraft. Perhaps it will improve in a few years, perhaps it won't.

Russia are in the midst of a hot war with ukraine and a cold war with the west. I don't think travel there by westerners is outright banned but it certainly doesn't seem to be recommended.In any case unless you added say a detour into mexico or southern china a Russia route probablly wouldn't satisfy the OP's "crosses the tropic of cancer" requirement. Even if you did go to russia it still leaves you with the problem of how to get to America.

The traditional way would be to continue into china, and then try to pick up a freighter from there to america. However China are still pursuing a "zero-covid" policy and aren't accepting tourists and as far as I can tell freighters stopped taking passengers during the covid pandemic and have for the most part not restarted. Maybe they will maybe they won't time will tell.

What about a more southerly route through Turkey? more in line with the traditional "around the world in 80 days" routes

According to the UK government "Azerbaijan’s land borders with all neighbouring countries remain closed." and "At present, entry to Turkmenistan is prohibited except for Turkmen nationals and accredited diplomats, permanently registered foreigners and some employees of international companies and organisations."

Kazachstan seems to be open to foreign visitors, perhaps you could find a ferry there from Georgia, but even if you do it doesn't really seem to help you, you just have russia to the north and China to the south.

Afganistan is back under the control of the taliban. Again I don't know if it's possible to visit but it doesn't seem advisable.Doesn't look like it helps much anyway.

If you visit Iran you are no longer eligible to enter the US on the Visa waiver program, possiblly not a showstopper but certainly a potential problem. Nevertheless It seems like it may be the most viable route east. It's borders with Turkey and Packistan seem to be open from there it seems you could get to India and Bangladesh. I've no idea how long this journey would take.

But then you seem to hit a wall. Myanmar are apparently not issuing tourist visas at the moment and China has the same problems mentioned above.

 

[dutchflyer]

Do not want to spoil the party, but freighter-ships that also take pax are also a thing of <2000. Insurance, uncertain timings, the need for much more extra conveniences etc on board simply makes it too cumbersome for the tiny amount of extra money they may earn. I´ve worked on the side in travel in working life and got the info. it may still exist here and there for short trips (like on Baltic Sea or Mediterranean), but not over the ocean
So just for short: you have to look at the occasional cruiseship doing this trips-there will be (or at least used to be pre=covid, so may return if all is back to normal) perhaps 1 or 2 such trips/year. It will cost the earth-much more as even the whole thing in business in planes. But maybe it also makes it either easier or more challenging to write the story.
As a very frequent visitor to Asia; young ladies willing to wear victorian dress in tropical weather will also need a high incentive to do that. The tipical Singy girl wears sneakers or sandals and shorts. Maybe adapt to tradional dress from there? (sarong etc.)

 

[Ken H]

Don Whillans, the rock climber, did Manchester - India on a motorbike. His account is an appendix to one of chris bonningtons himalayan expedirion books. Might have been the other way. Rusty memory. 1960 I think.

 

[Statto]

I think it would be very difficult at the moment without access to ocean-going private watercraft. Perhaps it will improve in a few years, perhaps it won't.

Russia are in the midst of a hot war with ukraine and a cold war with the west. I don't think travel there by westerners is outright banned but it certainly doesn't seem to be recommended.In any case unless you added say a detour into mexico or southern china a Russia route probablly wouldn't satisfy the OP's "crosses the tropic of cancer" requirement. Even if you did go to russia it still leaves you with the problem of how to get to America.

The traditional way would be to continue into china, and then try to pick up a freighter from there to america. However China are still pursuing a "zero-covid" policy and aren't accepting tourists and as far as I can tell freighters stopped taking passengers during the covid pandemic and have for the most part not restarted. Maybe they will maybe they won't time will tell.

What about a more southerly route through Turkey? more in line with the traditional "around the world in 80 days" routes

According to the UK government "Azerbaijan’s land borders with all neighbouring countries remain closed." and "At present, entry to Turkmenistan is prohibited except for Turkmen nationals and accredited diplomats, permanently registered foreigners and some employees of international companies and organisations."

Kazachstan seems to be open to foreign visitors, perhaps you could find a ferry there from Georgia, but even if you do it doesn't really seem to help you, you just have russia to the north and China to the south.

Afganistan is back under the control of the taliban. Again I don't know if it's possible to visit but it doesn't seem advisable.Doesn't look like it helps much anyway.

If you visit Iran you are no longer eligible to enter the US on the Visa waiver program, possiblly not a showstopper but certainly a potential problem. Nevertheless It seems like it may be the most viable route east. It's borders with Turkey and Packistan seem to be open from there it seems you could get to India and Bangladesh. I've no idea how long this journey would take.

But then you seem to hit a wall. Myanmar are apparently not issuing tourist visas at the moment and China has the same problems mentioned above.

Going through Turkey has a few problems.

Current Foreign Office advice is, against all travel to Afghanistan, & border crossings could well be closed, same advice for Syria, & Iraq, so no going through Turkey to Saudi Arabia.

Turkmenistan is advise against all but essential travel.

Advice against all but essential travel to most of Iran, do not travel within 100km of the entire Iran, Afghanistan border, & in Sistan Baluchistan province, again borders could well be closed

Egypt, can travel as normal through Alexandria to Cairo then to a port on the Red Sea, but avoid most of the Sinai, & against all but essential travel to Western Egypt, mostly West of the Nile.

At the mo, the best way to do this journey, could well be following the route through Egypt, Saudi Arabia, India to Singapore, then try & get a ship to Japan if you can't go through China, then ship to US or Canada

 

[Roast Veg]

Other than freighters and sail-it-yourself yachts, the only choice might be positioning moves of cruise liners. That might tie your time schedule down, but you could try a ‘Will they/won’t they make the port in time to catch the last positioning move of the season.‘

These are usually up for sale as regular cruise tickets, just with unusually short itineraries.

The Atlantic at least would be easy: The Queen Mary 2...

Best bet for crossing the Pacific and then the Atlantic is to do it in April or May, when the cruises out of Yokohama are running. The rest of the journey can be thus planned around those dates.

Assuming all covid restrictions are lifted, but political instability in Russia remains, that then gives you a journey as follows:

1. London-Turkey by a usual routing
2. Turkey-Azerbaijan via Lake Van and Georgia
3. Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan by ferry
4. Turkmen-/Uzbeki-/Kazakh- stan by rail and taxis (for border crossings)
5. Kazakhstan-China by rail
6. Visit Hong Kong (to cross the tropic of cancer)
7. Sail to Japan (via Shanghai)
8. Cruise to Vancouver or San Francisco
9. Rail to New York
10. Cruise to Southampton
11. Return to start point

Your characters (assuming they hold British passports) would need a visa for Turkmenistan and for (at least) the first entry into China.

 

[pemma]

Suggest you take a look at the BBC TV series/ book presented by Michael Palin in the 1980s, Around the World in 80 Days.

Even at that time he was being told that a reduction in the number of shipping movements would make the journey difficult.

1. London-Turkey by a usual routing
2. Turkey-Azerbaijan via Lake Van and Georgia
3. Azerbaijan-Turkmenistan by ferry
4. Turkmen-/Uzbeki-/Kazakh- stan by rail and taxis (for border crossings)
5. Kazakhstan-China by rail
6. Visit Hong Kong (to cross the tropic of cancer)

Series 1 of 'Race Around the World' shows different options for getting from the UK to Singapore avoiding air. They all did the ferry crossing to Turkmenistan and they didn't go to plan due to bad weather. I seem to remember the ones who attempted to get through the Balkans by train and coach did less well than the ones who attempted to get to the south of Italy and then took a ferry to Greece.

 

[181]

Do not want to spoil the party, but freighter-ships that also take pax are also a thing of <2000. Insurance, uncertain timings, the need for much more extra conveniences etc on board simply makes it too cumbersome for the tiny amount of extra money they may earn. I´ve worked on the side in travel in working life and got the info. it may still exist here and there for short trips (like on Baltic Sea or Mediterranean), but not over the ocean

It's not that bad -- the links at https://www.seat61.com/links.htm#freighter-travel indicate that, although there may be fewer trans-oceanic options than when I crossed the Atlantic that way in 2005, there are (or were pre-Covid) still a variety of routes available. Covid has no doubt disrupted this, but there are some signs of recovery.

I've heard that people sometimes manage to cross oceans as crew on other people's yachts, rather than having to have their own, although I presume some degree of sailing experience is helpful if not essential. There's some information at https://www.theoceanpreneur.com/sailing-across-the-atlantic-as-crew/.

 

[Gloster]

I am presuming that the OP is looking at a background situation where all Covid-justified restrictions have disappeared but political ones have been brought up to date. But we live in a volatile world.

 

[Roast Veg]

Series 1 of 'Race Around the World' shows different options for getting from the UK to Singapore avoiding air. They all did the ferry crossing to Turkmenistan and they didn't go to plan due to bad weather. I seem to remember the ones who attempted to get through the Balkans by train and coach did less well than the ones who attempted to get to the south of Italy and then took a ferry to Greece.

At the time of filming, the Trans Siberian would surely have been the most reliable route surely? I'm aware they have checkpoints along the way in that show which likely precluded it though.

 

[pemma]

At the time of filming, the Trans Siberian would surely have been the most reliable route surely? I'm aware they have checkpoints along the way in that show which likely precluded it though.

They had to go via Delphi.

They were probably forced to avoid Iran as well due to it being a BBC programme and the BBC being banned from Iran.

 

[Struner]

They had to go via Delphi.

They were probably forced to avoid Iran as well due to it being a BBC programme and the BBC being banned from Iran.

Did they consult Pythia then? Notoriously ambiguous…

 

[StephenHunter]

Did they consult Pythia then? Notoriously ambiguous…

I thought Oracle merged with Teletext in 1992.

 

[TPO]

Ukraine was one of the Pole to Pole episodes, not 80 Days (which went Italy-Egypt-Saudi Arabia etc).
In Pole to Pole he was trying to keep near 30 degrees East and travelled from Leningrad via Kiev to Odessa (Russian spelling then), then by ship to Istanbul.
In Istanbul he discovered that the Soviet Union he had just passed through had been abolished (December 1991), replaced by the CIS states.

Oops, yes, thanks for that.

I have the whole set of Michael Palin series- Around the World in 80 days, Pole to Pole, plus the Pacific rim, Himalaya and Eastern Europe series. Fantastic series and a window into so much. Forget which ones cover which sometimes, although the voyage on the dhow in the first series is very memorable......

The thing which drove the first series was the timing whereas with the other series it was much less hurried and there was much more about the places he was in and people he met along the way.

TPO

 

[Ken H]

...

I've heard that people sometimes manage to cross oceans as crew on other people's yachts, rather than having to have their own, although I presume some degree of sailing experience is helpful if not essential. There's some information at https://www.theoceanpreneur.com/sailing-across-the-atlantic-as-crew/.

If sailing is in your optin i woukd go west, i e do america first. Then yiu are sailing with the prevailing winds.

Another option for crewing is to crew for yacht deliveries. I did a bit of delivery around 2000. But they dont tend to have muxh crew on board. So its hard work. Crew of skipper and 1 or 2 crew. Crew do it for the fun of it. Skipper is paid. All expenses paid. (Travel and food on board)

 

[OldandRambling]

I take my hat off to anyone able to write a novel, the best I can do is to string a few words together to make a brief train trip report!

Is it not quite easy to travel at speed across almost any land mass nowadays? I can see that the ocean crossings will present more of an obstacle, and room for creativity.

Do let us know when the book is finished, I love to read travel adventures!

 

[pemma]

Is it not quite easy to travel at speed across almost any land mass nowadays?

In the book Fogg finds the railway line across India hasn't been completed so he has to buy an elephant. That doesn't feature in some of the film versions and in the present day ABTA (travel agent body) recommend their members don't sell or promote elephant riding due to concerns over how elephants are 'trained'.

Although, in the real world in the present day there's probably rail lines closed and no replacement buses.

 

[OldandRambling]

In the book Fogg finds the railway line across India hasn't been completed so he has to buy an elephant. That doesn't feature in some of the film versions and in the present day ABTA (travel agent body) recommend their members don't sell or promote elephant riding due to concerns over how elephants are 'trained'.

Although, in the real world in the present day there's probably rail lines closed and no replacement buses.

Certainly no need to buy or hire elephants in India these days. One can travel by train in air conditioned comfort across India from Mumbai to Chennai (Bombay to Madras) in around 12-18 hours now.
Modern "youtubers" whizz all around the world with their go-pro's and mobile phones, creating all sorts of travel videos, much as the original poster here wants to base his book on.
Youtubers need to have a unique selling point to try to get views, and I assume the author here will use his creative licence to engineer situations which provide some jeopardy and tension to keep the pages turning!