In Which Two People Are Inspired by a Jules Verne Adventure…
Many lifetimes ago, we took a trip. It was the benighted time at the Turn of the Century (i.e. 2001) and my Dearest Travel Companion and I undertook a journey inspired by the Jules Verne character, Phileas Fogg. Like Fogg, we sought to circumnavigate the globe – from London to London – without using airplanes. Ideally we would go – as the title of Verneโs book suggests – Around the World in Eighty Days.
The posts below are a collection of our web posts on this site during our journey and excerpts from the personal journals we kept. Since we traveled in the dark days before prevalent Wi-Fi and social media, our updates on the road were limited to whatever internet cafes we could find. Our original web postings are noted with the typewriter icon.
Interactive map with our route and shortcuts to posts

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Preparation (Day -4)
Read more: Preparation (Day -4)Nellie Bly managed to travel around the world with one piece of hand luggage…
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Dress Rehearsal (Day -2)
Read more: Dress Rehearsal (Day -2)In London acclimating to European time. T minus two days and counting.
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Dusseldorf (Day 1)
Read more: Dusseldorf (Day 1)On the road and the clock is running. First stop: Dusseldorf.
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Vlotho (Day 4)
Read more: Vlotho (Day 4)Visiting friends in Vlotho then touring the unique Junkerhaus.
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Stockholm (Day 5)
Read more: Stockholm (Day 5)Leaving Germany for a night train to Copenhagen and the new land connection to Sweden.
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Stockholm (Day 6)
Read more: Stockholm (Day 6)Full day in Stockholm seeing things historic like the Vasa and ABBA
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Leaving Stockholm (Day 7)
Read more: Leaving Stockholm (Day 7)Leaving Germany for a night train to Copenhagen and the new land connection to Sweden.
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Tallinn (Day 8)
Read more: Tallinn (Day 8)Full day in the capital of Estonia learning history and keeping warm.
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Tallinn (Day 9)
Read more: Tallinn (Day 9)Learning more history while exploring the capital of Estonia
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Helsinki (Day 10)
Read more: Helsinki (Day 10)Booze cruise across the Gulf of Finland to the Finnish capital of Helsinki
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Helsinki (Day 11)
Read more: Helsinki (Day 11)From our hostel in Helsinki, we toured the UNESCO world heritage site of Suomenlinna.
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Helsinki (Day 12)
Read more: Helsinki (Day 12)Last day in Helsinki before departing for Russia. Tour of the city including the Rock Church of Temppeliaukio and loads of coffee.
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Time Check: Day 12
Read more: Time Check: Day 12Checking in to track our progress against Fogg twelve days into our journey
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St. Petersburg (Day 13)
Read more: St. Petersburg (Day 13)Early morning train gets us into an icy St. Petersburg, Russia.
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St. Petersburg (Day 14)
Read more: St. Petersburg (Day 14)Escaping the cold by touring the Hermitage in St. Petersburg, Russia – a mix of art and history.
