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 Verne’s 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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St. Petersburg (Day 15)
Aboard the Cruiser Aurora and images from our adventures in chilly St. Petersburg, Russia.
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St. Petersburg (Day 16)
A visit to the Museum on the Blockade of Leningrad shows communication can exceed language.
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Moscow (Day 18)
Touring the Moscow subway, browsing Soviet memorabilia, and dining on Georgian foods.
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Moscow (Day 19)
Visited the Graveyard of Fallen Monuments in Moscow where old Soviets go to be forgotten.
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Moscow (Day 20)
Visiting the Tomb of Lenin (still dead) and the treasures of the Kremlin before boarding the Trans-Mongolian Express
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Trans-Mongolian (Day 21)
First full day on the Trans-Mongolian railway bound for Beijing. Getting acclimated into our home of the next several days.
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Trans-Mongolian (Day 22)
On the Trans-Mongolian railway stopping at Yekaterinberg and meeting our teacher’s family on the platform in Novosibirsk.
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Trans-Mongolian (Day 23)
An unscheduled and mysterious stop on the Trans-Mongolian railway outside of Krasnoyarsk.
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Mongolian Border (Day 24)
After skirting the southern shore of Lake Baikal, we arrive at the Mongolian border – with too many roubles.
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Mongolia (Day 25)
Across the Gobi Desert to the Mongolian capital of Ulaanbaatar with still too many roubles in my pocket.
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Beijing (Day 26)
After a late night crossing of the border and our first views of the Great Wall, we arrive in Beijing.
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Beijing (Day 27)
First full day in Beijing exploring the Ancient Observatory and learning about a US-China conflict.
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Beijing (Day 28)
First full day in Beijing exploring the Ancient Observatory and learning about a US-China conflict.
