Around the World in 80 Days: from Jules Verne to Mike Horn

 “Not all those who wander are lost,” JRR Tolkien

 “I bet twenty thousand that I will travel around the world in eighty days. Thus spoke Phileas Fogg, on the evening of October 18, 1872, to his companions at the Reform Club in London. And there goes our English gentleman with his servant Passepartout! But numerous are the perils that await them on the road through India, China, and the Americas.” You must have recognized Around the World in 80 Days by Jules Verne, yet other travel writers have invited us on their adventures around the globe...

The Book of Marvels by Marco Polo. It's a miracle that manuscripts have come down to us, and we believe that it was during a stay in a Genoese prison that the navigator dictated his memories of his world tour. We learn, astonished, that he embarked for Asia at the age of 15; his father and uncle were trading with the new continent. To get to China, he crossed the Pamir, Upper Afghanistan, and reached Cambaluc, today’s Beijing. He even rubbed shoulders with the powerful like Kublai, the Great Khan! In fact, he remained in his service for 15 years, serving both as a governor and an informant! He finally returned to Europe via Ceylon and the Strait of Hormuz. The success of the book is resounding because, in addition to documenting the geography, he proves to be an excellent ethnologist. In this sense, he paves the way for the explorers of the Renaissance.   

 In the 18th century, Louis-Antoine de Bougainville was the first Frenchman to undertake a circumnavigation. The expedition, funded by Louis XV, served several purposes: it was intended to be scientific. The Pacific continent was largely unknown at the time and it was about opening new maritime routes. Thus were discovered the atolls of Polynesia: Tahiti, Vanuatu, but also the coasts of Papua. The frigate La Boudeuse carried naturalists and botanists on board. You all know the bougainvillea flower with its fuchsia hues, a variety that he brought back from this trip! Furthermore, the expedition had political aims, namely to establish a trading post for the French East India Company off the Chinese coast. This world tour is full of descriptions; he describes, for example, the glacier landscapes of Patagonia…

72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes, 14 seconds. Nellie Bly, here is the new record set by the young American reporter for her world tour. In an interview, Jules Verne, who had met her personally, stated that he had not doubted the success of her venture. In doing so, she intended to prove, at the end of the 19th century, that a woman is capable of traveling alone! What exact route did she follow? From London, she went to Brandis, crossed the Mediterranean, and reached Port Said. She crossed the tumultuous Suez Canal, made a stopover in Colombo in Ceylon, and passed the Strait of Malacca. After Singapore, she crossed the South China Sea and experienced the floating markets before meeting geishas in Japan. The most amusing part is that the newspaper she worked for had launched bets with its readers: how long would she exactly take? The winner was offered a trip to Europe, all expenses paid!

It was a visit to the Jardin des Plantes when he was just a small child that determined the life of this pastor's son who associated with André Gide. An oceanographer and naturalist, he once headed the Natural History Museum. However, he could not conceive life without the desert. On foot, on camelback, he roamed the Sahara for 60 years! In total, no fewer than 124 trips took him to Mauritania, Timbuktu, or Dakar. A committed man, a humanist, the explorer recounts in his work Méharées, which refers to camelback crossings of the desert, his life of wandering since the 1920s. Know that he even went in pursuit of a fictitious meteorite!

"A journey needs no reasons, it soon proves to be sufficient unto itself. You think you are going to make a journey, but soon it is the journey that makes you, or unmakes you." This is how Nicolas Bouvier, the Swiss Calvinist with the talents of a writer and photographer, defines travel. He studied Sanskrit, medieval history, and law when he hit the road in the summer of '53. Ten years passed before he published his travel narrative on his own account. It is aboard his Fiat Topolino that we travel with him through the Balkans, Anatolia, Iran or Afghanistan! To illustrate his adventures, we delight in the illustrations of his traveling companion Thierry Vernet...

No, this time it's no longer about the eponymous novel by Jules Verne but rather an equally thrilling version, one made by a Monty Python! It took the madness of Michael Palin to take up the challenge posed by the BBC in 1988: to match Jules Verne's trip around the world using the modes of transport of the time. The only difference is that he brought a filming crew with him! It seems that the elements conspired against him, but what could possibly discourage our hero? His adventures are second to none compared to those of Phileas Fogg, from the episode in the sewers of Venice to the former brothel of the Orient Express.

"Two centuries ago, guys dreamed of more than just high-speed internet; they were ready to die to see the bulbs of Moscow twinkle." Thus speaks Sylvain Tesson, the tireless traveler, the extreme explorer, the mad voyager. In 2012, it was the bicentenary of the Russian retreat, and he had the idea of retracing the journey of Napoleon's armies. He set off in a sidecar from the Invalides and was determined to reach Moscow after a 4000 km journey. This captivating story was described by journalist Christophe Ono-dit-Bio as a "literary epic, devilishly tonic, rebellious to the death." It's not surprising that the work was voted the best travel book by Lire magazine in 2015.

It may seem senseless to many, but the man is a seasoned navigator when he embarks on this adventure in 1999, which will last 17 months. The goal is to follow the Equator without deviating from it. By sail, on foot, by bike, or in a canoe, he accomplishes the feat, and it’s no small feat. This is recounted in Latitude Zero, and the itinerary he chooses is as follows. Starting from the African coasts, he reaches the gates of Asia by traveling through the African continent. To this end, he must face the virgin forest in Brazil, climb peaks of 6000m, cross war-torn lands in Africa, and survive encounters with wild fauna. He even nearly didn't survive an arrest – suffice it to say that the story is thrilling!

Looking for an unconventional read? I recommend The Adventures of a Gentleman-Traveller: 117 Days Around the World, published by Éditions Arthaud in 2012. Simon Allix boarded the Queen Elizabeth, an Art Deco transatlantic liner featuring a theater and a casino! He intends to make his global tour on this floating palace. His journey takes him to New York, San Francisco, Sydney, Hong Kong, Alexandria, Lisbon… He recounts the 41 stops that make up his luxurious journey while describing the lively life onboard and the dandy-globetrotters.

Make your own world tour with travel ideas!