When Jules Verne penned *Around the World in Eighty Days*, the idea of circling the entire globe in just eighty days seemed nearly impossible. Skip ahead 150 years, and modern readers don't find that timeframe nearly as astonishing.

Today's travel is incredibly fast. You can start your day in your own bed and end it by drifting off on a completely different continent. Maybe you’ve experienced this yourself during past vacations. Both times I traveled to see my family in Brazil, that's exactly what unfolded: I departed from my home in Ireland early in the morning and found myself asleep that night on the other side of the Atlantic.

But with all the advanced technology we have today, how long would a trip around the world actually take?

The original traveller

No, I’m not talking about Marco Polo. Despite the Italian explorer's fame, he never circumnavigated the globe. I’m actually referring to the fictional character Phileas Fogg, the main character in Jules Verne’s novel *Around the World in Eighty Days*.

When Mr. Fogg embarked on his journey around the globe, it wasn’t driven by a sense of adventure, a desire to immerse himself in diverse cultures and traditions, or a simple interest in sightseeing like any typical tourist. Fogg undertook the trip because he had the means to do so and was determined to validate his own convictions.

After a conversation about how technological progress and the expansion of the British Empire's colonies made it feasible to travel around the world in eighty days, Fogg was determined to show his friends he could accomplish what the Daily Telegraph claimed was possible. His friends, however, thought it was absurd and confidently bet £20,000 that he couldn't pull it off.

"A true Englishman would never jest about something as serious as a bet," responded Phileas Fogg with a grave expression. "I am willing to wager twenty thousand pounds against anyone who dares to challenge that I can travel around the world in eighty days or less." — Around the World in Eighty Days by Julius Verne.

"A true Englishman never jokes about something as serious as a wager," Phileas Fogg replied gravely. "I am prepared to bet twenty thousand pounds against anyone that I can travel around the world in eighty days or less."

Now, that’s bonkers.

£20,000 might seem like a hefty sum today, but when you consider the book came out in 1872 and adjust that to 2024, the amount is mind-blowing. Mr. Fogg wagered a whopping £2,834,272.54, which is nearly $3.5 million!

It’s astonishing to realize that Mr. Fogg spent a similar sum of money to pull off his feat, without even taking the time to appreciate the destinations he was seeing. In order to prove a point, he put his financial stability on the line and, in the end, he wouldn't gain anything—neither wealth nor cultural enrichment.

Travelling for fun

I bet the idea of racing around the globe just to prove a point doesn't actually appeal to you. It certainly doesn't to me.

If I were to embark on a journey around the world, I’d need just as much time as Fogg took. I would want to fully appreciate each place before moving on to another. Experiencing local sights, attending cultural festivals, savoring local cuisine, and engaging in tourist activities are all things I'd look forward to.

If that's what you want, several companies like Star Alliance and One World provide global travel options. Naturally, there are some terms and conditions, but these companies let you plan a single trip around the globe, covering multiple destinations in one booking. You need to begin and end in the same city, traveling either continuously eastward or westward, and you can explore over ten places within a year!

Following a journey similar to Mr. Fogg's over eighty days would set you back about $3,000 for airfare. However, if you had the over $3 million to spend like Verne’s hero, I suppose you'd be just fine.

However, if you were to embark on a journey around the globe under circumstances akin to those experienced by Mr. Fogg, aiming to do it as swiftly as possible, how much time would it require?

Around the world, in theory

Mr Fogg's wager is centered on making a statement, with no costs being too great. So, let's delve into the figures and details to determine just how swiftly you could accomplish this task.

First, let's consider the Earth's circumference. If you're under the impression that the Earth is flat, you might as well stop reading now because the math won't make sense for you. The Earth isn’t perfectly spherical, which means the circumference varies based on where you measure it. To keep things consistent, I'll use the Equator, which gives us the largest circumference: 40,075 km (24,901 miles).

The options for how you travel are vast, offering endless possibilities. Putting aside the limits of geography, biology, and physics, here’s a look at how long it would take to circle the globe if you never slept versus allowing 8 hours daily for sleep and basic needs (all speed averages provided by Google).

• Taking a leisurely stroll at 5km/h (3mph): it would either take you 334 days or 500 days.
• Riding a bike at a speed of 20km/h (12.4mph): 84 days or 126 days.
• Driving at a speed of 80 km/h (50 mph): whether it takes 21 days or 32 days.
• Taking to the skies in a Boeing 777 at a speed of 880 km/h (550 mph) will have you soaring for 2 days (46 hours).
• Flying the Concorde at Mach 2.04 (2,179 km/h or 1,354 mph): 19 hours.

Of course, these figures don't reflect the practicalities or disruptions of real life. For example, the calculations ignore potential issues with your gear or equipment. When it comes to flights, they don't account for taxing, landing, takeoff, or turbulence, all of which would increase the numbers. Even if you could switch planes to eliminate refueling time, these hypothetical stats just don't hold up.

Hopping through airports

To stick to Phileas Fogg’s schedule, you would need to travel through these cities: London (England), Paris (France), Brindisi (Italy), Suez (Egypt), Mumbai (formerly Bombay, in India), Kolkata (formerly Calcutta, in India), Singapore, Hong Kong (in China), Yokohama (in Japan), San Francisco (in the US), New York (in the US), and then return to London.

Mr. Fogg used trains and boats for his journey, but if you're interested in flying, you'll need to replace Suez with Cairo and Yokohama with Tokyo, essentially swapping ports for airports. To assist in planning, I turned to Google Maps for approximate travel times and costs (these are just rough estimates; actual prices may vary depending on the airline, luggage fees, and specific fare rules). Here's the itinerary I devised:.

• London to Paris: 1 hour and 15 minutes ($54)
• Paris to Brindisi: 2 hours and 30 minutes ($128).
• Brindisi to Cairo: 5 hours 30 minutes ($186).
• Cairo to Mumbai: 5 hours and 40 minutes ($112).
• From Mumbai to Kolkata: 2h 35 min ($70).
• Kolkata to Singapore: 4 hours 20 minutes ($156).
• Singapore to Hong Kong: 3 hours and 45 minutes ($122).
• Hong Kong to Tokyo: 4 hours 35 minutes ($120).
• Tokyo to San Francisco: 9h 15 min ($520).
• San Francisco to New York: 5 hours and 25 minutes ($130).
• New York to London: 6h 50 min ($273).

When you add everything together, that's 51 hours and 40 minutes of flying time, or just a bit more than two days!

Of course, the travel time doesn't take into account reaching the airport, boarding the plane, dealing with customs or security, or any of the typical hassles associated with commercial air travel. Given that most airports suggest arriving three hours prior for international flights, you'll likely need to tack on an additional 33 hours to your journey, bringing your total to 81h 40 min, which is roughly three and a half days.

That is, considering you could find flights departing exactly when you needed them. With sufficient funds, like Mr. Fogg had access to, it might actually be possible. However, the prices mentioned on the list are nowhere near the cost of hiring a private jet; they're the prices for a one-way economy ticket on commercial planes, which amount to $1,871.

According to Google, a private jet trip from New York to London is priced around $60,000, making it roughly 220 times pricier than a commercial flight seat. Assuming this cost ratio holds for other routes as well, the total expense would still be under half a million dollars—significantly less than what Mr. Fogg shelled out for his adventure.

Though hypotheticals are fascinating, it’s even more captivating to realize that humans have undertaken this journey throughout the years and achieved success in their efforts.

Real around the world records

Sure, here's the revised version: Phileas Fogg may be a character from fiction, but throughout the centuries, numerous adventurers and explorers have made and shattered records while traveling across the globe.

The first journey around the globe lasted 1082 days, just shy of three years, spanning from 1519 to 1522. This remarkable feat was accomplished by Spanish navigator and eventual captain, Juan Sebastián Elcano. The Magellan-Elcano Expedition embarked with a fleet of five ships and more than 270 crew members, but in the end, only one ship, the Victoria, returned with just eighteen men. The expedition's tale is filled with adventure and adversity, featuring starvation, scurvy, storms, battles, sabotage, mutinies (including one led by Elcano himself), and death. It could rival or even surpass Verne’s epic adventure.

Jules Verne could have drawn inspiration from George Francis Train, who journeyed around the globe by train and boat within eighty days back in 1870, albeit not consecutively since he took a month-long break in France. Mr. Train kept trying these adventurous voyages until 1892 when he managed to finish the trip in just sixty days.

In 1929, Hugo Eckener achieved the remarkable feat of completing the first-ever round-the-world trip in an airship. Leading the Graf Zeppelin, Eckener's journey took 21 days. Fast forward just two years to 1931, and Wiley Post, along with his navigator Harold Gatty, shattered that record. Aboard the Winnie Mae, a Lockheed Vega, they finished the voyage in a mere 8 days, 15 hours, and 51 minutes.

Amelia Earhart never finished her 1937 journey to become the first woman to fly around the globe, yet she remains a significant figure. Earhart's recognition overshadows that of Geraldine "Jerrie" Mock, who actually achieved the milestone of flying solo around the world in 1964. Although Mock didn't break any speed records with her 29-day trip, she documented her bold endeavor in a book.

Naturally, those older records have been long exceeded. Guinness World Records notes that Michel Dupont and Claude Hetru hold the present record for global circumnavigation. They completed their journey around the world aboard an Air France Concorde in a time of 31 hours, 27 minutes, and 49 seconds back in August 1995.

Guinness World Records features a category for the “Fastest circumnavigation by scheduled flights," and the current record is held by Tomas Reisinger. Reisinger completed his journey in an impressively quick time of 41 hours and 18 minutes, starting from Singapore in June 2022. Perhaps you’re tempted to take a shot at breaking his record?

If you ever choose to embark on a journey around the world, whether it takes eight days, eighty days, or even eight hundred days, I sincerely hope you don't end up spending three and a half million dollars without immersing yourself in the local culture, cuisine, and attractions. Since you're not out to set any records, you might as well have as much fun as possible!