'AROUND THE WORLD IN 80 DAYS'
with MICHAEL PALIN
Inspired by the Jules Verne novel of the same name, Michael wanted fact to imitate fiction and valiantly set out from London - in 1988 - with the intention of arriving back at the doors of the Reform Club in the city in 80 days time. What's more, all travel undertaken was to be of the 'overland' variety� i.e. with no crafty plane flights involved.
Heading East and through Europe first, this - naturally - was a massive undertaking for the man and his small crew of cameramen who filmed his progress for the legendary TV series that accompanied the eventual release of this book. From Greece he hopped across the Mediterranean island of Crete, into Egypt oh-so-briefly, managing to check out the Great Pyramids out on the outskirts of Cairo ('I had always presumed they were in the middle of nowhere, marooned in the desert. In fact they are within five minutes' walk of apartment blocks in the suburb of Giza'), before catching a boat down the Red Sea, disembarking at Jeddah and driving across the stifling desert heat of Saudi Arabia. From Dubai he travelled by dhow across the Arabian Sea (which forms a slow going and highly detailed extensive mid-section of the journey) and headed for India's vibrant city of Bombay, before taking a train cross-country to Madras.
Are you still with me?!�
Deep breaths; deep breaths� there's a long way to go yet!!!
Sailing from Madras across the Indian Ocean to Singapore and almost missing a vital connection, time - or lack of - was a constant threat that tormentingly ticked loud and clear in Michael's mind. Obviously if he didn't make it back to London in the 80 days allotted, it wouldn't be the end of the world, for this truly was an unprecedented adventure of a lifetime that Michael has so skillfully recounted in his book, being a wonderful writer and observer-of-life that the man is.
Across the South China Sea from Singapore he chugged, with Hong Kong awaiting his arrival. From there he covered much ground fast by train headed for Shanghai. Edging slowly but surely nearer the bulk of the USA, he first went across to Japan and sampled the hi-tech world apart of Tokyo's vast metropolis before heading across the Pacific Ocean towards LA. From there a train took the strain, via a stop-off in the beautiful Rockie Mountains at the fabled holiday resort of Aspen, that took him to Chicago and on to New York. With only the Atlantic to cross and time running out, it was going to be close but he made it back in time� even if the doors of London's Reform Club were shut on re-arrival.
In just 79 days, Michael had made the trip of a lifetime and lived to tell the tale. In the book's touching Afterword he says 'The generosity with which people we met along the way gave us their time and their help increased my optimism for the future. Travel of this kind, travel when the hands get dirty, when contact is made, brought home to me how much we all see of the world on television and in the newspapers, and how little we know of it. Journeys like this can only be good for us.'
Fortunately, Michael is as great a writer as he is an all-appreciating traveller. Despite not feeling very well and letting such a fact be known as he made slow progress towards India on the dhow, Michael and his musings make for the best company any armchair traveller could wish for.
Put simply, this might be the best adventure story ever told, and told with such wry wit too� it could very well change your life.
(Steve Rudd)
ISBN 0-563-36213-8 (BBC BOOKS; first published in 1989)
www.palinstravels.co.uk