Eighty Days Around the World

In the theatre area of London at Bedford Street, l perceive a mystery is about to unfold. I’m excited about visiting the family home of Mr. Phileas Fogg, yet I know he is a fictitious character in Jules Verne's book, "Around the World in Eighty Days."

We pre-book a table slot in the Fogg establishment. Now a large pub. The story is that the mother of Fogg lived in the house . 

Most of us are dreamers about travel, some of us enjoy the journey, some the exciting arrival, but the place is where the real fun should kick in. Jules Verne in his book "Around the World in Eighty Days" starts and ends in London. It’s all about the race for Mr Fogg , not the sight-seeing. This includes nineteen locations and thirteen countries. Trains, ships , steamers vehicles  included. Paris, Bombay, Calcutta, Egypt, Hong Kong, Singapore, Japan, San Francisco, New York, Liverpool, Dublin and back to London. I’m happy to say I’ve been to or worked in all the above . There are also some other locations in his book but I may not make the effort to go there e.g. Salt Lake City, Omaha, The Suez, and Yokohama. Fogg the intrepid traveller in the book was the creation of Jules Verne and two people who inspired him. An American entrepreneur and William Perry Fogg, a writer and adventurer. In the two travel books of the real Perry Fogg he visits India, China, Japan, America and maybe more. Jules' inspiration came from William's travel stories and his surname. Jules the writer was born in 1828 and at the age of eleven he stored away on a ship. Most of his books were published after his death, sadly he had periods of depression.

Jules Verne in his book "Around the World in Eighty Days" starts and ends in London. It’s all about the race for Mr Fogg , not the sight seeing. This includes nineteen locations and thirteen countries

My favourite cities are New York and Paris, which I’ve visited and written about many times. It’s great to have tours and trips of multiple locations. Some of my more memorable tours include 16 cities in the USA to meet the local airport owners , just happening to be in New Orleans when the Mardi Gras Festival was on. 30 days in Morocco, part work - part leisure, but toured this safe historical country. Trips and moving home came to me often as a child in Central Africa with missionary parents, we did so many tours . Borders were easy to cross in those days. Visiting multiple countries I find two passports can be useful . Six weeks touring in Europe has been done more than three times and many countries visited .  A month in Japan with extensive amazing fast trains and a helpful guide was unique.

Fogg in the book, whilst trying to avoid a British detective, called “Fix” who is chasing him, is also on a wager that he can go round the world in eighty days. He finds the time to marry by rescuing a lady called Aouda from suttee sacrifice fire. Another character featured in the book was Fogg’s valet Passepartout, creatively helping his boss on his journey.

On getting back to London, the police case against Fogg is dropped. So look out for more intrepid travel writers. Bill Bryson was my early inspiration, but today there are blogs and videos, Facebook and other easy ways to follow the performing travelers. You can feel as though you are there. If you are a reader, check in to the Daily Mirror Life Sri Lanka every Friday for The Whinging Pome travels.