Chasing Fogg – Around the World Journal

Inspired by the Jules Verne character, Phileas Fogg, we set out to travel the world in 2001 with the goal of making it around the world in eighty days without using any air travel. Like Fogg, we began and concluded our journey in London which made it convenient for us to track our progress relative to him – “Chasing Fogg” as it were. Each day, we wrote in our journals to capture current events and the feel of the trip and posted infrequently on a great website that had been set up for us. However the challenge of turning our collected writings into something of interest was daunting.

As the 15th anniversary of the trip neared in 2016, I felt obliged to make an attempt to turn our journals into something that could be shared. The excerpts below capture our thoughts and experiences from the road. Maybe someday they will form the skeleton of something larger. Until then, enjoy.

March 4, 2001 (Day -4)
We have managed to get all of our bags packed and get them and ourselves to the airport ...
March 6, 2001 (Day -2)
March 6, 2001 Acclimating to European time. Staying in our typical haunt close to the British Museum. Today’s adventures took ...
March 7, 2001 (Day -1)
March 7, 2001: London Places. It all starts tomorrow. Had a vivid dream about golfing at night and a car ...
March 8, 2001 (Day 1)
March 8, 2001 (Day 1): Dusseldorf, Germany A light rain fell as we departed London this morning at 10.25am. The clock is ...
March 10, 2001 (Day 3)
March 10, 2001 (Day 3): Vlotho, Germany A five-year-old card shark trounced both me and her older sister at UNO. When ...
March 11, 2001 (Day 4)
March 11, 2001 (Day 4): Overnight train to Copenhagen Visited the Junkerhaus in Lemgo today. Anna had visited the house years ...
March 12, 2001 (Day 5)
March 12, 2001 (Day 5): 10.30am – Copenhagen Denmark has the oldest monarchy in Europe, dating to the 10th century. The ...
March 13, 2001 (Day 6)
March 13, 2001 (Day 6): Skeppsholmen Hostel, Stockholm, 11pm Morale: good.  Stockholm has plenty of good coffee shops - many populated ...
March 14, 2001 (Day 7)
March 14, 2001 (Day 7): Aboard the Tallink ferry, Regina Baltica, en route to Tallinn - 10pm Morale: good. Health: OK.  My ...
March 15, 2001 (Day 8)
March 15, 2001 (Day 8): Tallinn, Estonia - 10pm  The ferry docked on schedule at about 10am this morning. Overcast and ...
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