Around the World in 80 Days

No, the above is not a typo- this book really is by Michael Palin of Monty Python fame. It is the book to accompany the BBC series of the late 1980s- is it possible for one man (and his film crew) to go around the world in eighty days or less without leaving the ground?

I’m not going to tell you the answer. For that, you’ll need to read the book and/or watch the series.

Michael Palin writes possibly the best travel books around. He has the ability to take you there to Bombay, Hong Kong or the Rockies in just a few words and capture the essence of the place. It’s not just because I’ve seen the series (I watched the series about twelve months) ago- his writing really is that good.

There’s another unexpected novel aspect to his show more journey- mobile phones and internet didn’t exist. There are references to Telexes, satellite phones…how they managed to communicate through it all was amazing. I suspect there is also not as much call nowadays for trips on cargo ships!

What I also liked about this book was that it’s not sugarcoated- Palin tells you when he’s feeling rotten, missing home and when he’s truly delighted. I highly recommend this book if you’re an armchair traveller or you just want to see what the world was like twenty years ago.

http://samstillreading.wordpress.com show less

A gently humorous and enjoyable book, Around the World in 80 Days follows Michael Palin as he attempts a modern-day version of the circumnavigation of the globe described in Verne's classic novel of the same name. Undertaken in 1988, much of what he's describing now seems as remote in time as it does in physical geography--a world where Margaret Thatcher's still relevant, Benazir Bhutto is newly elected, and the first Bush is about to come to power in the United States. Still, it's engagingly written, well illustrated, and shows a keen eye for detail. Worth the read.

In 1988, Monty Python vet Michael Palin, backed by a BBC camera crew, took on the challenge of duplicating the fictional Phileas Fogg's legendary journey around the entire globe -- in 80 days -- 115 years after that literary achievement. Limiting himself to only the methods of transportation that would have been available in the 1860s (many of which were no longer available to him!), Palin was not only filmed for his successful BBC documentary series, but he also kept a detailed journal, which is reproduced here, complete with hundreds of photos. This chaotic travelogue would have been entertaining enough, but when written by one of the Monty Python comedy troupe, you find yourself chuckling several times per page -- he can be show more alternately urban and witty one moment, and bawdy and unapologetic in the next. Palin has gone on to take numerous other filmed adventures around the globe in more recent years, but this first global trip still stands as one of the best. This book can be enjoyed on its own or read as a companion volume to the DVD set. In this print volume, Palin is able to provide far more details about many of the experiences he has in the documentary than would have been possible in the video format...including background about how he and his camera crew accomplished some of their incredible footage!

Originally reviewed, in conjunction with the DVD set, on my local library's website: http://www.lincolnlibraries.org/depts/bookguide/srec/staffrec09-08.htm show less

Michael Palin and a film crew of 5 set off to follow Verne's Phileas Fogg's trip using land and sea travel, no air, in comparable time. They travel from London via the Orient Express to the Channel Ferry; then again on the Orient Express to Innsbruck where an Austrian rail strike brings the first of many delays. By the time they have completed Italy, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and India they are 10 days behind schedule due to bureaucratic and transport delays. Palin and the soundman have been sick and all are thinner and tanner than when they started. By the time they have crossed China from Hong Kong to Shanghai and Japan from Yokohama to Tokyo Palin has tasted fox, dog, squid innards and snake and cat soup; great for cocktail party stories, show more but never to be eaten again. No passenger ships, excluding cruise ships, cross the Pacific so that is accomplished via cargo ship. Leaving Tokyo he is still 10 days behind. On the Pacific crossing they make up all 10 days helped by diesel vs 19th century steam and sail and by gaining a day at the International Dateline. Amtrak takes them across the US with only a couple of days off train for a dog sled ride and an air balloon ascent. Another freighter to England and arrival at 79 days and 7 hours from starting. Interesting read considering it is now 25 years later and some of his perspectives still hold true, although it would be interesting to see it done today and what changes might have occurred. show less

To recover from his traumatic eating experience on the wonderful A Fish called Wanda, ex-Monty Python Michael Palin chose to replicate Phileas Fogg and Passepartout's epic journey around the world in eighty days in 1988, chaperoned by two BBC teams. Air travel has made the eighty days restriction pointless. To somewhat even the odds, Palin restricted himself to land- and waterborne transportation and followed Fogg's route hopping from former British possession to the next. The secret to winning this challenge is to refrain from using the slow water transport. A train will easily and comfortably carry its passengers at over 100 kilometers per hour; at sea, he will be lucky to exceed 30 kilometers per hour. An optimized route (if one show more neglects the Trans-Siberian route) would not embark in Venice and travel via Athens to Egypt but take the train to Istanbul and then drive through Turkey and Saudi Arabia. Palin lost too much time in the early legs of his journey - quite to the benefit of his readers, though as the crossing of the Pacific and the Atlantic are both long and boring. Thus the first half of the book is much more interesting than the second half.

In typical British fussiness, the Reform Club, famous starting and endpoint of the challenge, did not let Palin enter its hallowed grounds. One part that has also changed during the last twenty years is that a modern host could not indulge in Palin's constant craving for alcoholic beverages. show less

The first of Palin's travel escapades and one of his best. He manages to skillfully draw out the people he meets without patronising them and this gives his material a wonderful depth. His curiosity and drive to travel come through strongly and you get the impression that no matter how far he travels, he will never lose that sense of wonderment.

Very funny, very interesting, and superbly read.
So yes, going around the world in 80 days and NOT taking a plane surprisingly was a bit of a problem,
and there isn't any real in-depth information about the many places Michael went to, but his observation skills and wit make this a thoroughly enjoyable journey for the reader/listener, with his very personal insights into the people he met and places he traveled.