
Jules Verne, “Around the World in Eighty Days”, 1872 was a science fiction travelogue of protagonist Phileas Fogg. The protagonist Phileas lives in London, England and has a French valet. The two men are going to circumnavigate the world on a wager for money.
The itinerary is as follows: London, Suez, Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco, New York, and returning to London.
Phileas has calculated the time to circumnavigate the world and the result is 80 days. Phileas is leaving behind “Aouda” his lover to go around the world. The story is popular marking the end of “age of exploration”, and the beginning of “global world tourism”. The railways have in 1869 crossed India and the United States of America. Also, the Suez Canal has been completed, so going around continents is not necessary. This is the high water-mark time of the “steam engine age”. The appeal of Jules Verne’s travelogues science-fiction is that of “steam age” power. Jules Verne, “Around the World in Eighty Days”, 1872 was made into numerous film versions, and remains popular today.