A UK travel company is offering a modern equivalent of the 80-day around-the-world journey of Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg, and it’s doing it all by train, coach and cargo ship, with no flights involved.
The price might seem steep at £26,500, or about $37,000, but the price includes all transport and transfers, accommodations, sightseeing activities and some meals. On a per day basis of $462.50, not so bad for the trip of a lifetime, with four-star hotels first-class or private sleeper trains and even the cargo ship cabins have private bathrooms.
The trip starts from London by train, crossing Europe by train with stops in Lviv, Ukraine, Moscow and Samara in Russia; on to Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan (a 10-day stop!) and on to five Chinese cities including Beijing and Shanghai, followed by a 16-day cargo crossing to Los Angeles.
From Los Angeles, it gets less adventurous, traveling by Amtrak to Vancouver to meet Canada’s transcontinental train to Toronto and Montreal. Then a sleeper train to Halifax, and a last cargo voyage to Liverpool. The first tour will head out in 2023, but organizers.
Image: BBC2
“The first tour will head out in 2023, but organizers.”Yes, yes? (Breath held.)