Round-the-World Flights

Fictitious Phileas Fogg Travels Round-The-World in 80 Days

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Book Cover	Phileas Fogg	Jules Verne	Verne's Autograph	Board Game

	Jules Verne, born on February 8, 1828 was raised in the port of Nantes, France. His 
father was a prosperous lawyer. To continue the practice, Verne moved to Paris, where he 
studied law. His uncle introduced him into literary circles and he started to publish 
plays under the influence of such writers as Victor Hugo and Alexandre Dumas.  In spite of 
busy writing , Verne managed to pass his law degree. During this period Verne suffered from 
digestive problems which then recurred at intervals through his life.

 	Verne's novels gained a huge popularity throughout the world. Without the education 
of a scientist or experiences as a traveler, Verne spent much of his time in research for his
books. In the contrast of fantasy literature, Verne tried to be realistic and practical in 
details. His writings have woven a  rich tapestry of fact and fantasy. When the logic of the
story contradicted contemporary scientific knowledge, Verne did not keep to the facts and 
probabilities too slavishly.

	Around the World in Eighty Days was about Phileas Fogg's daring but realistic 
round-the-world travel feat on a wager, based on a real journey by the US traveller George 
Francis Train (1829-1904). The fictitious, Phileas Fogg was truly a gentleman of leisure 
traveling round-the-world in style with his inventive valet. Passepartout. In their adventure, 
they learned to accept each other, one as the master and the other as a man but gained 
nothing by this tour round-the-world, unless it was happiness.

	Jules Verne stunned his readers more than a century ago with predictions of global 
air travel, undersea warfare, even man walking on the moon. Today, many of the extraordinary 
flights of Verne's imagination have become reality.

	When he was 28, Verne married Honorine de Viane, a young widow, acquiring two 
step-children. He lived with his family in a large provincial house and yachted occasionally. 
Verne spent an uneventful, bourgeois life from the 1860's. He traveled with his brother Paul 
in 1867 to the United States, visiting the Niagara Falls. In 1871 he settled in Amiens and 
was elected councilor in 1888. Verne survived a murder attempt in 1886. His paranoid nephew, 
Gaston, shot him in the leg and he was disabled for the rest of his life. Gaston never 
recovered his sanity.

	For over 40 years Verne published at least one book per year on a wide range of 
subjects. Although Verne wrote about exotic places, he traveled  relatively little - his 
only balloon flight lasted twenty-four minutes. Verne died in Amiens, France on March 24, 1905 
having created 65 novels, some 20 short stories and essays, 30 plays, some geographical 
works, and also opera librettos.

10/02/1872 From London to Suez via Mont Cenis & Brindisi (rail/steamboat) ......  7 Days
	   From Suez to Bombay (steamer) ....................................... 13 Days
	   From Bombay to Calcutta (rail) ......................................  3 Days
           From Calcutta to Hong Kong (steamer) ................................ 13 Days       	
   	   From Hong Kong to Yokohama (steamer) ................................  6 Days
	   From Yokohama to San Francisco (steamer) ............................ 22 Days
	   From San Francisco to New York (rail) ...............................  7 Days
12/21/1872 From New York to London (steamer & rail) ............................  9 Days
		   Around-the-World ........................ in ................ 80 Days 

Everything you want to know about Jules Verne.

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