24 in ’24 Challenge – Book 15 “Around the World in Eighty Days” by Michael Palin

I am old enough to remember the TV series featuring Michael Palin where he attempted to go Around the World in Eighty Days emulating the trip undertaken by the hero in the novel by Jules Verne. Later on I had a copy of the book but at some point I must have given it away. During Advent last year I was sent a new copy of the book in a revised edition as part of my bookish advent calendar (see here for my thoughts when I received it).

I did enjoy this book. It has plenty of photographs but the author is good at conveying a lot with a few words. He is also honest about the fact that he is not alone on this trip and the issues around recording and filming what is happening are part of the story.

The trip required no cars and no aeroplanes and this caused problems because passenger ships are not as freely available as they needed to be for this journey to succeed (they do have to cheat at one point in Africa because of borders and visas). It was also taken before mobile phones so communication is important too. The journey is mainly undertaken by container ship, ferry, train and sailing boat. There isn’t time to stop and give the history of each place on the route but the author talks about the landscape and the people he meets in a friendly, non-judgmental way. The book reads like a conversation in which the author is speaking directly to you and trying to explain what he found interesting and remarkable about his travels in the expectation that you will find it interesting and remarkable too.

I really enjoyed revisiting this trip and I liked the fact that in this newer edition the author talked about what the journey had meant to him at the time and later and also met up with some of the people involved in one of the more memorable episodes. This was fun and warm hearted and I am glad that I had the opportunity to read this book again.