This trip was intended to follow in the footsteps of the (fictitious) Phileas Fogg in the 1873 Jules Verne book Around the World in Eighty Days. The use of aeroplanes was not allowed, a self-imposed restriction. Steam liners don't exist any more, so all of the long sea journeys had to be on container ships or freighters. The one exception was the trip from Dubai to Mumbai (Bombay) on a dhow, a high point of the trip.
This book, like the other books that Michael Palin wrote following each of his seven trips for the BBC, consists both of his text and of many photographs to illustrate the trip. Unlike the following books, in which the pictures were taken (almost) exclusively by Basil Pao, the pictures in this book are from many sources. (Basil Pao did provide the pictures for the Hong Kong to Shanghai stretch.)
To some extent the book reads like a diary, as Michael Palin starts each section of the book with a heading like "Day 42 - Hong Kong". This reflects the fact that the whole trip was a kind of "race against time" effort, and being aware of how many days have passed and how many days are left before the magic number 80 arrives adds extra excitement.
An interesting aspect of this trip is that almost 3/4 of the time (59 days) was spent getting around the first half of the globe (Europe, Middle East, Asia, Pacific to the International Date Line) and only 1/4 of the time (21 days) for the last half of the trip (rest of the Pacific, U.S.A., Atlantic). This is also reflected in the number of pages in this book: 180 for the first half of the trip, 60 for the last half.
There are a couple of reasons for this discrepancy. Traveling across the Pacific and the Atlantic was done on fast modern container ships. The trip across the U.S.A. was done by train, which was fairly fast, and this stretch was presumably considered to be less interesting for Western TV viewers (the intended audience) than the more exotic parts in the Middle East and Asia.
One major difference between this trip and the following Michael Palin trips for the BBC was the desire to follow a preordained route that involved a lot of time traveling at sea. Day after day of sailing does not make for very exciting TV. For example, in an almost grotesque sequence, Michael Palin arrives in Singapore harbor on one ship at midnight, rushes through immigration and departure processing, and embarks on the next ship at 2:45 a.m. Neither Palin nor the viewers get to see a single view of Singapore.
Sir Michael Edward Palin is an English actor, comedian, writer, television presenter and public speaker. He was a member of the comedy group Monty Python. Since 1980 he has made a number of travel documentaries.
Around the World in Eighty Days is an adventure novel by the French writer Jules Verne, first published in French in 1872. In the story, Phileas Fogg of London and his newly employed French valet Passepartout attempt to circumnavigate the world in 80 days on a wager GB£20,000 set by his friends at the Reform Club. It is one of Verne's most acclaimed works.
Basil Pao Ho-Yun (鲍皓昕) is a Hong Kong-based photographer. He has been the stills photographer on the BBC filming teams that made Michael Palin's television travel programmes.
Himalaya with Michael Palin is a 2004 BBC television series presented by comedian and travel presenter Michael Palin. It records his six-month trip around the Himalaya mountain range area. The trip covered only 4,800 km horizontally, but involved a lot of vertical travelling, including several treks into the mountains. The highest point attained by Palin was Everest Base Camp at 5,300 metres.
Sahara with Michael Palin is a four-part BBC television series presented by British comedian and travel presenter Michael Palin, and first broadcast in 2002. In it, Palin travelled around the Sahara in Northern and Western Africa, meeting people and visiting places. The journey route included the following countries and territories: Gibraltar, Morocco, Western Sahara, Mauritania, Senegal, Mali, Niger, Libya, Tunisia, Algeria and Ceuta, Spain.
Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure is a 1999 BBC television documentary presented by Michael Palin. It records Palin's travels as he visited many sites where Ernest Hemingway had been. The sites include Spain, Chicago, Paris, Italy, Africa, Key West, Cuba, and Idaho.
Full Circle with Michael Palin is a 10-part 1997 documentary television series, first broadcast on BBC One in 1997. Presented by Michael Palin, Full Circle was the third of a series of programmes in which Palin made and documented lengthy journeys. The first was Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, a 7-part series first broadcast in 1989, and the second was Pole to Pole with Michael Palin, an 8-part series first broadcast in 1992.
Pole to Pole with Michael Palin is an eight-part television documentary travel series made for the BBC, and first broadcast on BBC1 in 1992. The presenter is Michael Palin, this being the second of Palin's major journeys for the BBC. The first was Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin, a 7-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1989, and the third was Full Circle with Michael Palin, a 10-part series first broadcast on BBC One in 1997.
Around the World in 80 Days with Michael Palin is a 7-part BBC television travel series first broadcast on BBC1 in 1989. It was presented by comedian and actor Michael Palin. The show was inspired by Jules Verne's classic 1873 novel Around the World in Eighty Days, in which a character named Phileas Fogg accepts a wager to circumnavigate the globe in eighty days or less.
Himalaya is the book that Michael Palin wrote to accompany the BBC television documentary series Himalaya with Michael Palin.
Inside Himalaya is a large coffee-table style book containing pictures taken by Basil Pao, who was the stills photographer on the team that made the Himalaya with Michael Palin TV program for the BBC.
Inside Sahara is a large coffee-table style book containing pictures taken by Basil Pao, who was the stills photographer on the team that made the Sahara with Michael Palin TV program for the BBC.
Pole to Pole is a book written by Michael Palin to accompany his BBC television series Pole to Pole.
Full Circle is a travel book by writer and television presenter Michael Palin. Full Circle is a written accompaniment for Palin's 1997 BBC travel documentary Full Circle with Michael Palin. The book recounts the journey of Palin and the BBC film crew to countries and regions around the rim of the Pacific Ocean in 1996 and 1997. Full Circle consists of text by Palin and photographs by Basil Pao, who accompanied the crew on the trip. Basil Pao also produced a book, Full Circle - The Photographs, containing many more of his pictures.
Pole to Pole – The Photographs is a large coffee-table style book containing pictures taken by Basil Pao, who was the stills photographer on the team that made the Pole to Pole with Michael Palin TV programme for the BBC.
Full Circle – The Photographs is a large coffee-table style book containing pictures taken by Basil Pao, who was the stills photographer on the team that made the Full Circle with Michael Palin TV program for the BBC.
Sahara is the book that Michael Palin wrote to accompany the BBC television documentary series Sahara with Michael Palin.
Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure is the book that Michael Palin wrote to accompany the BBC TV program Michael Palin's Hemingway Adventure.
Michael Palin's New Europe is a travel documentary presented by Michael Palin and first aired in the UK on the BBC on 16 September 2007 and in the US on the Travel Channel on 28 January 2008. Palin visits 20 countries in Central and Eastern Europe – the programme was filmed in the wake of the 2004 enlargement of the European Union, which included many of the countries visited by Palin and significantly reshaped east–west relations on the continent. The filming was done in 2006 and early 2007 using HD equipment. The result was made into seven one-hour programmes for BBC One and simulcast on BBC HD. A book, New Europe, was also written describing the trip, and illustrated with photographs by Basil Pao.
New Europe is the book that Michael Palin wrote to accompany the BBC television documentary series Michael Palin's New Europe.
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