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Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days

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Michael Palin: Around the World in 80 Days

By: Michael Palin
Narrated by: Michael Palin
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About this listen

In the autumn of 1988, Michael Palin set out from the Reform Club with an ambitious plan: to circumnavigate the world, following the route taken by Jules Verne's fictional hero Phileas Fogg 115 years earlier. The rules were simple. He had to make the journey in 80 days using only forms of transport that would have been available to Fogg. And so, complete with visas, running shoes, an inflatable globe and sound advice from Alan Whicker, Michael Palin began his incredible journey.

Crossing 17 borders and meeting innumerable challenges, he saw Venice from the back of a rubbish barge, rode around the Pyramids on a camel called Michael, and was attacked by a cockatoo in Hong Kong - amongst many other adventures. Phileas Fogg may have brought a Princess back from his travels, but Michael Palin brought back a fascinating and frequently humorous account of the journey of a lifetime.

©1989 Michael Palin (P)2014 Audible, Inc. Adventure Travel Travel Writing & Commentary Adventure Witty Funny Thought-Provoking China Feel-Good Imperial Japan

Editor reviews

Having mostly retired from comedy, former Monty Python member Michael Palin sets out with a BBC film crew from the Reform Club in London, planning to follow in the footsteps of Jules Verne’s fictional Phileas Fogg to travel Around the World in 80 Days. Palin is allowed only to use modes of transport that to which Fogg would have access during Victorian times, a feat in itself. Visiting Venice and Hong Kong, Giza and many other exotic locations, Michael travels around the globe, bringing back entertaining anecdotes and an epic adventure filled with humour and excitement. Narrated by Michael Palin himself, this marvellous audiobook can be downloaded from Audible.
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Michael Palin's voice is the perfect accompaniment to his travel story. I got a real feel for the people involved and it certainly fulfills the quote: 'It's not the destination, it's the journey'. Made me want to visit some of the places mentioned.

A traveller's pleasure!

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A total delight to listen to. Michael Palin is incomparable in both his writing and his reading.

A really well told adventure

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I was a child when Palin made his trip around the world, one episode at a time, on prime time BBC.

Looking back it's a curious mix of waining colonial ties, over the naivete of a pre-internet world, via Palin's boyish joy for all that is novel or thrilling.

This is safe, predictable, comfort-listening, which even at the time 30 years ago, yearned for a time 30 years before, or 60, or 90- it blurs. 1988 was a time when globalisation had yet to completely homogenise all the world's cities, ports and cultures, and the modern "gap yah" off-the-shelf lightweight travel packages had yet to dominate an Instagram narrative.

Without the exotic 80s visuals, moody sailors, exotic goods and antique trains, Palin's natural story telling gift fills in well what he experiences.

It's one to play with your grandmother, on visits to share a cup of tea, or in bed as you roll through the storm of a short illness. A safe, entertaining comfort blanket with a familiar pattern, now fading away, from a time now lost, never to return.

Cosy, safe, nostalgia for Brits of a certain age.

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A great journey and MP is a good companion. Understandable with such vast distances travelled that visits to each continent seem brief and lack a bit of detail. I enjoyed it but there are other travel writers like Bill Bryson I prefer.

A nice way to relive the classic journey.

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fantastic listen. funny and whitty. insightful. I'm going to listen to more of Palin's books

inspirational

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