Around The World In 80 Days

 

When I created this card, I thought it would be interesting to see how many people from different countries would read this blog and look at the photograph. In 25 days, 78 people were reached. In 13 days, this blog post has been read by 63 visitors from different countries, quite an achievement for a little blog. My target was to attract at least 80 views from different countries all over the world in 80 days.

After one month 119 visitors have read this blog post and it has travelled all around the world. This blog is not one of those super blogs where influencers promote 

I know that wass expecting much but it would be fun to discover what happened after a while. Would visitors send a link to a friend in another country, or would all of this be left to chance? The movie was interesting to watch because the characters encountered many obstacles, dangers, and losses along the way. They left London for the Suez Canal. From there to Bombay in India. Then to Calcutta and on to Victoria, Hong Kong with a stopover in Singapore.

They boarded a steamer and sailed across the China Sea to Yokohama in Japan. They continued to San Francisco, USA. Then they travelled by rail to New York. From that city to Liverpool by ship and then by rail to London.

The technological innovations of the 19th century opened the possibility of circumnavigating the world. As an accomplished writer, Jules Verne was inspired to write the fascinating story of Around the World in 80 Days. The First transcontinental railroad in America had been completed, as well as the opening of the Suez Canal, and the linking of the Indian railways. 

It was the start of global tourism which could be enjoyed in relative comfort and safety. It became possible for anyone to draw up a schedule, buy tickets and travel around the world. Before then, only heroic adventurers undertook such travels. Thanks to the brilliance of Jules Verne the word spread in the form of his famous book. I checked the story in Wikipedia to get my facts straight. 

From checking the responses to my blog articles in the past I knew that this article could easily circumnavigate the world with ease. Let's see what happens. (I am updating this article to say that in one month so far 91 people read it.) This article was inspired by a group at my church. We are going to host an event in October called Around the World in Eighty Minutes and I have designed the special gift card for the event.

After one day this article has reached the following countries, which means that the journey has started very well. I don't think Phileas Fogg and his companions would have travelled that far in one day, but we are living in 2025 when we can do things faster with our technology. Google Analytics will pick your country up if a few of your people read this story in this blog. 

Here are the countries that have responded so far:

Singapore, Hong Kong, USA, Indonesia, Ireland, South Africa, Sweden, Egypt, Morocco, Dominican Republic, Bangladesh, Paraguay, Russia. Well done, so far. If I missed your country, then it could be because only one person from your country visited so far. Let's see how it goes, and I will check again.

Thank you for participating. You are valued and appreciated. I have updated the post so many times that there may be some errors in tense.

The following cities came up:

Columbus, Dublin, Forest City, Lulea, Altoona, Ashburn, Council Bluffs. Thanks to you guys and girls that visited my blog.

On August 24, 2025, and we had closer to our target at 71 119 visits in total.

By 17 September, 2025 the total stood at 337 visits.

Another thought crossed my mind. You see, Jules Verne wrote the exciting novel Around the World in 80 Days, and also From the Earth to the Moon. The possibility of circumnavigating the world and journeying to the moon captivated him. Imagine if he were alive today, and he learned about Elon Musk's plans to make us interplanetary beings, able to travel in space around our solar system. With Jules' brilliant style, he could describe what it is like to travel past Saturn with those fantastic rings.

I also wrote about my trip to America, which many people read. The Most Important Thing I Learned in America on August 24, 2023. I have not been right around the world physically, only to America, but this blog has enabled me to let people in more countries around the world enjoy my writing (I hope you do), and that also brings me joy.

We had our ‘Around the World in 80 Days’ event on 8 October 2025 as a cabaret at Maranatha in the Next Gen social area. Two senior members of our group hosted the show. The husband, Pieter, provided the music on a piano while his charming wife, Anserie, sang and performed to the audiences’ delight.

She sang old songs strung in a story moving Jan van Riebeeck and Katryntjie from the Cape to different destinations all around the world hilariously to the delight of all the senior folks in the audience. Who says it’s not fun growing old? To be more respectful, we classify ourselves as seniors. The man seated in front of me was swaying back and forth as he must have travelled back in his memories of bygone years to the songs he was enjoying.

Anserie is a drama teacher and has a charming voice. Her rendition of ‘Lilly Marlein’ was very good. So were all the songs she sang. Quite a character. Pieter had to keep up with the piano all the time, which delighted all of us. They do these performances all the time for audiences. He also does weddings as a minister. It was a treat to see what amazing talent we have in our group.

They asked me to design and print ‘Merry Christmas’ cards, which they placed on all the tables where we sat down to eat snacks, we brought along to share with each other. Next year, they plan to hold 6 events for our group.

They sent out a notice that we can get shoe boxes, which we can fill with necessities and treats for recipients for Christmas. The church will distribute these items. Then, they will host a year-end braai at the end of October. It is fantastic to see how well they are taking care of us. The braai we had last year was a great success, and we got to socialise with some pastors and also got to know each other better.

I designed the poster above especially for this article because it is always nice to include a pretty picture. There are other articles you might like here https://awpinternet.substack.com/p/a-special-cabaret-performance