1/24/2023

Circumnavigation Watch: Around the World in 73 hours—A Guinness Record

Two Indian travelers just broke the Guinness World Record for circumnavigating the globe—in just 73 hours, a feat of Phileas Fogg proportions. Long-time friends and business partners Ali Irani and Sujoy Kumar Mitra have broken the Guinness World Record for crossing the world's seven continents in the fastest time ever.

Fogg proved a it could be done in 80 days in Jules Verne's classic novel Around the World in 80 Days. The first actual circumnavigation took survivors of the Magellan-Elcano expedition three years. For Enrique of Malacca, a member of the crew and first to circle the globe, the journey spanned ten years.

Following intricate rules requiring them to stop in each of the seven continents and take public transportation to a known monument to snap photos for proof, all the while wearing Garmin GPS devices (Fogg had newspaper headlines tracking him, less accurate but better press). 

Among the challenges they had to navigate were visa requirements and covid restrictions, man-made travel obstacles neither Jules Verne nor Ferdinand Magellan could have imagined. The pair began their journey in Antarctica, the most difficult continent to travel to.

CONDÉ NAST TRAVELLER posted an thorough write-up by SHARANYA KUMAR.