Around the World in 53 hours
Started: 2007-09-30 18:42:33
Submitted: 2007-09-30 19:05:09
Visibility: World-readable
What's the modern version of "around the world in 80 days"? That is, how long would it take to circumnavigate the globe using commercially-available transport, and (while we're at it) meet the necessary requirements for an around-the-world flight (taking off and landing at the same airfield, and traveling a distance equal to or greater than the Tropic of Cancer)?
My answer: Fly from Sydney to LAX to London-Heathrow to Singapore back to Sydney, in 53 hours, five minutes. Let's consider the following four flights:
| Flight | Depart | Arrive | Distance (km) | Duration | Avg speed (km/h) | Layover | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Airport | Time (Local) | GMT Offset | Time (GMT) | Airport | Time (Local) | GMT Offset | Time (GMT) | |||||
| United 840 | SYD | 2007-09-01 13:45 | 10 | 2007-09-01 03:45 | LAX | 2007-09-01 10:14 | −7 | 2007-09-01 17:14 | 12051 | 13:29 | 893.77 | 5:21 |
| British Airways 278 | LAX | 2007-09-01 15:35 | −7 | 2007-09-01 22:35 | LHR | 2007-09-02 09:45 | 1 | 2007-09-02 08:45 | 8780 | 10:10 | 863.61 | 2:30 |
| Qantas 32 | LHR | 2007-09-02 12:15 | 1 | 2007-09-02 11:15 | SIN | 2007-09-03 08:00 | 8 | 2007-09-03 00:00 | 10888 | 12:45 | 853.96 | 1:30 |
| Qantas 32 | SIN | 2007-09-03 09:30 | 8 | 2007-09-03 01:30 | SYD | 2007-09-03 18:50 | 10 | 2007-09-03 08:50 | 6288 | 7:20 | 857.45 | |
This gives us a total distance of 38,007 kilometers in 53 hours, five minutes. That's just a thousand kilometers longer than the Tropic of Cancer, which the Internet tells me is about 37,000 kilometers. That's way more time than I ever want to spend in an airplane in such a short period of time, but it could be done.
