Trip planner: Retracing history’s famous voyages

Travelers today have it easy. Sure vagabonds around the world strike out for the farthest corners of the earth, but in general our trips are pretty safe compared to those of times past.

Consider the fearless Greek traveler Odysseus. He sets out after the Trojan War with a group of, depending on how you count, upwards of a thousand men. How many make it through the entire ten-year journey? Um, let’s see.. just one? Now that’s a powerful argument against organized group travel.

Of course the story of Odysseus’ travels is myth, but consider some of the many real, ill-fated journeys in the history books — Robert Scott’s horrifying journey to the South Pole and back, Livingstone’s travels in Africa, Amelia Earhart’s flight around the world… the list of history’s perilous journeys gets rather long rather fast.

Yes, we have it relatively easy in this age of established transportation routes, internet cafes, and other modern conveniences.

But if you’ve ever wanted to retrace the steps of some earlier, more difficult voyage, the folks over at Good Magazine, recently put together a very cool map listing a number of famous journeys — everything from Marco Polo’s travels to some notably fictional treks like Phileas Fogg’s route in Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days.

Not every route on the map is necessarily a famous journey (like the Pan American highway, which is, well, a highway), but there’s plenty there to whet your appetite for a long trip retracing the footsteps of those who set out back in the days before Lonely Planet guides. If any enterprising vagablogging readers have attempted to recreate a famous journey, let us know your experiences in the comments below.