Pragmatic gambler Phileas Fogg has made a gentlemanly wager to the members of his exclusive club: that he can circle the world in just eighty days, right down to the minute. Fetching his newly appointed French valet, Fogg embarks on a fabulous journey across land and sea-by steamer, rail, and elephant-to win the bet of a lifetime. Inspired by Jules Verne's own sea travels and his fascination with circumnavigating the globe, the avid dreamer's picaresque voyage inspired generations of adventurers who were eager to best Verne's challenge-from nineteenth-century journalist Nellie Bly to Monty Python's Michael Palin.