Around the World in 72 days

 The trailblazing American journalist Nellie Bly began her record-breaking 72-day journey around the world this week in 1889 -- a trip which made her the first person to ever complete the fictional journey depicted in Jules Verne's "Around the World in Eighty Days"! A minimalist traveler, the 24-year-old Pittsburgh native brought with her only the dress she was wearing, a sturdy overcoat, a wool cap, a few changes of underwear, and a small handbag with her toiletries and writing supplies. She started the 24,899-mile journey from a port near New York City and traveled by steamship to England. From there, she traveled by train across Europe and Asia, by ocean liner across the Pacific Ocean, and by train from San Francisco back to New York. In total, her journey lasted 72 days, six hours, eleven minutes, and fourteen seconds, setting a new world record for fastest circumnavigation.

Bly, one of the earliest muckraking journalists, was also famous for her undercover investigative reports on corruption and social injustices. The year before her famous journey, Bly took an undercover assignment for the New York World where she feigned insanity to get herself committed to the New York City Lunatic Asylum on Blackwell's Island. Her work pioneered the realm of undercover journalism after she wrote an exposé on the horrific conditions and mistreatment of patients she found there. Bly's series of articles led to a grand jury investigation and, subsequently, to improved care for the patients and increased funding for the care of people with mental illness.

Nellie Bly told the story of her historic journey in her book "Around the World in Seventy-Two Days and Other Writings" at https://www.amightygirl.com/around-world-seventy-two