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- In 1889, journalist Nellie Bly set off on a trip around the world, trying to make it under 80 days.
- Shortly after, another reporter, Elizabeth Bisland, joined the race.
- A few decades earlier, such a race would have been impossible without technological advances.
On November 14, 1889, Nellie Bly boarded a steamship for London, planning to return to New Jersey 75 days later, beating the record set by the fictitious protagonist of Jules Verne's "Around the World in 80 Days" with time to spare.
A few hours later, Elizabeth Bisland stepped on a train in New York, bound west for California. In a wild scramble, her editors at Cosmopolitan magazine decided to have her circumnavigate the globe in the opposite direction in an attempt to beat Bly.