Intrigued by the classic 1873 Jules Verne Le tour du monde en quatre-vingts jours, I commenced a personal challenge to update the story for the 21^st century. Since 2012 I have embarked on an annual trip around the world in less than 80 hours. As an economics professor, I use these trips to demonstrate economic concepts in action in unique places and to emphasize one can travel anywhere in the world over a weekend.

With a small camcorder, I filmed each of these journeys in a short video posted on YouTube. But as brief as these trips are, I’ve always been curious how quickly I could actually circumnavigate the globe — with at least one connection in both Europe and Asia — using regularly scheduled commercial flights.

Although there are many flight options to circle the globe in about 40 hours, most of the three-leg options require a long connection. Preferring to spend less time on the ground, I opted instead for a four-leg route, consisting of one-way tickets I pieced together and booked myself. This increased the flight distance but had shorter, 1.5- to two-hour connection times, just enough to clear security — required at most airports for international connections — and proceed to the next gate. The risk, of course, is one delayed flight would cause the mission to fail.

On Saturday, Nov. 19, my journey began. I left New York (JFK) at 8:16 p.m. and returned Monday at 10:36 a.m. The total journey time was 38 hours and 20 minutes, covering a distance of 17,108 flight miles. I spent 32 hours and 11 minutes in the air and six hours and nine minutes on the ground.

Along the way I experienced the excellent service of three award-winning airlines and innovative service classes featured in recent issues of Global Traveler. The first leg — from JFK to Frankfurt (FRA) — was on Singapore Airlines’ Airbus A380 premium economy class. With a 38-inch pitch, I was impressed how spacious and comfortable these seats are, similar to a standard, domestic, first-class seat. The second leg to Helsinki was in Finnair’s intra-Europe A319 business class, followed by the third leg to Seoul in Finnair’s A330 business class with aisle-access, full-flat seats. The final leg back to New York was in Asiana’s ultra-luxury A380 first class, a fully enclosed suite with a personal wardrobe and an enormous 32-inch HD video screen. Having a mini hotel room in the sky was especially enjoyable on the longest leg of this around-the-world sprint.

Fortunately, all four flights landed either on time or early. I lost a day crossing all 24 time zones eastbound but gained the day back crossing the International Date Line. Landing in New York on Monday morning was surreal. I had just flown around the world, visited airports in Europe and Asia and ate seven consecutive in-flight meals. I felt like I had been away for a week, yet it was only a day and a half. It truly puts our world in perspective — we are so connected globally, and today’s modern commercial airline fleets can take us anywhere in the world in less than a day.

Although this trip will surely be one of my most memorable experiences, I plan to return to my “normal” routine of traveling around the world in 80 hours. At least I would have a chance to venture into the city for a meal and a chat with locals. Travel is the best form of education, allowing one to appreciate the cultural diversity throughout our world. I’m already in the midst of planning my next adventure!

Itinerary:

Flight 1: JFK–FRA: Singapore Airlines. Departed 11/19/16 at 8:16 p.m., arrived 11/20/16 at 9:53 a.m. Distance = 4,070 miles. Flight time = 7 hours, 37 minutes.

Flight 2: FRA–HEL: Finnair. Departed 11/20/16 at 11:35 a.m., arrived 2:58 p.m. Distance = 958 miles. Flight time = 2 hours, 23 minutes.

Flight 3: HEL–ICN: Finnair. Departed 11/20/16 at 5:30 p.m., arrived 11/21/16 at 9:05 a.m. Distance = 4,378 miles. Flight time = 8 hours, 35 minutes.

Flight 4: ICN–JFK: Asiana Airlines. Departed 11/21/16 at 11 a.m., crossed International Date Line and arrived the same day at 10:36 a.m. Distance = 7,702 miles. Flight time = 13 hours, 36 minutes.

— Eric Chiang, guest blogger