Around the World in 80 Stories

A Peregrination through 360º of Longitude

We’re quietly chuffed to declare that since we launched Maptia last September, over 10 months of collective human time has been spent reading the stories crafted by our wonderful founding storytellers.

That roughly equates to 432,000 minutes—or more impressively, over 8 millionnanocenturies—spent reading tales of hiking summits, hitting the open road, visiting magnificent world wonders, setting off on urban explorations, attending festive celebrations, and embarking on exotic culinary adventures. And what is perhaps more amazing is that our readers have so far hailed from 163 different countries around the world! To mark the occasion, we have compiled a tremendous armchair adventure—a full circumnavigation of the globe taking you around the world in 80 stories.

This somewhat preposterous peregrination will start from the prime meridian. You shall head due east for a total of 360° of longitude—until arriving at the place you first started. Dip in at any longitude that takes your fancy, or bookmark this page and make your way around the whole world… Let the adventure begin!

“We shall not cease from exploration, and the end of all our exploring will be to arrive where we started and know the place for the first time. — T.S. Eliot

0°E — Climbing Battersea Power Station

By Bradley Garrett · Battersea, London

2ºE — Springtime in Paris

By Simon Boardman · Paris

6ºE — Tradition & Innovation at Favarger Chocolate

By Kerrin Rousset · Geneva

7ºE — Wide-Open Silence

By Jonathan Reed · Beaufort, France

8ºE — A Sudden Revelation

By Miriam Rowley · Switzerland

9ºE — The Serendipity of Exploring Within

By Ryan Hess · Milan, Italy

12ºE — Femmes Africaines

By Patricia Mato-mora · Bengbis, Camerún

13ºE — Down in the Dungeons

By Stephanie Yoder · The Colosseum, Italy

17ºE — Cycling the Continent of Africa

By Dave and Deb · Africa

18ºE — Up Close & Personal in Masiphumelele Township

By Dan and Audrey Scott · Masiphumelele, South Africa

19ºE — The Changing Arctic

By Duncan Geere · Tarfala, Sweden

19ºE — Flames and Fantasy

By Janet Early · Namaqualand, South Africa

29ºE — Haunting Light of Hagia Sophia

By Sherry Ott · Hagia Sophia, Turkey

32ºE — Life Lessons from a Small Village

By Becky Dumas · Cyprus

33ºE — The Frozen Roof of Cyprus

By Mike Sowden · Troodos, Cyprus

36ºE — The Incredible Lost City of Petra

By Ken Kaminesky · Petra, Jordan

36ºE — Poem for a Rose-Tinted City

By Claire vd Heever · Petra, Jordan

37ºE — Conquering Kilimanjaro

By Samantha Phelan · Tanzania

47ºE — Views from the Ravenala Fronds

By Katie-Liz Thompson · Madagascar

58ºE — Palm Hearts and Piments

By Sarah Duff · Mauritus

71ºE — Highlights from the Pamir Highway

By Alex Gandy · Tajikistan

73ºE — Bombay In Bloom

By Candace Rose Rardon · Mumbai, India

74ºE — Beauty in the Breakdowns

By Kim Dinan · Rajasthan, India

76ºE — Behind the Façade in Kashgar

By David Noyes · Xinjianh, China

77ºE — The Leh-Manali Route, An Epic Journey

By Sandeepa and Chetan · Lower Keylong

77ºE — From the Himalayan Air

By Manuela Osorio Pineda · Manali, India

77ºE — Old Delhi Diaries

By Namita Azad · Delhi, India

78ºE — Holi in Mathura

By Phil Gribbon · Mathura, India

78ºE — Wide Opening Spaces of Ladakh

By Kelly Klein · Ladakh Range

78ºE — First Impressions of India

By Dane Johnson · Hyderabad

79ºE — Mountain of the Crescent Moon

By Yoav Bar-Ness · Chandrashila

83ºE — Life, Death, and the Whole Damn Hoopla

By Diane Caldwell · Varanasi

84ºE — Educate a Girl to Educate the World

By Daniel Perlaky · Nepal

87ºE — A Personal Everest

By Cindy Fan · Everest Base Camp

97ºE — Hospitality and a Lesson in Burmese Candy

By Shannon O’Donnell · Myanmar (Burma)

100ºE — Malaysia Truly Asia

By Petra Zehner · Penang, Malaysia

103ºE — Growing Old Comfortably

By Jeanet van Antwerpen · Yunnan, China

104ºE — Lost on the Roof of Indochina

By Marc Surchat · Lai Chau, Vietnam

104ºE — Angkor Wat on Two Wheels

By Anna Krahn · Angkor, Cambodia

107ºE — The Magic of Ha Long Bay

By Matt Evans · Vietnam

108ºE — The Secrets of Soup in Mui Ne

By Jodi Ettenberg · Phan Thiet, Vietnam

114ºE — Walking Mongolia to Hong Kong

By Leon McCarron · Asia

114ºE — It’s Like Coming Home in Hong Kong

By Henry Lee · Hong Kong

115ºE — The EXcrement factor of Kopi Luwak

By Stephanie Glaser · Indonesia

115ºE — Eating like a Cow in Bali

By Delia Monk · Indonesia

117ºE — Immensity of the Great Wall

By Trey Ratcliff · Huairou, China

136ºE — What I Love About Kyoto

By Pico Iyer · Japan

140ºE — The Penis Worshippers

By Michael Turtle · Kawasaki, Japan

141ºE — Snowflakes, Sake and Igloos

By Abigail King · Yokote, Japan

147ºE — The Wonder of the Great Barrier Reef

By Kiersten Rich · Australia

124ºW — Cycling the Lost Coast

By Tom Allan · California

123ºW — Vancouver to Vegas by Tandem

By Dave Cornthwaite · California

122ºW — On Human Kindness and Cookies

By Azmina Aboobaker · San Francisco

119ºW — Finding Love at Burning Man

By Suzanne Roberts · Black Rock City

116ºW — Dust, Drugs and Debauchery?

By Curtis Simmons · Black Rock City

115ºW — Through my Dad’s Eyes

By Rachel Kristensen · Alberta, Canada

106ºW — Road Trip Through the Rockies

By Tracy Zhang · Banff

90ºW — Road Trip through Ancestral Territory

By Alex Berger · Colorado

82ºW — The Scooter Diaries: Guatemala

By Gordon Bowman · Guatemala

79ºW — Disconnecting from Civilization

By Nadya Zim · Little Gasparilla Island

73ºW — The Quest for Fish

By Jonathan Lee · Panama

73ºW — Dwarfed by Towering Peaks

By Colin Henderson · Fitz Roy, Argentina

72ºW — Patagonia Wedding Adventure

By Toby Past · Torres Del Paine

72ºW — The Inka Trail Trek

By David and Lori Baxter · Peru

72ºW — Sunsets and Smog to Clinics and Compounds

By Danell Lynn · Haiti

71ºW — Lofty Ambitions of the Inca

By Heather Pringle · Cuzco

69ºW — Quebec City in Color

By Megan Eileen McDonough · Quebec

64ºW — Summit Day

By Dean Fischer · Mendoza, Argentina

63ºW — Worth Its Salt

By Dorothy Sanders · Bolivia

43ºW — In A Dream—Riding Brazil

By Allan Karl · Brazil

19ºW — Cidade Maravilhosa?

By Simon Buxton · Rio, Brazil

10ºW — Crossing Iceland: The River

By Alastair Humphreys · Iceland

4ºW — When I Knew I Could Go Home

By Collin Willox · Spain

4ºW — A Brush with Time in Granada

By Cheri Lucas · Grenada

3ºW — Northern Glory

By Jonny Miller · Thurso, Scotland

1ºW — Flying Closer To The Sun

By Ella Sanders · S. Nevada Mountains

1ºW — Ghana, By Plate

By Ozoz Sokoh · Ghana

1ºW — Running Away from Love

By Alessandra Rizzotti · Ghana

1ºW — Truffle Hunting: The Ultimate Forage

By Nick Weston · Sussex, UK

1ºW — Lost and Found in London

By Alanna Freeman · London

We hope that you enjoyed that little jaunt around the globe. Philip Pullman claimed that, after nourishment, shelter and companionship—stories are the thing we need most in the world and as we wrote in our illustrated launch post, we believe that narratives can transcend cultural and geographical borders, teaching us how the world can unfurl from a beginning other than our own.

Our journey to collect thoughtful stories from around the world on Maptia is only just getting started and in the next few months we will be sharing lots of exciting new improvements. Thank you to everyone for joining us on the adventure so far!

“A Journey Around the World in 80 Stories” (tweet this here) and feel free to @mention any of your friends who might appreciate this global circumnavigation of narratives!