Nellie Bly was American journalist's Elizabeth Jane Cochrane's pen name. She suggested to her New York World editor that she should attempt the fictional 24,899-mile journey from "Around the Wolrd in 80 Days" for real. On November 14, 1889, a year after her initial pitch and with only two-days notice, she was on her way.
Her only luggage was the dress she was wearing, a coat, a small bag with underwear and toiletry essentials, and a small bag with currency she kept around her neck. She used the existing railread systm and steamships which put her two days behind schedule when she arrived on the last leg of her journey in San Francisco. Her bosses chartered a private train and she arrived back home in New Jersey on January 25, 1890 at 3:51 pm, a journey that lasted 72 days, 6 hours, 11 minutes and 14 seconds.
It was a world record that lasted only a few months, when George Francis Train completed the journey in just 67 days.
