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Nellie Bly’s Hand Luggage
Round-the-world-records, female travelers, Jules Verne, chaperones, Elizabeth Cochrane, The New York World…
Some people were meant to travel alone… For Nelly Bly, the pioneering global traveler who went under the pen name of journalist Elizabeth Cochrane, a 16-inch-wide handbag was companion enough.
Bly set off on a journey around the world on November 14, 1889 at the age of 25, with only one piece of hand luggage, the contents of which included not much more than a dressing gown, a sparse collection of toiletries, an ink stand, pens and a small flask. Inspired by the travels of the fictional Phineas Fogg, from Jules Verne’s Around the World in Eighty Days, Bly dreamt of beating the 80-day journey of Verne’s fictional Fogg. Backed by the coffers of her employer, The New York World newspaper, Bly’s journey challenged the perceptions of women’s rights and travel in her time.
Bly’s luggage spoke to her strong sense of independence and feminist beliefs. She hounded her male editors for an entire year until they agreed to let her, and not a male journalist, make the trip. (As a young, unmarried woman in the early 19th century, societal norms required her to be accompanied by a chaperone.) Along with her bag, Bly carried her fiercely held beliefs for gender equality everywhere she went, including a temple on the Asian leg of her journey, where she was barred entry because of her gender.
Bly succeeded in besting the fictional Fogg’s record by accomplishing her 24,899-mile long journey in 72 days, 6 hours and 11 minutes. She held the world record for a number of months, until beaten by George Francis Train, who completed his round-the-world-journey in 67 days.
Bly’s travel itinerary: New York to London, then Calais, Brindisi, Port Said, Ismailia, Suez, Aden, Colombo, Penang, Singapore, Hong Kong, Yokohama, San Francisco and a triumphant return to New York.
—Andrea Bold