Thanks to child-like bickering between our elected officials, the United States government shut down on Oct. 1. Though the impacts of this are wide-ranging, travel issues could easily be one of the ways many people feel the pinch of this year’s political logjam, especially as the holidays approach.
According to USA Today, air travel will likely experience delays and canceled flights as air traffic controllers and Transportation Security Administration officers are forced to work without pay after missing their first paychecks on Oct. 28, but aviation experts insist flying remains safe once your flight actually takes off.
In 2024, as reported by Fox 10 Phoenix, “232,000 flights took off from Nov. 24 through Nov. 28, a new record for the Thanksgiving holiday.”
Of course, that doesn’t include other forms of travel. The BBC’s Lynn Brown and Christopher Luu reported that train travel will be disrupted, too.
All of this means traveling across the country to visit relatives will be difficult, if not impossible. It’s 2025. Travel shouldn’t be this hard.
Yet, in 1889 — and without access to modern travel methods — one person managed to traverse the entire globe in record time.
That person was Nellie Bly.
Born Elizabeth Jane Cochran on May 5, 1864, Bly adopted her pen name and became a pioneering female journalist. Known for her style as much as her reporting, she first wrote for the Pittsburgh Dispatch before moving to New York and joining the New York World, owned by Joseph Pulitzer.
In the pages of Pulitzer’s paper, Bly made her mark on the journalism world.
She first achieved fame by going undercover in Blackwell’s Island Women’s Lunatic Asylum. She had herself committed after feigning insanity. She stayed in the facility for 10 days, and when she emerged, she revealed the brutality and neglect patients experienced in the facility.
The reports ran serially in the World, and the complete coverage was later published as a book called “10 Days in a Mad-House.”
As The New Yorker’s Alice Gregory wrote, “Her work changed public policy, her outfits influenced fashion trends, and her adventures inspired board games.”
Bly’s stint at Blackwell’s Island began her inspiring career as a narratively gifted stunt journalist. According to scholar Dianne M. Bragg, “Stunt journalism was a style of journalism common in the 19th century that involved the journalist’s immersion in a story, sometimes under a false identity.”
Perhaps one of her most famous stunts, though, allowed her to use her own name, and that was when she decided to race Phileas Fogg, the protagonist of “Around the World in Eighty Days” by Jules Verne.
Bly began her journey on Nov. 14, 1889, and she completed her approximately 25,000-mile trek a mere 72 days later on Jan. 25, 1890. She bested Fogg, and she even beat her goal of finishing in 75 days.
To accomplish this feat, Bly used trains and steamships to traverse the globe. Much like modern travelers, she experienced delays, but these were largely due to the limitations of travel methods at that time.
People traveling this holiday season will undoubtedly face delays, and, if they are flying, cancellations shouldn’t be a surprise. This is especially true if they are flying into Dallas/Fort Worth International Airport, Ronald Reagan Washington National Airport, or Denver International Airport. The Bureau of Transportation Statistics reports that they are the top three worst airports for on-time departures.
If you find yourself stuck at an airport this holiday season, think of Bly’s November travels and be grateful that your trip won’t involve steamships or take 72 days, no matter how long you’re delayed.
Todd R. Vogts, Ph.D., is a native of Canton, a resident of McPherson County, and a media researcher and educator. He can be contacted with questions or comments via his website at www.toddvogts.com.
