Every route, one map
The trips that shrank the world, by rail, steamer, propeller and jet, and the milestones that changed the paperwork in between.
The tags are souvenirs and the handwritten notes are invented. The dates, routes, times and prices were checked in October 2026.
01 · 5 July 1841
Thomas Cook's one-shilling train
A day trip to a temperance meeting, and the beginning of the package holiday.
Leicester → Loughborough
- Travellers
- about 500
- Fare
- 1 shilling, with food
- Carriages
- open
The journey
Thomas Cook, a cabinet-maker and Baptist preacher from Market Harborough, had the idea while walking to a temperance meeting: hire a whole train and sell the seats. On 5 July 1841 about 500 people rode the Midland Counties Railway, in open carriages, from Leicester to a rally in Loughborough and back, for a shilling each, food included.
The first package holiday cost a shilling and lasted a day.
Excursion trains had run before, on the Liverpool and Manchester line, but Cook's was the one that became a business. Within twenty years he was taking tourists to Europe; within thirty, round the world.
What it changed
- Invented the package trip: transport, food and entertainment in one ticket.
- Made travel something ordinary working people could buy.
- Grew into a company that ran for 178 years.
Make the trip today
A domestic trip, then and now: no papers needed.
Check the entry rules for your passport02 · Early 1869
Cook's first tourists on the Nile
Package tourism reaches Egypt: rented steamers, a guide and the temples of Upper Egypt.
Cairo → Aswan
- Steamers hired from
- the Khedive of Egypt
- River concession
- granted to Cook in 1870
- Then on to
- Palestine
The journey
In 1869, the year the Suez Canal opened, Thomas Cook led his first party of tourists up the Nile from Cairo on steamers hired from the Khedive Ismail, with the tour going on to Palestine. It was the first package tour of Egypt, and it changed what a winter holiday could be for Europe's middle classes.
The Nile cruise is older than the Suez Canal's first year.
In 1870 the Khedive gave Cook the concession to run the government steamers between Cairo and Aswan. Cook's Nile fleet became so dependable that in 1884 Britain hired it to carry troops south for the Gordon relief expedition.
What it changed
- Created the Nile cruise, still one of the world's classic trips.
- Opened Egypt's temples to tourists who were not explorers or scholars.
- Showed that package travel could work far from home.
Make the trip today
Most visitors need a visa for Egypt, and many nationalities can get an e-Visa online before they fly.
Egypt visa guide →03 · 10 May 1869
The golden spike: coast to coast by rail
America's two railroads meet in Utah, and a six-month journey becomes a week.
New York → San Francisco
- Before the railroad
- about 6 months by wagon
- After
- about a week
- The telegram
- “DONE”
The journey
On 10 May 1869 at Promontory Summit, Utah, the Central Pacific line from California met the Union Pacific line from the east, and Leland Stanford drove a ceremonial gold spike. The whole country learned the news from a one-word telegram: DONE.
The whole country got the news in one word: DONE.
Before it, crossing America meant about six months by wagon, five by sea round Cape Horn, or a month via Panama. After it, New York to San Francisco took about a week. In summer 1869 a first-class ticket cost 150 dollars and an emigrant ticket 70.
What it changed
- Cut a cross-country journey from months to a week.
- Opened the American West to settlers, trade and tourists.
- Showed what a railway could do to a continent.
Make the trip today
Visitors from Visa Waiver countries need an ESTA for the US; everyone else needs a US visa.
Check the entry rules for your passport04 · 4 October 1883
The Orient Express leaves Paris
A hotel on wheels, from the Gare de Strasbourg to Constantinople.
Paris → Constantinople (Istanbul)
- Journey
- about 80 hours
- Sea leg from Varna
- about 14 hours
- All the way by rail
- from 1889
The journey
On 4 October 1883 Georges Nagelmackers' Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits sent its luxury train east from Paris's Gare de Strasbourg, now the Gare de l'Est. It ran through Munich and Vienna to Giurgiu on the Danube; passengers crossed the river by ferry to Ruse, took another train to Varna, then a ship across the Black Sea to Constantinople.
Europe's first hotel on wheels, with a ferry and a steamer in the middle.
The whole trip took about 80 hours. The novelist Edmond About was on board and wrote the classic account. From 1889 the train ran all the way by rail, and its name became shorthand for luxury travel and for murder mysteries.
What it changed
- Made long-distance train travel a luxury, not an ordeal.
- Linked western Europe to the edge of Asia on one ticket.
- Inspired a century of books and films.
Make the trip today
Türkiye lets many nationalities in without a visa, including EU, UK and US citizens; others can get an e-Visa online. Check your passport.
Check the entry rules for your passport05 · 14 – 15 June 1919
Alcock and Brown fly the Atlantic non-stop
Two men, a converted bomber and a landing in an Irish bog.
St John's, Newfoundland → Clifden, Ireland
- Flight time
- 15 h 57 min
- Distance
- about 1,890 miles
- Mail carried
- 196 letters
The journey
John Alcock and Arthur Whitten Brown took off from Lester's Field, St John's, on the afternoon of 14 June 1919 in a converted Vickers Vimy bomber. They flew through fog and sleet, often unable to see the sea, and landed the next morning at Clifden in the west of Ireland, in a bog that tipped the plane onto its nose.
The first non-stop Atlantic flight ended nose-down in a bog.
The flight took 15 hours 57 minutes and won the Daily Mail's 10,000-pound prize. They also carried 196 letters, the first transatlantic airmail, and two toy cats as mascots.
What it changed
- Proved an aeroplane could cross the Atlantic without stopping.
- Carried the first transatlantic airmail.
- Opened the way to the transatlantic airlines.
Make the trip today
Ireland has its own entry rules, separate from the UK's and Schengen's; many nationalities, including Canadians, can visit without a visa.
Check the entry rules for your passport06 · October 1920
The passport booklet is born
A League of Nations conference in Paris decides what a passport should look like.
Paris
- Conference opened
- 15 October 1920
- States attending
- 22
- Pages
- 32
The journey
Before the First World War most travellers in Europe crossed borders without passports. The war changed that, and in October 1920 the League of Nations called a conference in Paris to bring order to the new paperwork. Twenty-two states attended.
The passport in your pocket was designed in Paris in 1920.
They agreed a model: a booklet of 32 pages, 15.5 by 10.5 centimetres, with the country's name and coat of arms on the cover, written in French and at least one other language, and the first pages describing the holder. Few governments adopted it straight away, but the booklet in your pocket today follows its pattern.
What it changed
- Gave the world one recognisable travel document.
- Made passports the normal price of crossing a border.
- Started the paperwork that visas, and Plusvisa, are part of.
Make the trip today
France is in the Schengen area: many passports can visit visa-free; the rest need a Schengen visa.
Check the entry rules for your passport07 · 1 Oct – 24 Nov 1924
KLM flies to Batavia
The first flight from Europe to the Dutch East Indies, in 55 days.
Amsterdam → Batavia (Jakarta)
- Days
- 55
- Flying hours
- 127
- Distance
- about 15,000 km
The journey
On 1 October 1924 a Fokker F.VII with a crew of three took off from Amsterdam for Batavia, now Jakarta. On the second day its engine failed near Plovdiv in Bulgaria, and the crew waited a month for a replacement, paid for by readers of a Dutch magazine.
Fifty-five days then, about fifteen hours now.
It flew on through Constantinople, Aleppo, Baghdad, Karachi, Calcutta, Rangoon, Bangkok and Medan, and reached Batavia on 24 November after 127 hours in the air. A scheduled service followed in 1929, and it was the longest regular air route in the world until 1939.
What it changed
- The first flight from Europe to South-East Asia.
- Led to the world's longest scheduled air route of the 1930s.
- Made KLM one of the first intercontinental airlines.
Make the trip today
Many nationalities can get an e-Visa or a visa on arrival for Indonesia; others need a visa before they travel.
Indonesia visa guide →08 · 2 May 1952
The first jet airliner service
BOAC's Comet takes passengers to Johannesburg at nearly 500 mph.
London → Johannesburg
- Passengers
- 36
- Stops
- Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe, Livingstone
- Arrived
- 14 minutes early
The journey
At 15:12 on 2 May 1952, a BOAC de Havilland Comet left London with 36 passengers on the world's first jet airliner service. It stopped at Rome, Beirut, Khartoum, Entebbe and Livingstone, and reached Johannesburg the next afternoon, 14 minutes early, after about 23 and a half hours.
The jet age began on a Friday afternoon at London Airport.
Passengers found it quiet and smooth after propeller planes. The Comet's early years ended in tragedy, with crashes caused by metal fatigue, including this very aircraft in 1954; the lessons learned made every later jet safer.
What it changed
- Began the jet age for passengers.
- Halved journey times on long routes.
- Its failures taught aviation how to build safe pressurised jets.
Make the trip today
Many nationalities, including UK citizens, can visit South Africa without a visa for up to 90 days; check the rules for your passport.
Check the entry rules for your passport09 · 1 October 1964
The bullet train opens
Japan's Shinkansen links Tokyo and Osaka, nine days before the Olympics.
Tokyo → Shin-Osaka
- Passengers since 1964
- about 7 billion
- Passenger deaths in train accidents
- none
- World Bank loan
- 80 million dollars
The journey
The Tōkaidō Shinkansen opened on 1 October 1964, just before the Tokyo Olympics, cutting Tokyo to Osaka to four hours, and to 3 hours 10 minutes a year later. It was the world's first high-speed railway, partly paid for with an 80-million-dollar World Bank loan, repaid in 1981.
About seven billion passengers, and no passenger deaths in train accidents.
It has carried about seven billion passengers since, with no deaths or injuries to passengers on board from collisions or derailments. Today the Nozomi does the trip in about 2 hours 21 minutes.
What it changed
- Created high-speed rail, copied from France to China.
- Showed trains could beat planes on city-to-city trips.
- Set a safety record no other transport has matched.
Make the trip today
Japan lets many nationalities visit without a visa for short stays; check the rules for your passport.
Check the entry rules for your passport10 · 22 January 1970
The first jumbo jet flight
Pan Am's Boeing 747 doubles the size of a long-haul flight.
New York → London
- Passengers
- 332
- Delay
- about 7 hours
- Aircraft swapped in
- Clipper Victor
The journey
Pan Am's first Boeing 747 service, from New York to London, was due to leave on the evening of 21 January 1970. An engine overheated, the airline swapped in another 747, and the flight left about seven hours late, just before 2 am on 22 January, with 332 passengers. It landed at Heathrow about six and a quarter hours later.
The jumbo made the long-haul holiday affordable.
The jumbo carried more than twice as many people as the jets before it, which brought fares down and turned long-haul flying from a luxury into something families could afford.
What it changed
- More than doubled the seats on a long-haul plane.
- Brought fares down and created mass long-haul tourism.
- Flew for more than 50 years as the Queen of the Skies.
Make the trip today
Most visa-free visitors to the UK, including US citizens, need an Electronic Travel Authorisation (ETA) before they fly.
Check the entry rules for your passport11 · 21 January 1976
Concorde's first passengers
Two supersonic jets take off at the same minute, for Bahrain and Rio.
London → Bahrain
- Take-off
- 11:40, London and Paris at once
- Fare to Bahrain
- £356 one way
- Air France route
- Paris – Dakar – Rio
The journey
At 11:40 on 21 January 1976, British Airways' Concorde took off from London for Bahrain and Air France's from Paris for Rio de Janeiro via Dakar, both shown live on television. The London flight reached Bahrain in about 3 hours 40 minutes, roughly half the time of an ordinary jet.
Today the same trip takes three hours longer.
A one-way ticket to Bahrain cost 356 pounds. Concorde flew for 27 years, mostly across the Atlantic, and is still the only supersonic airliner to have carried passengers regularly.
What it changed
- The only supersonic passenger service that lasted.
- Showed how fast travel could be, and how expensive.
- One of the few journeys that is slower today than it was.
Make the trip today
Bahrain offers e-Visas and visas on arrival to many nationalities; check the rules for your passport.
Check the entry rules for your passport12 · 14 June 1985
Schengen: Europe signs away its border posts
Five countries sign an agreement on a riverboat, and passport checks start to disappear.
Schengen, Luxembourg
- Signed by
- 5 countries
- In force
- 26 March 1995
- Members today
- 29
The journey
On 14 June 1985, on board the riverboat Princesse Marie-Astrid on the Moselle, where France, Germany and Luxembourg meet, Belgium, France, West Germany, Luxembourg and the Netherlands agreed to abolish checks at their shared borders. The village on the bank gave the agreement its name.
Twenty-nine countries, one visa.
It came into force in 1995. Today the Schengen area has 29 countries, and one Schengen visa covers them all. Non-EU visitors are now registered with fingerprints and a photo in the EU's new entry and exit system.
What it changed
- Abolished routine passport checks across most of Europe.
- Created the Schengen visa: one visa for many countries.
- Changed how hundreds of millions of people travel every year.
Make the trip today
Many passports can visit the Schengen area visa-free for up to 90 days in any 180; the rest need a Schengen visa.
Check the entry rules for your passport13 · 14 November 1994
London to Paris under the sea
The first Eurostar passengers ride through the Channel Tunnel.
London → Paris
- Under the sea
- 37.9 km
- Cost
- £4.65 billion
- First train
- 2 minutes early
The journey
The Queen and President Mitterrand opened the Channel Tunnel on 6 May 1994, and on 14 November the first Eurostar passenger train left London Waterloo at 08:23, arriving in Paris 2 minutes early. A return ticket started at 95 pounds.
Britain has not been an island by rail since 1994.
The tunnel runs 37.9 km under the sea, the longest undersea stretch of any tunnel in the world. Today Eurostar runs from St Pancras and takes 2 hours 16 minutes, city centre to city centre.
What it changed
- Linked Britain to the European rail network.
- Made train beat plane between London and Paris.
- One of the great engineering projects of the century.
Make the trip today
Eurostar passengers clear French passport control in London; non-EU visitors are registered in the EU's entry and exit system.
Check the entry rules for your passport14 · 11 September 1996
The first electronic visa
Australia's ETA replaces the visa label with a record in a computer.
Singapore → Australia
- First used
- Singapore, Sept 1996
- Online from
- 2001
- US ESTA arrived
- 12 years later
The journey
In September 1996 Australia began issuing Electronic Travel Authorities through airline check-in desks in Singapore, for Singaporean and American travellers flying with Qantas and Singapore Airlines. Instead of a visa label in the passport, the permission sat in a government computer, linked to the passport number.
The first visa you could not see.
It is widely described as the first electronic visa system. Online applications followed in 2001, the US launched its ESTA in 2008, and today most travel permissions in the world, from e-Visas to ETAs, work the same way.
What it changed
- Began the switch from paper visas to electronic ones.
- Became the model for ESTA, the UK ETA and the e-Visa.
- Made getting permission to travel a matter of minutes.
Make the trip today
Australia needs an electronic authority or visa from almost every visitor: an ETA for the US, UK, Canada and others, an eVisitor for EU citizens.
Check the entry rules for your passport15 · 28 September 2019
Saudi Arabia opens to tourists
A tourist e-Visa for 49 countries, in a country that had never issued tourist visas before.
Riyadh
- Launched
- 28 September 2019
- Countries at launch
- 49
- International visits in 2025
- about 29 million
The journey
For most of its history Saudi Arabia issued visas for work, business and pilgrimage, but not for tourism. On 27 September 2019 it announced a tourist e-Visa for citizens of 49 countries, with applications open the next day, at 440 riyals including health insurance.
A country closed to tourists opened with an online form.
The e-Visa is valid for a year, with multiple entries and stays of up to 90 days at a time. Around 66 countries are now eligible, and holders of a used US, UK or Schengen visa can get one on arrival. The country recorded about 29 million international visits in 2025.
What it changed
- Opened one of the world's least-visited countries to tourism.
- Showed how an e-Visa can open a country almost overnight.
- Made AlUla, Diriyah and the Red Sea coast new destinations.
Make the trip today
Saudi Arabia's tourist e-Visa is issued online to visitors from about 66 countries; others apply through an embassy.
Saudi Arabia visa guide →Questions readers ask
Are the tags and notes real?
No. The tags are souvenirs and the handwritten notes are invented. The dates, routes, journey times and fares were checked against operators, museums and reference sources in October 2026. Today's times are typical scheduled times and can vary.
Why are a treaty and two e-Visas in a list of journeys?
Because they changed every journey after them. The 1920 passport booklet, the Schengen area and the electronic visa decide what you carry, which queues you stand in and how long you wait before you can go. Travel got faster in the air; the paperwork is catching up.
Why is Concorde slower today?
Because Concorde stopped flying in 2003 and nothing replaced it. London to Bahrain took about 3 hours 40 minutes in 1976 and takes about 6 hours 40 minutes today. It is one of very few trips that got slower.
Which of these trips can Plusvisa help with?
Plusvisa applies for e-Visas to Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Vietnam and Cambodia: that covers the Nile, Batavia (Jakarta) and Saudi Arabia here. For everything else, the visa guides show what your passport needs.
Map: Natural Earth. Tags and icons: Plusvisa. Company names belong to their owners; this page is not affiliated with any of them.