Turns out the finest way to fly around the world in 80 days is to make it in 70.

Hopping in the Lear for a brioche breakfast in Paris is probably something you’ve done once or twice. But have you ever followed that with lunch in Gibraltar and dinner in Marrakech? Doubtful unless you’re Phileas Fogg or one of the lucky few on Air Journey’s first around-the-world jaunt.

The Jupiter, Florida–based travel planner started its private-plane caravans in 1998, when founder Thierry Pouille — at the time a traditional travel agent — arranged a one-week trip from Florida to the Bahamas for a group of European pilots and operators in their own planes.

Pouille was himself an experienced pilot who had flown solo from Spain to Algeria when he was just 16, and since that first Caribbean jaunt he’s taken 1,000 aviators with a case of wanderlust in self-fly trips to Alaska, Iceland and the Galapagos. But he’s never strung it all together.

Pouille plans to lead the fleet of 10 planes in a Pilatus PC-12, departing from Quebec City on May 14 and returning to Wisconsin, 70 days later, on July 22, a scant week before EAA AirVenture in Oshkosh (part of the reason the trip wasn’t extended the extra 10 days to cement the literary allusion).

Along the 41-stop route, the group will sail through the Greek isles, explore Pharaohs’ tombs in the Valley of the Kings, hike the Great Wall of China and, of course, munch on the aforementioned baked goods along the Champs-Élysées. “I’m French. How can I not go to Paris?” Pouille asks.

Those reading this too late to make Quebec are welcome to sign up early for the encore he plans for next May — or join in at almost any point along the way this summer. Simply e-mail Pouille at thierry@airjourney.com and he’ll tell you where to meet the group and, if need be, point you toward a charter or rental firm (aircraft must have a 1,200-nautical-mile range).

The fee is $55,450 per person plus a $12,000 jet-registration fee that can easily be prorated to start in the Mideast or even the South Pacific. And other than fuel and landing fees, yes, that rate is most decidedly all-inclusive.

The package encompasses accommodations at the Four Seasons, Ritz and other luxury hotels; maintenance services; flight plans, fuel-release documents and visas (plus having Pouille’s staff deal with the headaches of procuring them); and gourmet dinners in renowned restaurants, including one very special stop in Paris. “You can’t go around the world in 70 days and not visit the Jules Verne,” Pouille says. 

It’s Greek to you: Santorini, stop number 10 out of 41.

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