Jules Verne's novel sends Dr. Samuel Ferguson across Africa in a balloon filled with hydrogen, from Zanzibar past Lake Victoria, Lake Chad and Timbuktu to the Senegal River and Saint-Louis.
The route follows seven places from the book in order, from the departure port to the Nile source, the desert crossing and the falls of Gouina where the Victoria is lost. Verne's Africa is a nineteenth-century view, and the novel's pins are broad: most marks are areas, not exact spots.
Natsume Sōseki's Botchan is set in Matsuyama on Shikoku: its hero lands at the harbour, rides a tiny train into town and bathes daily at Dōgo Onsen.
The route follows the young Tokyo teacher from the harbour and the toy train to the school, the bathhouse and the castle during his short, eventful stay in Matsuyama.
Zombie Land Saga is set across Saga Prefecture, from a mansion modelled on a real Karatsu building and Saga Castle to the hot springs of Ureshino and the Alpino hall in Karatsu.
In the anime, seven legendary girls from different eras are revived as zombies to form an idol group and revive Saga. This route follows their gigs and haunts, with the real venues behind them. Some places are fictional or only approximate, as noted.
Tarkovsky's Andrei Rublev follows a medieval icon painter through the Russia of 1400–1424, and its key scenes were shot around Vladimir and Suzdal, from the Church of the Intercession on the Nerl to the Dormition Cathedral.
The route also visits the Izborsk Fortress, where the Vladimir raid was filmed, plus the Andronikov Monastery in Moscow, where the story starts and ends, and the Trinity Lavra, home of Rublev's most famous icon, which the film shows in its colour epilogue. Some stops are filming spots rather than named story places.
The 1990s sitcom Mr. Bean was filmed across London, Sussex and the south coast: the Surbiton street used for his flat, Stanmer Church, Peacehaven beach, Battersea Park and Clarence Pier. On screen he lives at Flat 2, 12 Arbour Road, Highbury; the front door was filmed in Surbiton.
This route follows the episodes from the 1990 pilot to the 1995 golf sketch: eight stops through a Henry Moore sculpture, a Kingston market, a Southsea hotel room and a runaway golf ball. Most are public places; the Surbiton house is a private home, so it is one to see from the street.
Michael Palin's Around the World in 80 Days (BBC, 1988) followed Phileas Fogg with no aircraft, from London's Reform Club to Venice, the Pyramids, Dubai, Hong Kong and Aspen. It ran from 25 September to 12 December and ended at a locked door in Pall Mall.
The route follows nine moments from his own day-by-day captions and diary excerpts: Venice, the Pyramids, a dhow from Dubai to Bombay, Hong Kong, a train to Shanghai, the Pacific, an Aspen balloon and a locked door in Pall Mall. Pins mark cities and landmarks; the real line of travel ran between them.
