The balloon travels of Robert Merry and his young friends over various countries in Europe.
Caption:
The voyagers looking down upon the giant's caussway.
Educational Notes:
Should you take the boat or the balloon? Before modern means of travel were invented, transportation between your location and destination could be complicated, especially if you wanted to get there fast. If that was case, knowing the speed, or the rate of motion, which the boat and balloon travel would help you to pick between the two. The average steamboat in the 1800s averaged speeds of about 6 to 10 miles per hours. On the other hand, hot air balloons rely heavily on the wind to pick up speed, and while this makes their speed inconsistent, it makes getting places fairly quickly if the wind is on your side. In 1991, the hot air balloon, Pacific Flyer, recorded the highest ever ground speed for a hot air balloon at 245 miles per hours, well over the capabilities of a 19th century steamboat travelling by water! If this steamboat and balloon set out at the same time to travel from one end of the Mississippi River to the other (about 1,323 miles), it would take the steamboat, at a pace of 10 miles per hour, 132 hours or 5 and a half days to travel from one end to the other. Meanwhile, if this 19th century hot air balloon could travel as fast as the Pacific Flyer did, it would only take 5 and a half hours to travel the length of the Mississippi!
