Fifteen days to Marrakesh, without going
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It leaves Seoul on 7 September and reaches Marrakesh on the 21st. Five places to sleep, 13,509km of movement, and eight hours wound off the clock. Nobody actually went. What follows is a record of what appears on screen as the line makes its way across.
Seoul to Marrakesh in a straight line is 11,013km. With all five stops added it comes to 13,509km — 1.23 times the direct distance. That is because every one of them is on the way.
8 September · Ulaanbaatar — 1,992km
The first leg. The line leaves Seoul heading northwest and settles on the Mongolian steppe. Its detour ratio is 1.003, meaning the great circle from Seoul to Marrakesh passes almost exactly over Ulaanbaatar. Stopping here adds six kilometres.
Wind the clock back an hour. Six in the evening in Seoul is five here. Open the stop and you get Sükhbaatar Square, Gandantegchinlen Monastery, the Bogd Khaan Palace Museum and the Zaisan Memorial. Two nights, then on.
11 September · Novosibirsk — 1,828km
Into Siberia. Detour ratio 1.003 again — on the line, like Ulaanbaatar. The Trans-Siberian Railway runs through the city, and one of the four places attached to the stop is a railway museum. The others are the opera and ballet theatre, Alexander Nevsky Cathedral and the zoo.
Another hour back, now two behind Seoul. This is the only leg with a single night. On the map the line keeps going west and only west.
13 September · Khiva — 2,238km
Uzbekistan. Itchan Kala, the old town inside the walls, was inscribed as a UNESCO World Heritage site in 1990 — the first in Uzbekistan. UNESCO on Itchan Kala The stop carries Itchan Kala, the Kalta Minor minaret, the Juma Mosque and the Kunya-Ark citadel. All four sit inside the same set of walls.
Two hours back this time, four behind Seoul. The map looks suddenly empty through Central Asia, not because there are no cities but because our dictionary holds few of them. Two nights.
16 September · Vilnius — 2,955km
The longest leg. Across desert and steppe and up towards the Baltic. Detour ratio 1.000 — the most exactly on-the-way city of the whole journey. Stopping costs essentially nothing.
Capital of Lithuania, its old town inscribed in 1994. UNESCO on the Vilnius Historic Centre The stop carries Gediminas' Tower, Vilnius Cathedral, St. Anne's Church and the Gate of Dawn. Two more hours off the clock, six behind Seoul. Two nights.
19 September · Cork — 2,242km
Across Europe to the southern edge of Ireland, where the line meets the Atlantic for the first time. Ireland's second city; the stop carries the English Market, Saint Fin Barre's Cathedral, Cork City Gaol and Blarney Castle.
Two hours further back — eight behind Seoul. One night only. The next one is the last.
21 September · Marrakesh — 2,254km
South from Ireland to Morocco, and the time does not change. After 2,254km, Cork and Marrakesh both read UTC+1. Time zones follow longitude, so you can travel as far as you like north to south and the clock will sit still.
The medina was inscribed in 1985. UNESCO on the Medina of Marrakesh The stop carries Jemaa el-Fnaa, the Jardin Majorelle, the Bahia Palace and the Ben Youssef Madrasa. The journey ends here and the map zooms out to hold the whole route, showing 13,509km.
The whole thing
| Date | City | Leg | Nights | Local clock |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 7 Sep | Seoul | — | 0 | UTC+9 |
| 8 Sep | Ulaanbaatar | 1,992km | 2 | UTC+8 |
| 11 Sep | Novosibirsk | 1,828km | 1 | UTC+7 |
| 13 Sep | Khiva | 2,238km | 2 | UTC+5 |
| 16 Sep | Vilnius | 2,955km | 2 | UTC+3 |
| 19 Sep | Cork | 2,242km | 1 | UTC+1 |
| 21 Sep | Marrakesh | 2,254km | — | UTC+1 |
Fifteen days, 13,509km, six legs, eight hours of clock. That far without going.
The journey is inside the link itself. Nothing is stored on a server, so the address is all you need to open it. To build one to somewhere else, type a city name on the home page. The stops along the way get filled in like these — by what happens to lie on the line.