What happens to the rest of Nellie and Liz's lives and why is their story important? 

January 20th-26th: Both women rush closer to the finish line. Liz heads west on her tumultuous ride across the Atlantic while Nellie moves east on high speed trains across the country. And after months of calculation, there is finally a winner to this race. 

January 15th-19th: Elizabeth Bisland travels through Europe to try to catch the fastest steamship to get her back to New York in under 80 days. But every steamship bails in the last minute; she gets confusing information, and is stuck in a thunderstorm of all storms as she grasps for her last bits of sanity and good temper. 

December 30th- January 9th: Elizabeth Bisland had not felt the pressure of the race until now. She starts to feel the pace of the race pick up and the faster it goes by her the less she wants it to end. But she feels a great shift in herself as she explores the oldest civilizations in the world. 

December 30th- January 8th: Nellie Bly rings in the New Year on a steamship headed to Yokohama. And something happens to Nellie when she arrives in Japan. For the first time, she doesn't want to rush through this country. Japan seduces her and Nellie wishes she could pause the race to enjoy this enchanting country. 

Announcement! 

December 20th-25th: Elizabeth Bisland is deliciously indulgent in Malaysia. But even in all the beauty of the tropics, she can't help feeling homesick as she sits on the  thousands of miles from home. 

December 19th-December 25th: Nellie Bly surpasses her halfway point, but bad luck and worse news meet her at every corner. She suffers through a monsoon, receives aggressive unwanted male attention, is rescheduled again, all before learning that another woman is in the race against time as well...

Nellie takes charge and has an unforgettable Christmas day in Canton, China. 

December 13th- 18th: Thirty-one days out from New York, Elizabeth Bisland arrives in Hong Kong. She is lucky because she has friends in Hong Kong who show her the best parts of the city. She hikes mountains, explores markets, and indulges in every pleasure. Something shifts in Elizabeth Bisland, and she starts wishing that she could stay longer in every places she explores on her flying trip around the world.

December 13th- 16th: Nellie Bly is anxious as her steamship crosses through the Bay of Bengal and the Straits of Malacca to make up for lost time.

In these few days, she does make progress. She touches down in two ports in Malaysia: Penang and Singapore. 

While in Singapore, she analyzes how different cultures express the human experiences in vastly different ways. She compares and contrasts her normal to those on the other side of the planet and makes a very impulsive purchase.

But to her delight, she has reached her mid-point, and Nellie Bly is officially halfway around the world.