Slop.

Phileas Fogg: So I say to this most esteemed club; I take your wager and shall prove myself to be the victor. Set your timepieces gentlemen and watch, as I circumnavigate the globe in just 80 Days! Starting promptly by hot air balloon from this most esteemed city of London!

[Passepartout coughs politely and leans in to whisper something tactfully to his enthusiastic employer. Phileas' brow begins to wrinkle]

Phileas Fogg: [quietly, to Passepartout] Well surely some enterprising business concern would leap at such an opportunity to pioneer in the promotional arts.

[Passepartout murmers tactfully again]

Phileas Fogg: Yes, I suppose finding the right sponsor is rather important. One would hate to accomplish such a feat under the banner of a foot powder or some such.

[Passpartout nods sagely, uttering more apparent detail in an uncatchable French accent]

Phileas Fogg: [enthusiasm somewhat subdued] Yes, I suppose a proper bidding process would be required to ensure everything is above board. I'd hate for a legal technicality to invalidate our triumpharance. Yes, indeed.

Phileas Fogg: [to the Reform Club, trying to maintain his previous spirit] For the sake of promotion, let's call the wager around the world in 120 days!

[Passepartout leans in again, looking slightly sheepish beneath his bowler hat]

Phileas Fogg: [with dampened agreement] True, I suppose they will want to build excitement and awareness for their promotion amongst the populace. Advertorials and whatnot to get the word out. A campaign of sorts.

[There are more, somewhat apologetic, French murmurings]

Phileas Fogg: [nodding but deflated, thoughtful] That's true. I suppose without a planned route our sponsors can hardly be expected to localise the language of their promotion to every possible people and nation we might pass through. And what good is a promotion that people cannot read?

[Passepartout whispers at length, making gestures with his gloved hands as though explaining a multi step process of some kind]

Phileas Fogg: [leadened by detail, but trying to remain agreeable] And how long does such a process usually take before the designs are approved, localisation complete, and the whole lot can be sent to whatever talented fellows make such custom balloonary?

[Phileas listens to Passepartout's surprisingly long answer, crossing his arms as his smile fades and wrinkles appear around his eyes as he considers the realities of such an operation]

Phileas Fogg: [to the Reform Club, feigning even a lesser level of enthusiasm] I have still taken your wager, but for the sake of sensible business practice, let us be realistic and travel around the world in 200 days!

[Passepartout coughs again, politely, almost ashamedly as he pulls his boss back from the most recent pronouncement once more. Phileas looks slightly perturbed now, but still listens to the Frenchman's latest murmurs of consequence intently, nodding occasionally despite a despondent look]

Phileas Fogg: [to Passepartout, mulling whether he is still invested in this idea as he fiddles with his moustache] Yes, yes, I suppose our sponsors would wish us to finish this most astonishing of feats during or just before their busiest sales quarter. They, like anybody, want to feel they've gotten their money's worth I suppose. Hmmm, that would mean doing a considerable portion of the trip across Siberia in October, but I suppose you can pack us some extra winter attire, my good man.

Phileas Fogg: [to the Reform Club, his demeanor more formal, enthusiasm replaced with burdened pragmatism] I'm sure the achievement will carry just as much weight in the press and in people's hearts if we announce that I will circumnavigate the globe in time to return to the finish line here, in foggy London, sometime in the Holiday Season of 1873.

[There are murmers of begrudging agreement from the gentlemen of the Reform Club, but the moment feels like it has passed and the enjoyment brought forth by the idea has long since passed into the ether along with so much tobacco smoke]

Phileas Fogg: [resigned, the prospective task now weighing heavily on him] Now gentleman, if you'll excuse me, I better get started. Passepartout, be sure to pick up my new lettercrest seal from the shop. It seems we have much correspondence to author before the year is out.