MARLPIT PRESSIndependent PublisherWhere Richard Halliburton Goes in The Royal Road to Romance
The journey is often blurred with Halliburton’s later exploits. Here is the itinerary that actually belongs to The Royal Road to Romance.
Europe
Halliburton begins in Europe, where the book includes the Matterhorn, France, Andorra, Spain, Seville, Gibraltar, and Monte Carlo.
The Matterhorn ascent is one of the first defining performances of the book. Gibraltar supplies another Halliburton specialty: an arrest after he photographs prohibited British military installations.
Egypt
In Egypt he spends a night on the Great Pyramid of Giza after the tourists leave and later swims in the Nile.
These episodes establish a recurring method. Halliburton does not merely visit famous monuments. He tries to make them physically and narratively his own.
India and the Himalayas
The Indian sections include the Taj Mahal, where Halliburton swims in the reflecting pool by moonlight, followed by travel through Punjab, Kashmir, Ladakh, and Leh.
He then crosses the Khyber Pass toward Afghanistan. These chapters give the book a geographic range far beyond the European grand tour.
Southeast Asia and China
Halliburton continues through Bangkok and Angkor, then into China and the coast near Macau, where he reports an encounter with pirates.
The pattern remains consistent: ruins, legends, remote landscapes, and danger are transformed into scenes built around the traveler’s personal encounter with them.
Japan and Mount Fuji
Japan provides the climax. Halliburton attempts Mount Fuji alone in winter and reaches the summit around his twenty-third birthday in January 1923.
He then returns to the United States as a working seaman, reaching Memphis on March 1, 1923.
Four famous exploits that are not in this book
The Hellespont swim comes later, during the journey behind The Glorious Adventure. The Panama Canal swim belongs to New Worlds to Conquer.
The Flying Carpet airplane expedition belongs to the early 1930s, and the elephant crossing of the Alps belongs to the later Seven League Boots period.
Research basis
This note draws on the biographical, publication, and reception research assembled for the Marlpit Press edition.
- Richard Halliburton, The Royal Road to Romance (1925)
- Richard Halliburton Papers, Princeton University Library
- Contemporary reviews and newspaper notices from 1925
- Modern Halliburton biographies and scholarship
- Research dossier supplied for the Marlpit Press edition
Continue reading
The Royal Road to Romance · Richard Halliburton biography · Travel & Adventure · All research notes