In 1271, 17-year-old Marco Polo left Venice with his merchant father and uncle. Upon their reappearance there 24 years later, the tales of where they’d been were met with utter disbelief. The very idea of crossing hostile and mysterious Asia and spending more than a dozen years in the Great Khan’s China was absurd.
  Yet the autobiographical Travels of Marco Polo, which detailed that overland journey, became perhaps the most influential travelogue ever written. It paved the way for the Age of Discovery.
  The idea captivated two guys from New York, Francis O’Donnell and Denis Belliveau, who undertook the 25,000-mile feat in the 1990s. The result is a film “In the Footsteps of Marco Polo” and its 280-page companion volume...

Discussion Questions:
6. Why was Marco Polo’s autobiography significant in terms of world history?
Was Central Asia more dangerous in Polo’s time or in the 1990s? What conditions make the area dangerous for foreign travelers?

7. Apart from English, which language was most helpful to the travelers? Why?
How did the travelers manage their need for money?

8. What was the traveler’s “Shangri-la moment”? Describe a “Shangri-la moment” you have experienced.
In your opinion, how are the documentary and book relevant to the world today? Would you like to see it? Why or why not?

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