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One of the most common plots in fiction is a tour to various notable places in the real world. Famous cities like Paris, London, New York City, and others are a must. Expect a map to show up as the participants head to their next destination.

Works that follow this plot structure are generally based in reality, or perhaps an Urban Fantasy. If the traveling is greatly compressed within the story, then it's a case of Travel Montage. Avengers Assemble can lead into this if the characters assembling are in different countries. The pieces of a Dismantled MacGuffin also have a good chance of being situated all over the world; depending on the characters traveling, though, the focus might not be simply visiting the sites but utterly destroying them.

Please note that to qualify for this trope, the settings must be real-world places, and that the characters have an actual place to stay and aren't always traveling (that would be Walking the Earth). Compare this trope with Sequel Goes Foreign. For a real-life non-fiction variation of this idea, see Travelogue Show. Wagon Train to the Stars is the space-traveling counterpart.

Bored tropers who are unable to go traveling for whatever reasons can do this for themselves with Google Maps and its Street View function.


Examples:

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    Advertising 
  • Doctor Rabbit's World Tour has the titular dentist pick up kids from various countries to teach them about proper dental care.

    Anime & Manga 
  • Ashita no Nadja: After Nadja finds out she's adopted, she sets off on a journey across Europe with a circus troupe to find her birth mother, while evading her Evil Uncle Herman Preminger.
  • Assassination Classroom: Koro-sensei puts all of his students into giant bags and takes them traveling around the world to take pictures for the class yearbook. The world tour itself happens offscreen; the very next scene reveals that they went to 30 countries in a single day, but had no time to actually go sightseeing because Koro-sensei only has time to take their pictures before flying off into the next country.
  • The heroes of Digimon Adventure 02 find themselves travelling around the world to take down black spires planted by the villains.
  • Gundam:
  • Hello! Sandybell begins in Scotland, but after Sandybell finds out she's adopted and her father dies shortly afterwards, she sets out to find her biological mother. The events of her search involve her travelling to England, Wales, France, Ireland and Germany amongst several European countries before finally finding her in the isolated island of Lefkada, Greece. Her mother is amnesiac and doesn't recognize her at first, but when Sandybell rescues a child in the water, she has a flashback of the shipwreck that separated the two, and realizes that Sandybell is her daughter.
  • JoJo's Bizarre Adventure: The series chronicles the adventures of a member of the Joestar family that takes place in different parts of the world. Each of their journeys take place in various locations such as England, New York, Japan, Italy, Florida, San Diego and Hawaii. Stardust Crusaders is the best example from the series, with Jotaro Kujo and his allies going across the world to reach Egypt and defeat DIO.
  • From the second anime series onwards, Lupin III and his associates go globetrotting.
  • MegaMan NT Warrior (2002): The second season begins with Lan travelling around the world after the N-1 Grand Prix and meeting a variety of colorful characters along the way. Mr. Match, desperate for a rematch, works his way along the same route in hopes of catching up.
  • PokĂ©mon Journeys: The Series revolves around Ash and his new friend Goh traveling across almost all of the regions introduced in order to take part in the World Coronation Series tournament.
  • Spriggan: Yu travels to various locations to handle ancient artifacts that have been uncovered all around the world.
  • In Street Fighter II V, martial artists Ryu and Ken go on a World Tour to find strong fighters to battle against and improve their skills.
  • Strider: Hiryu visits several countries/cities in his quest to stop Enteprise; Kazakh, Egypt, Japan, China, Africa, Los Angeles and Australia. He only visits Kazakh, the Amazon and Los Angeles in the manga, plus Mongolia (where he was living at the beginning).
  • Undead Unluck: The series has arcs that take place all over the world. Notable landmarks visible in the series so far include Uluru in Australia, the Copacabana sidewalk in Brazil, and Lake Baikal in Russia.

    Asian Animation 
  • Motu Patlu has a Story Arc called Motu Patlu Europe Tour that has Motu, Patlu, and friends travelling to different European countries, such as Italy, Switzerland, the UK, and France. The story arc has 100 episodes and four movies (Motu Patlu in the Game of Zones, Motu Patlu the Superheroes vs. Alien Ghost, Motu Patlu's Dangerous Road Trip in Switzerland, and Motu Patlu VS Dr. Destroyer).
  • Pleasant Goat Fun Class: Travel Around the World is about the goats going on a trip around the world to learn about different cultures and find the treasure of knowledge.

    Comic Books 
  • Alpha Flight had a "World Tour '92" arc in three issues. Their first stop, in Washington, DC, ended up getting cut short as they joined X-Factor on a mission to upstate New York (and had to borrow their spare uniforms, due to a luggage mix-up). In the second issue, they traveled across Europe, and in the third issue they visited Moscow.
  • Sonic the Hedgehog (Archie Comics): A large part of the Unleashed story arc is to establish the new or reintroduced characters and countries that exist, most of which are borrowed from Sonic Unleashed.

    Fan Works 
  • The Bolt Chronicles: Penny and Bolt tour the United States and sightsee voraciously on a book signing jaunt in “The Imaginary Letters.”
  • crawlersout: Harry and Tom spend a month of Tom's summer vacation traveling on one with three destinations (Afghanistan, Mongolia, and Japan). They plan to do a similar tour every summer afterwards. Ostensibly, it's to relax and immerse in the magical cultures of other countries. However, what really spurned this vacation was Gellert Grindelwald, who both Harry and Tom hope to avoid.

    Films — Animation 
  • Cars 2 and its spin-off Planes both take place during an international race.

    Films — Live-Action 
  • Curse of the Pink Panther: On his search for Clouseau, Clifton travels from Paris, to the South of France, to Valencia, and Majorca. He also makes a stop in Madrid after this, but this is never seen.
  • The Fantastic Beasts series follows the lead characters on their globe-trotting adventures. The first film is set in New York City, the second in Paris. The third moves from China to Berlin to Hogwarts in Scotland to Bhutan.
  • All movies in the Indiana Jones series feature Indy visiting many different exotic locales, along with animated maps showing his travel routes to the sound of the franchise's famous Theme Tune.
  • Every movie in the James Bond series has the titular British spy travel to various countries around the world as part of his secret missions.
  • The Great Race was a transcontinental road race from New York to Paris. It crossed the United States and most of Europe, featuring a number of places along the way.
  • MonsterVerse: Unlike the original Godzilla movies, which usually limit the monsters' geographical stomping grounds to Japan and some fictional islands, it's a standard practice in these films that the monsters and human characters will travel to numerous locales around the world.
    • Godzilla (2014): The prologue shows the first sightings and attempted extermination of Godzilla at Bikini Atoll, and then the main story goes from the Philippines, to Janjira (a fictional city in Tokyo), to Honolulu, to Las Vegas, with the final battle between Godzilla and the MUTOs occurring in San Francisco.
    • Kong: Skull Island: Downplayed here. There are scenes set in Washington D.C., Saigon, and Chicago, but the majority of the story occurs on the fictive Skull Island (as the title suggests).
    • Godzilla: King of the Monsters (2019): The main story travels from Yunnan, Antarctica, Isla de Mara (a fictional Mexican island), Washington D.C., and the final battle takes place in Boston. We're also shown clips of monsters awakening and levelling cities across the world, such as Rio de Janeiro, Munich, and Phoenix.
    • Godzilla vs. Kong: Godzilla is shown attacking Florida in the beginning, Kong is shipped to Antarctica, and both monsters end up together in Hong Kong at the end. Scenes are also set in Philadelphia and the middle of the Tasman Sea.
    • Godzilla x Kong: The New Empire: Scenes shift from Rome, to Egypt, to Rio de Janeiro, and Antarctica (for the third time). Appropriate monuments for each applicable location also all appear prominently, namely the Colosseum, the Great Pyramid of Giza, and Christ the Redeemer.
  • North has its child protagonist searching for new parents around the globe. The ones he finds are generally giant stereotypes.

    Literature 
  • This trope is Older Than Print. With writings such as The Travels of Marco Polo.
  • Around the World in Eighty Days is the Trope Codifier. Phileas Fogg must travel round the world and along the way, he visits several important cities but he's actually absolutely uninterested in those mesmerising, unique places. His servant Passepartout is the one who admires the world's many wonders. The plan is to go from London to Suez via Paris, Mont Cenis and Brindisi, then to Bombay, Calcutta, Hong Kong, and Yokohama; from Yokohama to San Francisco and then to New York and from New York back to London. It must be accomplished in 80 days and the plan is to travel by rail and steamers. They also use an elephant, a small pilot-boat and a sledge with sails.
  • Nellie Bly's Defictionalization book Around the World in Seventy-Two Days is a landmark of early English-language travel writing.
  • The Fantastic Flying Journey by Gerald Durrell is about three children and their uncle travelling around the world.
  • Paul Theroux's nonfiction travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar chronicled the author's journey from Paris to Istanbul on the Orient Express, and his subsequent journey by road and rail across Asia, during the early 1970s.
  • The Adventures on Trains series of detective stories all feature a long-distance rail journey through one or several countries (so far, a different location each time).
  • The Innocents Abroad by Mark Twain is a nonfiction account of travelling through Europe, and his observations of Americans travelling with him, in the late 1800s.

    Live-Action TV 

    Music Videos 

    Pinball 
  • Attack from Mars has the player stopping the Martians from destroying various landmarks. That being said, except for New York City, all of the locations are in Europe, though the science fiction B-movies made during the period the Attack from Mars homages were similarly centered on Europe and the United States.
  • Ripley's Believe It or Not! also had the player visiting every continent, always initiated by Ripley saying "It's time to visit [continent]!" During Wizard Mode, you even get to visit Atlantis!
  • Vacation America limits its destination to the continental United States, but otherwise plays this trope straight. There's even a map on the backbox where cities light up as they're visited.
  • In Aerosmith, the Wizard Mode "Final Tour" is themed around the band traveling around the world on a concert tour.
  • Led Zeppelin: Unsurprisingly, World Tour Multiball is themed around the band traveling to various major cities for concerts.
  • Foo Fighters (2023) downplays this trope. The band travels across the United States for each Van Mode, ranging from Seattle to New Orleans to New York.

    Theme Parks 
  • Disney Theme Parks are quite fond of this trope. Cases in point:
  • Efteling, a theme park in the Netherlands, has a ride called Carnaval Festival, which strongly resembles Disney's It's a Small World and features landmarks from around the world.

    Video Games 
  • In Bayonetta 3, the titular character travels across The Multiverse to stop each universe's destruction, arriving in locations where she meets alternate versions of herself in Tokyo, China, Cairo, and Paris.
  • Castlevania: Bloodlines is unique in the series for having the stages be various castles across Europe.
  • Crash Team Racing Nitro-Fueled: The main theme of the Nitro Tour Grand Prix. Downplayed however in that, while it does introduce stickers featuring various countries' flags, only two locations actually get visited in its signature track (Twilight Tour, which goes through Egypt and some Arabian country).
  • Criminal Case: World Edition combines this with Sequel Goes Foreign as the Bureau discover the existence of SOMBRA, a Nebulous Evil Organization with global cells, and are tasked with dismantling them across nine regions - Europe, the Sahara, Eurasia, South Asia, East Asia, Oceania, Africa, South America, and North America.
  • Double Dragon 3 has the brothers traveling to various locations around the globe to collect the MacGuffins.
  • DuckTales and its sequel had stages set in various locales, each with a treasure to collect.
  • Every game in the Hitman series features the titular hitman (Agent 47) traveling to various locations around the world in order to kill each target on his hit list.
  • Dynamite Dux downplays this, as three of the stages are based on Japan, Texas, and Chicago.
  • Earnest Evans travels around the world in his game. You'd only know this from the map, however, since the levels look nothing like their real-world counterparts.
    slowbeef: ...wait a minute, did all of that happen in Maine?
  • In contrast to the first Endless Ocean locking you in the South Pacific, its sequel Blue World also takes you to Greece, the North and South Poles, Brazil, and Egypt in your search for the Song of Dragons, along with an aquarium in Japan.
  • Front Mission:
    • Front Mission 3, being a politics-heavy Real Robot tactics set in the near future, is set up as this. The characters travel all around the Pacific, between Japan, China, Philippines, Australia, Singapore, and even the North America as a bonus. Some of the locations the end up in are fictional, some - very much real.
    • In Front Mission: Gun Hazard, you will travel by Bergan (Sweden), Borukta and Sibiriska (Russia), Cenktrich (Turkey), Al Hari (Saudi Arabia), Zambola (Angola), Macchu Pichu (Peru), Esporte (Brazil) and the shop only United States and Australia.
  • G.O.D.: Heed the Call to Awaken has the protagonists traveling all over Earth post-Alien Invasion.
  • Given Guitar Hero's general theme of simulating the rocker experience, and that one game in the series is specifically named World Tour, then it can be assumed that this trope is in play. In fact, World Tour, while not being the first to do so, specifically names where each venue is located, including Germany, Poland, Sweden, Hong Kong and even an aircraft carrier in the Pacific Ocean (II also had small cutscenes showing your band traveling from city to city, but except for the final level at Stonehenge, they were all located in New England).
    • Similarly, Rock Band has the World Tour mode, complete with world map - and, true to form, you can only travel the world once you gain enough fans to buy your own private jet. Until then, you're limited to play across the USA or Europe, depending on the hometown you chose when creating your character. Similarly in 3, as you advance through the Road Challenges, your traveling options become greater.
  • Gunman Clive 2 has your chosen character chasing the robot that destroyed their hometown, travelling across several continents in the process.
  • One of the earliest video game examples is International Karate from 1986, where the player fights karate matches in locations like the Egyptian Pyramids, London, Mount Fuji, New York City, Rio de Janeiro, and Sydney.
  • Killer7: At least half of the missions take place in locations around the world, like Texas, the Dominican Republic, and a well-lit amusement park in America.
  • Little Shop: World Traveler has you finding hidden objects in locations from England to Morocco. Oddly, two of them aren't countries: Venice and Area 51.
  • In The Lucky Dime Caper, Donald Duck travels to Canada, USA, Peru, Hawaii, Egypt, Antarctica and Italy.
  • Mega Man 6 is about Mega Man travelling around the world to fight the robot masters. As such, each robot master and level has a distinctive cultural feel (Yamato Man's level is distinctly Japanese, Tomahawk Man's level takes place in the Wild West, Flame Man's level takes place in the Middle Eastern desert, and so on).
  • In Melody, the title character, her band (including Sophia), the protagonist, and Xianne go on one of these in the Perfect Ending.
  • Ninja Baseball Bat Man has the bat men travel to Seattle, San Francisco (abbreviated in-game as Cisco), Las Vegas, Texas, Florida, Chicago, and finally New York.
  • In Professor Layton and the Azran Legacy, Layton travels around the world to visit locations connected to the mysteries of the ancient Azran civilization, all of them holding their fair share of puzzles to solve.
  • In Quackshot, Donald travels to Duckburg (United States), Mexico, Transylvania, Maharajah (India), Egypt, South Pole, Viking Ship (in the Norwegian Sea) and the Treasure Island in Atlantic Ocean.
  • Racing Games in general that involve tracks around real-life locations around the world would ultimately be this trope.
  • Rampage has the monsters visiting various locales to destroy them. One game (the first one where they actually travel outside the US) is even named World Tour.
  • The Taiwanese video game Richman is a game similar to Monopoly where many of its titles have maps based on many places around the world.
  • In Round and Round Tamagotchi, the player visits various Tamagotchis all over the world and plays specific minigames with them, such as (to name a couple of examples) helping Pianitchi to ice skate in Russia and playing a game of soccer with Kuromametchi in Brazil. Along the way, you win various items respresenting the countries you visit that you can decorate your Tamagotchi avatar's house with.
  • The Simpsons:
    • The Simpsons: Bart vs. the World has Bart win a treasure hunt around the world by winning a Krusty the Clown art contest. The places he and Krusty visit are Egypt, China, the North Pole, and Hollywood, and along the way, they encounter the relatives of Mr. Burns, who serve as the game's bosses.
    • Later, this is downplayed by The Simpsons Game, which has a level that is an eating contest where you go around several sets made to look like famous real-world locations- China, Australia, Mexico, Germany, France, Scotland, Italy, and the USA.
  • The Sims 3 has the World Adventures expansion, where you can go to France, China and Egypt.
  • Sonic Unleashed had its titular character traveling to several Theme Park Versions of famous real-world locations to bring the planet back together.
  • Almost every level and side character in Spyro: Year of the Dragon represents a different region or culture, including Canada (as Icy Peaks), the Pacific Islands (as Molten Crater), and the Swiss Alps (as Sheila's Alp).
  • Every Street Fighter game has the chosen character fighting the others in their home countries. The second game was even titled "The World Warrior"! With the scale that Street Fighter II had reached, many of its contemporaries copied the globe-trotting tournament formula, up to and including Fatal Fury 2. Street Fighter 6, in particular, has a "World Tour" mode where players can make their own character and embark on a globe-trotting journey of their own to learn from the best fighters in the world.
  • Subway Surfers uses real would locales for the backgrounds since 2013.
  • Super Mario Bros.:
    • Mario Is Missing!: Luigi has to travel all over the world and return artifacts stolen by the Koopa Troop to find his brother.
    • Mario Kart Tour puts heavy emphasis on courses and characters from all around the Mario world. In addition to the returning courses from previous installments, Tour features original courses based off of real-world cities like New York City and Tokyo. Many of these courses were later incorporated as DLC onto Mario Kart 8 Deluxe.
    • Mario Party 7: The theme of this game is exploring various locations around the globe. Mario and the gang use the MSS Sea Star and visit places based on Italy, China, Egypt, New York, and the Netherlands.
    • Super Mario Odyssey: Mario travels around the world in an airship named the Odyssey, visiting kingdoms from all over in his adventure.
  • In the TaleSpin video game for the Sega Genesis, Baloo and Kit collect cargo boxes from various locations around the world in order to beat Shere Khan's seven day record and win a lifetime work contract from the city. Among their locations are Italy, Greece, Egypt, India, New York, and San Francisco.
  • This is the theme of The New Tetris, with each stage being set in a different country near a well-known landmark, or, in the case of the Mayan stage, within it. Naturally, this being Tetris, the final stop is in Russia near St. Basil's Cathedral.
  • In Tweety and the Magic Gems for the Game Boy Advance, Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Porky Pig, Sylvester, Yosemite Sam, and Marc Antony travel the world in search of the five magic gems that reverse the curse that turns Tweety to stone. Their destinations are North America (New York and San Francisco), Argentina (Buenos Aires), Brazil (Rio De Janeiro), England (London), France (Paris), Italy (Rome), Germany (Berlin), Russia (Moscow), Egypt (Cairo), Africa (Kenya), India (Calcutta), China (Bejing and Hong Kong), Japan (Kyoto), and Australia (Sydney).
  • While Twisted Metal 1 was set in 2005 Los Angeles, almost every iteration since that has become a world tour. In fact, the second game made this an actual plot point.
  • The Uncharted games are all set in a variety of exotic locations around the world, which is a given as the series is heavily inspired by adventure stories like Indiana Jones.
  • Where In The World Is Carmen Sandiego Guess you'll have to travel the globe to find out!

    Web Comics 
  • Question Duck and the guy do this. This is the reason why the work takes place in a lot of traveling settings.

    Web Videos 
  • The first and third episodes of Chris and Scottie's Road Trip, a series by The Irate Gamer Chris Bores, have its titular protagonists traveling across the world and encountering various national stereotypes. (The second episode stays in the US instead.)
  • Jet Lag: The Game: Season two, Circumnavigation, is a race to circumnavigate the globe, requiring each team to stop in several cities along the way to replenish their travel budget.

    Western Animation 
  • Carmen Sandiego, based on the video game series of the same name, has every episode set in a different city or country, with educational infodumps listing notable facts about each location.
  • The Davincibles: The heroes spend a lot of time visiting far way countries and cities.
  • Grizzy and the Lemmings: has Grizzy and the Lemmings go from their home country in Canada, and go to all sorts of places around the globe. Those places being China, Hawaii, Antarctica, Africa, Scotland, and Brazil.
  • This trope is prevalent throughout Jackie Chan Adventures, in which the heroes (and villains) travel to many different locations around the world, in search of the latest episode's MacGuffin or Monster of the Week. Jackie lampshades this in the third episode, "The Mask Of El Toro Fuerte".
    Jackie: (climbing a pyramid) A Chinese talisman in the tip of Mexico? Uncle wasn't kidding about the "four corners of the globe" thing.
  • Gargoyles had a long story arc during Season 2 where Goliath, Elisa, and Bronx toured the world with Goliath's long-lost daughter Angela on a magic boat, encountering supernatural threats at each place. The purpose of this storyline was to have Goliath and Elisa grow as a couple, and allow new character Angela to develop as an individual.
  • Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies:
    • "Trip For Tat," a 1960 cartoon starring Sylvester and Tweety, wherein Granny and Tweety take a world tour of several foreign lands — Paris, the Swiss Alps, Venice, and Japan — is used to frame the latest cat-and-bird chase.
  • Mickey Mouse (2013): Certain episodes transplant Mickey & Co. to exotic cities and locales, with them speaking the language and wearing the dress. These, more often than not, involve Mickey trekking across said cities, such as him taking the wrong train on the Tokyo Metro, racing across Paris to deliver croissants, or driving an auto rickshaw in Mumbai.
  • Dinosaur Train has an arc where the Pteranodon family spend several nights on the Dinosaur Train as they travel to different continents and meet the dinosaurs who live there. (Their home is located in what is now the east of North America.)
  • The Dora the Explorer special "Dora's World Adventure" is about Dora traveling around the world to France, Tanzania, Russia and China (in that order) with Swiper to return swiped bracelets for Friendship Day. Along the way, they encounter other children who also have to contend with sneaky animals who like to try to swipe from them.
  • The Chipmunk Adventure is about the Chipmunks and the Chipettes competing in a balloon race around the world (which is really just a cover for diamond smuggling).
  • Tom and Jerry: The Fast and the Furry: Tom & Jerry enter a race to win a mansion being advertised on TV as the prize of The Fabulous Super Race, that goes around several of the world's most iconic locations.
  • Total Drama:
    • The World Tour season has the contestants traveling across the world by plane and participating in challenges themed around whatever location they're visiting.
    • The spinoff Total Drama Presents: The Ridonculous Race, due to being a parody of The Amazing Race, also uses this theme in a similar manner to Total Drama World Tour.
  • Done in Phineas and Ferb: Summer Belongs to You! when Phineas and Ferb make a bet with Buford to see if they can travel across the globe and make it back to Danville before the sun sets on the longest day of summer.
  • Josie And The Pussy Cats, as adapted by Hanna-Barbera, routinely gave a concert at some global metropolis, thwarting a Mad Scientist or Card-Carrying Villain in the process.
  • Around the World with Willy Fog, being an adaptation of Around the World in 80 Days, follows this trope.
  • This is the basic premise of Let's Go Luna! The Circo Fabuloso is always stopping at new locations around the world. Every 2 episodes take place in a specific location, for a total of 4 11-minute segments about it.
  • The premise of the Thomas & Friends movie, "Big World! Big Adventures!" is that Thomas visits China, Africa, and North and South America. In Season 22 of the TV Series, Thomas visits China again, as well as Australia and India, and in Season 23, he visits Brazil and Italy.
  • Miraculous Ladybug does this with the Miraculous World specials, where Ladybug and Chat Noir travel around the world and meet the local heroes and/or help create a new local Miraculous hero, with Word of God being that upcoming specials may not always involve Ladybug and Chat Noir. This is also intended to lead to crossovers with other Zagtoon cartoons set internationally.

    Real Life 
  • Obviously, anyone who has just enough money and free time to do so can visit many different countries around the world, but very few people can boast of having seen most or even all of them. There's even a club for people who have visited 100 or more of the world's countries and territories.
  • The very reason for the emergence of the "jet set" in the 1950s, with the entry into service of the de Havilland Comet and the Boeing 707.
  • Of course, several sporting events (e.g. Formula One) travel to places around the world.
  • One of the signs that you've made it in popular music is heading on a world concert tour.

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