Sorry for not responding to individual posts from over night. Indeed Stitchawl seems to have guessed the connection quickly. Here is the final list of correct answers.

Benares
Brindisi
London
Omaha
Shanghai
Yokohama (Stitchawl)
Calcutta (Stitchawl)
San Francisco (Stitchawl)
New York (Stitchawl)
Liverpool (Stitchawl)
Paris (Issybird)
Hong Kong (Issybird)
Suez (Issybird)
Dublin (Stitchawl)
Singapore (Stitchawl)
Salt Lake City (Stitchawl)

A few well known cities that could have been added are Chicago, Rangoon and Bombay (Mumbai). The connection is of course that all cities listed were visited by Phileas Fogg and Passepartout during their global circumnavigation in Jules Verne's Around the World in 80 Days.

So I look forward to another Stitchawl quiz.