Karl Bushby has completed his 28-year odyssey to walk around the world, arriving Monday at his mother's home in Hull, England. The 57-year-old ex-paratrooper began his journey on November 1, 1998, from Punta Arenas, Chile, setting out with the goal of walking 31,000 miles across four continents and 30 countries.
Bushby’s journey was not without peril. He navigated treacherous terrains including jungles, deserts, and frozen tundra, and faced bureaucratic hurdles that caused long delays. He dodged conflict in the Darién Gap in 2001 and was briefly jailed in Panama for crossing a restricted border zone. A significant challenge was the Bering Strait crossing in 2006, where he and his companion, American adventurer Dimitry Kieffer, faced a polar bear standoff, near-fatal plunges into icy waters, and lost supplies when their sleds capsized.
His route also involved swimming across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel to adhere to his no-transport rule. He spent nearly a decade navigating Russia, facing visa issues and weather limitations. When Russia denied him a visa in 2012, Bushby walked from Los Angeles to the Russian Embassy in Washington, D.C., in protest, eventually securing the necessary documents.
Originally, Bushby estimated the journey would take about five years, but acknowledged the unrealistic nature of that projection. "You just dump a whole bucket full of reality on that," he said. "We suspected that it was 12 years plus. And the plus was a big plus. But never in our wildest dreams would we ever have imagined 28 years."
Upon his return, Bushby was met by journalists and hundreds of cheering supporters at City Hall. He expressed gratitude for the global support he received. "They say it takes a village but literally it took a world to get me here," Bushby stated. "The kindness of strangers, so many, from individuals to nation states to get me back here today. I didn’t do this alone. There was a big team. The biggest team. Earth."
Bushby was reunited with his mother, Angela, whom he had not seen in a decade, and was expected to meet his 12-year-old granddaughter for the first time. He described the final days as "a week of lasts," marking the end of his 28-year commitment to walking the globe. The final steps were taken pushing his two-wheeled cart toward his mother's home.