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Karl Bushby has been traveling the world for the past 27 years.
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At the age of 29, Karl Bushby left his hometown of Hull, England, and embarked on the adventure of a lifetime. With $500 in his pocket and some survival gear, he embarked on a mission that no one in history has accomplished: walking an uninterrupted path around the world.
Bushby’s journey, known as the “Goliath Expedition,” began in 1998 in Punta Arenas, Chile, a city near the southern tip of South America. He traveled across continents including America, Asia and Europe before eventually returning to England.
“Our goal is just to get home without any transportation,” Bushby told reporters. CNBC Success.
Throughout the journey, Bushby followed two rules: he could only walk or swim without the assistance of any form of transportation, and he could not return home to Hull, England, until he had arrived completely on foot.
“It sounds like two simple rules early on, but you know once those two rules meet real-world realities, things get really complicated, especially with visas and difficult governments and regimes and some of the contentious borders (I) have to cross,” he said.
Bushby told CNBC Make It that after walking about 30 kilometers a day and experiencing some unexpected setbacks, Bushby has now entered Europe and expects to complete the journey and return to the UK next year.
Live a wandering life
Bushby has always been an adventurer. He said he used to spend the whole day exploring with his brother and then come home for dinner.
He grew up in a military family and was inspired by his father, who served in the British Army. Bushby also joined the Army at age 16 and served in the Parachute Regiment for about 12 years before embarking on his adventure.
At some point I started drawing lines on a map, daydreaming about vast distances and distant horizons, and one thing led to another.
Carl Bushby
world explorer
At some point during his tenure in the British Army, Bushby became bored.
“I spent 12 years in the British Army waiting to go to a place we’d never really been, except for Northern Ireland,” he said. “We happen to live in one of the most peaceful times in history,” he said.
“So we get bored and tired and become wonderful and playful,” he said. “At some point I started drawing lines on the map, daydreaming about vast distances and distant horizons, and one thing led to another.”
One day, Bushby drew a line starting from Britain, across Europe and Asia, through Siberia, across the Bering Strait, into North America, and down to the bottom of South America.
“Once I put it on the map, there’s no turning back…the old hairs on the back of your neck stand up,” he said.
So, in 1998, Bushby left the British Army and began a long journey. He took a military flight from the UK to the Falkland Islands and then a civilian flight to Punta Arenas, Chile, the starting point of his expedition.
Your first day on the road is unforgettable…you’re walking down a road some 36,000 miles long with little idea of what’s about to happen…and at that point you’re farther than a human mission to Jupiter.
Carl Bushby
world explorer
“The first day on the road is unforgettable because in that moment, you’re so far away from home. You burn all the bridges. You tell everyone you’d rather die than go home,” Bushby said.
“You have $500 in your pocket, no support, no idea how things are going to work, and just absolute belief that you can make it work somehow. You’re on a path that’s about 36,000 miles long with very little idea of what’s going to happen. I mean… you’re one step further than the human Jupiter mission,” he said.
happy lesson
Bushby has experienced many close encounters over the past 27 years of his journey.
He has crossed the Darien Gap, been detained by Russian authorities, imprisoned in Panama, nearly frozen to death in Alaska, and swam across the Caspian Sea in 31 days.
On top of that, after walking many miles, he had gone days without eating, relied on strangers for medical help, and spent many nights in a tent set up on the side of the road.
“The psychology of hunger is interesting. Most of us are not used to it. When you don’t know where your next meal is going to be, you become obsessed with finding something to eat,” Bushby said.
“You see food everywhere, every shadow, every rock, looks like something you could eat. You end up running around chasing hallucinations most of the time,” he said.
Despite all the challenges he overcame, one of the biggest lessons he discovered throughout his journey had little to do with physical pain or endurance. Instead, it’s about happiness and how it ultimately comes from your relationships.
“If you ask me what’s the hardest thing you’ve ever done in the last 27 years – it’s losing the woman you love easily. It’s the hardest thing you’re going to face… the physical thing – pain is easy, pain is different,” Bushby said.
On the other hand, he said, “The happiest times are when I’m in these relationships. When you’re with someone.”
He also learned that people from all cultures and regions of the world are generally friendly. During his journey, he stated many times that he was taken in, fed, and cared for by strangers who asked for nothing in return.
“You don’t even speak the same language, so it’s just a smile and a nod, and then they send you on your way… It’s just one story after another, and it spans every culture, every country,” he said.
“The world is a much kinder and better place than it seems.”
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