28 years on the way home: Karl Bushby completed his walking expedition around the world

A broken heart and a few hundred dollars in your pocket. This is how this crazy plan began

It all started in Chile, from where Karl Bushby, then 29, set off in November 1998. His plan was simple in concept, but almost unimaginable in execution: to circumnavigate the world on foot, without using any means of mechanical transport, and return home only after completing the entire planned route. He had only a few hundred dollars in his pocket and a hand-drawn line on a map leading through four continents, deserts, jungles, mountains and frozen seas.

Bushby does not hide that the impulse to take up the challenge was a difficult moment in his life: the breakdown of his marriage and separation from his son. During the expedition, he fell in love twice - with a Colombian woman and a Japanese woman - but both relationships did not survive the long separation.

50 thousand kilometers and 29 countries. Desert hell and Siberian frost

During his journey, Bushby traveled over 50,000 kilometers, visiting 29 countries. He passed through South and North America until he reached Alaska. There, together with the French-American explorer Dimitri Kieffer, he achieved a historic feat - together they crossed the frozen Bering Strait on an ice floe, becoming the first to cross this section on foot.

In Asia, Bushby had to face not only the harsh climate of Siberia, but also bureaucratic and political difficulties. He spent as many as 10 years in Russia, and for some time he was even threatened with deportation for illegally crossing the border. When he couldn't cross Iran, he decided to do an extraordinary feat - he swam across the Caspian Sea for 31 days, using a life jacket and a wetsuit.

He repeatedly encountered obstacles that he could not predict. Closed borders, political conflicts, the Covid-19 pandemic or visa refusal - these are just some of them. In 2012, after being denied a Russian visa, Bushby walked 5,600 kilometers from Los Angeles to the Russian embassy in Washington to finally obtain the necessary documents.

Throughout the entire route, the traveler consistently adhered to two rules: not to use any means of mechanical transport and not to return home until he completed the expedition.

"A line drawn on a map: four continents, frozen seas, deserts, mountains, jungles and over 50,000 kilometers of the unknown. The plan has never changed: go forward, sail when necessary, until the line reaches the mother's door," he wrote on his website.

The finish line is where it all began. Hull welcomed a hero

In 2025, Bushby reached Europe. When he failed to obtain permission to pass through the Channel Tunnel, he cooperated with the French and British authorities to complete the route by swimming. It took him 20 hours spread over three days to sail from France to Britain's Shakespeare Beach in Dover.

After crossing the canal, his family was waiting for him, including his mother, son and granddaughter. It's good to feel British soil under your feet again after so many years, said Bushby after reaching England.