The story of Karl Bushby, who has been walking around the world for 27 years

The former British paratrooper began his journey, called ‘Operation Goliath,’ in 1998 from Punta Arenas, Chile. He hopes to become the first person to walk around the world in a continuous line of steps, without using any transport along the route. Here are the key events on his journey.

Who is Karl Bushby

Karl Bushby is a former British soldier, traveller and writer. He was born on 30 March 1969 in Hull, England. After finishing school, on the advice of his paratrooper father, he joined the army — he took the exams five times to get into the elite parachute troops.

Bushby served in the army for 12 years, but was always considered the weak link in his unit. ‘I was an outsider. Everyone else had photos of motorcycles and rifles hanging above their beds. Above mine hung a poster of the solar system,’ he recalled.

By the age of 30, the young man felt disappointed with his failed military career and personal life. Karl thought about what he could do to prove himself. At that moment, he remembered that the happiest moments of his childhood (he was bullied at school because of his dyslexia) were spent outdoors, walking in the fields and exploring the surroundings. That’s how the idea of seeing the whole world was born.

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After resigning and divorcing his wife (leaving his eight-year-old son at home), Carl conceived an incredible journey on foot, covering about 58,000 kilometres – from Chile to his home via both Americas, the Bering Strait and Eurasia. Bushby hoped to complete the ‘Goliath Expedition’ in 12 years, but things did not go according to plan. The traveller is now on the final leg of his journey and, according to his interview with BBC Radio Humberside, should be home by September 2026.

The beginning of the round-the-world trip

Karl Bushby set off on his multi-year journey on 1 November 1998, starting in the Chilean city of Punta Arenas. The 29-year-old traveller had only a few hundred dollars in his pocket, but he had no doubt that he could do what no one else had ever done before: travel around the world on foot without using any mechanical transport.

“On 1 November 1998, I looked at the 36,000-mile journey ahead of me and had no idea how I would get through it all. We faced many difficulties related to politics, bureaucracy, visa issues, financial crises, and the pandemic,‘ the Briton said in an interview with BBC Radio Humberside in June this year. ’It was extremely difficult, but we always stood our ground and never compromised on the route.”

He did have to use transport, but in a different context: Bushby allowed himself to fly to Mexico while he dealt with logistical and other problems, of which there were many over the 27 years. From 1998, he devoted 13 years to walking around the world, and the rest of the time he dealt with issues that prevented him from continuing. But he always continued his journey from where he had left off.

Walking through South, Central and North America, Bushby maintained his original pace, although the beginning of the journey was not easy. He ran out of food on the trek and starved to such an extent that he hallucinated, imagining food in the bushes. But when he met people, strangers almost always gave him a warm welcome. In Colombia, Karl even found love, but his relationship with a woman named Catalina Estrada did not withstand the test of constant travel.

One of the most difficult challenges on the first leg was the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama. It took him two months to cross the 160-kilometre stretch of jungle where the front line between the Colombian government and rebels ran. He was detained for the first time in Latin America, but after an 18-day pause in Panama, he was allowed to return to his route.

Crossing the Bering Strait

In 2005, Karl Bushby reached Alaska. In March 2006, together with French-American traveller and endurance racing specialist Dimitri Kiefer, he crossed the frozen Bering Strait. Its width at its narrowest point is 85 kilometres, but the men had to bypass dangerous areas along a 240-kilometre route. They spent 14 days on the journey, moving across shifting ice floes at temperatures of around -30 °C.

Bushby became the first British person to cross the Bering Strait on foot. Karl’s father, Keith, told the BBC: ‘He said from the outset that the chances of crossing the strait were slim. It is very important that he succeeded on his first attempt. The ice behind him broke as he walked.’

Towards the end, the pair had to jettison all their excess cargo to complete the journey. ‘My expedition was at stake. So we threw all our equipment overboard, including our guns (which were needed for protection against polar bears) and our radio,’ Bushby later recalled.