Everyone has those pipe dream thoughts every once in a while. "Oh, I should become a monk!"; "Oh, I should travel around the world!".
Well, after a former paratrooper for the British Army left his post serving his country, he decided to take that latter pipe dream and turn it into a certain reality.
"I had something to prove to my paratrooper mates," Karl Bushby, now 57, explained, per the New York Post. But the whole journey across the world wasn't just to impress his friends - there were other reasons, too. He had just emerged from the tail end of a divorce, and needed a purpose in life.
And what better purpose in life is there to just keep moving? Well, for Bushby, that's exactly what he wanted. He set off from Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998. And it was only recently he stepped back onto his native soil of the UK.
And what a trek it was. He left behind his mother and his 8 year old son to embark on the trip. Now, as he returns, he's walking into his 36 year old son and his grandchildren.
His mother has only seen him three times since he left. "Karl has always been headstrong," she said of her son. Being headstrong is a key factor in travelling the world - especially in the way that Bushby did it.
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He Travelled Through Dangerous Regions to Get Across the World
One of his rules for travelling the world was to never, ever use a vehicle. That's right - he swam between Alaska and the Siberian wilderness without a boat. For reference, it took a lot of ice-hopping, and even swimming in freezing water. But, he made it.
But, as he explained, the two biggest challenges of getting through the world were both geographical and human. One was the Darién gap - a thick area of rainforest without a single road... and the other was the Kremlin's visa office.
Because the Russians issued the British national with a ban from entering their country, he had to get creative. He ended up swimming the Caspian Sea (which stretches 640 miles) to get across to Europe.
And his biggest lesson, despite it all? "People are amazing, despite what we think the world looks like. Humanity is worth the effort."
