British adventurer Karl Bushby returns home after 28 years of walking around the world | Travel News
The 57-year-old crossed jungles and frozen seas before an emotional return to Hull in northern England.
Published on November 2, 2026
A British adventurer traveled the world on foot for 28 years, arriving at his childhood home after traveling some 50,000 km (31,070 miles) across jungles, frozen seas and international borders.
Karl Bushby, 57, was kissed by his mother, Angela, outside their terraced house in Hull, northern England, on Monday under a banner reading “Welcome home, son.”
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Hundreds of supporters greeted him in the city center before he returned home.
“Sorry to keep you waiting,” he joked to the crowd. “Is that it, it’s done?”
Bushby began what became known as his Goliath expedition in Punta Arenas, southern Chile, in November 1998, with a tent, a few hundred dollars and a cheap plastic camera.
His goal was to reach his hometown via an uninterrupted route, without using motorized transportation to advance his journey.
The route took him north through the Americas, across the ice of the Bering Strait, from Alaska to Russia, then through Mongolia and China. He then swam across the Caspian Sea before continuing to Europe.
Along the way, he crossed the dense jungle of the Darien Gap between Colombia and Panama, was arrested after entering Russia, and faced repeated visa and funding problems.
The 2008 global financial crisis cost him major sponsors, adding delays that took what he hoped would be a 12-year journey to 28 years.
Last month he finally swam across the English Channel, clearing the last major obstacle before starting the final journey home.
“They say it takes a village, but literally it took a world to get me here,” he said upon his arrival in Hull. “The kindness of strangers, both individuals and nation states, to bring me here today. I did not do this alone. There was a great team. The greatest team. Earth.”
A feature-length documentary about his trip is in production, while Bushby plans to begin a speaking tour of England in the coming weeks.
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