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Man who has spent 27 years walking across the globe using no transport reveals the two scariest places
Home>News>Travel
Published 16:29 23 Nov 2025 GMT

Man who has spent 27 years walking across the globe using no transport reveals the two scariest places

Karl Bushby, 56, first set off on his journey across the globe when he was 29 years old

Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton

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Featured Image Credit: CBS

Topics: Travel, World News

Niamh Shackleton
Niamh Shackleton

Niamh Shackleton is an experienced journalist for UNILAD, specialising in topics including mental health and showbiz, as well as anything Henry Cavill and cat related. She has previously worked for OK! Magazine, Caters and Kennedy.

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@niamhshackleton

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A man who has spent a staggering 27 years walking across the globe on foot has reflected on some of the scariest places he's traveled through and why.

At the age of 29, Karl Bushby set off from Punta Arenas, Chile, for the very, very long journey home back to the UK on foot without using any modes of transport.

Now 56, Bushby is almost back in England — but he may have to swim across the English Channel from France to get there.

He told CBS News of his upcoming hurdle: "Swimming sucks, dude. It just sucks. I'm not a swimmer. I don't like it."

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Knowing he's now on the home stretch, Bushby admitted that he feels 'uncomfortable' and compared the end to being like 'like anyone who's had a lifetime career when it's time to retire'.

Karl Bushby has been traveling around the world for almost 30 years (Resul Rehimov/Anadolu via Getty Images)
Karl Bushby has been traveling around the world for almost 30 years (Resul Rehimov/Anadolu via Getty Images)

Elsewhere, in his chat with CBS' Ramy Inocencio, Bushby revealed some of the scariest experiences he's had over the last 27 years of traveling.

One of the two scariest experiences that sprung to mind for the intrepid explorer occurred early on in his travels in 2000 when he went across the Darién Gap. This is a stretch of rainforest on the border of Panama and Colombia with no roads.

Bushby recalled being 'in the middle of a war zone', adding to Inocencio: "There was a whole layer above that that was cartels and drug plantations, and then really, really tough jungle."

He also traveled across the Bering Strait, located between the Pacific and Arctic oceans, and was the first Brit to do so.

While going across it, Bushby said he had a run in with a polar bear.

"You're in a very serious world that will kill you in 20 minutes if you mess up," he reflected.

In a separate interview, Bushby discussed how difficult the journey has been over the last 27 years.

Speaking on BBC Radio Humberside in June, he shared: "We've run into a lot of complications with visa problems, financial crises, the pandemic: we've had it all.

"It's been extremely difficult but we've always stuck to our guns and never been willing to compromise on the route."

Bushby was barred from traveling through Russia or Iran so he found himself having to swim across the Caspian Sea (making him the first person to ever do so).

The body of water is over 143,000 square miles and borders five countries: Kazakhstan, Russia, Turkmenistan, Azerbaijan, and Iran.

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