Man ends 28 year global walk in Hull

Karl Bushby completed a 28 year journey on foot across the globe by returning to his childhood home in Hull, England, on Monday. The former paratrooper left his mother's house in November 1998 and walked 50,000 kilometers, or 31,000 miles, to reach the same spot. He crossed four continents and 30 countries without using a boat or an airplane.

His mother, Angela, waited for his return. The house was decorated with a banner that read, "Welcome home son." When Bushby arrived, she asked where he had been. He did not need to explain the details of the decades away. He entered the home he left at age 29 and returned at 57, weathered by climate and time.

The journey began in Punta Arenas, Chile, on November 1, 1998. Bushby set a rule that he would not return until he finished the trip on foot. He swam across the Caspian Sea and the English Channel to avoid taking a ship. He also crossed the Bering Strait over shifting ice. These physical barriers were only part of the challenge.

Unexpected events slowed his progress for years. The 2008 financial crisis drained his sponsor funding. The 2020 pandemic halted his movement. Bureaucratic hurdles and visa processes caused long delays at international borders. He initially estimated the trip would take five years. He later admitted that he suspected it would take 12 years or more, but 28 years exceeded even his wildest guesses.

Danger accompanied him in the wilds and on the water. In 2001, he avoided a war in the Darien Gap, a jungle region between South and Central America. He was imprisoned for 18 days in Panama after crossing a restricted border zone. In 2006, he crossed the Bering Strait with American adventurer Dimitry Kieffer. They faced a polar bear, survived near fatal falls into cold water, and lost supplies when their sleds sank. Both men were jailed and faced deportation for entering Russia illegally.

Visa issues and harsh weather delayed his passage through Russia for nearly a decade. The climate allowed him to travel only a few months each year. In 2012, when Russia denied him a visa, Bushby walked from Los Angeles to the Russian embassy in Washington, D.C., as a protest. That action resulted in the paperwork he needed to continue.

Family reunions punctuated the final stages of the trip. His father and brothers greeted him on the beach at Dover after he crossed the English Channel last month. He reconnected with his 36 year old son, Adam, whom he had rarely seen since a brief early marriage. He met his 12 year old granddaughter for the first time. He had not seen his mother in ten years.

Monetary support from strangers and nations enabled the trip. Bushby credited the collective effort of a global team. He described the support of unknown people from various countries as the force that brought him back. He called the Earth itself the largest team he ever had. The journey is now over, and he is back in the basement of his mother's home.

He expressed anxiety about what comes next. He told The Associated Press that the end of the trip feels like crossing the event horizon into a black hole. He does not know what his life will look like now that the walking is finished. The cameras and documentary crew captured the emotional and awkward reunion with his crying mother. He joked that she should behave, then hugged her and rubbed her back.

The walk started with a birthday card from his father, Keith, in the mid 1990s. The card referenced a discussion among special forces comrades about walking from London to New York over the Bering land bridge. That ancient route, used by early humans when sea levels were lower, inspired the modern trek. Bushby left as a young man full of adventure and returned as an older man with a world of experience.