{"id":107610,"date":"2025-08-20T08:01:08","date_gmt":"2025-08-20T08:01:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/?p=107610"},"modified":"2025-08-20T11:10:44","modified_gmt":"2025-08-20T11:10:44","slug":"karl-bushby-back-in-europe-begins-last-leg-of-journey","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/explorersweb.com\/karl-bushby-back-in-europe-begins-last-leg-of-journey\/","title":{"rendered":"Karl Bushby Back in Europe, Begins Last Leg of Journey"},"content":{"rendered":"

Karl Bushby set out from Punta Arenas, Chile, almost 27 years ago, on Nov. 1, 1998. With a Day of the Dead parade kicking off in the background, he began with $500 in his pocket, a vague plan he came to call the Goliath Expedition<\/a>, and a stubborn confidence that he could do what no one else had done before — walk around the world with no mechanical transport and not returning home until the walk is complete.<\/span><\/p>\n

About 47,000km later, the ex-paratrooper is now back in Europe. <\/span>In spring 2025, he reached Turkey, and on May 2, he strode across Istanbul’s Bosphorus Bridge, officially leaving Asia behind and stepping into Europe for the first time since 1998.<\/span><\/p>\n

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The route. Map: Karl Bushby<\/p><\/div>\n

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There, the bureaucracy that has bedeviled him time after time reared its head once again. Turkish visa restrictions forced Bushby to leave the country the day he crossed the bridge. His 90-day visa was about to expire, and he had to race to the airport to avoid running afoul of those limits. F<\/span>or the next three months, he waited in Mexico to be eligible to reapply for entry into Turkey.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Yesterday, he landed back in Istanbul, preparing to restart his trek. He will then pick his way across Turkey, Bulgaria, Romania, Hungary, Austria, Germany, France, and finally the UK. With home just 3,000km away, he is confident he will be back in Hull, England by September 2026.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

Hurdle after hurdle<\/h2>\n

It is no surprise that the last 27 years have been plagued by such logistical hurdles. Several times — bureaucracy, the need to cross war zones, lack of funding, and a pandemic — he has had to pause his walk <\/span>until he could set off again. His rules allowed him to fly to a holding area, often Mexico, and wait until he could overcome whatever stopped him from continuing.<\/span><\/p>\n