Karl Bushby left the southern most point of Chile in 1998, headed home to the UK with only two rules: no transport to advance, and no going home until he arrived on foot. Nearly three decades later, his journey has spanned over 49,000 km and 25 countries. Along the way, he has been jailed, banned from Russia and forced to walk 5,600 km the wrong way, and swim across the Caspian Sea to keep his route and rules unbroken. While his plan changed constantly, under pressure and with the outcome unknown, his objective never wavered. Today, Bushby shows audiences how to stay committed without becoming rigid, make decisions amidst uncertainty, and keep moving forward when optimism is no longer enough.
Born in Hull, England, Bushby served for over a decade with 3 PARA, the third battalion of the British Army’s Parachute Regiment, before leaving the army in 1998. On November 1 of that year, he began his journey, walking out of Punta Arenas, Chile, with a few hundred dollars in his pocket, turning north for home, and stepping onto a line he had drawn on a map that covered four continents, a frozen sea, deserts, mountains, jungles, and over 50,000 km of unknown.
In 2001, Bushby crossed the Darién Gap and was jailed for 18 days in Panama. In 2006, he crossed the frozen Bering Strait on foot, 14 days on drifting sea ice, and was detained by Russian border troops. In 2013, Russia banned him from the country. He walked roughly 5,600 km the wrong way across the United States, from Los Angeles to the Russian Embassy in Washington, to argue his case, and the ban was lifted in 2014. When sanctions and rising tensions made crossing Iran impossible, and the pandemic and the war in Ukraine sealed off every other land route over a four-year period, he swam 288 km across the Caspian Sea, from Kazakhstan to Azerbaijan. Finally, in May 2025, Bushby stepped onto his home continent for the first time in decades, crossing the Bosphorus into Europe.
Bushby’s journey, which he wrote about in his book, Giant Steps, has been covered by the BBC and press around the world, with outlets including Reuters and the Daily Mail joining him on the road. Now, in the final stretch of his trek, Bushby has one crossing left: the English Channel. Having been denied permission to walk the Channel Tunnel, and his own rules preventing him from sailing it, Bushby is currently preparing for one final swim before he reaches home.
