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Latest Blog Entries
Day M229: The New Arrival
Sun 13.05.12: Over the last three and a half years I’ve missed a shed load of my friend’s life events...
Days M227-228: Holy Macau!
Fri 11.05.12 – Sat 12.05.12: This would be my last full day in Fragrant Harbour, or as you know it,...
Day M226: Now, Visa
Thu 10.05.12: I chuckle now to think when I got my Vietnamese visa back in September 2010 that I honestly...
Days M224-225: Open Mic
Tue 08.05.12 – Wed 09.05.12: I never let a late night get in the way of an early start, and Tuesday...
Day M223: You’re A Dick!
Mon 07.05.12: Up early for a meeting with Chris at Wallem Shipping, a friend of Stuart Jackets from the...
Day M222: My Fellow Liverpudlians
Sun 06.05.12: After the lunacy of last night, it was time to get back on track. Myself, Dino and Mandy...
Day M221: Ping Pong King Kong Hong Kong
Sat 05.05.12: It took a few days, but on the evening of Friday 4th May you could see the bright lights...
Day M216: General Santos
Mon 30.04.12: After arriving in the port of General Santos I met with Vincent, the local agent for Mariana...
Day M215: A Big Fat Croc
Sun 29.04.12: On our way to Hong Kong now, but we still have a couple of pitstops along the way. First...
Day M213: Sing Us A Song
Fri 27.04.12: It’s been seven months since I re-booted The Odyssey Expedition after my enforced sabbatical...
Read More From The Odyssey BlogIdle Chatter
I WANT YOU… To Help COMPLETE THE ODYSSEY EXPEDITION!!!
As Thom Yorke once mumbled, I can’t do this alone. The three final frontiers are...
The Final Frontiers: Schedule
Want to know where I plan to be in the next few months? Click here to find out! I...
VIDEO: How To Travel The World On The Cheap
Here’s me with my top twenty tips to help you GET OUT THERE AND SEE THE WORLD...
VIDEO: Last Exit To Serbia! (2007)
In the summer of 2007, myself and Stanley “Stan” Stanrydt, two grown...
VIDEO: Graham and Mandy’s Greek Odyssey (2004)
In the spring of 2004, when The Odyssey Expedition was still a pipe-dream, my girlfriend...
More Random StuffTop Blog Posts
Days 715-721: My Papua Visa Hell
16.12.10-22.12.10: You know, when I stepped out of the Vietnamese Consulate back...
Days 624-629: How Do We Solve A Problem Like Korea?
DAY 624: DISMEMBERMENT 16.09.10: So I disembarked (hilariously described on the...
Day 465: Breakfast Of Champions
10.04.10: In what has to be the most touching thing that’s happened to me in the...
Day 154: You Came In THAT Thing?
03.06.09: Hello and welcome to all you newbies to The Odyssey blog. I got a little...
Day 1: Hey-Ho LET’S GO!
01.01.09: 7.30am. Woke up to find that sand demons had filled my teeth with silica...
THE JOURNEY SO FAR (CLICKY FOR BIGGIE)
COUNTRIES VISITED (REQUIRES FLASH)
Recent Comments:
- mechwarriorace: You can get sweet popcorn in New York City, and most of the northeast.
- Kate Whynot: Ah hello there! You can add Kate and Simes wedding to that list. Not far to go now!!! Kate, simon and...
- segacs: Wow, you have that stand-up comedy routine down pat by now, don’t you? If you’re at loose ends...
- James: Welcome to Hong Kong; our little island oasis. If you need anything whilst in HK, please drop me a line. Best,...
- David: nice rant graham,think you hit the sad nail on the sorry head! I’m just down the road from you in sunny...
- Graham: Ah, don’t worry Cody, as soon as your economy crashes, you’ll be back in the top ten!!
- GrahamStalker: Hey, at least it wasn’t an American that stole your hat. Well, probably.
- Cody: Nice, I was hoping for an update of this list. Shame that my country (Australia), has dropped considerably.
- Bellaesque: I just wanted to leave a comment to say that I enjoy your blog. Looking at the number of comments, I see...
- Jos: Muchos jealous of your journey. If you need a bed for the night in Sing we’ll have a spare room until the...
THE FOLLOWING COMPANIES HAVE HELPED ME ALONG THE WAY... THANK YOU!!
THE TRAVELOMETER
The Odyssey Expedition
"We all dream about travelling the world. But some dreams are bigger than others."My name is Graham Hughes. I'm an adventurer, filmmaker, travel blogger and TV presenter from Liverpool, England. On January 1 2009 I crossed the River Plate into Uruguay and began The Odyssey Expedition: The first official Guinness World Record™ attempt to visit every sovereign state on Planet Earth without flying.
That's the 193 members of the United Nations plus Taiwan, Vatican City, Palestine, Kosovo, Western Sahara and the four home nations of The United Kingdom. A staggering 201 international borders crossed by foot, bus, taxi, train, ship or canoe. No planes, no helicopters and no hot-air balloons.
Along the way I shoot and present the TV show Graham's World for the National Geographic Adventure channel and raise funds for the registered charity WaterAid.
I travel alone, without any back-up and on a shoestring budget of less than $100 a week. I keep costs down by CouchSurfing and hitching rides on cargo ships whenever possible. It doesn't get any more real than this.
It has been an adventure of epic proportions. I spent four days crossing open ocean in a leaky wooden boat to reach Cape Verde, I was imprisoned for a week in Congo and was arrested whilst attempting to sneak into Russia.
I ran the blockade into Cuba, blagged my way into Eritrea, ran around Iraq with an AK-47, spent seven days in Tibet and warned schoolchildren in Afghanistan about the dangers of men with beards.
I met the Prime Minister of Tuvalu, rode on top of a 18-wheeler through the northern badlands of Kenya, hitched a ride on a cruise ship to The Dominican Republic, joined a Bwiti tribe in Gabon, screamed at the ocean in El Salvador and watched a space shuttle blast off in the USA.
I've fed the crocs in Australia, hunted the dragons of Komodo, befriended the orangutans in Borneo, played with the lemurs in Madagascar, washed the elephants in India and eaten live octopus in South Korea.
I tip-toed into North Korea, took the slow boat to Nauru, danced with the Highlanders of Papua New Guinea and was rescued from Muslim fundamentalists in The Philippines by a ladyboy called Jenn.
I also set the Guinness World Record™ for 'The Most Countries Visited in One Year by Scheduled Ground Transport'.
But it's not over yet!! Having completed the Pacific leg of the journey, I am now racing back to Liverpool, crossing the four "final frontiers" along the way: Sri Lanka, Maldives, Seychelles and finally South Sudan, the newest nation on Earth.
You can read my latest blog entries, follow me on Twitter, watch my videos on YouTube and look out for my TV show. Tell your friends, tell your family, shout it from the rooftops - I'M ALMOST THERE!!
The rules of The Odyssey Expedition, as set by the nice chaps at Guinness World Records™
- - I cannot fly
- - I may not drive
- - I must use scheduled ground transport
- - I must step foot on dry land
WaterAid
I'm raising money for the charity WaterAid, a UK-based registered charity fighting to alleviate the disease, misery and death caused by open sewers, contaminated drinking water and lousy sanitation in developing countries around the world. If you enjoy these blogs, then please give give give.
It's shocking that in 2012 millions of children are still dying unnecessarily from diarrhoea - one of the most preventable and cheaply treated diseases in the world. A donation of just one dollar would pay for a simple sugar-salt solution which could genuinely save a child's life.
The Odyssey Expedition's JustGiving account ensures that 100 percent of the money you donate goes directly to WaterAid.