2009: An Earth Odyssey

The first year of my Guinness World Record™ breaking journey to every country on Planet Earth.
Twelve months, four continents, no planes and one epic adventure!!

I’m a YouTube Partner, so just by watching these videos you will be helping to raise money for WaterAid through advertising revenue. Spread the word!

SOUTH AMERICA & THE CARIBBEAN – Jan/Feb 2009

The Prelude
I say a teary farewell to Mandy, my incredibly delightful girlfriend-of-eight-years and I hit the road to South America, stopping in Brazil on the way down to the starting line on the border of Uruguay and Argentina.

Chapter I: South America Unlimited
I begin my epic solo quest to visit every single country in the world without flying and without driving. From country number 1, Uruguay, I head through Argentina (2) to Paraguay (3), Bolivia (4), Chile (5), Peru (6) and Ecuador (7).

Chapter II: Death Bus To Georgetown
Crossing the equator and charging at full steam through Colombia (8) and Venezuela (9), I officially tick Brazil (10) off my list and head to Guyana (11) and Suriname (12), completing the dirty dozen and hitting a scary moment on the road to Georgetown.

Chapter III: Trouble In Paradise
After hitching a ride on a cargo ship bound for Trinidad (13), I discover that finding boats in the Caribbean isn’t as easy as you might have thought. Still, I manage to hit Grenada (14) and St. Vincent (15) before the week is out.

Chapter IV: Breaking The Waves
I take the banana boat (literally!) to Barbados (16), then back to St Lucia (17) before charging like a man possessed through the French Island of Martinique, and the independent nations of Dominica (18) and St. Kitts (19).

Chapter V: The Hitch-Hiker’s Guide To The Caribbean
After a really cool weekend in St. Kitts, I manage to hitch a lift on a yacht heading to Antigua (20). Surrounded by luxury yachts, I find myself perplexed why nobody will let me on board. It’s probably the beard isn’t it?

Chapter VI: The Signal To Depart
In the best coup of The Odyssey so far, I manage to cadge a lift on a cruise ship heading for the island of Hispaniola (after already hitting the territories of St. Martin, the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands).

Chapter VII: Every Day Is Like Sunday
I find myself stuck in my 21st nation, The Dominican Republic, for a week trying to find a boat to Cuba or Jamaica.  But I use the time wisely: I visit Haiti (22), learn how to make sushi and gain a few more fans along the way.

Chapter VIII: Jamaican Me Crazy
I catch a ride on “The Linge Trader” – a cargo ship bound for Mexico. After having the run of the ship for a few days, it looks like a stopover in my 23rd country, Jamaica, may force me to walk the plank and find another way to Central America.

NORTH & CENTRAL AMERICA – Mar/Apr 2009

Chapter IX: Go Yell It To The Ocean
I arrive in country number 24, Mexico, head through Guatemala (25) and turn thirty years old on a beach in El Salvador (26), which results in temporary insanity. I breeze through Honduras (27), Nicaragua (28), Costa Rica (29) and Panama (30). If only everywhere was this easy.

Chapter X: Chicken Fajitas
After a morning in Belize (31) I head through Guatemala and Mexico all the way to Florida in the USA (32). I think sleeping on all these buses is beginning to affect my brains. Tell you what, though, Greyhound buses are the WORST in the world!

Chapter XI: Ground Control To Major Tom
I find myself stuck in Florida for a week waiting for the US government to get back to me. In the meantime, I take in a day trip to country number 33 – The Bahamas and – even better – see one of the LAST EVER space shuttle launches.

Chapter XII: Trading With The Enemy
Uncle Sam doesn’t like it’s citizens going to the 34th country on my list, Cuba, and as I wait for my special permission for an American to take me over there I celebrate St. Patrick’s day in Key West and learn about the history of the one and only Conch Republic.

Chapter XIII: Spanking The Monkey
Hitting Mexico for the third time I proceed all the way up through Texas, Georgia and the Eastern States of America on the – urgh – Greyhound Bus to New York, New York to fulfill a promise I made to an old friend…

Chapter XIV: The Halifax of Life
Waiting for passage across the Atlantic, I get to know the locals of Nova Scotia, Canada – my 35th and final country of the Americas. This involves declaring war on a couple of Germans, breaking into somebody’s house and devouring copious amounts of lobster.

Chapter XV: The Icelandic Connection
My epic journey across the Atlantic Ocean from Canada to Iceland. I eat some moose, check out the engine room, chat to a guy who was held hostage by Somalia pirates last year and keep a lookout for (tee hee) “growlers”.

EUROPE – APRIL/MAY 2009

Chapter XVI: The Leap Home
After leaving country 36, Iceland, I have a brief stopover in The Faroe Islands before racing through The Netherlands (37), Belgium (38) and France (39) on my way back to my friends and family in Liverpool, England (40).

Chapter XVII: Anarchy In The UK
Mere hours after returning home, I’m off again on a tour of Wales (41), Ireland (42), Northern Ireland (43) and Scotland (44) before racing back to Manchester for a curry – but this time I’m bringing my mates along for the ride.

Hugh Sings The Odyssey Blues
Country and bluegrass singing sensation Hugh Sheridan serenades us with his impromptu version of story of the journey so far. Matt Collins and Scott Jones accompany on guitar. Take it away Hugh!

Chapter XVIII: Europe Is Our Playground
I love Europe, and you should too. In this episode I bag myself an interrail ticket and cross Luxembourg (45), Germany (46), Denmark (47), Norway (48), Sweden (49) and Finland (50) off my list of nations. I even get to drive the train!

Chapter XIX: Eastern Promises
My tour of Eastern Europe starts in Estonia (51) where I get arrested for wading across a river into Russia (52). After some fast talking it continues through Latvia (53), Lithuania (54), Belarus (55), Poland (56), The Czech Republic (57), Slovakia (58), Hungary (60), Romania (61), Moldova (62) and Ukraine (63).

Chapter XX: The Balkan Blitz
In a crazy few days for the Odyssey, I reach Bulgaria (64), Greece (65), Macedonia (66), Kosov0 (67), Montenegro (68), Albania (69), Croatia (70), Bosnia and Herzegovina (71) and Slovenia (72) before returning to Hungary to pick up my missing backpack.

Chapter XXI: There’s No Place Like Rome
Ah – Rome at last! After racing through Austria (73), Liechtenstein (74), Switzerland (75) and Italy (76) (not to mention going to the wrong San Marino!), I could do with a bit of grandeur, but how exactly does one break into The Vatican (77)?

AFRICA – MAY-DEC 2009

Chapter XXII: Postcard From Tattooine
After hitting Malta (78) and Tunisia (79), I discover that the borders of Africa are not as freewheeling and porous as the ones of Europe and the Americas.  Looks like I’m going to have to find another way in…

Chapter XXIII: The Mauritania Disaster
Ever travelled 2,000km through the Sahara desert for no good reason? I have. Oh well, at least I made it to the (correct) San Marino (80), Monaco (81), Andorra (82), Spain (83), Portugal (84), Morocco (85) and Western Sahara (86) on the way there.

Chapter XXIV: Breaking and Entering
I get my visa and finally make it into country 87 (Mauritania) only to find that my trip back to Rabat was completely and utterly pointless. Drying my tears with the desert sands I press on to Senegal, the Eighty-Eighth Country of THE ODYSSEY EXPEDITION.

Chapter XXV: Indiana Hughes and the Passage of Doom
A wooden boat, ten Senegalese fishermen and 300 miles of open ocean. My infamously idiotic trip from Senegal to those bloomin’ Cape Verde islands. Looking back, I can’t believe I did this. I must be insane.

Chapter XXVI: THIS IS AFRICA
This vid tells the story of my travels from Cape Verde (89) to Egypt (133) Compiling eighty hours of footage into four minutes is no mean feat.  Luckily, I’ve got two feet and both are as mean as they come.