
This is THE ODYSSEY!
The Odyssey is an epic adventure, a world first, a race against time, a year (or two) of living dangerously!! Scouse film maker Graham Hughes’
Along the way, I filmed and hosted an eight-part TV series for Lonely Planet, National Geographic & the BBC. It has been broadcast in over 60 nations, including the US, Canada, Australia, South Africa, India and China.
The first part of The Odyssey Expedition trilogy, Man of the World tells the hilarious, engaging and sometimes terrifying true story of the first year and 133 countries of my journey to every country in the world without flying.
Listen to the first chapter of the audiobook now!
My achievement has been certified by Guinness World Records™ and features in the 2016 edition of the Guinness Book of Records.
Marco Frigatti, Head of Records at Guinness World Records, was quoted as saying “I can’t remember a more absorbing record to verify in recent years”.
Four Years and one month. 201 Countries. A shoestring budget. Travelling alone. No professional support. No Flights. Nobody who had done it before. Some thought it impossible. How did I do it? Dive in and find out!
The Odyssey is an epic adventure, a world first, a race against time, a year (or two) of living dangerously!! Scouse film maker Graham Hughes’
7.30am. Woke up to find that sand demons had filled my teeth with silica gel and that a brass band had barged its way into
Arriving at some ungodly hour in Posadas, we took a taxi over the Paraguayan border. And back. I would love to tell you how much
Another very early morning and after joining me on the bus to San Salvador De Jujuy (pronounced HooHoy, which is something I’d expect Mr Burns
Arrived, shaken but not stirred, in Oruro, Bolivia. I felt the best course of action was to find out when the first bus for Chile
The maid was supposed to wake me at 6.30, but didn’t. Luckily, by some miracle I woke up myself at 7am after clocking up a
Got into Lima at 8am this morning. It was a rollercoaster ride last night, if you tried to stay awake it was just a non-stop
Got to the border bright and early this morning, and tried to find a bus to Quito, the capital of Ecuador. There was no central
I flaked it. I should have been up with the lark and on a bus to the border, but I decided to have a day
Okay – day of ACTION! Got up at some ungodly hour and rendered the podcast, got to the Internet café at 7.30am and uploaded it.
I think I’m about three days behind schedule now; I really need to make up some time in the Caribbean. Don’t know how easy that
Got to Bogotá yesterday, but there was barely enough time to pull my undies out of my backside before I was bang! on another overnight
WOKE UP to the DEAFENING SOUND of a pirate copy of ‘Death Race’ being played on the bus at MAXIMUM VOLUME. This continued until Jason
Woke up in Mario’s house. His family had been so accommodating, taking in a big ginger stray like me for the night and looking after
Got up nice and early after a surprising restful sleep and headed to the border. I was first to be stamped through and I headed
Awoken at 4am, we recommenced our journey through the jungle. Over a river on a chain ferry made of rusty metal and some wooden planks
Up at 4am and on the minibus to Suriname. Thankfully paved roads all the way, and even a nice new shiny bridge over the river
Spent the entire day at sea and in bed, trying to shake off the monster hangover from the night before while getting my video diary
Woke up still in Point Lisas, Trinidad. We hadn’t moved on to Port of Spain. Something was wrong – the electric generator had failed and
I stayed at the Inna City guesthouse, rose with the lark and headed down to the docks. All the boats were not leaving until Wednesday.
Spent the day on the edge of my seat. Annette picked me up in the morning and took me to Chaguaramas where all the yachties
We set off from the marina at around half two in the morning and headed north to Grenada. It was slow and painful, but at
Currently sitting in the Tourist Centre opposite the jetty in Hillsborough, Carriacou island waiting for the guy who said he’d take me to Union Island
Another early riser and onto the ferry ‘Barracuda’ up to St. Vincent, the big daddy of the Grenadines. It’s where they filmed most of Pirates
If you can’t beat them, join them. Got on a minibus to Kingstown and had a great time meandering around the fish market and the
Everything closes on Sunday on St. Vincent. I tried to get to (what’s left of) the Pirates of the Caribbean set on the other side
Dragged myself out of bed and headed to the port. I was halfway there when I realised I had left my coat in my room,
Awoke on the metal floor of the Melinda II. I hadn’t been seasick (even though the boat was thumping the waves like a cartoon dog
We docked at about 4.30 in the morning in Vieux Fort, St. Lucia. This is an unreasonable hour, and one that I refuse to believe
Martin and Fabio had to be up for 6am, as they were getting a plane to South America, so I thanked them profusely, got their
Slept on a three-foot long wooden bench on a rusting cargo ship that went up and down, up and down, up and down…. The Eastpack
Up early and off to see the two contacts I had on the island. The first one, Shauna, was not in work this weekend. The
Got up bright and early to go and see a man about a boat — Wayne had organised someone to take me over to Antigua
I’m WAY behind schedule now, I should be in Central America and I’m not – I’m stuck on an island miles from anywhere that has
Arrived early in Antigua, but by the time passport formalities, etc. were all done, it was about 10am. I headed to the city centre and
Christal and I hit the streets looking for a way off the island. We even had a half-hour segment on the local radio station. We
Once again, I stayed at Christal’s dad’s house, but not before I attended a ballroom dancing lesson down the road. Seriously! Christal’s dad, Owen, cooked
I scrambled like a fighter pilot down to the harbour. I have to leave today. I have to leave today. I stopped at the Waterfront
Kerri is a Kiwi and Andrew is British, but lived in South Africa for many years. We had spent the night sailing, eating Pringles and
I was going to work late into the evening, but I ended up crashing out at about nine like a big girl’s blouse. But that’s
What a day. We arrived in Tortola, the main British Virgin Island, nice and early, and before long I was on a ferry (YES, A
A heavy dew had formed on me and my bags in the night. I prised myself up off the sun lounger and headed for a
Got on the Internet as soon as I could and there it was – a message from Lorna, my guardian angel, bearing the heading ‘Costa
We arrived in La Romana, in the Dominican Republic at around 8am. I had to be up early for customs formalities – the only person
First things first, I needed to check for boats leaving for Cuba or Jamaica from the port. Mehrdad and I headed over the harbour and
Valentine’s Day. My girl, Mandy, is on the other side of the world and every day I waste on this island is another day that
I had to get up so early my legs where all shaky. Wurgh! I said my goodbyes to Mehrdad and wished him well on his
I needed somewhere that I could sit and work, and Ken and TJ work in a place around the corner – the offices of DR1.com,
Are you still here? Got an email from Lonely Planet telling me not to feel too bad about being stuck in the Caribbean, because of
Still no word from the Linge Trader. Hugh has gone to Germany now and Lorna and Dino are in work. I’m in the office at
Fifty days in, who’d have thunked it? I’m still in the Dominican Republic. I’ve been here over a week! Bah! But I leave today (thanks
Today passed in a daze. Out to sea, no mobile phone, no internet. I think I had been saving up my first day off work
Dolphins!! I decided to stretch my legs out on deck and saw hundreds of dolphins splashing about in the water, having a good time. But
We pulled into Kingston, Jamaica at about 6pm. I could see the Pamplona, the ship that will be taking me to Costa Rica, on the
5.30am. The phone rang. Groggily, I answered it. Hello? It was the captain. You have to get off this ship. Now. We will not take
I’m going to be 30 this Saturday. 30? Me? Where did all the time go? I’m still pleasantly surprised each morning that I don’t have
Last night, I spent a few hours up on the bridge with Alexander, one of the officers on board. He’s from the Ukraine and loves
We arrived in Veracruz, Mexico at around 1pm local time. Yippee! Unfortunately for my itchy, goddamn-month-behind-schedule feet, the shipping agent says I’ve got to wait
The bus arrived at Tapachula near the Guatemalan border early in the morning to find another bus to Guatemala City waiting to take me away,
I only slept for a few hours before we hit the El Salvador border and then it was off the bus, with queuing and formality.
Congratulations on your 30th birthday, Graham…hope you like the pic!
I arose before dawn for the last leg of the southern journey that had been necessitated by the fact that I didn’t get to go
Back on the groovy bus up through Costa Rica, Nicaragua, Honduras and El Salvador. No cute girl for me to annoy this time, but I
I got into Guatemala City about 10am (not much sleep on the bus then) and hopped straight onto a bus for Puerto Barrios on the
The boat that Ishmael had got me on (it had been chartered by a German couple – I was cheekily tagging along for the ride)
By this stage of my Herculean bus ride, it had been a week since I’d had a hot shower. To say I was beginning to
All I got to see of Mexico City was the outskirts and the bus station, but I hear it’s not much too look at anyway.
I’ve got to say, the Greyhound buses ARE THE WORST FORM OF TRANSPORT IN THE WORLD — grotty, no films, no snacks, grumpy-as-hell drivers… My
I slept through to Orlando in Florida and then got on my last bus (for a few days at least) heading for Fort Lauderdale. This
Spent the day on the phone and on the net trying to sort out, how the hell I’m going to get to Cuba. However, I
As I write this, I’m sitting in a lounge on the day cruise over to The Bahamas. It’s usually about $40 there and back, but
Okay. Here’s the situation. The USA does not like Cuba. It prefers its citizens to spend money in Zimbabwe, Burma or North Korea, obviously, as
Another day wasted attempting to get a response from the Treasury. I hung around at the hostel all day, on line and making phone calls
I gave it until 2pm until it became abundantly clear that the Treasury was not going to get back with an answer this week and
Rise and shine, Odysseus. Since you’re stuck in Florida, you may as well indulge your nerdy love of all things NASA. I walked down to
Headed over to the Space Centre first thing and queued up LIKE A BIG NERD for a ticket to view the shuttle launch. These special
A day on the Greyhound first to Miami and then down to the Florida Keys. What would incur the wrath of the bastard bus driver
Getting up nice and early, Midge gave me a list of people to talk to about getting a boat over to Cuba. First up, Captain
I woke up on a random ship in the port… The Appledore. I had absolutely no recollection of how I got there. Hat… check, shoes…
So much has been happening so fast it makes my head spin just thinking about it. Midge gave me a lift into Key West and
The entire day at sea, we continued on our painfully slow march towards Cuba. I kept watch for US coastguard boats appearing out of nowhere
What WOULD Philias Fogg say? If all had been going to plan, I’d be in AFRICA by now, having already stepped foot in every country
After helming the nightwatch, I got a few hours kip before Johnny called me up on deck – he’d been chatting on the CB with
The madness of leaving at night, drunk and without a weather window slowly dawned on us – looking to port and looking to starboard, electrical
In the morning, I made a huge arse of myself trying to pull up the anchor (all those years of never going to the gym
So the day was spent entirely at the mercy of the rather wonderful Mexican bus service. Leigh got off the bus somewhere in the middle
As a wonderful final flourish, and as if to prove how much better Mexican bus services are compared to the American ones, my bus got
Spent the day travelling up through Georgia pressing northwards towards Virginia. As we travelled, my mind turned to three things; Architecture, Americans, and Greyhound buses.
When I changed buses yesterday in Atlanta, I made a fatal error – I didn’t push to the front of the queue. And so I
I had set my alarm for 6.30am to give me loads of time to wake up and get to the bus station for the bus
I’m still on the train at the moment; it’s a 20 hour journey. Looking out of the window, it’s like I’ve stumbled into Narnia. I
Now is the winter of our discontent. Well, it’s actually SUPPOSED to be spring, but NOBODY SEEMS TO HAVE TOLD THE CANADIAN TOURIST BOARD THAT.
Today began as yesterday ended with some email news, but this time it was GOOD internet news, news that made me do a little dance
I’d like to say today past in a drunken blur, but given I didn’t drink today, it was more of just a blur. I slept
You really have no idea how itchy my feet become when confronted with a few days of inactivity – I feel like learning to Riverdance,
Still in Halifax, then. It’s not worth my while heading back into America to get on another boat as none of them go to Iceland,
Today I met up with James and we headed out with Rocky the dog, to visit (wait for it, wait for it) LIVERPOOL! Not Liverpool
Today I went for a walk around the city, but it was still a bit rubbish. Although now the snow has all melted, it wasn’t
After spending the day trying (and failing) to get a video edited before I left Halifax, it was with great relief that I got to
Woke up with thunder crashing in my head (as Elvis once sang) with the owner of the backpackers telling me that the representatives from Eimskip