Leo Skelly, Author at The Odyssey Expedition

Trapped In Kuwait!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:21 April 2010
Post category:Featured Kuwait
Post comments:9 Comments

Our favourite ginger man is trapped in Kuwait! Graham is stuck and he needs YOUR help. My next country is (hopefully) going to be Bahrain, but there is a problem. The predicament/dilemma I'm in is that I came here thinking that 1. There was a ferry from Kuwait to Bahrain 2. Failing that, uou could get a Saudi transit visa here Both of these things are sadly not true!! The boats stopped 2 years ago and you can only get a transit visa if you're a resident here. The only ways to get to Bahrain are: on a boat down the Gulf, transiting through Saudi or transiting back through Iran. Iran and Saudi - the two hardest visas to get in the world!! So I've applied for a Saudi visa in London (which could take WEEKS to come through!) and while I'm waiting for that I'm…

IT’S A NEW WORLD RECORD!!!!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:11 April 2010
Post category:Featured
Post comments:2 Comments

GREAT GREAT NEWS!!!! Even though he is only three-quarters of the way through his quest, the good folks at Guinness World Records have just come through with the wonderful news that Graham has already achieved a NEW GUINNESS WORLD RECORD™!! It's an incredible feat and an amazing journey, and it's not over yet! To celebrate his feat, please please donate to WaterAid...and tell your friends to donate - WaterAid need it. You can do so via any of the WaterAid donation links on this website or by clicking on this link. Congratulations again to Graham...we salute you, sir. TM

ONE HUNDRED AND FIFTY!!!!!!!!!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:29 March 2010
Post category:Featured
Post comments:2 Comments

AMAZING!! That's the only word to describe the fact that Graham has now reached country 150!!! All within 453 days, and all without flying and without private transport. It's an AMAZING feat! It's been a rocky road in parts, but ultimately, reaching the one hundred and fifty mark, means that he's three-quarters of the way back to Mandy. Hooray! Well done, Graham. Add your comments to this post and join me in congratulating Graham on reaching this marker. Spread the word about the odyssey amongst your friends, and their friends, and their friends of friends. WaterAid needs all the publicity that it can get, as well as donations - so if you haven't already donated, please please do so as soon as you can via the website links. Graham is also a YouTube partner, which means that for EVERY unique click on his videos, money gets…

He’s Back!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:10 February 2010
Post category:England Featured
Post comments:1 Comment

Graham's back in the U.K.!!! Amidst the trickery of smoke & mirrors, and a rather cleverly laden plot, this time he managed to pull the big one by fooling EVERYONE into thinking that he was Skype-ing from Rome, Italy! A live Skype event with Graham had been arranged for a gathering of friends in the bar area of the FACT cinema in Liverpool city centre. With only minutes having passed into the start of the event, we began to lose the ability to hear Graham properly via the wireless laptop that the lovely Anna had brought. "Can you hear me?", came the cry from the ginger one, and before long, his voice was as distant as a distant one from distantville. Just then, a familiar face came bounding into the bar with a beaming smile and a booming voice, "Can you hear me now?!!!". It was…

2010: Odyssey Two

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:1 January 2010
Post category:Featured
Post comments:3 Comments

Well...we are pleased to announce that Graham managed – unbelievably - to get from Dar-es-Salaam to Cairo in two weeks, via Rwanda and Burundi (without flying!) and met up with his erstwhile girlfriend Mandy at six minutes past midnight on the first of January 2010 at the Pyramids of Giza where they first met 10 years ago...gripping stuff! Our Graham is now the official holder of the world record for visiting the most countries in one year without flying. We're hoping to count 133, but as our figure includes England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland as separate nations, as well as Kosovo, Vatican City and Western Sahara that figure might be revised down a little – we'll have to see what the Guinness World Records people say. We would like to take this opportunity to thank all the people who have gone out of their way…

New Website Features!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:27 December 2009
Post category:Featured
Post comments:1 Comment

If you're enjoying The Odyssey, you'll be glad to learn that there are now a few new website features to make your browsing experience even better! For starters, at the foot of every news item, there's now a new social networking bar that allows you to post the active news item to whichever social networking sites you use, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, del.icio.us, Digg This, Posterous, etc. and even to e-mail it to a friend! If a networking site that you regularly use isn't there, let me know, and I'll see if I can add it for you. It's important to the WaterAid cause that word about The Odyssey spreads. To make it even easier for you to read through Graham's news stories, there are now links at the bottom of every news story that bring you to the 'next' or 'previous' news item...and that's good…

Merry Christmas Everyone!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:25 December 2009
Post category:Featured
Post comments:2 Comments

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! It's been an incredible year for The Odyssey! It all started (well actually, it nearly didn't...Graham missed his first bus!) on the 1st January 2009 near the border of Argentina and Paraguay, which - as I write this - was 358 days ago (it's Christmas Eve here in England). Since then, we've seen Graham travel through 129 countries - by surface - I'm tired even thinking about the journey! It's been an amazing, eventful and sometimes arduous journey so far, between having been arrested 3 times, endured great boat journeys across great oceans, sleeping on hard floors and in tired rooms, and still managing to maintain a rather chipper disposition without getting ill once and whilst missing the love of his life, Mandy - and he's a ginger! How does he do it?! The time is right to say... Thank you : Gracias…

The Odyssey Forums are LIVE!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:14 December 2009
Post category:Featured
Post comments:1 Comment

The Odyssey Forums are now LIVE! But what does that mean for you? Well for almost a year now, our man on the ground has been having his say...telling it like it is...and at last, you can have yours! In a nutshell, there are three forums to which you can subscribe:- Comments: Say what you wanna say - as long as it's clean; Questions: Ask Graham anything you wish - the answer is 42! Seriously though, he'll do his very best to answer you as best he can, and; Advice: With North Africa, The Middle East, Central Asia, India, China, SE Asia and Oceania still to go, he needs all the advice that he can get! It might seem like small advice to you, but it could be crucial to him. All I ask is that you stick to the forum rules, and these are posted…

New Odyssey Translator!

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:1 October 2009
Post category:Featured Southern Africa
Post comments:0 Comments

Today, Google annouced a new feature that allows website owners the ability to prompt readers for automatic translations of their pages. That's GREAT news for readers of The Odyssey and your translator is now enabled! The new translator gadget automatically detects your preferred language, and if your preference differs from that of The Odyssey, a frame will appear over the web page and prompt you to click 'translate' so as to convert all of the text content. Hooray for Google! Hooray for The Odyssey! Leo (Webmaster)

News Alert: Graham Arrested in Cape Verde

Post author:Leo Skelly
Post published:6 June 2009
Post category:Featured

Sat 6th June, 16:27; News has just come in that Graham has been arrested in Cape Verde. Details are sketchy at the moment, but there are people working hard in the background to sort it out. As soon as any further details are available, I'll update this post. Sat 6th June, 18:23; Graham and all crew of the Moustapha Sy have been arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants and are being detained at Eugenio Lima prison. The British Consulate has been in contact & things are progressing. Although it was mis-reported in African Press, here's the news story. Sun 7th June, 22:00; Various family members & I have managed to speak to Graham over the course of today. Along with 9 other men, he's being held in a small, dirty cell that's big enough for two. He was arrested on-shore on the island of Sao Tiago, …