Welcome to today’s daily update for Tuesday, November 3, 2026. Here’s everything you need to know.
The Breakdown
In 1998, British adventurer Karl Bushby set out on a mission to travel the entire world without the use of motorized vehicles. After 28 years of walking, hiking, swimming, and living in rural towns, he has returned home, sparking celebrations and amazement across the globe.
Bushby began his journey in Punta Arenas, a small town in northern Chile, setting off on what he called the “Goliath Expedition.” He had just $500 in his pocket, a plastic camera, and his tent as he moved north. The sole purpose of the expedition was to reach his home in the United Kingdom without the use of motorized transport.
He traveled north along the Andes Mountains and crossed the dangerous Darien Gap, a stretch of rainforest between Panama and Colombia that thousands of immigrants cross every year for a chance at a better life in Mexico and the United States. From there, he hiked north, all the way to Alaska by 2005.
After making it through Alaska’s harsh, wild interior and garnering support from his sponsors to make the voyage, Bushby and fellow explorer Dmitri Kieffer crossed the Bering Strait during winter. They had to navigate through broken patches and fragile areas, spending two weeks on the ice alone. However, Bushby encountered major political hurdles upon arriving in Russia.
He and Kieffer were arrested by Russian border guards and charged with illegally entering the country, threatening to end his journey on the spot with a deportation. Eventually, they granted him a temporary visa to continue, but these visas were incredibly restrictive. For this reason, Bushby had to fly back to the US for several months, wait for a renewal, and only then could he continue for another few months after returning to the exact same spot where he had left off.
He did this for several years, struggling due to a lack of sponsors after the 2008 financial crisis, but in 2012, Russia banned him from entering for five years. In response, Bushby went on a massive protest, walking more than 3,000 miles from Los Angeles to the Russian Embassy in Washington D.C. to get them to overturn the ban. These issues cost him many years, turning a 12-year trek into one that spanned 28 years.
After finally completing the grueling trek through Siberia, Bushby made it to Mongolia, where he crossed into the pastoral lands of central Asia. However, he encountered another hurdle upon reaching the Caspian Sea. Bushby could not enter Russia to the north, nor could he enter Iran to the south. For this reason, Bushby was forced to swim than 180 miles across the Caspian Sea, spending 31 days on the water. He would swim the entire day before sleeping on a support boat, resuming from the exact same GPS coordinates the following day.
From there, Bushby’s journey was significantly easier, navigating through Azerbaijan and into eastern Europe before making it to France this June. Eurotunnel officials denied him access to the service tunnels that cross the English Channel, though, so Bushby swam 21 miles across the strait to arrive in England.
Yesterday, pushing a two-wheeled supply cart, Bushby finally completed the 250-mile trek to his hometown of Hull, where he greeted his mother after being away for more than 28 years. Across 10,229 days, Bushby walked around 31,000 miles, crossing through 30 countries on foot and traversing four of the world’s seven continents.
They say it takes a village, but literally it took a world to get me here. The kindness of strangers, so many, from individuals to nation-states, to get me back here today. I didn’t do this alone. There was a big team. The biggest team. Earth.
Karl Bushby
The Global Snapshot
The United States Supreme Court has rejected the Trump administration’s request for California to set aside more than 20,000 ballots under suspicion of noncitizen voting. Today is Election Day in the US, with thousands of people flocking to the polls to submit their ballots. Democrats are counting on Trump’s unpopularity to score a majority in the House of Representatives and the Senate, while Trump has attempted to make some last-minute gains in battleground states like Iowa and Kansas. In California, which is core Democrat territory, Trump has repeatedly alleged that the state is counting thousands of noncitizen votes despite an existing law that bans noncitizens from voting. The Supreme Court’s rejection of his attempt to invalidate these ballots also represents a similar decision to that of other lower courts.
Fact of the Day (The Fact Site): The Empire State Building took only a little over a year to build – 410 days – and was 12 days ahead of schedule when completed in 1930.
Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): If life gives you lemons, make apple juice and make people wonder how the hell you did it. (Gurbaksh Chahal)
Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Satiate (verb, SAY-shee-ayt) - To satiate a need, desire, etc., is to satisfy it fully.
In a Sentence: The new restaurant’s menu promises to satiate diners’ cravings for comfort food, offering fresh spins on classic, time-honored fare.
Image: Eric Demarcq / CC BY-NC-ND 2.0
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