By Gursharan Bhalla
Can you imagine walking around the world? Well, imagining might be easy but can you actually walk around the world? It’s not something for the weak-hearted.
Tom Turcich from New Jersey has now achieved this remarkable feat with his four-legged friend. With this, he has become the tenth person to do so and his dog Savannah is the first one to complete the journey.
The pair were greeted with a huge homecoming celebration attended by many of Turcich’s friends and family, along with well wishers. The triumphant moment brought about the end of a seven-year, 48,000-kilometer (29,826-mile) journey that he’d spent even longer working toward.
He had actually been preparing for this voyage for the past 15 years. “It was very surreal,” Turcich tells CNN Travel from his parent’s home in Haddon Township.
His journey
He began his journey on April 2, 2015, just before his 26th birthday, with hiking gear, a sleeping bag, a laptop, a DSLR camera and a plastic crate, which he used to store his food. Turcich says he devised his route with two major factors in mind — he wanted to “hit every continent and travel with as little bureaucratic trouble” as possible.
He anticipated it to be around a five and a half years of journey but it took a total seven years. Thanks to an infection that took him behind by several months and then the COVID-19 pandemic.
He first went from New Jersey to Panama, he then acquired Savannah from an animal shelter in Texas, the duo then flew over Darien Gap from Panama. Then, to Bogota, Colombia, Montevideo, Uruguay and finally Antartica.
After arriving in Europe, the pair walked across Ireland and Scotland. Then, he fell ill and had to return back home in the US but Turcich who documented his journey on Instagram and his blog The World Walk, resumed the walk in Copenhagen in May 2018.
From here, they moved through Italy, Slovenia, Croatia, Montenegro, Albania and Greece. After Greece, they headed to Turkey, where Turcich became the first private citizen to be permitted to cross the Bosphorus Bridge on foot.
Then they travelled to Georgia, situated between Russia and Turkey, in the Caucasus Mountains, and onto Azerbaijan. Owing to strict travel restrictions, Turcich had to skip many destinations he had initially planned on visiting.
After walking across Kyrgyzstan, a small country in Central Asia bordering China, he and Savannah flew to Seattle in August 2021, and began making their way home to New Jersey.
During their world walk , the pair walked across six continents and 38 countries together, spending most nights camping.
His inspiration
He got inspired to take this trip after his close friend Ann Marie died in a jet ski accident at the age of 17. He said she was a much better person than him and then he realised that he could also die any time. He says that was a defining moment in his life and he began re-evaluating everything.
Turcich decided he needed travel and adventure in his life and began looking into all the different ways he could. After reading about Steven Newman, listed by Guinness World Records as the first person to walk around the world, and walking adventurer Karl Bushby, who has been circumnavigating the globe on foot since 1998, Turcich became set on taking on this challenge himself.
He managed to save enough to last him around two years on the road by working during the summer. Later, the owner of a local company, Philadelphia Sign, found out about his plans and decided to sponsor his trip. (India Times)
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