You're standing on your porch. You look left, then right, and suddenly you wonder: what if I just kept going? It's a classic daydream. But if you actually decided to lace up your boots and head east until you hit your own backyard again, how long would it take to walk around the world?
Most people think of the Earth as a perfect ball, but it’s actually a bit "chunky" around the middle. The circumference at the equator is roughly 24,901 miles. If you were a superhero who could walk on water, you’d be looking at a massive journey. But since we have oceans, the "walk" becomes a lot more complicated. You have to consider the actual landmasses, the zig-zagging trails, and the inevitable delays for customs or a blister that looks like a grape.
Actually doing it isn't just about fitness. It's about logistics.
The Math Versus the Mud
If you look at the raw numbers, the math is deceptively simple. Let’s say you walk at a brisk human pace of 3 miles per hour. If you walked 8 hours a day, every single day, you’d cover 24 miles. At that rate, you’d finish the 24,901-mile loop in about 1,037 days. That is roughly 2.8 years.
But nobody walks like that.
Life happens. You get sick. You hit a border crossing in Central Asia that takes three days to clear. You get stuck in a monsoon in Southeast Asia. Realistically, if you’re a high-performance walker covering 20 miles a day, but taking weekends or rest days off, you’re looking at more like 5 to 10 years.
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Jean Béliveau, a Canadian man who actually did this, took 11 years. He didn't just walk a straight line. He crossed 64 countries and went through 54 pairs of shoes. He started the day he turned 45 and walked through his entire middle-age.
Defining "Around the World"
What counts as a walk around the world?
According to the World Walkers Association (yes, that’s a real thing), you can’t just walk in a small circle around the North Pole and call it a day. To officially claim you've walked around the globe, you generally need to cross two antipodal points—points that are exactly opposite each other on the planet. You also have to cover a distance that is at least the length of the Tropic of Cancer, which is about 22,858 miles.
Tom Turcich, the tenth person to officially achieve this feat, took seven years. He brought a dog named Savannah. Think about that for a second. That is seven years of waking up in a tent, finding food, and dealing with the sheer boredom of the road.
The Physical Toll and the Gear Reality
Your feet will change shape. Most long-distance walkers report their feet growing a full size or more because the arches collapse and the constant pounding causes permanent swelling. You aren't just "walking." You are managing a moving biological crisis.
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The gear is another story. You can’t carry everything on your back for 25,000 miles. Most successful world walkers use a specialized jogging stroller. It’s a cart. It holds your tent, your water filter, and your solar panels.
What You're Actually Carrying
- A lightweight, four-season tent (because you will hit snow).
- High-end water filtration like a Sawyer Squeeze or Katadyn.
- Solar chargers for your phone and GPS.
- Dozens of pairs of socks—honestly, the socks are more important than the shoes.
The psychological wall is usually higher than any mountain range. Walking across the United States takes about 4 to 6 months. Now, imagine doing that five or six times in a row. The novelty wears off somewhere in the middle of the second year. You’re no longer an adventurer; you’re just a person whose job is to put one foot in front of the other until the sun goes down.
Navigation and Geopolitics
The shortest path isn't always open. You can’t just stroll through certain conflict zones or countries with closed borders. This adds thousands of miles to the trip.
If you start in New York and head west, you’ll hit the Pacific. You have to fly or take a boat to Australia or Asia. Most walkers "pause" their clock, take the flight, and resume exactly where they left off on the other side of the ocean. This is the only way to maintain the "continuous" nature of the walk.
Dave Kunst, the first person verified to have walked around the world in the 1970s, took 4 years and 3 months. He survived being shot by bandits in Afghanistan. This isn't just a hike in the woods. It’s a geopolitical navigation exercise.
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Why Do People Actually Do It?
It’s rarely about the exercise. Most people who attempt this are looking for a fundamental shift in how they see humanity. When you move at 3 miles per hour, the world doesn't blur. You see every piece of trash, every smile from a stranger, and every changing leaf.
You become a local everywhere for about twenty minutes.
It’s a massive commitment. You lose years of earnings. You lose touch with friends. You might lose your mind a little bit in the Australian Outback or the Siberian tundra. But you gain a perspective that is literally impossible to get from a plane or a car.
Making the Walk Happen
If you’re seriously considering how long would it take to walk around the world because you want to try it, start small.
Don't buy a plane ticket to the other side of the planet yet.
Walk across your state. If you can handle three weeks of sleeping in a ditch and eating cold beans, maybe you have the temperament for the five-year haul.
Actionable Steps for the Aspiring World Walker
- Test your feet. Walk 15 miles a day for five days straight with a 30-pound pack. If your knees hold up, you have the baseline physiology.
- Audit your finances. Most world walkers spend between $1,000 and $2,000 a month on food, gear replacements, and visas. You need a nest egg or a remote job that doesn't mind a "very" mobile office.
- Learn basic mechanics. You’ll be fixing your own shoes, your own stroller, and potentially your own skin (blister drainage is a science).
- Study the "Antipodal" rule. If you want the record, you need to plan your route through two points that are direct opposites on the globe, like Bogotá, Colombia, and Jakarta, Indonesia.
- Get a cart. Save your spine. Pushing a cart is significantly easier on the human frame over a multi-year period than carrying a 60-pound rucksack.
Walking the world is the ultimate "slow travel." It’s an absurd, grueling, and deeply beautiful waste of time that will take you at least five years if you're moving at a human pace. If you start today, you’ll be a different person by the time you get back.