One Full Around-the-World Trip, Zero Planes

Some ideas sound crazy at first. Look at them a little longer and they start to seem possible. Keep looking and they begin to feel inevitable. That’s exactly what happened with my dream of circling the globe without taking a single flight.

I was enjoying the freedom of a gap year and wrapping up an intense volunteering experience with malnourished children in Angola when I decided it was time to make that dream real.

The plan was simple: leave my hometown of Como, Italy, travel eastward by land and sea, cross continents and oceans, and return home from the west. I also wanted the journey to have a charitable purpose, using its visibility to raise funds for Mundo Orenda, the small non-profit I’d supported in Angola that provides emergency care and food to hundreds of children.

Preparation was quick. I mapped out a rough route across land and sea borders, printed a few T-shirts with the Mundo Orenda logo, and trusted that the unanswered questions would resolve themselves. Finding ways to cross the world’s biggest stretches of water was the hardest part. Since Covid-19, casual passenger boarding on commercial ships has become rare, making flights almost compulsory for transoceanic travel. I eventually found a solution for the Pacific, but two major gaps remained: the Caspian Sea and the Atlantic Ocean.

I set off in February 2025, crossing the Balkans and Turkey by bus with a 100-litre backpack and an open mind. In a Tbilisi bar I mentioned my terran trip to some locals, and someone told me about a transatlantic ship that recreates the Titanic’s route from New York to Southampton—one big question mark solved.

The Caspian was next. In Baku, Azerbaijan, I met Bart, a Belgian traveller on a similar no-planes journey, and we teamed up. With the help of a hostel receptionist making endless phone calls in Azerbaijani, we eventually learned of a cargo ship about to sail. After a full day of waiting in the port, we finally boarded in the middle of the night. Thirty hours later, after sharing soup and stories with truck drivers and sailors, we arrived off the coast of Aktau, Kazakhstan. It took another full day of waiting and custom bureaucracy until we finally touched land. A full three-day adventure to avoid a 45-minute flight—but absolutely worth it.

From there the trip unfolded more smoothly. I watched wild horses race beside an old Soviet train across the Kazakh steppe, sped past columns of electric cars on China’s high-speed rail, experienced the warmth of Korean hospitality, and left Japan on a two-week non-stop cruise to California. I road-tripped across the famous Route 66, celebrated Canada Day in Ottawa and U.S. Independence Day in New York State. Eventually I waved goodbye to the Statue of Liberty from my Titanic-like ship and reached the UK a week later. After a quick ferry across the English Channel, the rest was easy. I even made it to Zürich in time for the Street Parade before catching the familiar SBB train back to Como in August.

After six months on the road, my plane-free world tour was complete. The journey proved that such travel is possible—though not always simple—and highlighted how much global infrastructure still favours air travel, especially across oceans and in the United States.

I also raised funds for Mundo Orenda along the way, but the need is ongoing. If this story inspires you, even a small donation can help provide food and emergency care for children in Angola.

To donate or see photos and stories from the trip, visit my Instagram @world.tour.ontheroad or go directly to the GoFundMe page.

Vincenzo Pino

Thanks for sharing your terran travel story Vincenzo.