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It’s been a busy seven days.

Last Saturday, Graham ‘The Odyssey’ Hughes surprised us all by magically teleporting himself from Rome, Italy to the bar at FACT, Liverpool! Great surprise! A ‘Skype-ing event had been planned and around 30 of his friends gathered for it, as a live link-up had been arranged. For those of you not in the know, Graham’s currently mid-Odyssey, attempting to visit every country on Earth – by surface – in the shortest time possible. He’d secretly returned to the U.K. so as to attain some visas for the middle-east. Shortly after the event began, we lost sound, followed shortly by faint cries of, “can you hear me…can you hear me?” until eventually, the webcam link went down. Suddenly, and as if by magic, Graham appeared in the bar, shouting, “Can you hear me now?!”. It was great.

On the Sunday, we headed to his folk’s place for a similar event, and a similar surprise for his family, which also worked a treat. On Monday evening, I met up with Graham & friends in a bar in town, and seeing as we had a busy day planned for Tuesday, I got the last train home. Tuesday arrived, and post breakfast, we worked on a little bit of the Odyssey website and some film conversion, before heading to Granada Studios in Manchester for some filming for the news’ Granada Reports. Later on, we headed over to the BBC studios as ‘Auntie’ was also interested in The Odyssey. We headed into the studios of North West Tonight for a live interview with the legend that is, Gordon ‘The Krypton Factor’ Burns. Post interview, we met up with a technician from NWT, who was keen to get involved with the project.

On the Wednesday, Graham headed to London for an interview with ITN for the national lunchtime news, and later that night, I put out a news story on his website indicating that he was home. Thursday arrived and was spent generally catching up on the events of the week, sending & receiving e-mails and news contacts via the website. On Friday night, a meeting was arranged for The Odyssey team, but it fell through, much to my annoyance. Tonight (Saturday 13th Feb), I’m staying in with the wonderful Yvonne, our little angel Katrina, and enjoying the calm that is Seán staying at his Nana’s for the night! Bliss…

Here’s the footage from the ITN news piece on Wednesday.

Bye for now x.

It’s here! The Odyssey UK starts tomorrow, Tuesday 21st April 2009, as we attempt to visit Ireland, England, Scotland & Wales in just 1 day! Yes, just one day! Some really tight deadlines in there, but you can follow it all instantly here! To refresh the updates below, press F5…

• I’m home…back in Liverpool, and knackered! What a day. Must….sleeeeep…zzzzz… 3 days ago
• Leg 7: Just got word from Odysseus that they’re now en-route on their bus to Manchester – THEY MADE IT! 4 countries in 1 day!! 3 days ago
• Sitting in Belfast City Airport watching The Matrix on my media player. Great movie, small airport. 3 days ago
• This is where I disembark from the British Isles’ leg of The Odyssey, as I’ve arrived at Belfast City Airport for my 20:30 flight. Thank … 3 days ago
• Leg 6: Yahoo…we’re at the Belfast ferry terminal…and ON TIME! Next stop; Stranraer. 3 days ago
• Leg 5: The Odyssey UK is full steam ahead! Yahoo…we’re on our way to Belfast on a train! BIG thanks to Colm for meeting us at Connolly Statio … 3 days ago
• Leg 4: We made it! Next leg of The Odyssey is underway, as we’ve just caught the Dun Laoghaire DART to Dublin Connolly. Whoo-hoo!! 3 days ago
• Just found out that we are 5 mins behind schedule in Dun Laoghaire port… 3 days ago
• Leg 3: We’re on the ferry to Dublin. Very smooth travelling so far. Just had a word with the crew, who will ask the captain to ‘put his … 4 days ago
• The Odyssey UK is well and truly underway, albeit slightly drunk at 09:22 . We’re here at Holyhead waiting to check-in for the ferry. 4 days ago
• Leg 2: made it…we’re on the way to Holyhead. Just finished breakfast. 4 days ago
• Leg 1: just got on the train to Chester. Graham & co. haven’t been home from the night before, and there are beers to be had at 6am! 4 days ago
• Good night… 4 days agoJust about to hit the hay for a 5am start…The Odyssey UK is almost here! 4 days ago

Yes folks, in keeping with the spirit of The Odyssey Expedition, I’ll be actively participating on Tuesday 21st April. Four nations in one day is the goal, and there are some stupidly tight timetables to keep otherwise all will be lost, i.e. we’re off the Holyhead-Dun Laoghaire ferry at 12:24pm and on to the DART to Connolly Station at 12:38pm! Can it be done? We’ll find out…but I’ve sent an e-mail to Stenaline asking if we can be let off the ship before anyone else – it’s the squeaky bits that get the oil, so if you don’t ask, you don’t get!

It’s an open invitation, and we’re meeting at 6am SHARP on Tuesday. Some are travelling a little of the way…others are meeting mid-way, and the rest will meet in Manchester at 01:25am on Weds morning. Me? I’ve just made a snap decision to travel three-quarters of the way to Belfast & will fly back to Liverpool from there – the airport is 5 mins from the ferry terminal, so I’ll be waving the Belfast-Stranraer ferry goodbye, and walking down the road to George Best airport. Who?!

For those of you following THE ODYSSEY, click here for the latest news. If you haven’t already donated, please, please, please do so here – thanks. It’s ALL FOR WATERAID.

Graham’s week 7 vid is now up. He’s just finished getting around The Americas, and has now departed from Iceland towards the U.K. – due to arrive on Monday night. On Tuesday 21st, we’re off to get around Ireland, England, Scotland, Wales in one day – yeah! Have you donated yet? Follow the link on the right hand side of my website, or, for more info and to donate to WaterAid, visit www.theodysseyexpedition.com.

Here’s his latest video for you to enjoy:-

Graham’s week 4 vid is now up. He’s still struggling to get around the Caribbean – ferries once a week and cruise ships just aren’t interested. The yachties say that it’s against the wind (I’m no sailor?) but there ye go. Have you donated yet? Follow the link on the right hand side of my website, or, for more info and to donate to WaterAid, visit www.theodysseyexpedition.com.

Here’s his latest video for you to enjoy:-

Graham’s crazy attempt visit every nation on earth in one year (without flying) – in aid of the international charity ‘WaterAid’, is 30 days in, and having completed South America, he’s struggling to make his way around the Caribbean. For now, it really doesn’t look like he’s gonna be able to make his way to Nova Scotia for Feb 12th. If you know ANYONE with a boat in the Caribbean (he should be in St. Kitts by now), be sure to get in touch with me.

For more info and to donate to WaterAid, visit www.theodysseyexpedition.com.

Here’s his latest video for you to enjoy:-

It worked!! I sent an e-mail to the editors of YouTube requesting that they feature Graham’s video on the front of their sites, and it’s now the top featured item on the front of YouTube UK and YouTube Ireland, as well as the #1 featured Travel video on both! How cool is THAT! In the space of around 8 hours, we’ve had 10,000 hits! Take a look while it’s still there…

[update 30/01/2009]

60,000 hits on YouTube!!!!!!!!!!!!

Graham’s crazy attempt visit every nation on earth in one year (without flying – yeah!) is well underway. All in aid of the international charity ‘WaterAid’, he’s seventeen days in, has completed South America and has just landed in Trinidad & Tobago. For more info and to donate to WaterAid, visit www.theodysseyexpedition.com.

Here’s his latest video for you to enjoy:-

Graham’s World Odyssey to visit every nation on earth – travelling by surface only – in the shortest possible time, is nearly upon us. He’s aiming to raise £1,000,000 + international awareness of the plight of 2.5 billion people around the world, who don’t simply have access to clean water (yeah!), and the resulting 1.8 MILLION child deaths. His epic journey starts at midnight on New Year’s Eve.

Kick off 2009 with a donation to Graham’s charity of choice – Wateraid.

Now I REALLY feel under pressure! The official press release for Graham’s Odyssey was published today. Here’s a quick look at one of the regions local papers, the Liverpool Daily Post.

It’s been a VERY busy seven days! Since returning from Dublin last Monday 15th, I’ve hardly stopped. Between Seán, Christmas shopping, a Wii night, wrapping presents, work, an Odyssey meeting / phonecalls / researching, planning and designing a new website for The Odyssey, I’m knackered! But hey…it’s all good fun.

1st January 2009 sees the beginning of Graham’s quest to visit EVERY country on Earth by land or sea in 12 months. Lonely Planet TV and National Geographic are involved, and the Guinness Book of Records will be keeping a close eye on things, and during the 12 months, I’ll be keeping his site up to date. Take a look at the promotional video below…

This Sunday, Graham and Mandy move out of their flat, as they begin to prepare for their big move to Australia, and Graham begins his preparation for The Odyssey. Tomorrow (Saturday 6th Dec), they’re having a house sale – most of their earthly possessions will be sold off from the comfort of their front garden. When I get back from (hopefully) getting my CAMRA tickets, I’ll be giving him some help in setting up the sale, and maybe even selling some stuff – using the ‘aul Oirish banter, of course!

Last night, Yvonne & I headed over to cousin Graham’s place for his ‘Odyssey’ fancy dress party, where everyone had to go representing a country. It was a really great night, and the biggest surprise of all came when Graham announced that Lonely Planet TV and National Geographic had just confirmed their sponsorship of his ‘Odyssey’ trip around the world – EVERY country on earth in 12 months, by land or sea, on a budget of a packet of crisps! It was great, and out came the champagne, as we partied until 4am+

Here are some shots from the night: pic 01, pic 02, pic 03, pic 04, pic 05, pic 06, pic 07, pic 08, pic 09, pic 10, pic 11, pic 12, pic 13, pic 14, pic 15, pic 16, pic 17, pic 18, pic 19, pic 20.