From being bedridden for months to an over 90,000 kilometres journey across Amazon to Antarctica, one man is rewriting what travel could look like

An accident involving his bicycle, which left him bedridden for several months, could have marked the closure of yet another chapter in Bossek’s life. Instead, it marked the beginning of an adventure which has led Bossek to experience some of the most unexplored corners of the earth, including the frozen lands of Antarctica and the rivers of the Bolivian Amazon. The 35-year-old German videographer is on a four-year ONE PLANET Expedition which started in Germany in 2024. He aims to travel over land and through the seas rather than crisscrossing the earth in multiple long-haul flights.

As per CNN Travel, Bossek has crossed more than 90,000 km on seven continents using sailing, cycling, hitchhiking, volunteering and sometimes even flights.

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Bossek has crossed the Atlantic Ocean, done an expedition in Antarctica and even travelled throughout the Americas before arriving in Australia.

However, the objective is not merely to cover as many places as possible but to know whether or not travelling at slower speeds could help build a stronger connection with the visited sites.

From a cycling accident to an unconventional world tour

This concept started after his injury due to cycling in Berlin in October 2022, when Bossek broke his hip and suffered deep vein thrombosis. Lying in bed for almost three months, he realised that it was time to reconsider how he wants to spend his life.

Previously, he had been involved in environmental science, but he was given the chance to take a break and pursue his childhood dream of travelling around the world.

According to CNN Travel, Bossek wanted his trip to be different from regular trips with stops at multiple airports and sightseeing. Instead, he decided to plan a journey where he could explore the distances between the places and interact with people and contribute to the projects in those places.

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Bossek built a carbon calculator to find out his emissions while travelling. His project has gone further than just counting emissions; now, there are financial contributions to climate projects and volunteering included in it.

It started in Europe and led him to Estonia, moving south to the Canary Islands of Spain. He offered his services to an animal sanctuary, after which he sailed across the Atlantic Ocean to Brazil, passing through Cape Verde.

He hitchhiked further south to Ushuaia, Argentina, and became a part of an expedition to Antarctica. He travelled further north through America all the way to Alaska. There have been instances when the trip was not smooth sailing for Bossek.

For instance, he was robbed in Brazil and refused entry into Panama on his first attempt. Additionally, it is apparent that his German passport allows him entry into countries where travellers from other nations might face problems.

Sailboats, hitchhiking and a raft through the Amazon

For Bossek, how he travels to different places becomes as important as where he is headed. This is because he does not confine himself to one particular method of travel but instead makes use of the different means and connections that come along his way.

For instance, his mode of travel in the Americas has included hitchhiking, becoming part of sailing groups and navigating the waters with boats, and even building a raft that he uses to travel down the Bolivian Amazon River – an experience very different from the traditional itinerary that goes with a packaged tour.

However, after he arrived in Alaska, Bossek found it difficult to travel by land to Mexico since his original plan did not work out. This is because of the unavailability of Canada as his destination for overland travels and due to the fact that there was no ferry service operating during that time of the year.

Thus, in December 2025, he flew from Anchorage, Alaska, to Baja California Sur in Mexico. He had not flown for nearly two years before his trip to Mexico.

He has since flown on two more occasions, realising that keeping a record of flying absolutely zero cannot always come above everything else that the trip needs to accomplish.

From Mexico, he made his way to Panama, and from there sailed through the Galápagos Islands to the Marquesas Islands in French Polynesia. He finally arrived in Australia, where he hitchhiked across the Outback to reach Alice Springs and Yuendumu.

But he was lucky enough to get one final chance, which decided his next destination. He flew briefly to Cairns in northern Australia to catch the boat heading for Southeast Asia.

A travel experiment that goes beyond carbon emissions

The environmental element of the ONE PLANET Expedition has been shaped by Bossek's travel. Instead of waiting to return home and calculate his footprint, then compensate for it, he has tried to assist with projects and communities on the way.

Thus, his volunteer activities have included assistance to huskies in Estonia, help to sledge dogs in Alaska, and assistance to an organic farm in Australia. In addition, Bossek organised charity runs and walks.

As was told by CNN Travel, Bossek plans to continue this work through future tree-planting and restoration of the degraded lands. According to his goals, the expedition is supposed to prove that responsible travel goes beyond selection of the less polluting modes of transportation.

Of course, there are limitations related to both practical and personal factors. As for the former, Bossek had few savings at the beginning of the trip and has been reducing expenses through camping, hitchhiking and helping the crews of boats. Bossek admits that being separated from the family and friends for almost three years made him homesick.

His next phase will see him go through Asia and the Middle East, with language becoming a new issue for him. Although he is proficient in German, English, Spanish, and some French and Estonian, he feels that he will have to work extra hard in the parts of his trip where the local language will be unknown to him.

He plans to come back to Germany in 2028; however, he has purposely left himself open to changes of plan due to unexpected opportunities.

The journey has begun with a quest to travel differently. It has evolved into an experiment to see how much one can learn from staying in one place and not being obsessed with getting somewhere else. For Bossek, both the distance and the experience matter.