Progress Report

Fri 15th May; A few of you have asked for an update on how it's all going and what craziness I have planned for the future. So here you go... It's 15th May 2009. I've hit 84 of my target 200 countries. I'm eight weeks behind schedule. This is not as bad as it sounds! If I was on schedule, I'd be in Australia by the end of July! The schedule has a lot of leeway in it to accommodate things stuffing up (as they invariably will!). HOWEVER, my back is really up against the wall now due to not being allowed to step foot in Algeria or Libya - this is not a good turn of events, and doesn't bode well for some of the other African and Middle Eastern countries I was planning to pull that ‘Border Hop' trick in (don't look at me…

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News Alert: Graham Arrested in Cape Verde

Sat 6th June, 16:27; News has just come in that Graham has been arrested in Cape Verde. Details are sketchy at the moment, but there are people working hard in the background to sort it out. As soon as any further details are available, I'll update this post. Sat 6th June, 18:23; Graham and all crew of the Moustapha Sy have been arrested on suspicion of being illegal immigrants and are being detained at Eugenio Lima prison. The British Consulate has been in contact & things are progressing. Although it was mis-reported in African Press, here's the news story. Sun 7th June, 22:00; Various family members & I have managed to speak to Graham over the course of today. Along with 9 other men, he's being held in a small, dirty cell that's big enough for two. He was arrested on-shore on the island of Sao Tiago, …

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Odyssey Videos Are Back!

The Odyssey videos are back! Whoo-hoo!!!!!! The most recent one available is posted on the home page of my website, and all of my previous Odyssey videos can be viewed on my video page - whoo-hoo!!!!! Remember...I'm doing it ALL for WaterAid, so if you haven't already donated, PLEASE PLEASE PLEASE do  so at www.justgiving.com/theodysseyexpedition. 2.5 Billion people need YOUR help. Head on over to my 'WaterAid' page for more info. Thank you.

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New Odyssey Translator!

Today, Google annouced a new feature that allows website owners the ability to prompt readers for automatic translations of their pages. That's GREAT news for readers of The Odyssey and your translator is now enabled! The new translator gadget automatically detects your preferred language, and if your preference differs from that of The Odyssey, a frame will appear over the web page and prompt you to click 'translate' so as to convert all of the text content. Hooray for Google! Hooray for The Odyssey! Leo (Webmaster)

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Pirates Stop Play!

I feared this might happen. I've torn my way up to the very northern tip of Madagascar – just 166 nautical miles from the outer islands of the Seychelles – and had my worst suspicions confirmed – NO boats go from here to the Seychelles. At all. After last month's kidnapping of Paul and Rachel Chandler, the British couple sailing from Seychelles to Tanzania, nobody wants to go anywhere near this route – the risk of injury or death is just too great. This is, of course, a tremendous blow to the progress of The Odyssey. But all is not lost! I am going to head back to Africa now on the next cargo ship out of Mahajanga port. In December, there are cruise ships that come down the Red Sea to The Seychelles, it's a very long way around of doing it (and no doubt…

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Tropical Cyclone Anja

Here's a pic of Tropical Cyclone Anja, the first tropical storm of the season, which is what is preventing me from getting back to Africa.  I'm going to be stuck here until Thursday at the earliest.  Bah!

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Graham’s Competition!

"Businessman spends £350k to visit every country on earth in record time" No, it's not me! This story* appeared in the Mail Online earlier today (thanks to Justin O'Shea for the spot), and this is who I've got to beat:- "Kashi Samaddar, 55, dodged bullets and bombs in some of the world's more unstable countries, and lived to tell the tale, although his photographic skills are somewhat wanting. He began his epic journey to 194 countries with a visit to Holland in July 2002 and finished his mission in Kosovo in May of this year - six years, ten months and seven days later - with plenty of drama along the way. " I reckon I can beat that time! To read the full story, here's the link: http://bit.ly/3blaM0 *Story courtesy of Sarah Gordon

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The Odyssey Forums are LIVE!

The Odyssey Forums are now LIVE! But what does that mean for you? Well for almost a year now, our man on the ground has been having his say...telling it like it is...and at last, you can have yours! In a nutshell, there are three forums to which you can subscribe:- Comments: Say what you wanna say - as long as it's clean; Questions: Ask Graham anything you wish - the answer is 42! Seriously though, he'll do his very best to answer you as best he can, and; Advice: With North Africa, The Middle East, Central Asia, India, China, SE Asia and Oceania still to go, he needs all the advice that he can get! It might seem like small advice to you, but it could be crucial to him. All I ask is that you stick to the forum rules, and these are posted…

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Merry Christmas Everyone!

MERRY CHRISTMAS EVERYONE! It's been an incredible year for The Odyssey! It all started (well actually, it nearly didn't...Graham missed his first bus!) on the 1st January 2009 near the border of Argentina and Paraguay, which - as I write this - was 358 days ago (it's Christmas Eve here in England). Since then, we've seen Graham travel through 129 countries - by surface - I'm tired even thinking about the journey! It's been an amazing, eventful and sometimes arduous journey so far, between having been arrested 3 times, endured great boat journeys across great oceans, sleeping on hard floors and in tired rooms, and still managing to maintain a rather chipper disposition without getting ill once and whilst missing the love of his life, Mandy - and he's a ginger! How does he do it?! The time is right to say... Thank you : Gracias…

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New Website Features!

If you're enjoying The Odyssey, you'll be glad to learn that there are now a few new website features to make your browsing experience even better! For starters, at the foot of every news item, there's now a new social networking bar that allows you to post the active news item to whichever social networking sites you use, e.g. Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, del.icio.us, Digg This, Posterous, etc. and even to e-mail it to a friend! If a networking site that you regularly use isn't there, let me know, and I'll see if I can add it for you. It's important to the WaterAid cause that word about The Odyssey spreads. To make it even easier for you to read through Graham's news stories, there are now links at the bottom of every news story that bring you to the 'next' or 'previous' news item...and that's good…

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