Michael Hodson, who traveled around the world in without flying, white water rafting in New Zealand. (Michael Hodson)

In December 2008, lawyer Michael Hodsonquit his practice in Arkansas to set off on a quest to circle the globe the green way — without taking a single flight.After 16 months, six continents and 44 countries, he succeeded on his quest, and has not stopped traveling since. For Hodson,circling the globe without flying represented a big travel challenge that also highlighted environmentally conscious travel, but it also provided him with immense opportunities.

"One thing that overland travel teaches you is the immense size of our amazing planet and it is still my preferred mode of travel, when I have the time to do it," Hodson told weather.com.

And while traveling around the world without flying may sound impossible, Hodson says that it's not as difficult as one may think. "Logistically, it wasn’t too difficult to do, aside from some difficult areas such as northern Kenya," he said. "The ocean crossings via cargo freighters were the only things I booked in advance, as you can’t wait till the last minute on them, but aside from that, I just sorted out transport along the way."

Michael Hodson on the sand dunes of Namibia. (Photo courtesy of Michael Hodson)

The biggest difficulty it turns out was that one didn’t have any time at all to settle in and stay in any one place for very long. "Sixteen months to circle the globe may sound like a huge amount of time, but ground transport can end up taking up so much of your time that you simply have to keep moving to stay on schedule," Hodson said. "The longest I actually staing up so much of your time that you simply have to keep moving to stay on schedule. The longest I actually stayed in one place in that entire sixteen months was just a week in Cape Town. The resulting difficulty from that was just simply being tired and worn down occasionally, although I got into a real rhythm of things after a few months, so much so that I now seem to gain energy from movement."

This is like choosing my favorite children… well, if I had children that is. A few on the long list would include sailing through the San Blass isyed in one place in that entire 16 months was just a week in Cape Town. The resulting difficulty from that was just simply being tired and worn down occasionally, although I got into a real rhythm of things after a few months, so much so that I now seem to gain energy from movement."

After 16 months of circling the globe, Hodson has become a "permanent" traveler with a plethora of adventures to regale friends and family. He has sailed through the San Blass islands in Panama, seening the sand dunes in the Namib Desert in Namibia, climbed Mt. Kilimanjaro in Kenya, seen sunrise over the Indian Ocean on Zanzibar in Tanzania, ran with the bulls in Pamplona in Spain, tookthe Trans-Mongolian train from Moscow to Beijing, and has walked on the Great Wall of China early enough to be alone, and many more.

But Hodson wants to see — and do — more. "Although I have been permanently traveling for over five years now, there are so many places I haven’t seen yet," he said. "My favorite continent is Africa, but I haven’t been there since 2010. I haven’t yet done any of West Africa or the central part on the western side and am dying to go, along with some places in Southern Africa that I didn’t have time for on my one trip through there so far. I also haven’t been to Indonesia or Papua New Guinea and would love to do some scuba diving there."

For others looking to travel long-term, Hodson has some tips. The biggest thing is the most obvious — get your finances sorted out," he said. "I get asked all the time how I make money while I’m traveling, but the bottom line is that it is incredibly difficult to do so and frankly, working while traveling does take away from a good bit of the joy of traveling. Save up and set up a travel agenda that works with your budget. If you want to spend more time on the road more cheaply, be looking at places like Southeast Asia or Central America, because Europe and Australia will rip holes in your budget much more quickly."

In the meantime, Hodsonwill be off seeing more of the world. "The world is a huge and wonderful place. There will never be enough time to do everything I’d like to do, but I’ll keep plugging away and trying."

For more on Hodson's travels, visit his website at GoSeeWrite.com.

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