A former Vancouver resident is attempting a mighty feat: he is attempting to walk around the world and set a new record.
Kristians Kārkliņš, a Latvian who lived in Vancouver on a working holiday visa in 2025, started this mission on March 29 in Perth, Australia. His first leg of his journey was walking 4,200 kilometres across the continent to Sydney, which he completed in just 86 days — just in time before his three-month visa expired.
He walked another 450 km in New Zealand, then flew to Vancouver to start the North American leg of his journey.
Kārkliņš had a seven-day break in Vancouver before he set off again on July 17. He commenced in English Bay — one kilometre away from where he resided when he lived in the city in 2025.
When Daily Hive talked to Kārkliņš over the phone on the evening of Aug. 13, he reported that he was about 1,200 kilometres into the North American leg, and currently in a tent for the night in Gleichen, Alberta. In Canada, he’s been averaging about 45 kilometres a day. His North American destination is New York City, where he hopes to arrive on Nov. 14.
How and why is he doing it?
The former Vancouver resident is on a mission to achieve the world record for fastest walk around the world. He is following the World Runners Association (who are the record keepers for world circumnavigations on foot) rules, which include covering a minimum of 26,232 km on foot, crossing all lines of longitude, and crossing at least four continents coast-to-coast.
“By those rules, nobody had done it in a walking category,” the former Vancouver resident said of the walk.
His goal is to complete the journey in under two years.
Kārkliņš is all on his own — he has no crew to support him. He pushes a stroller, which he says holds everything he needs, and he is currently on his third pair of shoes. He said he’s living off his savings, a little bit of support from a sponsor, and receives some donations.
When asked how he takes care of himself during these long days, Kārkliņš said, “I don’t know,” and laughed.
He added that he is accustomed to “big walks.” When he lived in Vancouver, he walked 500 kilometres across Vancouver Island in seven days. He walked from Seattle to Vancouver (“nonstop, without sleeping), as well as Whistler to Vancouver in under 24 hours.
Kristians Kārkliņš
In fact, he says one of the main reasons he is doing this challenge is for his mental health. In 2023, he walked around Iceland in one month and was the happiest he had ever been. After that, he started working towards this world circumnavigation goal.
“Being outside, doing a physical activity every day, like humans are supposed to,” he said.
Kārkliņš is also striving to raise funds for a mental health and suicide prevention charity called Campaign Against Living Miserably.
But the journey hasn’t been without its challenges. His stroller tire tubes have broken (including when he was in the middle of a desert plateau in Australia). He had initially planned to walk Highway 3 and merge onto the Trans Canada Highway at Medicine Hat, Alberta, but forest fires forced him to turn around and go back to Hope and take Highway 5 and merge onto the Trans Canada much sooner than anticipated.
Kārkliņš added that the Canadian summer weather has even been hotter than Australia, since he was there during its autumn and winter. He’s also had to pass nearly 11,000 meters of elevation in B.C.
Further, Kārkliņš has come across “multiple really, really, really bad smoke days,” but says he didn’t take a break as he doesn’t want to get behind his goal.
“I was a smoker for 13 years, so the damage has been done,” he joked.
Kindness from strangers
Since Kārkliņš has been in Canada, he’s slept in campgrounds in national parks, but otherwise has been posting online to find places to sleep. He said that people have been very kind, letting him sleep on their lawns.
Kārkliņš said that these positive interactions with strangers have been the best of his journey.
“Everyone is so willing to help me. Everybody is interested in what I’m doing,” he said.