These days, it is easy to buy a number of flights that take you around the world, but many people choose not to fly. One reason is that air travel is a polluting form of transport. Another is that the joy of traveling is the journey itself and the many places and experiences that come from passing through countries rather than flying over them.
Many people plan to travel around the world without using air transport by using a combination of sea, rail and road, although generally it is almost impossible not to include some air transport on the way, due to the cost of covering the oceans and for political reasons in some parts of the world.
There are a number of suggested itineraries, the most common are -
The '''Atlantic''' has similar difficulties, but Cunard Line's[http://www.cunard.com] proud historical ocean liners, still ply the route between Southampton and New York, and are much more economically feasible than the trans-pacific cruises. Headstrong, experienced travellers with a very loose timetable could attempt to cross the North Atlantic on fishing vessels - Greenland to Iceland is while in no way easy, possibly doable, and from Iceland there are regular ferries to the Faeroe Islands and Denmark on the European mainland with Smyril line[http://www.smyrilline.fo]. But how to cover the strait between Canada and Greenland is not immediately clear, it may be possible to hire experienced intuits to cross the strait on dog sleighs during the winter.
Perhaps surprisingly another obstacle is the '''Darien Gap''' a small 160 kilometre stretch of dense marshy jungle, made even more dangerous by guerrillas fighting in the area, between Panama and Columbia. Yes, this means there are no roads between Central and South America, there are no ferries covering the gap either, but backpacker traffic is so heavy that there is a fairly organised line of private vessels operating between Cartagena and the Portobelo Area or Carti in Panama. It is also feasible to walk along the Caribbean coast line, but unless you have experience in such journeys, this is not something you should take lightly.