Biking Across Every Continent with Liam Garner

0:03Day seven, biking from Portugal to Singapore. Day seven officially marked my first full week on the bike and my legs needed a break. But first, I had one important detour to make. Cape Vincent, the most southwestern point of Europe. And from there, it was a smooth ride through some grassy hills to the town of Luz, where a family offered to host me. Hello.

0:24At just 17 years old, Liam Garner set off on the bike trip of a lifetime. He started in Prudhoe Bay, Alaska, where he strapped a tent, a sleeping bag, and a bear canister to his bike. From there, he began pedaling to the southernmost tip of the Americas. Along the way, Liam faced extreme weather, dealt with serious injuries, and met some of the kindest people he'd ever encountered while seeing majestic sights. Nearly a year and a half and 20 ,000 miles later, Liam arrived at Ushuaia, Argentina, becoming the youngest person to ever bike the length of the Americas. Now Liam is chasing another wild idea.

1:06This time he's biking roughly 15 ,000 miles from Portugal, across Europe, the Middle East, and Asia, all the way towards Singapore. It's all part of his grand plan to ride across every continent in the world, a project he expects will take him a total of seven years. I'm Shelby Stanger, and this is Wild Ideas Worth Living, an REI Co-op Studios production presented by Capital One and the REI Co-op MasterCard.

1:38Liam Gardner, welcome to Wild Ideas Worth Living. You're sitting behind this beautiful tapestry and you are not in the United States. Where are you? Currently, I am in Bukhara, Uzbekistan, one of the ancient Silk Road cities. I'm currently sitting in, I think, a 250-year-old courtyard at my hostel. Amazing. And I hear some roosters in the background. They're not ours, but they're someone's. What are you doing right now? Tell us about your wild idea that you're on. Well, right now, my current trip and goal that I'm biking towards is doing Europe to Asia or Portugal to Singapore. And so I actually just had my year anniversary of starting this trip this week.

2:25So it's officially been one year since Portugal, since Lisbon. And I probably have just shy of a year, maybe more than a year, until I finish in Singapore. But this is, like I said, this is kind of like a sub idea of the main one. And the main idea that I came up with when I was 17 and I've been working on ever since is I want to hopefully bike every continent in the world. And so right now I'm on continent four. I did North and South America and Europe and now I'm in Asia. And after this, I have Australia, Africa and Antarctica. OK, this is incredible. How old are you? Can I ask? Yeah, of course.

3:01I'm 22. OK, so what was the story of like the first time you went bike touring? So you grew up in Southern California. Yeah. So I grew up between Long Beach and Orange County. And like I said, first ever bike trip, I just, it was during COVID and I knew there was one day in particular, I just really wanted to go camping and I had no way to go camping because I didn't have a car. And I had a really just crappy beach cruiser. And I'm like, what if I just bike to San Clemente from here? You know, it's like 50 miles. I should just go for it. And so I did it and it was the easiest thing ever. You know, It was just like a four or five hour bike ride, went there, camped at the state beach, and then I was home in the morning before afternoon.

3:40And it completely opened my eyes to the options, you know?

3:47After that camping trip, Liam's wild idea started to snowball. He discovered bike touring, which is basically backpacking on wheels, strapping your gear to the bike frame, and finding a new place, often in the wild, to crash every night. A couple of months later, Liam decided to up the stakes and bikepack for a full week. This time he'd ride 500 miles north from L.A. to reach a must-see San Francisco landmark. There was this really viral, bougie Taco Bell getting super popular online, like on TikTok. And it's supposed to be the most beautiful Taco Bell in the world in the Bay Area, in San Francisco.

4:29and I was like you know how funny would it be if I just like went to that Taco Bell because I knew I wanted to go to that Taco Bell but I didn't have a car right and I'm like well I should just bike there that'll be my excuse to do a week-long bike trip for the first time and so that's what I did I spent eight days biking from LA to San Francisco and a few months later I made a video series about that just stupid like bike trip I did to Taco Bell and it actually went viral and so that series I I think got something like 6 million plus views. That bike trip to Taco Bell became a launching pad for Liam.

5:02When videos of his ride went viral, one viewer left a comment that became a bug in his ear and inspired Liam's next wild idea. It was senior year, and I knew I didn't want to go to college. But in the comment section of the Taco Bell video, of all places, I had someone leave a comment basically saying, oh, this totally reminds me of a book I read about someone that biked to Patagonia. This is the name of the book, To Shake the Sleeping Self. And, you know, I probably had thousands upon thousands, tens of thousands of comments on those videos. And I happened to read that one. And I went and I looked up the book and I bought the book and I read the book.

5:41And then I read the book a second time. And then I read it a third time. And I just, it really planted the seed. Because Jedediah Jenkins, his book is the most widely known for biking the Pan American. And so reading his story really kind of gave me the idea like, okay, well, if this guy can do it and that guy can do it and this person can do it, why can't I do it? I already knew I love bicycles. I already knew that I could do it with what I had. And I knew that I needed to do something drastic after high school and just changed my life. What did your family think about it? And so, like I said, I was a very stubborn, even more so back then person.

6:20And I come from a very long line of academic matriarchal Mexicans on my mom's side. And so she grew up in a house full of very highly educated women. They were very proudly educated. You know, they fought hard to have a higher education. And when my mom went to the U.S. and had me, she brought that philosophy. And she always knew, or at least she thought, my kid is going to go to school and he's going to get these degrees and he's going to be highly educated, just like the rest of our family. You know, and her sisters, all like PhDs and teachers. And, you know, so that was what was expected of me.

6:54And senior year is when I really solidified this idea in my mind to do Alaska to Argentina. And I told her because I told her everything. And she kind of just laughed it off like, OK, whatever. And then time kept going on. The year is ending. and she would ask me like, oh, what colleges have you applied to? And I would tell her, mom, I haven't applied to any colleges. I'm biking to Argentina. And she'd be like, oh, okay, okay. And then one day it was, I think a couple of weeks before graduation, she came into my room and I remember she just asked me, oh, Liam, I'm so excited to hear what colleges have accepted you.

7:25Like what colleges did you get accepted into? And I said, mom, I'm biking to Argentina. I didn't apply to a single college, nor am I going to get accepted by any. And I could just tell that it clicked. And for the first time she knew that that's what I was doing. And she just said, are you really going to do this? And I said, yeah. And she just turned around and walked away.

7:46No matter what his family thought, Liam was determined to make this trip happen. It was 2021, the COVID pandemic was in full swing, and the idea of paying full tuition for online college classes wasn't appealing. Instead of sitting on a computer all day long, Liam wanted to do something tangible, something that allowed him to interact with people and see the world. He reached out to the Taco Bell manager he'd met on his bike trip there, and together they convinced the team at the company's headquarters to buy Liam a new bike. Honestly, it wasn't the best bike for riding 20 ,000 miles, but it was free, which was a big deal for a kid who just graduated from high school.

8:28From there, Liam's journey was officially on. He packed up his equipment and flew to Alaska.

8:38What went into planning that first adventure? I mean, you're like 17 years old. How did you fund it? There essentially was no planning. Just kind of the, like I said, like the will to go and just figure it out along the way. I was just so cavalier, but like to a fault, like just like it was a, it was a bad personality trait, but it got me there. So I can't hate too much. But I had always been so frugal and like really hoarded my money growing up. So like every birthday, Christmas card, every dollar I ever made throughout my life, I saved. And I didn't know what I was saving it for. And then I finally did know what I was saving it for when I did that trip.

9:14And on top of that, I also had Patreon and like some donation pages where people could like pay me like five to 10 bucks a month and help support the trip. And so between the money I saved up and the couple hundred I got every month from donations and also a very frugal shoestring budget, I was actually able to essentially break even every month of my trip. How did you do that? Just by suffering a little. So the reason I really also loved bike touring is because it is the absolute cheapest way to travel that is available. There's no cheaper way to travel than bike touring. And I know that might not sound true because you're thinking like, okay, well, you have to buy a bike and you have to buy this and that.

9:56And what about being like a backpack bum? Like you just hitch everywhere. Still, like I've done the backpacking. I backpacked for eight months from Argentina back to home to California. I've done road trips I've hitched and bike touring still is by far the cheapest and I'll tell you why it's because you have Ultimate freedom and you don't need to rely on anyone for anything, which means you don't have to pay anyone for anything The only expense is food. You don't need gasoline to fuel the bike, you know You don't need to pay for accommodation. You're just sleeping outside if you're willing to do that Um, so it can be as expensive or as cheap as you want Do you have a highlight from that first trip just like something magical you saw landscape, like someone you met?

10:36Oh, that's a big question. I mean, the whole trip was life defining. I don't know if I would say life. It was life changing, but more than life changing, it was life defining. And I think that it was so it was so interesting at the time, because I was aware of this. And it's even more interesting in hindsight, that, you know, I was 17. And I finished the trip when I was nearly 20. And those are just incredibly formative years, You know, like I was going from being a child to becoming a young adult and a man, you know, and a lot of people would consider that time to be kind of the coming of age period.

11:10And whether you do that in college or you do that during a gap year or whatever you choose to do in life, that's usually what people look back to. Like, wow, my, I changed as a person. And for me, not only was I coming of age, like mentally and through my experiences, but it was physically tied to the world. Like I wasn't, I didn't become a different version of myself like in one town. Every day I was in a new place chronologically. And I can like still go back and look at the map and see day by day and remember town by town. It's essentially like a physical representation of how I became an adult.

11:51After reaching Argentina, Liam spent eight months backpacking home to California. When he got back, he tried to settle back into normal life again, but it was tough. He was spending way too much time scrolling on social media, and he started to feel disillusioned. Suddenly I was at home, and it's like, okay, well, shoot, back to reality. Like, time to just, who knows what I'm doing, get a normal job, and just back to the same old listlessness and screen addiction problems. It was all the reasons multiplied that had made me want to leave in the first place all coming at me at once. But yeah, I had this goal of biking every continent.

12:32I just didn't know if I was going to have the means to do it. So I knew I was going to have to stay home a little bit. But basically, I filmed the whole trip from Alaska to Argentina and back home. And I wasn't even expecting necessarily to make a whole series out of it. It's more for personal reasons. I've always loved taking photos and videos of the things I'm doing. And I made some friends in the year that I was home and I showed them some of the clips that I had. And they just looked at me and said, dude, I haven't seen any of this on Instagram. Like, why haven't you posted any of this? And I'm like, oh, you know, I'm just working at my restaurant now.

13:07Like I'm busy, like, you know, maybe one day. And they're like, no, dude, you got to post this like tomorrow. Like you should make like a whole video series about it. And my friend Caleb, he like looked at me and said, dude, like you need to promise me right now that you're going to make a video about this. within the next two weeks, like promise me. And I posted that video two weeks later and it got over 10 million views. And so that whole year, 2024 was career defining because it was in that year that I finished the Alaska to Argentina series. It was over a hundred episodes in total. And I think between my platforms, the series got over 160 million views.

13:42And it was that like push from just a really great friend. I really didn't think that anything would come of it, but my friends pushed me to see what would happen and now it's my career. I'm here again. This is trip two and it's actually my job and I'm making a living from it, which I never in my wildest dreams expected.

14:09The sunshine is back and I'm planning to spend the next few months outside, catching waves, camping, and hiking the trails all around San Diego. If your summer plans also involve spending as much time outside as possible, the REI Co-op MasterCard offers rewards and benefits that support your love of the outdoors. It's just for REI Co-op members and earns card rewards on every purchase at REI and everywhere else MasterCard is accepted. What I love is that rewards are available in one to two days, So all of those stops on the way to the adventure, from fuel for the drive to last-minute gear runs, it all adds up.

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15:10my morning routine these days looks like this a cup or two of coffee with my aeropress then out to the ocean to catch some waves before an interview and as much as i love being in the ocean what i genuinely look forward to is using my aeropress again the next day it's that good if you've never tried aeropress coffee you're in for a treat it's a french press a pour over and espresso machine all in one. It uses a completely unique brew method, which means you get a cup of coffee that's rich, smooth, and genuinely different from anything else. And it's fast. It only takes about two minutes to brew your coffee and clean up.

15:50Lately, I've been using the Aeropress Go Plus. It's a complete travel coffee system I can take to the beach or out on the trail. Everything packs into a double-wall insulated stainless steel tumbler for storage and travel. It's compact, durable, easy to use, easy to clean, and it makes great coffee no matter where you are. I just unpack it, brew, and pack it back up. To ensure you never have bad coffee wherever you are, visit your local REI or head to REI.com to grab your AeroPress. That's A-E-R-O-P-R-E-S-S. It's time to ditch the drive-thru, toss the French press, and say yes to better mornings fueled by better coffee.

16:47After graduating high school in 2021, Liam Garner went on a 527-day bike trip from northern Alaska down to the southern tip of Argentina. The journey was completely transformative for Liam. He left as a teenager and came back as an adult. Once he was home, that same listlessness that inspired his first ride crept back in, and he decided that it was time for another adventure. Thanks to the audience he built with videos from his first trip, Liam was able to find some sponsors and save enough money to set off another bike expedition in 2025.

17:27Eventually, you decide to go Portugal to Singapore. When do you leave for this trip? I started this trip, well, so I started biking from Lisbon. My official first day on the bicycle was March 31st, 2024. So just over a year ago today. But I flew to Lisbon March 17th from LA. So I spent a couple of weeks just finishing up some work in the city and prepping. um so yeah it's been a year now crazy congratulations what did you do differently like in terms of logistics your bike your gear so on the last trip you know barely any money uh i left with what i had um figured out everything as i went or later um and so many things i did were just so stupid and just like just pure poor planning and i got myself into so many situations that I could have easily avoided.

18:24This trip, I knew I'm like, okay, I can be smarter than that, like as much as it's fun doing it that way. And I also thankfully had the privilege of also having a social media presence on this trip as opposed to the last trip, right? And so this trip, I didn't plan three days in advance before I left like the last one, I actually spent a few months sending countless emails and DMs, just a different company, seeing if anyone was interested, any sponsors. and I was actually able to get the bike sponsored along with my racks and my bags and my clothing along with some other products and that is has just been an incredible help.

19:00Also because I'm making money from social media now like I technically am actually making money while on this trip right as opposed to the last one where every day I was struggling to break even and so because of that the budget isn't necessarily like some super stressful cloud hanging over my head this whole time. So it's given me a lot more freedom to take my time and enjoy things and not have to sleep on the street in the rain if I don't want to, you know. Good for you. So how is that working? Like what's a typical day like for you? Wake up to sundown. So I would say on average, a really nice routine for me is I like to shower at least twice a week.

19:42I think that that's pretty reasonable. I don't think that that's an unreasonable situation. Usually after three days of biking is when I'm like, okay, I'm stinky. I'm gross. It's time to shower. Um, and at least once a week, I like to take a rest day. Um, so twice a week, I like to stay somewhere. Um, but usually five to six days will be like biking. Right. And then one day just fully off. Um, it truly depends, um, on the place. Like I said, every week in region is different. Like here in Uzbekistan, we've been taking so many breaks. Like I've, This is already my third day here in Bukhara just because it's such a cool city to see.

20:17I don't want to skip past it. For me, the priority is the travel and the sightseeing, not the biking and the miles. But through Afghanistan, we'll probably do a lot more ride-heavy days as opposed to rest days. What about the people you've met along the way? People have been incredibly friendly. Do you need to go? No, no, no. That was actually the hostel owner. She just brought me some bread. Oh, she sounds so sweet. That's awesome. Yeah, she's out here with her kids right now. This is some traditional food. It's just fry bread out here. Yum. Brahmad. Yeah, that was nice of her. You're learning languages really fast too.

20:57And you pronounce names well. Like, it's incredible. I wish. That's one of the only words that I know. I'm trying. I'm trying. But yeah, I've been changing languages so quickly. I will give myself some credit. on the last trip I did learn Spanish, but it did take me a long time. Liam is such a kind young man. You can hear it in the way he talks about the cultures and the people he's encountering along the way. Some nights he finds locals willing to host him, and other times he stays in hostels or camps outside. His gear, his tent, sleeping bag, clothes, and recording equipment is all strapped to his bike.

21:39tell us a little bit about the gear you are using so like what's the bike that you're using how is it different the bike that i'm riding is called the 680x from priority and priority is an awesome company and so they did sponsor me on the strip but i was the one that reached out to them because i already had had my eye on their bikes for a long time but basically on the last trip my bike just broke constantly. And it just, it's not, it's hard to experience where you are and have fun if you're just worried about fixing your gear. Right. And so I knew that I wanted a bike that could handle what I was doing.

22:14And I don't know if you've heard of this before, but there's, you know, typical bikes have a chain, right. And a derailleur, but there's also something called a belt drive bike, which has a carbon belt, like you would see in like a car or a motorcycle. And all the gears are inside of a pinion drive in the frame. So there's no derailleur or anything, which means it's essentially impossible to break. And Priority is essentially one of the only American companies that makes belt, pinion drive bikes. So I reached out to them and I said, Hey, I absolutely love what you're doing. Can I have a bicycle please?

22:45And they said, okay, absolutely. We will send you a bicycle. And it's been amazing. Yeah. It's been such a game changer. Like this thing, it's just every day it rides so smooth. It's impossible to break unless you get hit by a car, which unfortunately did happen earlier on this trip, but I fixed it. But yeah, it's been amazing having this bike and some good gear. I can't gloss over that. You got hit by a car?

23:13Yeah. So earlier, thankfully, I'll start by saying this trip has been so stress-free compared to the last one, but there has been some crazy weeks and specifically a week when I was in the Balkans, I was leaving Bosnia and entering Montenegro on like a really remote road in the mountains. And there was a Russian couple on vacation in a rental car. And it was kind of like one of those one lane mountain roads that everyone is supposed to go really slow on around the corners and give people space. And they were just going full speed around a blind corner, fully in the lane. Like they didn't want to drive next to the cliff.