No planes and no 'spoilers.' How one man trekked from Egypt to Japan without flying

The restriction, he found, turned out to be anything but limiting. He camped on the Great Wall of China, rode horseback through the mountains of Kyrgyzstan and "chilled" with the Taliban in Afghanistan.

"It's more eventful. Things can happen on the way," Nok said. "I want to see as much of the world as I can and not skip anything."

Nok, a 30-year-old Egyptian German based in his native Cairo, said he left a steady job in finance so he could use the time (and the money he saved up) to travel.

Before this trip, he'd never traveled east of Egypt. This past week — 275 days later — he made it to Tokyo, his finish line capping a 28,700-mile zig-zag route that began in February.

To get there, he traveled by foot, hitchhiking, bus, train, ferry, motorcycle, sea barge, cargo ship, bicycle, camel and horse. He's diligently documented his daily adventures on his Instagram account, which has ballooned to more than 750,000 followers. His only constant was his backpack, no heavier than 28 pounds, filled with about a week's worth of clothes.

When it came to planning the trip, Nok had his destinations mapped out, but his daily itinerary was loosely plotted. He made a point to not research every destination. Keeping himself in the dark a bit when traveling, he said, helps him limit his expectations and stay open to new people, places and experiences.

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