A trip around the world can be hard enough when using airplanes, boats, and trains, but a simple journey wasn’t enough of a challenge for Colin Angus and Julie Wafaei, the 2006 National Geographic Adventurers of the Year. The couple spent two years circumnavigating the world by human power alone, walking, biking, skiing, and rowing their way through every extreme imaginable.

They completed their journey in five segments: Canada to Russia, Siberia, Europe, the Atlantic, and Costa Rica to Canada.

Along the way, they faced hurricanes, Siberian whiteouts, and medical emergencies. Angus had to be airlifted to Canada for emergency surgery when he suffered from infections in both of his kidneys and bladder, as well as a urethral stricture. He recovered and was able to resume the trip within two months.

Crossing the Atlantic (from Lisbon, Portugal to Puerto Limón, Costa Rica), took Angus and Wafaei four months in a 24-foot row boat. They filmed parts of their journey, including harrowing shots of a near-miss with a freighter and the ridiculous-looking helmets they fashioned out of pantyhose for protection in case the boat rolled over in rough seas.

The couple is hardly new to big adventures. Angus spent five years sailing across the Pacific Ocean, made the first descent of the Yenisey River (from Mongolia to the Arctic Ocean), and rafted the entire length of the Amazon River. Wafaei was training to cross the Atlantic when Angus asked her to join him on the expedition.

They have an online Adenturer’s Handbook, with a section on Ocean Rowing, and to-be-developed sections on everything from getting sponsors to tips on exploring the Amazon.

After they marry in the summer of 2007, the couple plans to row from Scotland to Syria in 2008, a symbolic journey to unite their respective Scottish and Syrian ancestries.