Kārlis Bardelis: A Life Beyond Borders

The first person in the world to cross the Pacific Ocean alone in a rowboat, rowing from South America to Asia. A holder of six Guinness World Records. One of the most inspiring, positive, and kind-hearted people you could ever meet. Or could have. World traveller and adventurer Kārlis Bardelis (1985–2025) passed away this past November, but his legacy will live forever.

Kārlis was born and raised in Jūrmala, the largest resort town on the Baltic Sea. Yet from an early age, his dreams stretched far beyond the shoreline and far beyond borders anyone around him had crossed before. His first great love was the mountains. Years before his record-breaking ocean adventures, Kārlis climbed Europe’s highest peaks, Mount Elbrus and Mont Blanc. He was still in his early twenties, dreaming of conquering more and more summits.

After earning a Master’s degree in Environmental Resources Management from the University of Latvia, Kārlis spent a few years working in the field. He enjoyed his job, but the mountains were calling him, and the desire to freely choose when and where to go proved stronger. Eventually, he made a life-changing decision: to leave his job and become a full-time traveller. For Kārlis, the most important thing was to live life to the fullest.

“I’ve always had ideas, and I’ve always been able to figure out how to earn a living. Traveling has shown me that everything is possible. If you have an idea, you can make it happen — anything you can imagine in your mind,” Kārlis once told a journalist about this decision.

Latvian media began writing about Kārlis the same year he fully embraced the new way of life, in 2013. That was also when his long-term vision and well-known project, Bored of Borders, was born. Kārlis followed and embraced the idea put so precisely by Thor Heyerdahl – “Borders? I’ve never seen one, but I’ve heard they exist in the minds of some people.”

That year, he completed his first major expedition — a 6,247-kilometre journey on inline skates, travelling from the North Cape in the Arctic Circle to Gibraltar in just 60 days, crossing 11 countries along the way. Half a year later, Kārlis, joined by three fellow cyclists, embarked on another unconventional trip. He set off from Riga to Sochi, riding through unpredictable winter conditions to reach the host city of the 2014 Winter Olympic Games.

The goal of the journey was heartwarming: to deliver drawings and good wishes from young patients of the Children’s Clinical University Hospital to the Latvian Olympic team, while also encouraging people to donate towards the renovation of the Oncology Department.

Whatever adventures Kārlis undertook, there was always a deeper meaning behind them. His most famous around-the-world expedition across oceans and continents showed just how much an individual can push both body and mind to their absolute limits. From May 4, 2016, to April 4, 2024, in several legs, Kārlis rowed approximately 46,326 kilometres and cycled around 11,972 kilometres. That’s a physical and mental strain only a few could endure. Throughout the journey, he openly shared both its triumphs and its most dangerous, life-threatening moments, and he never stopped missing home, singing Austošās saules dziesma by the folk band Dārdi each morning as his power anthem.

Kārlis’s life changed abruptly in February 2025, just a few days after his 40th birthday and less than a year after he had completed his record-breaking adventure in Namibia. He suffered a stroke and, following surgery, was diagnosed with a malignant brain tumor. Kārlis had to learn to speak and walk again, but optimistic and determined as he was, he made remarkable progress in his recovery. Kārlis still embraced this new phase of life. He got married and saw the premiere of the documentary film based on his world expedition, Beyond the Deep.

In the fall, however, Kārlis’s health took a sudden turn for the worse. On the eve of Latvia’s Independence Day, his heart stopped beating. Kārlis Bardelis entered his ocean of eternity.

Kārlis will be remembered not only for his extraordinary and unrepeatable achievements, but also for his kind heart and civic activism. He loved giving inspirational talks that truly connected with audiences, volunteered whenever he could, and was deeply committed to charitable causes.

Here are a few ways you can draw inspiration from Kārlis Bardelis:
●    Listen to his interview on the Nkhani Zathu podcast
●    Watch the movie Beyond the Deep
●    Follow the project Bored of Borders, which will continue to live on