Couple to stay grounded during world trip

LONDON, March 5 (UPI) -- A British couple who launched a year-long planned journey around the world Monday have only one key strategy for international travel: no planes.

While Ed Gillespie, 34, and girlfriend Fiona King, 28, plan to travel 40,000 miles in their journey across 20 countries, The Daily Mail said that they have decided to do so without ever taking a single plane.

The couple decided to engage in a down-to-earth travel plan to show there are more environmentally friendly ways of traveling.

The trip will take longer to complete and will cost five times as much as traveling by air.

Yet Gillespie, an environmental manager, said he harbors no doubts regarding the quirky plan.

"The trip has provoked a mixed reaction, and some people think I am barking mad," he told The Daily Mail, "but I am confident that I am making a valid point and this is a good way to get it across."