Traveler on eighth circuit of globe

FAIRBANKS, Alaska, Oct. 12 (UPI) -- Andrzej Sochacki has arrived in Alaska in a 1997 Oldsmobile Cutlass Supreme with 140,000 miles on it, on what he said is his eighth trip around the world.

Sochacki, 61, has been to 134 countries on five continents, traveling for more than 10 years, the Fairbanks Daily News-Miner reported Monday. The car has no snow tires, so his stop in Alaska will be brief.

The retired mechanical engineer started his current trip in Boston Nov. 21, 2008, in a 13-year-old Toyota Landcruiser. After replacing the transmission in Central America, Sochacki traded the Toyota in for the Oldsmobile at his Phoenix home.

Sochacki says he has met Pope John Paul II, the Dalai Lama and the King of Tonga in his travels. He has circled the globe twice by car and motorcycle and once each by plane, sailboat and train.

He said this is his first trip to Alaska.

His budget is $1,000 a month and his funding comes from savings and sponsors, he said. He drives mostly at night to avoid traffic.