I know how this kind of thing brings up strong emotions for most people—it does for me too—but you can't fairly judge another person's intimate relationships* from the handful of details that appear in a news article, and responding with personal denunciation is against both the rules (https://news.ycombinator.com/newsguidelines.html) and the intended spirit of HN.

We mostly don't know why other people do what they do, nor what they've gone through themselves, and we tend to be harshest and most uncharitable when we know the least.

Does that mean that the family impact of taking such a path in life should be off-topic in a thread like this? Not at all. But to be within HN's guidelines and (more importantly) its intended spirit, you should do it differently—not in a condemnatory way, but in a wondering way, and perhaps drawing connections to one's own experience, which always helps.

The goal, as always, is to have a curious conversation, not a reductive one.

* (assuming one can ever do that at all, or that it's one's place to try)

Why not ask his son, who has joined him on sections of his walk, or at least read the abundant press coverage about the two and why Bushby was unable to follow his infant son to Northern Ireland?

Within the overland-travel community, Bushby comes up often enough and people actually talk about his walk, getting visas, crossing borders, interacting with local people. It's a good demonstration of how toxic general social media like Reddit (or, now, HN) is for substantial discussion that people try to move the discussion instead to the personal merits of the person.

Acceptable? No, but some people realize too late that they want an alternative mode of existence. As somebody who had abusive parents, I would rather they had pursued their desires.

This walk is fairly tame in risk of death. Not so much in time lost as a dad.

This is a very common archetype though: dad of young kids does risky outside adventure for self-aggrandizement > dies.

the upcoming doc Everest: The Other Side will be fascinating.

Hilaree Nelson & Jim Morrison had a pretty crazy expedition goal. Then she dies while training to do it together.

He continues on anyways.

A bit of nuance: IIRC he previously lost his ex and kids in a horrible non-mountaineering car crash.

But IIRC Hilaree had children she left behind.

The film looks beautiful though.

Which is part of the problem... The inspired by jimmy's cinematography -> alex's feats -> become a wannabe amateur free solo father who dies is well established by now lol

My dad is friends with one of the main rabbis in JH. has done probably 20+ "He died doing what he loved" speeches, as the wife and kids sob and are left with no income stream.

I don't know, does being the Buddha? (He also named his son Fetter, for extra comedic effect.)

I imagine the conversation went something like:

"Hey dad, what's this trip I hear you talking about?"

"Well son, even though you're 8 years old, I've decided to spend the next 28 years walking around the world."

"Gee dad, that sure seems like a long walk. Are you sure about this?"

"Well of course I'll be taking breaks rather than doing the whole thing at once."

"Great, so you'll be able to visit me, your 8 year old son, right?"

"Nope! I've decided to add my own self-imposed rule that I can't visit the UK until I've completed my walk. Instead, whenever I don't feel like walking, I'm going to fly to Mexico and hang out there. Then when I do feel like walking again, I'll fly back to where I was and resume my walk."

"So you're leaving me, your 8 year old son, to go on a 28 year long, non-contiguous walk around the world where you'll rarely see me? And by the time I grow up we'll barely know each other? And you'll end up missing the birth of your granddaughter?"

"That's right, son! I hope you're excited for the first of 4 times we'll see each other, 6 years from now! Aren't you proud of your dad for being such a great explorer?"

"..."

I think I read (maybe on a wikipedia article about this project) that he was already pretty much an absent father before even starting this walk.