[citation needed] He moved to Orrell Park and set up a video production company firstly in Dale Street and then in the Baltic Triangle.

The rules were: no flying as part of the journey, no private taxis over long distances (shared "bush" taxis were okay), no hitch-hiking, Hughes could not drive a vehicle or ride a motorbike as part of the journey (Guinness World Records does not permit people to "race" on public roads in private vehicles in order to set or break records), he must set foot on dry land (sailing into territorial waters did not count) and no travelling to far-flung territories and counting them as a visit to the motherland.

In February 2014, it was announced that Guinness World Records had confirmed Hughes's Odyssey Expedition was "The fastest time to visit all countries by public surface transport" (4 years and 31 days) after an extraordinarily long verification process.

"[13] Hughes's video log of the first year of his expedition was made into an eight-part television series called Graham's World or Lonely Planet's The Odyssey.

[15] Hughes's debut travel memoir, "Man of the World: Book One of The Odyssey Expedition", an account of the first year of his journey to every country without flying, was published by ATBOSH Media in October 2017.

[24] In the wake of the Brexit referendum, Hughes wrote to his local Labour Party MP, Stephen Twigg, threatening to stand against him in an upcoming election if he voted with the Conservative Party to activate Article 50 without any protection for EU citizens living in the UK or British citizens living in the EU (against the wishes of a majority of his constituents).

When Theresa May called a snap election in April 2017, Hughes, true to his word, returned to the UK to run against Twigg as an independent candidate.