‘Every time, it was spectacular’: seeing Seven Wonders of the world in 7 days – one man’s trip from the Taj Mahal to the Colosseum

The logistics were masterminded by Travelport, a British technology company that helps travellers and travel suppliers book transport. The company also donated £1 (US$1.26) for each mile McDonald travelled to his charity organisation, the Superhero Foundation, which helps sick children.

McDonald managed just 12 hours of sleep during the week, and ate only in-flight food, apart from a pepperoni pizza he gobbled down before running off to see the Colosseum.

“The flights were all economy class and so all the sleep was basically slept while sitting up. I was sleeping like a nodding dog. It was like a dream, you know, there was no distinction between night and day. It was just all one blur,” McDonald says.

“I was secretly hoping this was going to be a nice holiday, but it really was a race against time.”

“Every time I travel I always know that the destination is never the best part. It’s all about the journey. But this was completely different. Every time I got to the destination, it was spectacular,” adds McDonald, who spent less than an hour at each cultural site, the exception being the Great Wall, where he started the challenge.

Despite the frenetic pace, he experienced an extremely rare moment of tranquillity on the Great Wall, which is normally so packed with people that visitors may have to queue just to ascend the steps.

But there were not many tourists around at that point, with China yet to fully reopen to foreigners following the Covid-19 pandemic. (McDonald had entered the country on a business visa and gave motivational speeches to Travelport colleagues in China before he started his global dash.)

“We woke up in the morning before we were ready to start the record, at a hotel right inside the complex of the Great Wall and there wasn’t a single soul,” says McDonald.

“We saw the sun rise and I had the Great Wall of China all to myself. It was really precious because I knew we were never going to get that anywhere else.”

The way he left was special, too, plans having gone awry even at this early stage of his quest.

“Once the race began and the clock started to tick, I found out that the chairlift that I was supposed to take was broken. Some guy from the chairlift told us there’s a toboggan. So we raced along the Wall for a mile and then managed to grab the toboggan [at Mutianyu, a well-preserved stretch of the Great Wall] and race down,” McDonald says.

“It was the [most fun] form of transport to race the toboggan down from the Great Wall.”

In India, he briefly visited Delhi’s Chandni Chowk market before moving on to Agra and the Taj Mahal.

“It was 3am, but it felt like it was Saturday lunch peak time there. The whole place was buzzing, and the smells, the senses and just being in that environment was just so amazing,” he says.

McDonald is no stranger to extreme challenges – his previous achievements include running 5,000 miles (8,000km) across Canada, and a Guinness World Record 524 miles (20 marathons) on a treadmill over seven days.

He has raised more than £1 million for the Superhero Foundation through sponsorship of his feats, which began in 2012, when he returned to the children’s hospital where he had been treated as a youngster for a rare spinal condition: syringomyelia.

“I had really weird symptoms like immune deficiency and epilepsy. Sometimes I couldn’t move my legs. When I went back to the hospital it brought back all these memories and I saw the difference [the medical staff] were making to kids’ lives.

“I thought maybe there is more to life and maybe I’m in a position that I can give back.”

Instead of making a down-payment on a house – as he had planned – McDonald bought a bicycle and told the hospital staff he was going to attempt to cycle from Bangkok, Thailand, to Gloucester, where the hospital stands.

“There was resistance, and I think my friends and family who were all buying houses at that time were like, ‘What are you doing? Are you stupid?’

“But it just was a feeling that I had and it was something I had to go for, and it turned into one of the best adventures of my life. And now it’s turned into my mission and my purpose.

“As weird as it is, I wear a superhero suit and go across countries and raise money for sick kids.”

McDonald says that seemingly impossible challenges become possible once one knows “the secret”.

However, “the secret to not giving up when things seem impossible is different for everyone,” he says. “You have to go on an adventure and find [your secret] out for yourself.”