But try calling his 16-month adventure around the world in four customized Land Rovers a "trip."

"It wasn't a trip; it was an expedition," the software engineer says. "A trip is what you do with the family and the dog."

His expedition took him to 30 countries and covered some 41,000 miles of roads. And along the way he educated schoolchildren, gave countless interviews and went through more then 2,000 cans of Red Bull energy drink.

He even got the Dalai Lama's autograph.

But more importantly, Nick Baggarly and his expedition crew--which set out from Sunnyvale's Parkinson's Institute on Nov. 9, 2003--raised more than $70,000 for Parkinson's research. Baggarly first got involved with Parkinson's disease research after his older sister Jackie Farrar, 38, was diagnosed with the disease six years ago.

"I don't think I tortured him terribly as a big sister, but I did my share," Farrar said of her younger brother. "But to be repaid in kindness like this is just amazing. It's just an unbelievable gift that I've gotten from him."

The trip, named "Longitude," was created by Baggarly's nonprofit organization, Drive Around the World. He started the group to marry his love of adventure with worthy causes. To fund the trip, Baggarly collected $10,000 from each team member and worked with sponsors like Land Rover, Mobil gas and Red Bull to get supplies. To raise money for Parkinson's, corporate and private donors pledged various amounts of money per mile of road covered.

Longitude's predecessor, Latitude, was Drive Around's first official trip, a three-month journey from Beijing to San Francisco. That trip was done in conjunction with an educational program with the Los Angeles Unified School District.

Baggarly's sister laughs at her explorer brother because when they were kids, "vacation" meant going to their grandparents' house for a week.

But for Baggarly, the pull of the unknown was always there; it was just a matter of harnessing it.

"You grow up watching Johnny Quest, and you see movies, and you get a little older and start reading about the lives and adventures of explorers, and then you start hanging out in those circles," said Baggarly, a member of the Royal Geographic Society and the New York Explorer's Club.

On Feb. 28, the Longitude expedition returned to Sunnyvale. Arriving in the Parkinson Institute's parking lot, the team was greeted with green, orange, white and blue confetti, cheering supporters and Bon Jovi's "It's My Life," blasting over the sound system.

The members of the team climbed out of their vehicles like conquering heroes. They'd overcome everything nature had thrown at them--wind, rain, snow and desert, as well as the daunting task of more than a year on the road living out of Land Rovers.

The eight legs of their journey took them from Sunnyvale, down the Americas to the tip of South America before crossing the Pacific to New Zealand and Australia. From there, they made their way north toward Russia through Southeast Asia and India. After crossing the Bering Strait--and enjoying a two-month break as their Land Rovers shipped across the Pacific to Alaska--the team drove home from Alaska through Canada and the Pacific Northwest.

Other than infrequent visitors, the crew only saw friends and family at Christmas when Baggarly gave them the holiday off because the vehicles were in transit.

As part of the expedition, they kept a running journal online. Each day they updated their website so friends, family and fans could keep track of their adventure. They also teleconferenced with schools and other organizations and taught about the geography, history and culture of the places they visited.

Team member Nancy Olson--a press officer for the U.S. Marine Corps--edited and updated the web journal each night, sometimes after a 16-hour day of trekking. "It was great because I knew people were counting on that piece of information every day," she said. Olson met Baggarly through her connections at Land Rover, after representing the United States in Land Rover adventure races.

In addition to journal entries from each team member, a three-man film crew recorded much of the trip. The film crew shrunk over time, and with two months left in the trip, only documentary producer Adam Burgess, 31, was left to film, edit and compile what would become 240 mini-DVD disks of the expedition.

Burgess--who earned his master's in documentary filmmaking at Stanford University--came across the team by accident. He overheard Baggarly at a party talking about a previous expedition and knew he had to get involved.

"I thought, 'He's a geek and he's doing my dream,' " Burgess says.

In addition to filming the adventure, Burgess said he had the chance to surf all over the Pacific Ocean and even spent a night with the team camped in Phuket, Thailand, one of the regions that would later be devastated by the Dec. 26 tsunami.

Although the expedition has come to its finish line, Baggarly said the mission of the team is still alive.

"Why drive around the world if no ones knows it?" he said.

Although Baggarly's nonprofit, Drive Around the World, has always taken part in worthy causes, Parkinson's is especially important to him because of his family ties.

And as Baggarly says is to be expected from any expedition of this size, the team members gained invaluable experiences.

"I have friends all over the world now, and when you have friends all over, you're never far from home," Olson said.

Burgess--who hopes to sell his footage to a travel channel--saw people and places that he'd like to film in-depth in future projects. But the experience of the adventure itself is not something he sees himself recreating.

"Unless I fly around the world and then sailed around the world, I don't think I'd top this," he said.

Next up for Baggarly is a speaking tour around the country, and there are rumors of books, television shows and documentaries to come. He said he wants to continue raising money and support for Parkinson's research.

"There was a time when I thought that I couldn't do anything about Parkinson's, but now I just look back on that time and smile," Baggarly said. "I didn't say I was going to try; I said I was going to do it."