The race around the world “much more difficult” than the suffolk duo did not expect

A man who participated in the last breed series around the world with his mother said that experience was “much more difficult than we thought”.

Caroline and Tom, who live in Hargrave near Bury St Edmunds in Suffolk, are one of the five pairs in competition in the fifth series of the BBC program.

The teams started their trip to the Great Wall of China and must travel to three countries to become the first through the finish line, in order to win £ 20,000.

Tom, 21, said: “We had no phones, and the linguistic barrier was simply impossible. It was so much more difficult than we thought.”

The program sees the teams travel around 8,700 miles (14,000 km) from Asia, through China, Nepal and India.

The objective is to be the first competitors to reach the finishing line at the most southern tip of India, in Kanyakumari, without using smartphones, bank cards or flights.

Caroline, 60, said: “I knew that was what I wanted – it was as if the program was done for me.”

She said that she was “so excited” to be informed that they had been selected to participate and called her son in seconds.

“From this moment, it changed our lives,” she added.

The couple told their family and friends that they were traveling in Australia for two months while they were shooting for the series.

Tom said: “The most difficult thing was when we came back, everyone was like” how was Australia “, and obviously we hadn’t been, so it was difficult to describe it.”

Tom had already traveled to South America and Europe for a combined period of about 10 months, but his mother never had the opportunity.

Caroline said that experience was “who changed life” and that it was a “fantastic feeling” to travel without a phone.

Her son added: “It gave me a better understanding of the world and a little more self -confidence.”