In September 2007, Amazing Race winner Alex Boylan revealed his plans to set off from New York for a trip around the world -- without a cent in his pocket! Sixteen countries and 159 days later, he's back to share how the generosity of the online community helped him travel 45,000 miles.

"I wanted to set off to see the world in a very pure way," Alex tells Rachael, "so by doing this, I was stripped of all money in an attempt to see the world in a way it's never been seen before." He explains that people would write to him through his Web site offering a place to stay in exchange for cleaning bathrooms, truck driving or working in a soup kitchen. While literally relying on the kindness of strangers, Alex also got to interact with the locals and experience many of their customs firsthand. "I was coming from Thailand," he relates, "and I was homeless, literally, on the streets of this little border town called Poipet. These two monks were in a little hut, and they looked over and said, 'Hey, come over here' and started talking to me in their broken English. They opened their hut to me. I lived with these people for days, went to prayers, morning offerings, you name it. I lived fully like a monk."

Alex admits that the journey did have its share of hardships. "There was this huge bus ride from Caracas, Venezuela all the way down to Lima, Peru," he shares. "Six days, no food - there were some really tough times. But this was about seeing the world in this pure way, so I always had this amazing audience reaching out, giving me support, saying 'Hey Alex, we're here for you.' If I ever got homeless, it was amazing what happened on the Web site - people would be writing in, saying 'I got a friend here, go here.' It was amazing."

Despite some of the hardships he encountered, Rachael asks Alex, "Did you have any fun on the trip? Ever just cut loose?" Alex smiles, recalling some of his exciting experiences. "Oh, there was so much fun on this adventure!" he says. Watch the video above to see a few of his daring escapades, from exploring caves to taking on the world's largest bungee jump -- 650 feet!

In the end, Alex expresses his gratitude for those who helped him complete his mission. "It was unbelievable, the generosity we saw country to country and region to region." Check out Alex's Around the Word for Free Web site to see more video from his amazing adventure.