Yes, it really happened. In one of the most bizarre and daring travel stunts ever pulled off, a man named Brian Robson mailed himself from Australia to the UK… inside a wooden crate. At just 19 years old and desperate to return home without the money for a plane ticket, he came up with the wild idea to ship himself as air cargo. With the help of two friends, he packed himself into a small crate — about the size of a bar fridge — and began a 63-hour journey halfway across the world.

The plan was risky and extremely dangerous. Inside the box, Robson had a flashlight, a suitcase, a pillow, a water bottle, and an empty bottle for when nature called. He expected to be flown directly to London in just over a day. But delays, mishandled cargo, and rough conditions turned it into a three-day ordeal. At one point, the box was stored upside down for over 20 hours.

Robson passed out several times and suffered from dehydration, but he somehow survived. He was eventually discovered in Los Angeles — not London — by stunned airport workers. The incident could have ended very differently, but Robson lived to tell the tale, later writing a book about it and calling the experience “the stupidest thing I’ve ever done.”