Road to London 2025: Leading the Most Ambitious Road Trip of My Life

The Genesis of a Traveler

I was in class eight when travel first found me. Back then, trekking wasn't a trend. There were no Instagram reels from mountain trails, no glossy brochures selling the idea of adventure. But something inside me wanted to go. I still remember lacing up my shoes for those early treks, the crisp mountain air biting at my face, and the silence of the Himalayas wrapping around me. I didn’t have the right gear, I didn’t have experience, but I had that one thing that still defines me today—curiosity. That urge to see what lay beyond the bend in the trail.

Those treks shaped me more than I realized. They taught me patience, resilience, and the joy of discovering something you’ve reached by your own two feet. At that age, I didn’t think of it as “travel.” I just knew I felt alive in the mountains.

Spanning multiple countries, border crossings and thousands of kilometres, the 2025 edition builds on what makes Road To London a true cross-continent overland journey.

Weekend Trips That Changed Everything

When I got to college, that spark had grown into something much bigger. Weekends weren’t for rest anymore—they were for escape. From Monday to Friday, I would sit in lecture halls, half my mind drifting to mountain passes and winding rivers. By Saturday morning, I was on the road, leading trips into Himachal or Uttarakhand.

The funny thing is, “weekend trips” were barely a trend back then. But for me, it became second nature. I wasn’t just traveling anymore—I was leading. Groups of strangers would climb into a bus with me, unsure of what lay ahead, and by the time we returned, we’d be a family of sorts. Those weekends were raw and unpredictable; roads collapsing from rain, buses breaking down, weather turning in an instant. But they also taught me that travel is about more than landscapes; it’s about people. About the friendships that outlast a trip, and the stories you carry back long after the bags are unpacked.

The Call of the Open Road

Then came the biking years. Riding wasn’t just about covering distance—it was about freedom. The hum of the engine, the wind slapping against my face, the way the road seemed to stretch endlessly into possibility—it was addictive.

One moment from those years still defines me. I had been living in Leh for six months when I heard the news: Siachen Glacier had been opened to tourists for the very first time. Most people would have paused, checked permits, made a plan. I didn’t. I kicked my bike into gear and started riding. No preparation, no second thought—just that familiar pull to be there. Of course, I hit the wall of reality when I realized permits were mandatory, but that experience sums up who I am as a traveler. When I see something extraordinary, I don’t wait. I go, which is exactly what made me take my biggest career decision.

Sometime later, I came across an article that stopped me in my tracks. It spoke of a journey from India to London by road. Twenty countries. Sixty-five days. At first, it sounded outrageous, almost laughable. Who drives from India to London? And yet, instead of brushing it aside, my heart clenched in recognition. I knew, with absolute clarity, that one day, I needed to be on that road. The Road that takes you from India to London.

That dream eventually led me to Adventures Overland. By then, I had gone through my phases—trekking, weekend escapes, biking—but AO opened the door to something new altogether. Self-drive road trips. The same roads, but a completely different way of experiencing them. A different kind of traveler, a different rhythm, and even familiar places felt transformed when seen through this lens.

Suggested Read: How Road to London Changed My Life

Road to London – Living the Impossible

And then, a day came that I will never forget. I was told I would be leading the Road to London 2025. Grateful doesn’t even begin to describe it. It felt like every trek, every weekend trip, every ride had been leading me here.

Road to London isn’t just a trip. It’s an experience.

You begin in India, the familiar slowly fading in the rearview mirror as you cross into Nepal and then Tibet. Standing in front of the Potala Palace in Lhasa, watching prayer flags dance in the wind, you feel the weight of centuries pressing into the present moment. Driving across the Qiangtang Grassland, with nothing but endless horizon around you, you realize just how vast the world really is.

Further west, the road turns rugged. The Pamir Glacier tests both machine and man, and then Uzbekistan greets you with a riot of colors—blue domes against golden sunsets, the hum of bazaars in Samarkand, the whisper of history in Bukhara.

The road keeps unfolding: the Caspian Sea stretching alongside you in Kazakhstan, Mt. Elbrus looming like a giant in Russia, the warm embrace of Tbilisi in Georgia, and the enchantment of Istanbul where East and West shake hands. By the time you’re gliding on the Danube in Serbia or walking the cobbled lanes of Prague, borders stop mattering. You’re not just crossing countries—you’re crossing lifetimes. And then, the final stretch. The skyline of London rising ahead, a dream once impossible now real under your wheels.

What the Road to London Journey Taught Me

Through every phase—whether it was guiding weekend trips in my college days, riding solo to places I wasn’t “supposed” to reach, or preparing to lead the most epic journey of them all—one truth has remained. Travel has never been only about places.

It has always been about people. The connections that outlast the trip. The moments that reveal parts of myself I didn’t know existed. Every journey peels away a layer of doubt, a little fear, and brings me closer to my truest self.

That’s the real gift of travel. The more of the world you discover, the more of yourself you uncover. And that’s why, no matter how far the road stretches, I’ll always follow it.

As told to Adventures Overland by Fareed Laiq