21-year-old Rohith Subramaniam, riding on a Royal Enfield motorcycle across 46 countries over 18 months is most certainly to take the road less travelled. He has been on the road for about two months now, having covered thousands of miles and was in Nashik recently to experience the culture of the City of Pilgrimage.
“It is experiences like these that make my journey so memorable. Travel makes one modest. You see what a tiny place you occupy in the world,” he says. Rohith, who set out on this road journey on January 15, aims to cover 46 countries across South East Asia and Europe by July 2017, and a distance of over 1 lakh KM.
He was recently OnAir at Red FM Nashik, you can have sneak peak here :
Last year he came across an article by a 40-year-old American who regretted that he could not do even half the items on his bucket list that he had put together in his 20s. This included travelling around the world. “I didn’t want to end up like that man,” Rohith says. “It was then that I decided I would travel the world, something I had always dreamed of.”
What makes Rohith’s journey special is that he has no scheduled stopovers at hotels. He mostly finds a place to sleep through Facebook. Complete strangers have welcomed him into their homes.
One of the host for him was a Nashikar, Karan Narang, who has been a biking enthusiast & a traveller over 6 years. Karan came across Rohith’s journey through one of his articles.
They connected over Rohith’s Facebook Page, The Lone Wanderer. Sharing a mutual passion & love for biking & travelling, Karan offered to host Rohith in Nashik. “Being a traveller myself, I could connect with Rohith instantly”, says Karan. “Nothing could compare the feeling of getting Rohith to Nashik and showing him the city”. Karan’s another agenda to get Rohith to Nasik was to spread the safety awareness & obeying traffic rules while being on the wheels, in Nashik. “It is very important to use helmet while riding a two-wheeler, even if you are riding for a KM”, says Karan.
“Karan has been a great host for me in Nashik,” Rohith says appreciatively. “I now know that I will have a family in every state of our country. People have shared their most personal stories with me, slept on the floor so that I would be comfortable, and made me feel like I was one of their own. I’ve become a better human being for this. I rediscover myself with every mile I travel.”
And when unable to find a host, he has not shied away from making a bus stop or petrol pump or even a police station his night halt.
His four-month-long European tour will start from Finland and will cover 32 countries. Later, on his South Asian tour, he will travel across Myanmar, Thailand, Laos, Cambodia, Vietnam, Singapore, Malaysia, Indonesia, Nepal and Bhutan in 90 days.
