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Travelling is on everyone’s wishlist, I wish I could travel the whole world 195 countries in one go but that’s impossible unless a multi-millionaire who is retired, has this urge. A person need not just money and time but desire, courage and sacrifice as well to make it happen. A nonstop traveler usually has to miss having a family, a steady job or business, and may not own any property in their lifetime. Considering myself lucky to be able to travel to 20% of the countries to date and 135 cities, just be contented with what we have achieved and be glad for what we have today. I have been dreaming of driving to the UK since 2018 but now with Russia is at war, and can’t drive into Myanmar, so forget it. Anyway, I have just done driving to Indochina recently from 15th July 2022 until 9th September from Malaysia to Thailand, Laos and Cambodia covering over 9000 km. Vietnam was very strict and doesn’t allow my car to enter so I just backpack in with my son for 12 days from Laos, Tay Trang border. From Malaysia, I cross to Golok, the Thai border to Songkhla, Krabi, Phuket, Hua Hin, Chumphon, Koh Samui, Bangkok, Kanchanaburi, Tak, Chiang Mai, Chiang Rai, Luang Prabang(Laos), Vang Vieng, Vientiane, Siem Reap(Cambodia), back to Hua Hin, Surat Thani and Penang in 58 days(almost 2 months) of driving, riding motor, ship, bus, train, sky train, tuk2, and walking. In Vietnam, We visited Dien Bien Phu, Sapa, Hanoi and a 2 day 1 night cruise at Halong Bay

I am aiming to set foot in 50% of the world’s countries, my next bucket list would be driving a round trip in South America. Buy a car there and drive to all 12 countries from Argentina, Bolivia, Brazil, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, French Guyana, Paraguay, Peru, Surinam, Uruguay, and Venezuela. Learning Spanish now to be prepared for this wonderful exciting journey. It would take me 6 to 9 months , to travel over 30,000km. This coming 4 x 4 adventure would be a huge challenge for me as I believe there would be numerous obstacles encountered along the way, especially when crossing country borders or if the road is tough to navigate and also if the car breaks down halfway as this is my solo journey. After my South America planned journey, my next bucket list is over 20,000 km covering Mongolia, Russia, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan, Iran, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Armenia, Turkey, Armenia, Estonia, Latvia, Lithuania, Belarus, Ukraine, Romania, Bulgaria, Albania, Macedonia, Kosovo, Bosnia, Croatia, Slovenia, Serbia, Hungary, Slovakia, Czechia, Austria, Germany, Spain, Portugal and UK, a total of 35 countries of which 4 of them, I have been before. Counting the days when this could be a reality, the dream comes true. Luckily our Malaysian passport can go to 175 countries without Visa, the Henley Passport Index ranks the Malaysian passport as the 14th strongest in the world in terms of travel freedom.

Having lived and worked in 3 countries, besides Malaysia, I was in Germany fo years and the UK for half a year, so I have picked up their Deutsch language. For my 1st backpacking trip, I backpacked covering 13 countries in Europe for a month back in 1992 when there is no internet connections yet for the public. That is when I bought a 1-month Euro rail Global Pass that allows me unlimited train travel to 33 countries in Europe for a fixed price, and at that time I am below 26, getting a student price. You can take as many trains as you like and there is no limit on the distance you can travel within a travel day. I started from Germany to Holland, Belgium, Luxembourg, France, Spain, Monaco, Switzerland, Italy, Liechtenstein, Yugoslavia (now Croatia, Bosnia, Macedonia), Hungary, Austria and back to Germany. Able to travel fast because I usually travel by night train, so even while I sleeping also is traveling and besides that, I can save on hotel charges as well. I can have my dinner in Barcelona and wake up for breakfast in Monte Carlo. Hotel stays maybe 1 week twice for bath or when the city needs 2 days to cover. Usually, once get off the train, the first thing I would do is just go leave the backpack at the train station lockers and go to Tourist Information for City Map and start the tour. That’s a norm for all backpackers, I presume, if they are not staying for the night. My best unforgettable experience until today is playing beachside volleyball at Lido Beach, Venice with many Italian girls wearing bikinis, ever wondered if that could happen again in my lifetime, another unforgettable experience was taking a subway at Barcelona where many Spanish women get on and off the train that keeps smiling at me till I forget to get down on my station, also have a wonderful time doing water rafting and the top of Europe, Jungfraujoch at Switzerland. Bad experience was when I was denied entry to Greece (because need visa) at the train border and I overnight on the bench just beside the rail track.

The second 1-month backpacking trip of 9 countries in 2016 was with my wife and 4 members starting from England to Ireland, then Germany, Denmark, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Greece and Egypt by plane, train, ship hovercraft, metro, bus, taxi, cycling and of course walking using all kinds of public transport. My best experience was taking hovercraft from Portsmouth to Isle of Wight, the last remaining commercial hovercraft service in the world. Not forgetting the Atlantic Road in Norway. It’s a breathtaking scenery road connecting small islands in the northern part. (picture below). Not forgetting the best Guinness Stout in the world that we drank in Dublin, Ireland.

I believe there are many more things to learn and experience along the way when I start driving and I have been learning every day to prepare myself for this expedition. With the advance of the internet worldwide nowadays, traveling has been pretty easy for everyone, booking an air tickets, train tickets, hotels, entrance fees, and of course with GPS which is available 24/7 so I can’t get lost in any country. The world has become a much smaller place with all these internet conveniences like video call/zoom meetings from any part of the world, bullet trains that cut travel time by 1/3 and the list goes on. And also with more drones that came out in the past 10 years, virtually anyone can get one for taking videos/pictures for their own collection, put their FB/Instagram for views, or make their YouTube channel whatever.

I have recorded and uploaded some Youtube travel videos. Feel free to take a look at Hinckley Choy Youtube channel. My future traveling video would also be uploaded there when I really start my long driving journey to UK. Hopefully, it won’t be so long wait. Please do follow and like my FB page so you are informed when I start my expedition. If you are looking for flight, hotel or train, check out Trip.com