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· Travelling a total distance of 12,880km on a trip that will take 2 months, cross 13 borders, and require 39 trains; Nick is set to embark on an adventure of a lifetime
· To celebrate Nick’s trip, Selective Asia will be covering the cost of a train ticket for any new booking where the traveller chooses to replace a domestic flight with a train journey* within South Asia and Southeast Asia
October 2024: This October, Founder of B-Corp certified leading tour operator Selective Asia, Nick Pulley, will embark on an extraordinary no-fly adventure travelling from his hometown of Brighton to India’s world-famous Taj Mahal entirely by rail.
NEW OFFERING: All Aboard (the trains on us!)
To celebrate Nick’s trip, Selective Asia will be covering the cost of a train ticket for any new booking where the traveller chooses to replace a domestic flight with a train journey*. This will apply to train travel within South Asia and Southeast Asia. The offer will begin on Nick’s departure date – 12th October 2024 – and will end on 28th February 2025.
This initiative reflects Selective Asia’s long-term commitment to encouraging travellers to reduce their carbon footprint while being promised unforgettable experiences. The goal is to incentivise travellers to embrace overland journeys that combine comfort, environmental responsibility, and adventure.
WHY? What is the driving force behind Nick’s trip?
Like so many of life’s big things, this trip started with one simple question. Can it be done?
To understand Nick’s reasoning for embarking on such a trip, it is important to first understand Selective Asia. It isn’t just another tour operator. It is a collection of people who have lived and breathed Asia and find pure joy in curating travel experiences that stop travellers in their tracks and stir their soul. The team of experts at Selective Asia not only put together tailormade itineraries and experiences that inquisitive travellers will remember for a lifetime, but they make it their mission to lead travellers off the beaten track to discover new destinations and show travellers where the true soul of a destination lies.
Nick dedicates his days to finding new and exciting ways to connect his clients to Asia – which in his eyes is the most extraordinary region in the world – and he is driven to keep making these journeys more responsible, enjoyable, and enlivening. As an industry innovator and executive board member of Travel by B-Corp, Nick sees the huge need to devise more sustainable logistics whilst simultaneously honing the benefits that global travel can bring to everyone involved.
So, with Selective Asia’s routes at the front of his mind, Nick asked himself: can we travel from the UK to South Asia without flying? Is it possible? What would that trip look like? One question led to another, and before he knew it, he found himself planning an epic route from western Europe to southern Asia.
Nick says, “The two parallel lines of motivation taking me forwards are an excitement about testing the practicalities of reaching one of my favourite southern-Asian cities without flying, and a need to reconnect with the sense of adventure I felt during my early travelling days. I’m longing to be inspired, get lost, take some risks. I can’t wait to take chances, be surprised, make mistakes, let others lead me; to experience travel that takes a road less trodden. I want to cut through the geopolitical news noise and make my own interpretations; to rediscover how I react in new circumstances. I want to be that traveller again.”
WHAT are the topics and themes Nick will be paying close attention to throughout his journey?
· Growing importance of responsible travel and eco-tourism
· Environmental benefits of train / overland travel
· Harnessing slow travel. Seeing the places in between, off the beaten track, and unfollowing the herd. Lingering longer. Finding joy in the journey, not just the destination
· Railway infrastructure throughout Europe and into Asia. How easy or difficult is travelling by rail in these parts of the world?
· Tourism in its entirety. What is the impact of tourism and overtourism – the good, the bad, and the ugly? How do people on the ground feel about tourism?
· Geopolitics. Are things as we’re told they are?
WHERE is he going? What’s the route?
Starting from the historic Brighton Pavilion, Nick will travel across Europe, passing through cities the likes of Prague, Vienna, Budapest, Brasov and Bratislava. After fourteen days of travelling through Europe, Nick will arrive in Istanbul which will mark the beginning of his journey through Turkey, crossing into Asia. Travelling from Istanbul to Ankara, onwards to Cappadocia and Kayseri, and then from Tatvan to Van, Nick will find himself at the border of Iran.
Upon arriving in Tabriz, Nick will meet with a companion who will guide him through Iran, discovering cities the likes of Tehran, Isfahan, Yazd, and Shahbad along the way. Nick will also have the opportunity to discover the Lut Desert – a UNESCO World Heritage Site – which is an arid subtropical area that is swept by strong winds which transport sediment and cause aeolian erosion on a colossal scale. What does this mean exactly? It means the site presents the most spectacular examples of aeolian yardang landforms (massive corrugated ridges). It is also home to extensive stony deserts and dune fields.
Crossing the Zahedan and Mirjaveh border will lead Nick into Pakistan. It is in Pakistan that Nick will have the opportunity to explore Mohenjo-daro – an archaeological site and one of the world’s earliest major cities built in 2500BC. He’ll also spend some time in Sehwan – a historic city renowned for being the home of one of Pakistan’s most important Sufi shrines, the Shrine of Lal Shahbaz Qalandar.
It needn’t be said that much of the Western world has little interest in visiting Iran or Pakistan, but Nick is curious to know for himself what both countries are really like. What are our governments telling us that perhaps is untrue for most of the country?
As Nick’s time in Pakistan comes to a close, he’ll travel from Rawalpindi to Lahore, and then from Lahore into Amritsar, India. The next stop? Agra... home to the Taj Mahal. It’ll have taken Nick 50 days to get to this point, and along the way he’ll have experienced a rich exploration of diverse cultures and landscapes, from the heart of Europe to the Indian subcontinent.
WHY is the no-fly aspect so important to Nick?
The journey is a somewhat declaration of Nick’s belief that overland travel can offer enriching experiences that air travel cannot. It is undeniably more responsible to travel by train as opposed to by plane, but it is also an opportunity to connect with landscapes and cultures on a deeper level.
Nick says, “Train travel offers so much to the individual. There’s something about crossing borders by land that hits different. You can feel the distances and the spaces in a way you just can’t by air. It’s tangible; visceral. You get a more gradual introduction to each place and culture, rather than landing at the eye of the storm.”
-End-
Join Nick on his epic adventure by following his journey on Selective Asia’s Instagram here. Nick will also be writing a blog during his travels – link coming soon! Kindly note, his first blog post will not go live until week commencing 21 October.
Explore how you, too, can travel more responsibly with Selective Asia’s new ‘All Aboard’ rail travel offer here.
*The offer is valid for clients choosing a train journey(s) over a domestic flight. Maximum 3 flight replacement rail journeys per trip. Domestic scheduled airlines only. Selective Asia has the right to refuse particular flights and routes. Cross-border train travel not included except for Thailand to Laos (Bangkok > Vientiane).
Ends
Selective Asia is a B-Corp certified leading tour operator specialising in curated travel experiences that stop travellers in their tracks and stir their soul. Founder, Nick Pulley, and his specialist team of travel enthusiasts thoughtfully put together tailormade itineraries and experiences that inquisitive travellers will remember for a lifetime. From the deepest parts of Borneo’s tropical rainforests to the lesser-known scattering of islands in southernmost Japan and everywhere in between, Selective Asia make it their mission to lead travellers off the beaten track to discover new destinations in a bid to not only combat overtourism but to show travellers where the true soul of a destination lies. Unfollow the herd.