ALAPPUZHA: Having quit a plum job with Wipro in Saudi Arabia, 34-year-old Fayis Asraf Ali is on a solo cycle mission to travel around 35 countries. A networking engineer by profession, his plan is to cover around 30,000 km in 450 days.
Fayis, a resident of Thalakalathoor in Kozhikode, started his journey from Thiruvananthapuram on August 15 and reached Ernakulam on Monday.
His journey has a motto too --- 'Use the Heart to Connect Hearts'. "It carries a message to strengthen the heart for a better life," Fayis told TNIE while passing through Alappuzha.
He has a reason for having picked that particular topic. "My father, Ashraf, died due to cardiac ailments in 2018. That was painful. I left my job in 2015 to care for my father. After that, I started cycling to spread the message of strengthening hearts," he said.
The journey was flagged off by Education Minister V Sivankutty. He has decided to cover all districts in the state before moving to Mumbai through Karnataka and Goa. "From Mumbai, I will board a plane to Oman because many people advised me to avoid travelling through Pakistan and China due to the current political situations. When I applied for a visa, the government also advised me to avoid travel through those countries," Fayis said.
He plans to restart cycling from Oman, and pass through the UAE, Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Bahrain, Kuwait, Iraq, Iran, Georgia, Armenia and Turkey en route to Europe.
"Later, I will visit Bulgaria, Romania, Moldova, Ukraine, Poland, Check Republic, Hungary, Serbia, Croatia, Austria, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Luxembourg and France, and will end the journey in the UK by September 2023," Fayis elaborated.
With the arduous journey, he is aiming to set a record for the longest distance covered by a Malayali on a bicycle. "I will cover an average of 100km each day. The route comprises different terrain and covering some of the mountainous and hilly areas will take some time. So the journey is expected to take 450 days to complete," he said.
In 2019, Fayis travelled from Kozhikode to Singapore on a bicycle in 104 days covering more than 8,000km. He cycled through Nepal, Bhutan, Myanmar, Thailand and Malaysia during that trip. The Rotary Club, Norka-Roots, Malayalam Mission, Kerala Tourism and the Kerala Hearts Foundation are supporting the endeavour, with Para John and Emirates First lending financial assistance.