Growing up in a small village in Bihar, Shubham Kumar imagined a future that looked familiar to many students around him. The plan was simple: finish school, move to Kota, and join coaching classes to prepare for competitive exams.
Travel was never part of that picture.
Today, at 24, Shubham has travelled to over 187 countries, becoming one of the youngest Indians to do so. What makes his journey even more unusual is the way he travels. Much of it happens on a budget of around Rs 500 a day, with hitchhiking, small shelters, and the generosity of strangers helping him move from one country to the next.
The turning point came when he was still in school.
When Shubham was 16, he watched a YouTube video about hitchhiking. Travellers in the video crossed countries by simply standing on highways and asking drivers for rides. The idea struck a chord with him.
Until then, the world outside India had felt distant. After watching that video, he began to think about travel differently. He started wondering how far someone could go with very little money but a lot of determination. That curiosity stayed with him for the next few years.
Stepping out With a backpack
At 20, Shubham decided to begin.
He packed a small backpack with four sets of clothes and set off on his journey. His first destination was Russia. The visa was arranged, but beyond that, there was no fixed itinerary and no detailed plan.
From that point onward, the journey moved forward through whatever opportunities appeared on the road.
Hitchhiking became his main way of travelling. He often waited on highways for vehicles heading in the right direction. Sometimes rides came quickly. Sometimes he waited for hours or even days.
Finding places to sleep required similar improvisation. During different parts of the journey, he spent nights at petrol pumps, fire stations, and police stations when they offered safe shelter.
As Shubham travelled from country to country, the road introduced him to people and experiences he had never imagined. In Kazakhstan, he once rode with the mayor of a city. In other places, he visited parliamentary buildings, attended weddings and funerals in communities he met along the way, and even stepped inside Osama bin Laden’s former home during his travels.
These encounters gave him glimpses into cultures and lives far removed from his own village upbringing.
When the journey became difficult
Travelling across unfamiliar regions also brought difficult moments.
Shubham says he has been robbed during his travels, detained by Afghan soldiers, and once found himself stranded in Iran during strikes that disrupted transport across the country.
Even then, he continued.
Over time, the journey took him across China, Mongolia, South Africa, and many other parts of the world. He crossed the Arctic Circle, spent time with tribal communities, walked through deserts for three days, swam in icy waters, and once ran 44 kilometres in temperatures of –71°C.
As the journey grew, Shubham began documenting it on social media. Today, over 3.9 million people follow his travels on YouTube, where he shares videos from the road and stories from the places he visits. The platform now helps support his travels and allows him to continue exploring.
For Shubham Kumar, a single video watched at sixteen changed the direction of his life. What began as curiosity has turned into a journey that has already crossed 187 countries. And for him, the road still continues.
Disclaimer : This story is auto aggregated by a computer programme and has not been created or edited by DOWNTHENEWS. Publisher: thebetterindia.com
