THRISSUR: After traveling 8,500 kilometers alone through twenty states on a bike, 25-year-old Pavana Sunil now wants to cross the country's borders. She wants to see Bhutan and Nepal, and then the Himalayas. Pavana left her home in Pookode, Keenur, Alagappanagar at 7 am on July 31. When she told her parents that she was going to travel around the country, they did not object. They know that it was her childhood dream. When she returned home 53 days later on September 21, some doubted whether she had traveled this far. Pavana showed her GPS as evidence. Her only regret was that places like Jammu and Kashmir, Ladakh, and Himachal Pradesh had to be avoided due to natural disasters.

From the power of Karate

Pavana learned karate from the age of fourteen, which gave her strength. At the age of twenty, she started Evoke Academy in Varakkara to teach karate. She has a third dan black belt. Pavana used to travel to school on a bicycle since the fourth grade. Four years ago, Pavana bought an Enfield Himalayan Bullet with the money she earned from teaching karate. She traveled alone and with a team in Kerala and South India. After passing her B.Tech in Mechanical Engineering from Coimbatore, Pavana gave up her job and made teaching karate and traveling a part of her life. Pavana is the second daughter of Sunil and Suma. Her elder sister is married.

Travel routes

• Karnataka, Maharashtra, Rajasthan, Delhi, Punjab, Bihar, Andhra
• Travel from morning to night. Stay in lodges. Food in hotels.
• Travelled to tourist spots and villages by looking at Google Maps.
• Ended up in a thick forest full of wild animals and on muddy off-roads when Google Maps messed up in Bengal

The most important thing for a woman to travel alone is to have the willpower. I have never had any bad experiences. I had an insatiable love for travelling since I was young.

Pavana