Around the world with Nick and Rich by tuk-tuk

Nick Gough and Rich Sears are two British teachers who have embarked on a great adventure around the world. Their alternative means of travel has attracted plenty of attention and raised awareness about education for disadvantaged children.

The press is feasting on the stories these two teachers are telling about their adventures, especially since they recently broke the world record for the longest distance travelled by tuk-tuk in November. But their trip certainly hasn’t been easy with many engine breakdowns, mechanical troubles and of course punctures along the way. That hasn’t stopped these two though!

70 kilometres before beating the world record the tuk-tuk took a turn for the worse and mechanical failures meant that Nick and Rich had to push the little car for 3 days before finding a repair shop. Wouldn’t it have been easier to just travel by Range Rover or at least a 4×4?

Nick and I travelled through Thailand around 8 years now and fell in love with tuk tuks. We had the idea of embarking upon an overland expedition in one of these crazy little vehicles, taking advantage of its open and slow-paced nature to explore and unlock cultures and communities that you might usually speed through in another means of transport. We thought it’d be a great way to learn about and from their ways of life, their struggles, ambitions and aspirations.

Their objective?

Travel, of course but the project is more about raising awareness about children’s education. The pair will visit schools along the way to see what materials and resources they need to delivery quality education and bring that information back to the project sponsors. Upon returning to England, the two will share their experiences with school children around London and the UK.

61 million primary-aged children worldwide currently do not have access to any form of schooling, and millions more, like those students in the classroom in Ratanakiri, still have no access to quality learning opportunities. It was impossible not to be moved by that and want to do something about it.