Starting on Valentine’s Day this year, Thuy Anh and her Spanish husband Guim Valls Teruel will cycle to the UK to spread the message: “Let’s protect the environment!”
Choosing Vietnam’s capital Hanoi as the starting point, the couple will cross an array of Asian and European countries, such as India, Turkey, Greece, Italy, France and Spain, before ending up in London (UK).
The two met in 2009 when she was a reporter for the national youth channel VTV6 and he was a bicyclist on his trip from Beijing (China) to Laos, Cambodia and Vietnam.
After they first met, Guim was reluctant to leave Vietnam to continue on his journey, but Thuy Anh urged him not to delay his departure. “You have to finish what you’ve started,” she told him.
The two remained in touch and, despite being separated by the distance, their love blossomed. A year later, they got married.
And now, the two are going on a long journey by bicycle together.
“We chose February 14 as the departure date because our [marital] journey started with love,” said Thuy Anh in a press conference yesterday.
Guim has experience travelling by bicycle but Thuy Anh does not. She said she had to refer to similar trips by overseas travelers to pack the luggage and learn how to interact with locals during the trip.
“Born in Hanoi, I cannot imagine how I can cycle around the world, how to eat and sleep with the minimal luggage,” confessed Thuy Anh.
Thuy Anh and Guim will travel on their solar-powered bikes as much as possible and only use other means of transportation when they cannot travel by land.
Apart from the two bikes provided by the sponsors, the couple has to pay all expenses by themselves.
“We are counting on finding some sponsors for the return trip from England through Africa, America and back to Vietnam,” said Thuy Anh.
Currently, VTV6 is the media sponsor for the couples. Thuy Anh and Guim will take pictures and shoot documentaries during their trip to broadcast on VTV6 and sell online.
“This is the trip of a lifetime. We support Thuy Anh and Guim for their pioneering ‘can-do’ spirits. VTV6 will broadcast news about Thuy Anh and Guim so the audience can keep up with their trip and the couple will not feel so lonely as they pedal their way through strange lands. We’re one dynamic reporter short at the station but in return, we gain the exclusive rights to their movies,” said Diem Quynh, deputy head of the Youth Program department, Vietnam National TV.
She also expects the journey to raise the viewers’ awareness of the environment and inspire more people to use public transportation or ride bicycles to reduce human ecological footprint.
For more information on the couple’s journey and sponsorship, visit www.ebwt.org.
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.jpg "Photo: VNA")