August 3, 2025, 12:50 pm | Read time: 8 minutes
A months-long hospital stay prompted German Frank Zunk to embark on a unique journey in 2020. Since then, he has been traveling by bicycle from his hometown of Dresden to Hiroshima, Japan. An odyssey of about 12,400 miles, during which he saw beautiful places and met hospitable people, but also experienced moments of deep despair. In TRAVELBOOK, he shares his incredible trip and reveals what his experiences on the road have taught him about life.
Time and again, we hear or read about people who have discovered unexpected strength in a sudden life crisis. But what Dresden native Frank Zunk has experienced since August 2020 sounds like the stuff of a Hollywood screenplay. Marked by a serious illness, he decided to travel from his hometown to Hiroshima, Japan, after his recovery. And he did it under his own power by bicycle, a journey of about 12,400 miles that would take years. He was ready to leave everything behind at home and ultimately found much more beauty on the road than he had ever dared to dream. Not least, he found himself. In TRAVELBOOK, he reports on his incredible adventure.
The reason for his unique bicycle journey dates back to 2018. “I was in the hospital with a severe intestinal obstruction and was artificially fed for months,” Zunk recalls. When he looks at old pictures of himself, he especially likes those showing him as a younger man at anti-nuclear demonstrations. And he remembers his lifelong fascination with the city of Hiroshima, where an atomic bomb was dropped during World War II. An idea began to take root in him. “I could ride my bike there using my own muscle power. This thought fascinated me more and more, and what started as a crazy idea eventually became my life’s dream.”
COVID-19 Pandemic and Doubts from His Circle
Motivated by his new goal, Zunk fought his way back to life, embarking on a months-long “test ride” from Freiberg in Saxony to Garmisch-Partenkirchen in 2019. “I spent the whole summer on a junk mountain bike with way too much luggage.” Encouraged by this, he planned to start his unusual world tour by bicycle in March 2020. But then the COVID-19 pandemic initially thwarted his efforts. He was also plagued by doubts about whether the daring venture could succeed. “I wondered if I could really manage to ride such a long distance alone. Can I just set off into the unknown? And give up all my securities for it? I asked myself if my dream was worth it.”
There were also concerns from his circle about his journey. “You can’t ride a bike to Japan, they said. That’s crazy, way too far. You can’t go through Afghanistan; they’ll cut your head off. What if you get sick again? How will you communicate? What will you live on?” The consensus was always that such a journey was simply not feasible. “No, that’s not possible! Absolutely not! It’s impossible!” But the louder the doubters, the more motivated Frank Zunk became. He finally decided to actually begin his unique journey on August 28, 2020. Now, almost five years later, he has reached his destination, Hiroshima.
Only the Bicycle Frame Is Original
“Beforehand, I had only googled the entry requirements of the countries I wanted to travel through. Since almost all borders in Europe are open, and you can apply for a visa online in almost every country in Asia, I didn’t need to plan for long.” Zunk originally planned a two-year period for his journey, but that soon proved unrealistic. “I initially had 220 pounds of luggage, way too much, and still wanted to cover about 30 miles a day.” The planned route: through the Czech Republic and Austria, then on to Hungary and Serbia, and finally through Greece into Turkey. From there, he intended to continue through India and Southeast Asia to China and finally South Korea, from where Zunk planned to ship himself to Japan. But the COVID-19 pandemic repeatedly threw a wrench in his plans.
“In 2020 and 2021, some borders in Europe were still closed due to the pandemic. I then had to spontaneously replan several times.” Instead of the planned route, he had to take a “detour” through Slovenia and Croatia and from there through Albania, North Macedonia, and Bulgaria to reach Turkey. “COVID-19 was indeed a special challenge.” The second was Zunk’s equipment. On such a long journey, parts naturally kept breaking and needed replacing. “Only the frame of my bike is original,” he laughs. “I’ve replaced all the other parts multiple times during the trip.” By now, he’s on his third sleeping bag and third sleeping mat, and he’s even on his fifth tent. He repeatedly encountered friendly people on the road who gifted him such equipment.
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Overall, it’s the kindness of strangers that he remembers most. “In Bangladesh, I was invited by a man and lived with him and his family in a corrugated iron hut without running water for several days. I was given gifts and served the very best food. It’s amazing what dishes this woman created in her simple kitchen.” In Iran, he witnessed the women’s protests live and stayed as a guest in a mosque for a week. “I participated in the prayers five times a day. The children taught me how to do it.” In India, he lived on a buffalo farm for several weeks, learning agricultural skills and how to handle the mighty animals.
“I stayed in luxury hotels or the simplest mud huts. Most of the time, though, I slept in my tent or outdoors.” He supported himself with odd jobs along the way, which provided him with food and lodging. He was particularly motivated by reaching milestones. “Prague, the Mediterranean, Istanbul, India, China. Impressive places and cities, and always beautiful nature.” He particularly remembers the Himalayas and the Karakoram Highway in Pakistan, one of the highest roads in the world. What did he learn from it? “The real situation is often the exact opposite of what is officially reported.” He was warned several times about traveling through Pakistan, but: “I’ve never met such kind and hospitable people as I did there.”
“We Are One Human Family” – Frank Zunk
The journey, he says, has also brought him valuable life experience. “Being content with what you have. But above all, I’ve learned respect. It’s important to respect other life attitudes and views, even if they may not be my own.” Of course, there were also moments on the trip when he thought about giving up. “In Croatia, I lost my tent in the fall and had to sleep under a bush in pouring rain. Or every time I had to push my heavily loaded bike uphill.” But these moments mainly occurred at the beginning of his journey. Until then, just before the goal, everything seemed to be over.
“I was told that taking a bike on a train in China was not possible. I had already disassembled it into individual parts.” However, his journey taught him not to be easily shaken by anything anymore. “I eventually just sent the bike to its destination by courier.” At the end of July, Frank Zunk finally arrived in Hiroshima after almost five years of travel. In the long term, he wants to write a book about his experiences on the road. “I definitely want to keep traveling, but I will probably settle somewhere for a while.” He is already thinking back to his buffalo farm in India as a possible home base for further adventures. “My next life dream is to ride my bike to the end of the world,” says Zunk.
There’s only one thing he doesn’t want anymore: to return to Germany in the foreseeable future. “I would only come back to visit my friends.” He now sees it as his task to share his experience and the insights he has gained. He summarizes them as follows: “I sit at a table with different people from different countries. It doesn’t matter which god the person sitting across from me prays to. I respect his attitude and his faith. Respect is the most important prerequisite for peace. It doesn’t matter what passport he has. We are friends. Brothers. Humans. One human family.”