Hongkonger Kaylie Lau was working at a “fairly ordinary” corporate job in fashion marketing when she made a lifestyle U-turn.

“I was lacking spark from my job and I thought, ‘I’m still young, so I’m going to explore something different, something challenging,’” she says.

Now the 24-year-old is on an adventure, one that has already seen her travel 10,000km (6,200 miles) overland – “no flights, one backpack” – from Hong Kong to Europe, which she is documenting on her Instagram page, @kaylielau.

She expects to cover 20,000km in total and visit more than 65 cities in over 20 countries by the journey’s end.

The seed for Lau’s adventure was planted in the summer of 2024 when she spent three months travelling through Europe, where she discovered the true meaning of the phrase “it’s not the destination, it’s the journey”.