Tom Williamson had a steady career at TUI, a flat in South West London, and a decade of routine behind him. Now, he’s getting rid of all of it. The 32-year-old, from Surbiton/Thames Ditton, quit his job, moved out, and sold his belongings. He is cashing in his life savings and trading it for life on the road with just his wooden bike and a map of the world.
He isn’t just looking for a change of scenery. He’s doing this because, by all rights, he shouldn’t be here. Back in 2021, Tom was on his first-ever ‘bike-packing’ trip from Land’s End to John o’ Groats when his heart rate suddenly spiked. He pulled over, but before he could do anything, he passed out and woke up on the tarmac with a cut face. After the collapse on the road, Tom spent two nights in a Birmingham hospital. It was a frightening time because, on the surface, he was a fit and healthy 27-year-old who had never passed out before.
It took years of “medical limbo” to figure out what was wrong over a period of two years. While doctors struggled to find a cause, Tom lived in a state of constant uncertainty, even passing out in a ditch during a trip to India. Eventually, a specialist at King’s College Hospital finally tracked down the rare heart defect. He was diagnosed with a rare form of supraventricular tachycardia (SVT). It took three heart procedures to finally fix the problem. His last a successful ablation (a minimally invasive medical procedure that uses extreme heat, extreme cold, or electrical energy to destroy or remove targeted, diseased tissue) finally fixed the issue in June 2025.
Tom is spending that second chance cycling around the world to raise money for Cardiac Risk in the Young (CRY). “I just got super lucky that I woke up,” he says. “They estimate that every week in the UK at least 12 young people die suddenly from undiagnosed heart conditions. I was nearly one of those people. Now I’ve got a second chance, I want to make it count.”
To make sure people actually stop and talk to him about the cause, he’s riding a bike made of wood – walnut and ash. Handcrafted in Belgium by Zafi, the bike is a rolling conversation starter, featuring a custom 3D-printed saddle (made from an imprint of his own backside) and a dynamo hub to power his electronics off-grid.
The route is massive. Leaving from his parents’ home in Canterbury on June 10, Tom will head through Europe to Istanbul, then through Georgia and “the stans” – Kazakhstan, Uzbekistan, and Kyrgyzstan – before hitting China, Singapore, Indonesia, and finally Australia.
Tom said: “Four years ago, I was lying in a hospital bed wondering if I’d ever be able to ride to the shops again, let alone across a continent. To go from that hollow feeling of having my future pulled out from under me to standing here, ready to cycle around the world on a bike made of walnut and ash, feels like I’ve finally taken my life back.”
He’s already a seasoned traveller, having used his TUI staff perks, where he works as a Marketing Executive, to explore places like Guatemala, Costa Rica, and North Macedonia, but this is different. This time, there’s no return flight booked.
To prepare, Tom reached out to George and Joshua Kohler, the father-and-son duo who recently smashed three world records by cycling 30,000km around the planet and gained a huge social media following. Tom, who himself is building an impressive social media following on the handle @cyling_tom, even joined them for the final few days of their tour in Norfolk to pick their brains. “It turned out to be one of the best decisions I’ve made,” Tom says. He told the pair: “My route is so similar to yours it’s untrue. The random places I’ll go , knowing you have been there too! I’m eternally grateful!”. He spent the miles peppering the record-holders with questions about everything from kit to how many socks to pack.
It’s a daunting plan, especially for his mum, Bonnie, who spent years watching his heart rate hit 200bpm while he was just sitting still. Tom is honest about the parts that worry him, too. He’ll be wild camping and living on a tight budget. “It’s difficult to make good decisions when you’re tired and hungry,” he says. “I guess feeling scared at night is also a concern of mine.”
What keeps him going is the sense of independence he first discovered on a trip to Italy in 2019. For Tom, this isn’t just a holiday; it’s about proving that his future wasn’t taken away by a diagnosis. As he puts it, you can be in the most average place in the world, but the right people and the freedom of the road make the experience something money can’t buy.
Tom sets off on June 10, and you can find out more about his journey online and donate to his cause here.
