By the time most people are still debating their next city break, one avid secondary school teacher has already crossed deserts, rainforests, megacities and mountain ranges on six continents.
This year Bradford-born explorer, Imran Fazil, intends to step onto Antarctica – completing a personal ambition to set foot on every continent on Earth.
It is a goal shaped less by luxury than by curiosity.
Fazil has travelled to 51 countries so far, moving fast and light, favouring experiences over indulgence. Hiking trails, long scenic drives and local museums matter more to him than five-star hotels or fine dining. The payoff, he says, is memory rather than luxury – and the freedom to travel more often.
Antarctica, the last blank space on his map, has been years in the making. His plan is to travel first through Argentina before embarking on an expedition cruise from Ushuaia, the southernmost city in the world, across the Drake Passage to the white continent.
“I’m excited to see the enormous icebergs, the wildlife, the dramatic landscapes,” Fazil says.
“There are things you can only experience there – the midnight sun, the aurora australis, the feeling of standing somewhere so untouched.”
The journey will cap a decade of tightly planned travel, fitted around work, family life and responsibility. Fazil does not disappear for months at a time. Instead, he builds short, focused trips into the gaps of everyday life, an approach he says has allowed him to see far more of the world than traditional long-haul holidays ever could.
Of all the continents he has explored, Asia holds the deepest pull. “It’s the most blissful and diverse,” he says, pointing to its scale, landscapes and cultural depth.
Japan remains his standout destination – a place where futuristic cities sit alongside ancient rituals, where natural beauty is matched by a culture of respect and hospitality.
Travel, for Fazil, has also become a way of understanding faith, gratitude and perspective. “It’s opened my eyes to different cultures and expanded my horizons,” he adds.
“It brings a sense of wonder and gratitude into my life. Alhamdulillah.”
Along the way, he has also ticked off six of the world’s seven New Wonders – milestones that many travellers only dream of. They include the Colosseum, Christ the Redeemer, Machu Picchu, Chichén Itzá, Petra and the Great Wall of China.
Only one remains.
After Antarctica, Fazil hopes to visit the Taj Mahal, completing not just a checklist, but a personal chapter of exploration that has reshaped how he sees the world.
His guiding principle is simple, and borrowed from a line often attributed to St Augustine: ‘the world is a book, and those who do not travel read only one page’. For Imran Fazil, the pages are nearly all turned. Only the last, frozen chapter remains.
