Saad
The road he's taken to get here.
The road he's taken to get here.
I've hitchhiked nearly every corner of Pakistan and spent years in the country across multiple trips. The north — Gilgit-Baltistan, the KKH corridor and beyond — I've been through several times, unhurried. I know the route well past where this expedition's itinerary ends. Junoon isn't a name I chose for a brand. It's a word I've carried since my first time through the north.
I'm Pakistani-American. Urdu, Hindi, Punjabi. I move through Pakistan the way neither a Western tourist nor a local operator does — not translating from the outside, not missing what the outside sees. The languages matter. The cultural literacy matters more.
The broader record: 93 countries over nine years. Hiked the Darién Gap. Hitchhiked through Sudan during the revolution. A month in Afghanistan. Rode the Pan-American Highway from the American South to Ecuador. Commercial fishing in Alaska every summer since 2020. Non-standard conditions are where I operate best — and where I've learned most of what I know.
Junoon Journeys has been years in the making. Pakistan's north was always the obvious starting point: tourism just beginning to arrive, a route I know beyond any itinerary, terrain that hasn't been packaged. In early 2026, the timing finally aligned. September 19.
جنون
I'm not pretending to be the operational expert on every road. Junoon Journeys is built by combining my lived connection to Pakistan with operators who have run this specific corridor professionally for over a decade. Here's what that actually means.
Pakistani-American with Urdu, Hindi, and Punjabi. I move through Pakistan from the inside — not translating from outside, not missing what an outsider sees.
Multiple trips through Pakistan's north. The KKH corridor and beyond — I know this route past where this expedition ends.
Long-distance motorcycle travel across the Pan-American Highway. 93 countries over nine years, including extended time in difficult-access environments: Darién Gap, Sudan during the revolution, Afghanistan.
Commercial fishing in Alaska since 2020 — remote, high-stakes, physical work. Not the same as motorcycle travel, but the same kind of operating: conditions are real, mistakes have weight, the team matters.
Built with Pakistan Bikers — 10+ years on these specific roads, with these specific bikes, handling permits, support vehicle, mechanic, and on-road logistics.
My role: design the journey, curate the group, communicate with riders, and host the experience on the ground. Their role: execute the road. That division exists because it's the right way to build this.
These expeditions are built with Pakistan Bikers — ten years operating on these specific roads with the bikes, permits, and support infrastructure this terrain demands. They handle the logistics. I design the journey and lead it on the ground.
A dedicated support vehicle follows the group for all 14 days. A licensed mechanic rides with us — because on the Karakoram, mechanical problems are a question of when, not if. Accommodations, route coordination, and daily planning are locked before we leave Islamabad.
The goal is a journey that feels raw and real — because it is — with the structure behind it that makes that possible safely.
Junoon Journeys is the first in a larger series — expeditions built around words that don't fully translate. Words you have to move through to understand. Pakistan is the first. The word is جنون. Others will follow.
What is Junoon? →Questions about the expedition, the application, or anything else — reach out directly. Every message gets a personal reply.