Aung San Suu Kyi has arrived in Switzerland - her first stop on a packed European tour - to address a UN meeting.
The Burmese opposition leader's arrival marks her first visit to Europe for 24 years, after spending many years under house arrest in her home country.
As she prepared for the trip, she told reporters in Burma: "Each country will be different. I will know how backward [Burma] is when I reach the other countries," reports the BBC. It is her second international trip since her release from house arrest in 2010.
Aung San Suu Kyi will address the UN's International Labour Organisation later on the subject of child workers
The former political prisoner arrives in Britain on Tuesday, her 67th birthday, and is expected to be reunited with members of her family, including her two grandchildren, whom she has never met.
In an unlikely meeting, the pro-democracy campaigner is also to rendezvous with DJ David Lee Travis, better known as the 'Hairy Cornflake.'
Aung San Suu Kyi has spoken of her love for the broadcaster before, telling The Radio Times that whilst under house arrest, she was a big fan of his BBC's World Service show.
"It made my world much more complete" she told the magazine.
“We listen to the radio much more than the average person who’s not under house arrest and we listen much more carefully because that’s really our only line to the outside world.”
David Lee Travis was known as the hairy cornflake as a nod to his bewhiskered appearance and also because he presented the BBC Radio One's Breakfast Show
.
The Burmese opposition leader is also due to be presented with an honorary doctorate from Oxford. She studied at the university and met her husband there, the academic Michael Aris, with whom she had two sons.
For many years she was separated from her family, and when her husband died of cancer in 1999, she was unable to be with him in his final moments, for fears that if she left Burma, she would not be allowed back into the country.
Aung San Suu Kyi will visit five European countries as part of her tour
In London she will be honoured with an address to both houses of Parliament, reports The Guardian, a mark of respect usually only conferred upon heads of state.
During her 17-day trip which will also involve visits to Norway, France and Ireland, Aung San Suu Kyi's will receive her Nobel Peace Prize, 21 years after she was awarded the distinction.
Continuing her passive resistance of the ruling military junta, she believed her country needed her presence and so felt unable to collect the prize in person. Her husband attended on her behalf.
'The Lady' as she is known in Burma, will also be presented with an award from Amnesty International at a concert held in her honour in Dublin. U2 singer Bono will hand her the Ambassador of Conscience award.