"There was a time when I was constantly stressed. Rich or poor, life only has 24 hours a day, so I chose to balance life and work," said Mr. Tung about his motivation to "retire early" when he had savings and investments.
Thanh Tung in Iceland glacier
Unemployed man travels to 20 countries
Unemployment is how Mr. Tung often jokes about himself, but in fact he always believes that early retirement does not mean doing nothing, but switching to another job to have the right to choose his time, pursue his hobbies and passions.
Before, when he was still working at the company, he still took advantage of his few days off to travel domestically and explore the beauty of nature. However, most of the trips, he could not completely separate himself from work, so he always felt constrained in both time and mind.
The time when he clearly felt his passion for exploration was in 2013, when he received the decision of the group to be seconded to Cambodia. Feeling interested in the differences between the cultures of different countries, a year later he traveled to Singapore during his vacation. In the Lion Island, he was overwhelmed by the modernity and civilization of this country. From here, he built a long-term goal for himself to travel around the world.
Five years later, after he had prepared himself financially and quit his job, he spent a lot of money on buying a house, a car, and traveling. Within a year, his personal world map had 20 red ticks, marking the places he had been to in Asia, Europe, and America, before being temporarily suspended due to Covid-19.
For him, traveling is an experience where he finds new things as well as the most excitement and comfort. Therefore, he tries different types and forms of travel such as motorbike touring, mountain climbing or maybe vacationing in an expensive place.
The destinations he chose were not yet popular with tourists, of which the most impressive journey was to Trolltunga, a favorite hiking spot of tourists around the world in Norway. He had no plans to go to Trolltunga, until he met a Taiwanese friend in the Netherlands who was preparing to conquer this cliff.
As soon as he saw the photo of Trolltunga, he was extremely excited and decided to go from the land of windmills to Norway. Trolltunga is 1,100 m above sea level and precariously towers about 700 m above the surface of Skjeggedal Lake. He came here in the summer so the weather was warm and the sun almost never set. He planned to conquer the cliff and go down during the day. However, suddenly the clouds came, covering the space, making him and his companions lose their direction. Surrounded by high cliffs, they could not move but sat still, surrounded by an eerie silence. They experienced insecurity and thought of the worst situation. Luckily, 3 hours later the clouds gradually cleared, the barking of the group of tourists on the cliff tore apart the gloom. Thinking back now, he still cannot forget the feeling of relief when escaping danger and the overwhelming feeling when standing before the majestic nature.
Besides Norway, Iceland is also a country "beyond Tung's imagination". The road leading from the international airport to the tourist destination is very impressive with endless ranges of rocky mountains and volcanic fields. The ice island is extremely large but the population is very sparse. The landscape here is diverse with ice, water, and fire, making him feel like he is lost in another planet, then poetic with the purple Lupine fields blooming all over the horizon.
After each trip, he realized that his thoughts and perspectives gradually changed thanks to the knowledge about culture, people, and history. Especially, he realized that climate change and urbanization are destroying the natural beauty of the world. He said that the destination on his dream list after Covid-19 ends will be Africa, to admire the pristine beauty that he fears will no longer exist.
5 years one goal
Tung shared that he does not consider travel blogging as a job to earn money, so he can travel comfortably without pressure. To do that, he prepared for 5 years to be financially independent.
Since he was the business director of a technology corporation, he invested in stocks and started a spa chain. He saved his income from his main job to buy stocks of the company he was working for, because he felt the corporation would grow in the future. In 2017, his assets tripled when the company went public.
He invested part of his capital in startups. Initially, there was only one location in Ho Chi Minh City, then each year there were 10-15 branches in Vietnam, Laos and Cambodia. After 3 years, the startup was successfully transferred to an investment fund. Since the end of 2018, becoming a "rich" person, he decided to spend time on his own hobbies.
The apartment balcony was converted into a lotus pond so his wife could have space to take photos during the days of social distancing.
On the last day before saying goodbye to the job he had been attached to since his student days, memories flooded back to him like a slow-motion film. Growing up in an ordinary family in Nghe An and losing his father early, he struggled on his own as a student at Hanoi University of Science and Technology. Tung's first jobs included distributing flyers and managing the flyer distribution area. One of his part-time jobs as a student helped him become a sales employee in a technology corporation. With his "huge" sales achievements, signing 220 contracts to install Internet for households in one month, he was specially promoted to head of the sales department before graduating from university. In 2014, after 5 years of officially joining the company, he took on the position of sales director.
From a dreamy young man who went to the city with the goal of buying a guitar, a motorbike, a camera, he now owns a penthouse in a suburban area, a luxury car and especially the journeys that many people dream of. During the days when international travel was temporarily suspended due to the pandemic, he got married. Together they took domestic trips and vacations.
To ease his nostalgia for the days of traveling, he created a blog to share photos and travel experiences, and also renovated his living space with bonsai and lotus ponds in his apartment. He said that when Covid-19 is under control, he will continue to fulfill his dream of traveling around the world. He spends this time sharing his travel inspiration with many people, thereby conveying the message of environmental protection to those who love to travel.
According to VnExpress
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