"Marry me, and let's travel the world together," was the proposal, considered a significant milestone, from Trinh Nam Thai to his life partner, Pham Bich Ngoc. To fulfill this promise, he and his wife embarked on a "slow travel" adventure, thoroughly exploring 30 countries and dreaming of traveling the globe in the future.

“My passion for travel began with a cross-Vietnam trip in 2017, visiting all 63 provinces and cities, admiring the beauty of every region of the country. After that, I officially traveled abroad for the first time to Thailand. In the blink of an eye, we’ve visited 30 countries!”, Trinh Nam Thai recounted.

Belonging to the early 90s generation, Trinh Nam Thai's first road trips began six years ago when he proposed to his wife, Pham Bich Ngoc, with a promise to "travel the world with her." Currently, he and his wife are on a road trip around the world to fulfill that promise. To date, they have visited 30 countries.

Sharing his inspiration for exploring new places, Trinh Nam Thai said: “The world is vast and boundless. Since I was a child, I've loved watching travel shows. As I grew up, social media developed, and the beautiful photos of nature around the world made me yearn to see them firsthand, touch exotic flowers, or climb exciting mountain cliffs in my imagination. These are the main factors that led to my decision to travel, and we share quite a similar interest.”

Trinh Nam Thai currently works in IT, and Pham Bich Ngoc is a translator; in addition, both are involved in business. Therefore, arranging their time flexibly isn't too difficult. "My wife and I are pursuing our dream of traveling the world together, a long-term plan, but there's no pressure to ever finish it," Trinh Nam Thai said.

The balance between work and travel has given Bich Ngoc and Nam Thai many memorable experiences. They combine work and travel, dedicating 6 to 10 hours a day to leisure activities.

With the philosophy that when you set foot in a country, you should explore it thoroughly from beginning to end, Trinh Nam Thai always discovers many interesting, unique, and even the simplest things on each trip.

“Both my wife and I are the type of people who ‘travel slowly,’ visiting a country from beginning to end, choosing the ideal season to go, so we find beauty everywhere. Each trip to a country or region has its own unique characteristics, but if I had to choose, I'd prefer San Marino. It's a small country within Italy, and their immense national pride and self-respect have allowed them to protect their small territory and still thrive today,” Trinh Nam Thai said.

Of his trips to 30 countries, Trinh Nam Thai was most impressed by his trips to Italy and France.

"We arrived in France during the Cannes Film Festival and got to see famous stars walking the red carpet, such as Johnny Depp, Fan Bingbing, and many other prominent figures."

Even more memorable, during a trip to the island of Ischia, Italy, while filming from a mountaintop, the drone lost signal and crashed into the dense forest at the highest point. The next day, he spent hours searching but couldn't find it. Two weeks after leaving, the hotel where he had stayed called to say someone had found it and asked for his address so they could return it to him.

The most important things that Trinh Nam Thai emphasized during his trips were: physical fitness, time, and the limits of one's own understanding.

According to him, traveling extensively requires physical fitness. Young people want to explore many things, are curious about everything they encounter, and want to learn about it to make the trip more interesting. However, long journeys mean you won't have enough time to research everything beforehand. This also meant that sometimes, when he and his wife encountered areas with little information, they would make hasty choices. Fortunately, their prior experience helped them make more informed decisions, resulting in memorable trips every time.

When asked about his plans for his next trip, Trinh Nam Thai said: “For us, travel is life and life is travel, so we will always travel and prepare for the next trip. Since we just completed a 3-month trip, we will probably rest for a while. Then, when autumn arrives in Northern Europe, we might visit Norway for about a month to see the autumn foliage. I heard that autumn there is very beautiful.”

Seeing the vast world, experiencing different cultures, learning new things in life, or feeling the changing climate of each region are the greatest things the couple gains from each trip. More importantly, they feel their hearts are full, living more slowly and happily each day.

"Everyone is born with a unique DNA code, so they will find happiness in their own unique way. No matter who you are or what you do, find what truly makes you happy. If you have a dream, start pursuing it, even if it's just the smallest thing! Because having a dream is already a wonderful thing," Trinh Nam Thai shared with readers who love to travel.