Couple has abandoned well -paid careers in technology to travel the world

Darien Tan can still remember very well when he almost lost his life.

Tan had an imminent death experience while participating in the annual retirement of his company in San Francisco last year. The 26 -year -old had held a sales station with a hotel technology company after graduating from the National University of Singapore in January 2024.

“So, after all the retreat, we were on the way back to the airport. It was then that we entered a really, very bad car accident where the van that we were survived at least five times,” Tan told Business Insider.

“In one way or another, by the grace of God, each of us survived,” continued Tan.

But the incident became an alarm clock to Tan on what he wanted to continue in life.

“It was in a way my point of rupture. I wondered:” Hey, if I had to die at that time, would I have been satisfied with the life I chose to lead? “” Said Tan.

The incident would eventually change Tan spectacular.

Abandon their well -paid technological jobs to travel

In September, Tan and his wife, Joanna Wong left their jobs full -time in technology to travel the world. Tan and Wong told BI that they had an annual combined income of around $ 250,000 in Singapore or about $ 185,000 at the time.

Wong, 26, graduated from nudes in 2022 and worked as a designer of the user experience for about three years when she decided to leave and travel with her husband.

Wong told Bi that even if she had not experienced a “breakdown” like Tan, she found herself in the grip with professional exhaustion.

“I think that when you are in a job, you can sometimes take care of yourself very busy with work, and you do not have the mental space and the ability to think about what you want to do,” said Wong. “I didn’t have time to think about my future.”

Tan said he didn’t feel satisfied with work either.

“I have not seen how much the offers concluded on a daily basis would make me feel accomplished, in addition to the financial aspects of it. I do not see how the sale of technological software will make the world a better place,” said Tan.

Find a good place to live

The couple started in Bali, where they lived for about a month. Wong said the time spent in Bali allowed him and Tan to recover from their exhaustion and to consider what they wanted to get out of the trip.

“In terms of career, our environment in Singapore always makes a point that you need to know what you want to do. And then in terms of who to get married, you are encouraged to have a spouse because it gives you access to things like housing,” said Tan.

“But where to live, I think that many of us always take this by default. We don’t really have that chance of traveling with the aim of possibly deciding,” do we want to continue living in Singapore, or do we prefer elsewhere? “” He added.

Since then, Tan and Wong have lived in Indonesia, Thailand and China. The couple said they were still on the road, although they were not excluded back to Singapore.

Tan told Bi that he and Wong use their savings to finance their travels. He added that they also earned income from the rental of their apartment and the independent work company.

“We give ourselves a monthly budget of 3,000 Dollars from Singapore. In a few months, we spend too much so we try to make it known,” said Tan.

“It has been a good budget for us so far. We can generally allow ourselves of the things we want to eat and places to stay. We don’t think we compromise a lot in terms of cleanliness or security,” he added.

While most young professionals will be busy trying to climb the business scale, Tan and Wong said they were not too embarrassed by the path they had chosen.

“Anxiety generally comes every time there is no plan. But for us, we are satisfied with the idea that our savings decrease,” said Tan.

He added that their couple philosophy, in the end, is to spend their money “do things we want to do in life”, rather than “postpone” it for a moment that may never come.