Time is Nothing

We’ve all had dreams of world travel, but how many of us actually fulfill it? Most of the human race’s aspirations get constricted and confined once we establish a family, a house, a job etc. You can make a million excuses for putting off something as life-impacting as traveling the world. Kien Lam was one of the brave few who chose to break loose from the chains of our sedentary society.

One day Kien just looked at his life, saw the lack of excitement and adventure, and quit his job. Days later he grabbed his Panasonic Lumix GF-1, packed his bags and bought a one-way ticket to London. It became a one-way ticket to liberation. From San Francisco to London, Argentina to Thailand, Kien took life day by day, going where he wanted to go when he wanted to go there. If he started to get bored of a country or was too eager to move on to the next, he would do so. Boredom was never the case.

This lifestyle went on for 343 days, in 17 countries, chronicled in 6237 photographs. He ate, he drank, he toured, he scuba dived. Without the constraints of working-class life, Kien Lam was free to do anything, and he did. If you’re wondering about his income and how he was economically able to embark on such a journey, the answer is easy. He saved. And actually, after calculating the monthly expenses of living in San Francisco versus the cash he spent experiencing the world, the world ended up being cheaper.

So really there’s no excuse not to follow such a dream. Once an ordinary strategist at a financial firm (just the sound of the occupation makes me want to take my life), Kien is now a fulfilled photographer, the first of his major works being “Time is Nothing”, a time-lapse video he compiled with his 6237 photographs in order to share the world with the world. If time is money, and time is nothing, money is nothing. Forget about chasing the dollar and start chasing your dream. Remember, Dream, Live, Fly!