Meet the Intrepid chief getting on the market and giving again in Vietnam

Vuong Truong has just lately marked his fifteenth yr main Intrepid adventures by means of his dwelling nation of Vietnam. However relatively than have a good time his milestone with cake (the plain selection), he turned to his area people and set a purpose to offer again in an even bigger means than ever earlier than. 

Once I sit down with Vuong throughout his current go to to Melbourne, immediately he tells me in a soft-spoken manner to easily name him V. 

He retains up this light tone all through our 20-minute dialog, wrapped up in an optimistic disposition and a breezy confidence round who he’s and the way he chooses to dwell his life.   

I realise he’s someway captured an ease of present on this planet in a means that I’ve solely ever examine in books about gratitude and happiness. And though he wasn’t making an attempt to be profound, V opened my eyes to what a few of these dust-covered paperbacks on my bookshelf had tried actually arduous to make me imagine. That happiness, or not less than moments of happiness, are easy to search out if you understand how to search for them. 

Going after it 

V has been main Intrepid journeys for a formidable 15 years, however his enthusiasm for getting out and about has been round even longer. 

He tells me that earlier than he was born, his father drove a truck alongside the Ho Chi Minh path in the course of the Vietnam Conflict. After the warfare, he purchased an outdated bus and labored as a bus driver whereas V was younger, taking individuals throughout Vietnam. This meant he didn’t see his dad usually, however each time summer season holidays rolled round, V would be a part of him on journeys throughout the nation. 

‘I travelled on my father’s bus after I was little or no and noticed lovely views alongside the street, and I mentioned to myself: yeah, I need to see all of them,’ he tells me, with a contact of child-like pleasure nonetheless recognisable in his voice. 

Younger V determined the simplest solution to do exactly that may be to work in tourism. He’d get to do what he liked most and receives a commission for it.  

However, as he grew up, he realised his childhood dream wouldn’t be that straightforward to achieve. 

‘In Vietnam, you want a bachelor’s diploma to work in tourism. So, I needed to examine very arduous in highschool [to get into university]. It was all about simply sleeping and learning,’ he says. 

‘I used to be profitable and I received into college, and after I left I began work as a tour information immediately. I didn’t waste any time.’   

After a few yr main travellers round northern Vietnam, he noticed a chance to work with Intrepid and went for it. 

Now, over a decade and a half later he says, ‘I actually really feel working for Intrepid has helped me to be a greater model of myself, to be a greater individual to society.’ 

‘Intrepid really look after the native communities and that’s very significant to me,’ he continues. 

Doing one thing extra 

Main Intrepid journeys fulfils his want to get on the market and see his dwelling nation, however V says he additionally appreciates Intrepid’s dedication to creating a constructive mark on the locations they go. 

Intrepid journeys assist community-led experiences around the globe. And The Intrepid Basis offers travellers the chance to find out about and provides again to impression companions who’re championing essential causes in additional than 35 international locations.  

In Vietnam, quite a few journeys go to Vun Artwork, an Intrepid Basis associate that gives job coaching and employment alternatives to individuals with disabilities. It’s estimated that greater than 1.4 million individuals with disabilities are unemployed throughout Vietnam as a result of social stigmas and a scarcity of appropriate jobs. Vun Artwork are on a mission to alter that. 

They educate individuals to make handicrafts and attire utilizing discarded fragments of native silk. If you end up on a Tailor-Made journey in Vietnam, pay attention to the particular Intrepid tote bag you obtain, which have all been created by the crew at Vun Artwork. 

V says spending time at Vun Artwork – whether or not taking travellers to go to or volunteering with the Intrepid crew – paired along with his impending work anniversary impressed him to need to do much more. 

‘I mentioned to myself: it’s time to do one thing extra; it’s time to offer one thing again.’ 

So when he heard about The Intrepid Basis’s 2023 International Chief Problem, which inspired Intrepid leaders around the globe to have a good time and share extra concerning the non-profit and their impression companions, he was all in. He got down to ‘do one thing extra’ for his native basis companions, Vun Artwork and Wild Act, one other impression associate in Vietnam which runs academic packages and works with native communities to encourage chicken conservation. 

He passionately shared their messages about equality and conservation along with his travellers and raised important funds for each causes. However V stands by his outlook. ‘It’s not concerning the cash; it’s concerning the which means.’ 

V in the end received the worldwide problem and was prized with a visit to Intrepid’s headquarters in Melbourne, Australia. He was on the town for Intrepid’s International Summit, a week-long celebration for Intrepid employees that appears again on every thing the crew achieved within the earlier yr and the place they’re going within the yr forward. 

That’s what life’s about, proper? 

As we sat collectively in Melbourne, I requested V what he liked most about his job as an Intrepid chief. He merely responded, ‘I assist individuals to take pleasure in their journey in my nation. I assist the area people to get assist. That’s what life is about, proper?’  

V wasn’t incorrect – analysis revealed by the Larger Good Science Heart at UC Berkeley exhibits hyperlinks between giving again and elevated general well being, psychological well being and wellbeing, together with a higher degree of happiness.  

In a basic case of rooster or egg, I don’t know what got here first for V – whether or not his dedication to giving again to the area people expenses his optimistic outlook or whether or not being such a constructive individual is the explanation he likes to assist others in his group. However I do know that no matter it’s, he might write a e-book about it.  

Take a look at The Intrepid Basis’s current Affect Report, which dives into how the inspiration helps travellers give again and shares insider tales from their impression companions. To listen to extra from V, discover Intrepid’s checklist of Vietnam adventures and also you could be fortunate sufficient to land your self on one in all his journeys.