How was Travel With Lens began?
As someone who had worked six days a week for years, I was hoping to find a job that would allow me to fulfill my passion for traveling. After much consideration, I boldly quit my full-time corporate work in 1997, expecting that opening a pharmacy as my small business would give me more freedom and control over my schedule.
I thought being the owner would allow me to dictate when I opened and closed the shop, but I soon discovered I needed to be corrected. Despite my assumption that I had complete control, the problem of managing a small business must be hands-on, from cash flow, customer demands, and the need for personal attention trapped me in the shop. In the end, I worked six and a half days a week. This experience was worse than working in a corporate job, as it felt like I was constantly tethered to my business.
After realizing that working online would offer me more flexibility, I decided to make a significant career change. In 2010, I sold my pharmacy and began focusing on producing content for YouTube and blogging. Although the transition could have been smoother, I still needed to work in a restaurant to supplement my income and fulfill my aspiration to travel.
At first, I created videos and wrote blogs about food closely related to the restaurant. After a few years, my content began to gain traction, and I started to explore local travel destinations. This led me to create Travel With Lens, a new channel where I could document my experiences traveling in Malaysia. That was three years ago.
Suddenly the pandemic hit, everything came to a halt, and my plans for traveling and creating content for my channel were put on hold. Establishing a new channel was crumbling because no one wanted to read my blog, as no one could travel. The initial growth and achievements that I had seen suddenly dwindled to nearly non-existent.
However, as the movement control order was gradually lifted in October 2021, I could see a glimmer of hope on the horizon. I started to travel again, beginning with Kuala Lumpur and then taking day trips to nearby areas before eventually traveling further afield to East Malaysia and other countries.
Around this time, my wife sold off her cafe business and decided to join me on my travels, exploring the places on our bucket list together.
We have been actively traveling
Since then, my wife and I have had the opportunity to explore many places both locally and overseas. In Malaysia, we have traveled to Kuala Lumpur, Penang, Malaka, Ipoh, Cameron Highlands, and Langkawi, except for a few trips overseas. In our recent travels to East Malaysia, we visited several locations, including Sandakan, Sepilok, Kinabatangan, Tabin, Kota Kinablu, Kundasang, and Mount Kinabalu. We have also been to Antarctica and Bhutan recently.
As we continue our travels, the next destination will be Sarawak, where we plan to visit Miri, Mulu, and Bario. We also plan to visit New Zealand and Hong Kong since our family and relatives live in those areas. It’s exciting to explore new places and create content that can showcase the beauty and uniqueness of each location.
Our goal
Now that the travel sector is gradually recovering, we have set clear goals for Travel With Lens. Our primary goal is to cover as many places as possible within Malaysia to promote our country. The secondary goal is to fulfill our wish to visit the places on our bucket list abroad. We are glad that the page views of our blog are growing, which motivates us to improve the quality, content, and delivery style of our travel experiences.
Our content is unique
With this new beginning, my wife and I have made plans to visit various locations throughout Malaysia, gradually building up our content to cover every nook and corner of our country. We know many content creators are doing something similar, so we have decided to focus on our personal experiences and provide our thoughts from our perspective.
- Presenting our content in a documentary format to provide an immersive experience for viewers.
- Leveraging my skills as a photography and videography enthusiast to capture the best footage possible.
- Creating content in both video and blog formats to cater to different types of internet users.
- Presenting our content in English to reach a wider audience, especially international travelers interested in visiting Malaysia.
You can click on the links provided to view our YouTube channel, travel blog, and Facebook page for Travel With Lens.