He Took a 3-Week Trip to Thailand—Then Quit His Corporate Career and Never Looked Back | Bill Mullen

The Thought Atlas Podcast · Sep 27, 2026 · 1h 10m

What happens when a three-week vacation makes you question the life you’ve been building?

Bill Mullen, better known to travelers as “Bangkok Bill,” spent years working in corporate leadership before deciding that the life he was living wasn’t the life he wanted. He describes the work as a grind and says he felt he was making other people rich rather than building the life he had envisioned for himself.

Then he finally went to Thailand.

What began as an “epic” three-week vacation became the turning point. When Bill returned to the United States, he walked into his boss’s office and gave three…