When fate saves your life 4 times within 7 days

Introduce yourself in a few words..

My name is Biser Kunchev, author of https://careerdailynews.com/ - a modern and intuitive career media, created entirely with artificial intelligence. The platform combinesinteresting opportunities for building and presenting personal, corporate, and employer branding, through content generation in 10 different categories. It is also developing as a storytelling for career philosophy, experience, and inspiration, thanks to the engaged individuals from all industries of business. 

In my career development, I have managed projects in the fields of “Marketing and Advertising” and “Human Resources”, as well as being a radio and television host.

What is your travel experience around the world?

Traveling around the world is a challenge that is unmatched by any other feeling we have. It opens our senses to the fullest. However, each of us sees and is impressed by different things in the same place. Traveling is a film that everyone tells in their unique way. It is a mirror of ourselves. Everyone sees what they reflect and describes all our internal attitudes towards life as a whole. Traveling is a reality in which each of us wants to be. It is as we want it to be.

How many different countries have you seen so far? Share an interesting story or highlights from your travels?

You have seen a lot when you stop counting, and this fact does not impress you at all. Every trip offers and implies experiences that we tell to family and friends. But, I cannot help but share one of them, which can make me shiver, even just when I think of or write about it. The year is 2016. My wife and I went on what is called a “honeymoon” in Thailand. We combined a 5-day stay in Bangkok and 8 days in Koh Samui. On the last day in the Thai capital, we went for a walk in one of the parks, called Chatuchak, where one of the largest open-air markets in the world is located with 15,000 stalls and nearly 200,000 visitors daily. In the park, we met an old Thai woman, who while selling us a grass mat looked me straight in the eyes and said, “You will never go home!”

To be honest, I accepted her words without paying any special attention. The next day we went to Samui, where we were greeted by two other Bulgarian families, our close friends from Sofia. We settled in, planned 3 excursions, and started enjoying our stay in a small beach house (coming from a room on the 74th floor in Bangkok, in the famous Baiyoke Sky hotel). And….everything started somewhere here. On our first excursion, we climbed a steep mountain with a rope, on a hiking path that was very extreme, with many sections where the rope was essential for our safety. At one point, I lost my balance and fell, but I managed to land on a rock, which sitting down did not cause damage, but scraped both my legs and tore my shoes. A random Danish man passing by shared his spare pair with me so I could get back down. So far so good… I got away with it… I didn’t even think of the old Thai woman, I decided it was a temporary lack of concentration. On the same excursion, a second challenge came. My wife and I had to paddle with a canoe, passing through a dangerous lagoon. Moreover, instead of the Thais following the procedure and having one person in front of the boats and one behind the whole group, we were left last. This foretold surprises… and they became a reality. We had to pass under the rocks of the lagoon, with extremely sharp multiple peaks, literally lying down in the canoe to pass. But both of us are very tall, which added a bit of tension. At one point, our canoe capsized and… thank goodness we were wearing life jackets, as neither of us are good swimmers. Instinctively, we both kept calm, I took the paddle and with one hand supported myself on the sharp-edged rock behind us, while with the other we held onto the canoe. The waves were coming, despite the lagoon, and we were already looking a bit scared, because no one heard our cries for help. At one moment, I lost the paddle, which meant that on the next wave it would be dangerous, as it could literally push us into the sharp rocks… and that’s what happened, while we continued to shout for help. At one moment, one of our friends recognized our voices and sent help, but while the Thais arrived, I had to push off and push away from the rock due to the next wave. Just before help arrived, this action of mine (to understand the sharpness of the rocks) led to tearing flesh from the two fingers I pushed off the rock with. Yes, the rescuers arrived at the last possible second, we got back on the canoe, to finish the route… after this story, I still didn’t connect it with the Thai woman. We continued on… to the next excursion… there we rode an elephant… which went crazy… started to thrash around the moment the mini bananas we were kindly offering as a paid extra attraction ran out. It became terrifying… the Thai man got down to calm it down and together we decided not to complete the entire journey, but to return to the platform for disembarking. But, the elephant did not extend a leg for the Thai man to get back on to take us away. The thrashing continued… the boy managed to get on at one point and told us to keep quiet and not to exclaim anything. We returned home with difficulty and a lot of trembling. The crucial moment was when the bananas ran out and I told my wife not to reach for its trunk and not to tempt it that we had more. Six days later in the same park, a similar story unfolded, which is documented online with an Englishman aged 36 and his 16-year-old daughter. The moment came with the finished bananas and they reached for the elephant's trunk and probably the same elephant went crazy again… killed the father, injured the Thai man, the daughter managed to escape and tells the story, which we saw with our own eyes a week before, but with a successful ending in our case. Now there were 3 stories with luck… was there something else ahead? What do you think… yes, of course… we took a speedboat two days later to visit an island about 2 and a half hours from Samui. Everything was fine when just before we reached the island, a terrible wave came, in which people started to vomit, and an English girl fainted… the return was a nightmare like in the movies. The captain of the speedboat after two hours on the island told us “Look me in the eyes and listen carefully, if you want to get home alive…”… this statement stunned every single one of the passengers, who were over 30. Some of them decided to stay overnight on the island, others bought tickets for a big ship… at that moment I decided to change our transport as well, because the view was terrifying. And, we couldn’t stay because the forecast was for 2 days of storm and we would miss our flight to Bulgaria. It was real luck that I had money, considering that these excursions were all-inclusive for food and accommodation. I had just enough to buy tickets for a huge catamaran for 460 people. The last possible tickets... we boarded. As we went out into open sea, the nightmare was titanic… huge waves, and the catamaran was flying and at every landing the danger of capsizing was colossal. They hermetically closed the doors, stopped the air conditioning, and the staff turned pale. Before long, people started to scream, pray, vomit… the sea somehow opened up, we fell into a hole with huge waves, black as tar. The adrenaline displaced the fear, no one could think clearly, the noise inside became increasingly unbearable… everyone was praying in whatever language they knew. All of this lasted 3 hours and a bit… we arrived alive, thank God… the chance for me for this to happen was less than 1 percent… a unique nightmare… that could only be seen in the movies… well, then I thought of the Thai woman… and fear seriously overtook me. I wondered what else was ahead… returning to our house, I read that the Thai Ministry of Tourism had announced a 3-day ban on entering open sea… but, since they sold us the excursions, they don’t refund money… they decided to try, whatever happens… We returned to Sofia and I often think of this case. And not only that… I wrote a book, available in 20 languages, I have a draft script for a film, written by a cousin of the famous Bulgarian actor Yuliyan Kostov. I tried to turn the story into a film, but after meeting with well-known Bulgarian companies and people, it turned out that this is an extremely expensive undertaking… but, who knows… one day..

The story became long, but you can see that there was no way I could not share it. I will even add a short continuation, which does not fall short of the narrative so far in any way. Two years later, again with my wife, just the two of us, we visited 8 cities in Japan. Even on the first day in Tokyo, something else interesting happened, which also makes me seriously tremble… at the pagoda “Asakusa Senso-ji” there was an opportunity to draw a fortune outside. The funny thing was that it could be “good” or “bad”… and even more interesting is that the bad was not a bad option at all, because by drawing such, you could tie it to a special place for that purpose, and the belief was that you “get rid” of bad karma. Well, I drew a bad fortune… and do you know what I got rid of? The note said “You have drawn bad luck, bad karma, but by tying it, you will already get rid of it.”….. and the luck was “By tying this note, you can now travel peacefully by water again…”

Do you like to repeat destinations? Give examples and motivation “for” or “against”?

Of course, I have repeated many of them and I feel at home the second time. Each subsequent visit brings more confidence, more time for what was missed, more time to fully immerse yourself in the local life and traditions. Yes, I do not like visits to historical museums, I am interested in how people live today, now..

What was your first trip that truly changed you as a professional and can be said to have changed your thinking?

This happened on my first flight, 25 years ago, when I was on a flight with the CSKA football team heading to Minsk, as the host of the morning block on “Sport” radio and responsible for what was happening with my favorite team. I had the honor to travel with legends of the team (three seats) such as Gatzо Stoyanov and Nako Chackmakov. On my other side were Vlado Manchev and Angel Stoykov. On the flight were also Lyubo Penev and Dancho Lechkov. I even commented for 90 minutes live on the entire match with Shakhtyor Soligorsk. After the first sleepless night, in the company of Igor Markovski (then the press secretary of CSKA) and a bunch of familiar journalists, we had fun, but since work is work, I had to prepare my first report at 8 in the morning BG time and tell what was written in the local newspapers. The arrival of CSKA in Belarus was covered on 2 large pages, as a European titan. I realized a nearly 20-minute, extremely interesting and informative report. What changed in my thinking then? I realized that if you want to be a true professional, you have to be one from every point in the world and not stop working during vacation, so you don’t lose your rhythm. Years later, I worked and returned calls and emails super quickly, regardless of whether the time was 6 hours ahead or behind. I do not accept being cut off from work and not responding to emails, not picking up the phone… I have never handed the work over to another colleague. Your work is yours and it should be done in the best possible way, without whining and excuses.

What do you learn about yourself and your professional skills, when you are in a new cultural environment?

I learn every time that I can quickly adapt to any conditions, without losing myself and my value system.

Have you met people or ideas during your travels that have influenced your career Vand path?

I am a very sociable person and I always meet many people on the plane and during the trip we exchange ideas. As I shared above, I am excited about how people live today, what their manners are, how they are dressed, how they express themselves, where they go and what they do in their free time, what their work traditions and beliefs are. I am interested in how real life flows in the store, in the restaurant, in transportation, in the park… I absorb from everything, I change, I try to peek into the “motivators” of people from all over the world for how they want to live and what they want to achieve, measuredly curious and with a huge thirst to learn from everything and everywhere.

Do you think that your travels help you expand your professional network? How?

Yes, of course. I usually exchange contacts with most people around the world with whom I talk for more than 5 minutes and subsequently maintain contact with each of them, following trends from the event location.

What skills do you develop the most when you travel, and how do they reflect on your work Vand?

The ability to communicate with various people, to hear their advice about work and life. To see and hear what is important for the development of a business in every part of the world. To a large extent, the psychology of the local population in different latitudes provides good feedback for building the puzzle and how to position your business in that territory to be successful. Of course, everywhere they make mistakes and many, but they do not stop developing and wanting to move forward.

Is there a city or country that has Vand inspired you to start a new business or project?

Yes, this is undoubtedly Thailand. There is a lot of everything within a radius of one kilometer, a person can see so many different things and human emotions that they can reshape their views and expectations for life multiple times. Not by chance, in 2011 I started my project on Facebook, which to date has 545,000 followers from around the world, I also have a registered trademark, under which I had a successful startup years ago, which stopped at the start of Covid.

When you are in an unfamiliar country, do you feel more motivated or more distracted? Why?

In an unfamiliar country, you cannot be distracted, I am super concentrated and increasingly motivated to see enough of the place I am in. I never waste my time. I get up early, roam all day, often at night… sleeping in another country is my last concern.

Are there destinations that act as a “restart” for your creativity and ambition?

Yes, of course. Every country can be such if you want and allow it to be. This feeling and desire is most strongly felt in Asia, for me specifically, this happened during visits to Japan, Hong Kong, Macau, Kuala Lumpur, and Singapore. In Europe, Vienna is the place that brings both peace and motivation to the fullest.

How do you manage the balance between work and pleasure when you travel?

For me, both in Bulgaria and abroad, there is no sharp boundary between both, and they are inseparably intertwined, but I feel good in both directions. I don't think either of them has the right to be offended or to suffer..

How have travels changed the way you perceive the value of money?

A person determines their value, not the place where you are. Money should be a reward for a job well done, bringing satisfaction in the way you earned it. Otherwise, money is important anywhere you are. They are our servant. They show us whether we can be a good leader. If you cannot manage your money, you cannot manage either your life or your team.

Do you travel to find new ways to earn money?

This can never be my goal. I travel to see the world and how people live, and ideas come by themselves…if you have the eyes to see and recognize them. As I shared at the beginning, everyone sees different things and in different ways. This determines everything else – desires, expectations, development…

What lessons about financial independence have you learned from different economies and cultures?

These lessons are learned where we are at every moment. There is no specific place that gives a better lesson. It can only show nuances and we can check our watch “Where are we?”

According to Inyour opinion, is it better to spend on experiences rather than material possessions?

It is not better, but a prerequisite for every self-respecting and life-respecting person.

How do you see the future of digital nomadic life?

It is not important where you are, but who you are. If you correctly identify who you are and know yourself well, you will feel at home anywhere. Changing places is just a physical exercise; the mind is always where we have localized it ourselves. The place you are gives different food for the mind, but the path, feelings, and logic are deeply within us.

Are there specific countries that are more favorable for work and investments?

Bulgaria is an excellent place to do your homework and where mistakes do not cost as much as anywhere else. But, if you want to develop and have similar ideas and perceptions, then the real lessons are outside, and there you need to be very well prepared because there are also irreparable mistakes.

If you could choose one place in the world to develop your next big idea, what would it be and why?

The best idea is born spontaneously, and any place in the world can be its fuel to ignite it. The place of realization often has no connection with the place where an idea originated. It is in our heads, and where we will go to develop it depends on us and our perceptions of logic and correctness.

What are the destinations that you would definitely recommend to be visited and why?

Japan – a must to learn about order, discipline, not to complain, and to see the world after decades…

Thailand – has something for everyone.

Hong Kong – how great ideas do not depend on space, but on our scale.

What is the career advice you would give based on what you have seen around the world?

In life, there are two important “Z” – obligations and entertainments. The first one is present for everyone, think about the second one…you don’t have time!