How a Hong Kong financier quit the rat race to help others fund their dream trips

Former Hong Kong finance trader Zach Glassman soon discovered his passion lay elsewhere when he took a job in metals trading in Hong Kong after graduating. Three years later, he decided to quit when he realised his work life was taking a toll on him physically and emotionally.

Without a clear plan for the future, Glassman embarked on a nine-month global tour that eventually led to him founding an online travel start-up, Passion Passport, in 2013. His goal? To help others fund their dream trips and share their travel stories creatively.

The 29-year-old entrepreneur, who grew up in Canada, was in Hong Kong last week with a team of nine creative professionals as part of a Cathay Pacific-sponsored Asian trip.

Glassman says what makes his trips different to the usual group tour is the focus on creativity and mentorship. “We want to help more people travel purposefully and help them find their calling – kind of like what I did,” says Glassman.

During his stop in Hong Kong, Glassman revisited his former office building. “If the environment I was immersed in hadn’t been so toxic and anxiety-inducing, I wouldn’t have ejected myself from it so quickly,” he wrote on Instagram.