Wild Ideas Worth Living · Tuesday, July 28, 2026
Samer Abu Hamad, formerly a banker at Morgan Stanley in New York City, quit his job during the COVID-19 pandemic to pursue a life of adventure. He was inspired by the book of British adventurer Alistair Humphreys to use a bicycle for global travel.
“Prior to COVID, I was working in the corporate world. I was wearing a suit every day, working at a bank in New York City.”
“And COVID just, I think like a lot of people, forced us to reflect on life and what we really wanted out of life. At least it did for me. And so I ended up quitting that job.”
“And so his book's, uh, about his four-year trip around the world between 2000 and 2004, really like opened up my mind to like this kind of world trip, and the bicycle as a way to cover not just states or towns, but continents.”
“Uh, I was at a, uh, bank called Morgan Stanley.”