Joy Nguyen

I was born and raised in central Vietnam. Travel entered my life early because my parents loved taking our family on short trips around the country: Ho Chi Minh City, Nha Trang, Da Lat, Hanoi, and the places between them. Those trips taught me that a destination is not only a landmark; it is food, family rhythm, language, bargaining, weather, roads, and the small kindnesses that make a place feel human. That conviction still shapes every story I file.

During university in Vietnam, I traveled the country with friends on old Honda motorbikes and spent three months in Cambodia on an internship with Viettel Post, working my way from Phnom Penh to Angkor Wat and Koh Rong. After my family moved to the United States, I built my English through writing courses, competitions, and certificates — then spent two years in a corporate job before admitting that a desk was never going to be my beat.

I resigned after a promotion, flew one-way to Lima, and gave myself six months on the road. Peru was meant to be three weeks; it became the second country I know deeply. I crossed it overland — Lima, Paracas, Huacachina, Arequipa, Puno, Cusco — then kept going: Brazil for Christ the Redeemer, Bolivia for the Uyuni salt flats, Italy, Jordan, India, China, chasing the Seven Wonders and the stories between them.

Joy Nguyen Writes is where that career comes together: independent travel journalism and research on Peru and Vietnam, published with named sources, visible review dates, and no advertising, sponsorships, or affiliate links.