He fell in love with Thailand while traveling in his 20s. Now 40, he's back and has built his dream 'James Bond' luxury villa

He fell in love with Thailand while traveling in his 20s. Now 40, he's back and has built his dream 'James Bond' luxury villa.

https://www.businessinsider.com/millennial-built-luxury-home-thailand-relocation-debt-free-chiang-mai-2024-5 The first time Johnny Ward went to Chiang Mai, Thailand, he was 22.

He paid for his one-way flight with money he earned from participating in a five-week medical-research study.

It was the first time he'd traveled anywhere in Asia.

(Johnny Ward on a scooter in front of his house in Chiang Mai, Thailand.Johnny Ward/onestepforward)

Over the next year and a half, Ward taught English at a local school and fell in love with Chiang Mai's laid-back lifestyle.

When that stint was over, he moved to Australia to take up a sales job. Although the pay was good, he was dissatisfied with corporate life. He decided to quit his job to travel and ended up starting a blog to document his adventures.

"I was living a fun, cool life, and I just wanted to show other people from working-class backgrounds that you don't need to come from a rich family to live a cool life," Ward, now a travel blogger who also runs an online-media company, told Business Insider.

But after traveling the world, Ward realized that Chiang Mai still had his heart.

"If you ever Google things like '10 best places to live,' 'Best place to be a digital nomad,' 'Best place to retire,' Chiang Mai often features in top 20 of all these things," Ward said. "It's so nice."

So in 2019, he decided to return and build a permanent home. "I always wanted a James Bond villa — Miami-style, Ibiza-style. So I kind of think that's exactly what I did," Ward said.

(The front of the house.Johnny Ward/onestepforward)

In late 2020, Ward bought a 13,000-square-foot plot of land with his wife, Jaa, who is from Thailand, for 6 million Thai baht, or about $160,000.

He said the land is located in a gated community about 15 minutes outside the city center. Chiang Mai,

(The dining area.Johnny Ward/onestepforward)

Thailand has strict criteria for foreigners who want to take out property loans. Ward was self-employed, which made it difficult for him to get financing, so he paid for the entire project in cash.

(One of the lounge areas in the house.Johnny Ward/onestepforward)

Ward said he spent 13 million Thai baht building the home and another 3.5 million furnishing it, or about $460,000 in total. Including the land, the entire project cost around $600,000, which was about 22.5 million Thai baht.

Ward grew up on welfare in Ireland and it had always been his dream to own a large house.

"When I was like 12, I used to watch all those real-estate shows in Ireland," Ward said. "I thought, 'I'm going to build myself my big dream house one day.'"

(The office.Johnny Ward/onestepforward)

  Ref: He fell in love with Thailand while traveling in his 20s. Now 40, he's back and has built his dream 'James Bond' luxury villa (businessinsider)

Photo Credit- Johnny Ward/ onestepforward