In this screengrab taken from a video posted on Oliver Widger's Instagram account on Friday, May 2, 2025, Widger pets his cat, Phoenix, on their sailboat somewhere in the Pacific Ocean as both make their way from Oregon to Hawaii. — Oliver Widger via AP
HONOLULU: Midway while sailing across the Pacific with just his cat named Phoenix, Oliver Widger reflected on why he thinks his many followers – more than a million on TikTok and Instagram – are drawn to his story of quitting his 9-to-5 job and embarking on a journey from Oregon to Hawaii.
"The world kind of sucks and, like, I don’t think I’m alone in how I felt with my work,” Widger, 29, told The Associated Press on Wednesday via Zoom. "You can be making US$150,000 (RM642,260) a year and you still feel like you’re just making ends meet, you know what I mean? And I think people are just tired of that and working really hard for nothing and want a way out."
