Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

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From Chapter 1 From this hour I ordain myself loos’d of limits and imaginary lines, Going where I list, my own master total and absolute, Listening to others, considering well what they say, Pausing, searching, receiving, contemplating, Gently, but with undeniable will divesting myself of the holds that would hold me. On the road, you learn to improvise your days, take a second look at everything you see, and not obsess over your schedule." In leaving behind the routines and assumptions of home — in taking that resolute first step into the world — you’ll find yourself entering a much larger and less constrictive paradigm."For me, vagabonding has led to incredible experiences, most of which revolve around conversations with people: spending hours at a cafe talking to an Estonian about growing up under Soviet rule; sharing a typical Icelandic Sunday dinner with locals and discussing elves; hitching with a car full of Lithuanians and learning about their love for the countryside and local beer. Contrast this with my attitude a few short months ago, while working under a strict hour-by-hour daily agenda. I would have rarely allowed myself the time to have such conversations.

Rolf has given us the inspiration, tools and stories to guide us on an endless string of journey’s. We all have the resources if we want them. So this leaves us only with the important questions. Where will you be heading for the next six months, a year, or more? Who might you meet? How might your life be changed for the better? Robert Pirsig: "I don't want to hurry it. That itself is a poisonous ... attitude. When you want to hurry something, that means you no longer care about it and want to get on to other things." The book is filled to the brim with useful tips and resources but the hypocritical criticisms are wearying. Does RP expect people to identify other travelers by these few tip offs label them as pretentious travel snobs and judge them to be "dong it wrong"? Want to learn the ideas in Vagabonding better than ever? Read the world’s #1 book summary of Vagabonding by Rolf Potts here. Simplistic reading. Contains a lot of material I've seen reiterated before in other guidebooks; holds a lot of stuff which is well-covered elsewhere; yields a lot of info which should already be common-sense to the experienced (or even mildly-experienced) traveler...so, I confess I'm merely going to skim this thing.This is a powerful book that inspires courage & chasing your dreams. It teaches important life lessons using entertaining stories. It helped me overcome my own fears about what to do with my life, as well as millions of other readers around the world. The practical tips are basic, to the point of stating the obvious, so will be mainly of use only to those who have little experience of truly independent travel. The only common thread between these people is a strong desire to see the world and making the decision to do it. Where there’s a will, there’s a way. It just requires removing the reductive lens from which we view our lives and the world and expand our belief of what’s possible.

Microadventures is an uplifting and original concept evolved out of the travel blogosphere and into a catchy book. Instead of pushing his readers to drop everything and hit the road full-time, Humphreys champions the weekend warrior and after-work types with this one.He often finds himself at the bottom of his own barrel and unsure of what will happen next. It’s an honest account by a writer that is as ‘working class’ as travel writers come. Overall, an honest if not always refreshing take on overland travel in Africa. Look, long term travel isn't a "vacation." It's not a "trip." Long term travel is life, and a lifestyle if you choose to make it one.

To many people, money is a part of their daily lives. They think that they can’t travel because it’s too expensive. For this reason, long-term travel seems to be restricted to hippies or college students who are wealthy.Regardless, I still sometimes slept “rough” on benches, beaches, and airports floors. In Europe, I couchsurfed with new friends.

thus it is important to not go vagabonding on a faigue sense of fashion or obligation vagabonding is not social guessture nor its normal high ground, nor it is political statement demanding correctness of society". As anthropologist Claude Levi-Strauss pointed out fifty years ago, mourning the perceived purity of yesterday will only cause us to miss the true dynamic of today." RP spends a lot of time teaching people the correct mindset as he perceives it. I expected more travel tips and less attitude conditioning. Admittedly his advice, condensed into, keep an open mind and travel with spontaneity, seems sound. However it applies to everything else too, so it is hardly vagabonding specific.A 70-year-old Estonian man who escaped the Soviet rule at nineteen and vowed to travel around the world and return to Estonia only when it became a free nation (which finally happened in 1991). Rolf explores the questions of how to liberate yourself to live the life you want, how to appreciate where you are when you're there, how to deal with loneliness, how to make friends in strange places, the virtues and limits of companionship and the broken paradigm of "travel" as escape. If you can't get anything out of that, you're either highly enlightened or not trying hard enough. Written in a rambling diary style, and a bit hard to follow at times, Kerouac takes to the road looking for adventure, sex, drugs, and mischief. A great read for those who would like to escape the real world for a while and just go where the wind blows them.