Book Made for Wanderers

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Destination: The World

Book: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts

Every generation of wanderers has an author of travel literature that sounds the siren call.  Walt Whitman comes to mind and Lord Byron before him.  Then the famously wild days of Jack Kerouac and On the Road.

Authors today have a harder time breaking out of the morass of travel bloggers (OUCH!) and becoming the ONE voice to follow.  Rolf Potts has come close with  Vagabonding.  Ask any hardy young adventurer, or even a person just dreaming of adventures, and chances are, they have read Rolf Potts.

I picked up a copy at a used book store. (Sorry, Rolf) One of the things I love about a used book is finding pages marked up, notes in the margin, corners turned down. In other words–a book that is truly used.  This one turned out to be a treasure. In the first chapter, paragraphs defining vagabonding are bracketed and underlined.  A passage about the excuses that people make NOT to travel is bracketed AND starred.

A heavy line emphasizes “Rather, it has always been a private choice within a society that is constantly urging us to do otherwise.  This is a book about living that choice.

She (the rounded handwriting must be a female, I think) underlines “They are spending plenty of time and money on the road, but they never spent enough of themselves to begin with,” and she writes in the margin “is this us?”

Used copy of Vagabonding by Rolf Potts
Used copy of Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Potts uses many quotations throughout. And under a quote from Whitman’s Song of the Open Road, my predecessor in these pages, writes, “Song of open road on our wedding program.”  Ah-ha! The plot thickens.

Potts says that travelers should keep it simple, and one should not wait to accumulate wealth, or win the lottery.  Quadruple underline of “we were all born with winning tickets…”  On the next page, she writes “do the garage sale and put $ in ‘travel fund.'”

But suddenly the underlining and bracketing and margin notes stop. Just like that. Not even half way through. I’ll never know if the engagement fell apart, or if she just got too busy ordering bridesmaid’s dresses to finish the book. Did her fiancee take a look and pooh-pooh the whole idea? Did the book go into the yard sale for travel funds?

Feeling a little lonely, without the bride-to-be for company, I read on through philosophy of travel, short bios of famous travelers, a tip sheet for each idea introduced, Potts’ personal anecdotes from his own vagabonding, quotes from famous and not famous travelers.

Despite the fact that he states that there is no age limit on vagabonding, I am beyond the age that can follow his suggestions. Particularly his repeated mentions of fleeting romances along the road. For everyone that age limit will vary, and is self imposed, or imposed by responsibilities or arthritis. But for anyone who is open to the call of the open road, read carefully. Pay attention. Rolf Potts knows whereof he speaks.

His newest book, released in 2008, Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, not only covers travel adventures, but in it, he steps outside the narrative and talks about how he wrote the essays within the book. From how-to-travel to how-to-be-a-travel-writer.

Can you end my suspense?  Are you the person who owned the book before me? Did you get married? Did you use Walt Whitman in your ceremony? Did you travel?

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About Vera Marie Badertscher

A freelance writer who loves to travel. When she is not traveling she is reading about travel. When she is not reading or traveling, she is sharing with the readers of A Traveler's Library, or recreating her family's past at Ancestors In Aprons . She has written for Reel Life With Jane, Life is a Trip and other websites. Also co-author of a biography, Quincy Tahoma, The Life and Legacy of a Navajo Artist. Contact Vera Marie by e-mail.

5 thoughts on “Book Made for Wanderers

  1. I have set a goal of January 2011 to leave on new travels — I will simplify my life between now and then, take the TEFL training (or someothing like that) – and plan for a 6mo-12mo journey. Life really can be fleeting and so easy to get caught up in the frantic pace of the day to day life …feels good to have a plan – not sure if I can wait a year though!

  2. I bought Vagabonding a couple of years ago, and have just picked it up again … when I feel I have gone off track as to my purpose / plan — I pick this book up again, it gets my heart racing and I know that vagabonding is what I need to be doing!

    Last year at 53 yrs. I was laid off, and planned a trip I’d been wanting to do since my 20’s – backpacking around Europe. I had planned to go for 2 months, but got re-hired and delayed my start for 5 weeks. I left with no plan, and only a backpack. It was a great experience.

    So … I think his book still applies to me whether I’m 54, 64 or 74. I just have to keep myself physically healthy, my life simple, so that I can keep having these adventures. I feel I am actually living when i am planning and taking extended journeys, with no real plan.

  3. i read vagabonding, too, vera – and took away many ideas from it. i agree, though, that the details are for younger, healthy people. the concepts can be inspirational to anyone! i love that he gets people to travel – or to think about travel- in a different light.

    i’ve not read his new book yet, but do follow him online, where he writes in several places, as you know.
    .-= Jessie Voigts´s last blog ..". . . like souls, remembering. . . " =-.

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