Product Description

Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life—from six weeks to four months to two years—to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel. Potts gives the necessary information on:

• financing your travel time
• determining your destination
• adjusting to life on the road
• working and volunteering overseas
• handling travel adversity
• re-assimilating back into ordinary life

Not just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit. Visit the vagabonding community’s hub at www.vagabonding.net.

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #2537 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-24
• Released on: 2002-12-24
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

From Booklist
Veteran vagabond Potts regales readers with his mantra: anyone with an adventurous spirit can achieve the feat of taking extended time off from work to experience the world. In 11 short chapters that follow the same structure, Potts tells how to negotiate time off from work, prepare for travel, and get the most out of your time on the road. Each chapter contains a profile of a famous proponent of vagabonding (e.g., Thoreau, Annie Dillard), quotes from everyday people with extensive travel experience, and a tip sheet of print and online sources for practical travel advice on topics such as airline tickets and accommodations as well as safety concerns. Alternately warning readers about using drugs in foreign countries and entertaining them with anecdotes from exotic ports of call, Potts gives a thorough recounting of his outlook on traveling. This book seems squarely aimed at twenty- and thirtysomethings; anyone with decidedly nonvagabond accoutrements (e.g., children or career ambition) might be more skeptical of Potts' philosophy. For those with a bad case of wanderlust. Joanne Wilkinson
Copyright © American Library Association. All rights reserved

Download Description

Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life -- from six weeks to four months to two years -- to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel. Potts gives the necessary information on:

• financing your travel time
• determining your destination
• adjusting to life on the road
• working and volunteering overseas
• handling travel adversity
• re-assimilating back into ordinary life

Not just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit.

Inside Flap Copy
Vagabonding is about taking time off from your normal life?from six weeks to four months to two years?to discover and experience the world on your own terms. Veteran shoestring traveler Rolf Potts shows how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel. Potts gives the necessary information on:

? financing your travel time
? determining your destination
? adjusting to life on the road
? working and volunteering overseas
? handling travel adversity
? re-assimilating back into ordinary life

Not just a plan of action, vagabonding is an outlook on life that emphasizes creativity, discovery, and the growth of the spirit.

Customer Reviews

Motivational, Informative, and Insightful
After travelling through South America for seven weeks I was inspired to plan a larger-scale open ended world trip. I read this book a couple of years ago as I was working to save up the necessary travel funds and I have read many other travel books like it. Now a month away from starting my journey I must say that this was the best of all those travel books.

There is the practical advice which is common and overlapping with most other travel books, but the main things that cause this book to stand out are Potts' excellent writing style which helps one to glide through the pages with enjoyment and a yearning to return to the open road. Also, Potts has a prevailing wisdom obviously aquired from his years of travel and this is exhibited in various insightful commentaries that elevate this to a philosophical read on life as well as travel.

For those planning to "vagabond" I would recommend reading as many of the travel books you have the time for as each one will surely offer something new for the reader to take away (other great books are "The World Awaits" by Paul Otteson, "World Stompers" by Brad Olsen, and "Escape from the Happy Cannibal" by Ron Miller). This book should be at the top of that list.

If you want to make long term travel part of your life, this is a must!
As a "wannabe" vagabonder, I found this book helpful and informative. I took it with me on a recent trip out of the states and found it both kept my attention as well as gave helpful tips and case studies.
My next goal is to make long term travel a more permanent part of my life.

Excellent Travel Philosophy Book
I stumbled upon Rolf Potts in a National Geographic Traveler article, and I immediately ordered his book. Vagabonding is indeed an "uncommon guide" - a wonderful mesh of travelogue and travel philosophy. I really enjoyed the "Vagabonding Profiles" and "Vagabonding Voices" of each chapter. Potts' "Vagabonding" has fueled my Wanderlust fire like no other book.


Cholera?............Seriously Rolf.