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: #5473 in Books
• Published on: 2002-12-24
• Released on: 2002-12-24
• Original language: English
• 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

Highly recommended book
and as an inverterate traveller and writer myself Rolf Potts gives lots of both common sense and inspiring tips. I quote him in the chapter on how to follow your intuition and have an amazing journey (and life) in my book Travelling Magically: How to Turn Your Journey into a Life-Changing Experience.

Prepare to Catch the Travel Bug
This is an excellent short read that every aspiring adventure seeker should add to their collection. Potts' puts the overwhelming concept of World travel into a perspective that nearly anyone with a level head can grasp. The book is not a step-by-step guide but will inspire you to travel on your own terms. Potts will make you want to get up explore the nooks and crannies of the Earth. I have passed this book onto two close friends already and they can agree. The bottom line is that if you are not the type of person that wants to spend years sitting in the same cube day in and day out and want to get out and experience other cultures, read this book, you will not regret it!

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.