Rolf Potts

In addition to the other things frequently mentioned (the mile wide margins, the bloggy format), I have a couple other gripes with the format as well as the content of this book.

First, only about 1/2 of each chapter is actually Potts' writing. About half at the end of each chapter is a series of links to likely outdated/defunct websites and books that are surely better than this one. Some is also quotes from people who wrote to him in response to some of his travel articles previously written elsewhere about traveling.

For some reason, each chapter has large block quotes of out-of-context passages from books vaguely related to traveling, vague Asian philosophy quotes, or, about half the time a quote from Walt Whitman or Thoreau's Walden. Despite having inch wide margins (or two inch wide margins on the first page of a chapter), these quotes are not marginalia which would flow much better, but oddly placed block quotes in the middle of paragraphs, rarely related to what is being talked about, in a large sans serif font that clashes with the font used for the body text. These quotes rarely add much to the text.

On to the text of the book itself. Despite mentioning seeing the explosion of self-help books and how formulaic they were and trying to avoid being like them, this book could have been written by an AI trained on every self help book out there and applying things to travel. All the generic platitudes are there, all the promises of what you'll learn without any actionable advice, all the vague recommendations that apply to almost any problem in life: "Be Creative," "Have an Open Mind" etc.

The rare advice that is there is contradictory, unbelievably dated now, or unbelievably bad always. He talks at some points about how anyone can vagabond, not just students and retirees, before later talking about how it's easiest to vagabond if you're a student or retiree because you're less tied down. The book promises it will teach you the essentials to "financing your travel time." His advice is "don't be in debt, and you don't need money, just stay in hostels for $5 a month! I'm not sure if the hostel rates were ever possible but one can't simply will themselves out of debt, and many of the countries he mentions as being cheap have industrialized and cost of living has gone up significantly since this book's publication. In addition, he mentions simply "asking your boss for 6-18 months off and putting your vagabonding on your resume, people will love it not wonder why there's a gap there!" This advice is poor for any sort of conservative field. As an author this may be appealing to people in his field, but if you work a desk job your boss will wonder when you're just going to bail to travel the world for half a year or more.

Finally, much of this advice seems horribly out of touch given the modern economic situation. He suggests paying off your debt and saving about $5k to travel. This is laughable in a time when most people are working multiple jobs just to pay rent, and have tens of thousands of dollars in student loan debt. Saving up the amount of money he recommends, taking time off, etc. seem very unattainable in 2020.

The book may have only been 240 pages but it dragged on worse than an Ayn Rand novel. Reading literally any other book would likely be more applicable to traveling than this one.… (mehr)

I read Vagabonding before a year-long journey and again after hitting a rut back home - a year since settling back down. The last chapter about "coming home" strikes a chord.
"keep living your life in such a way that allows your dreams room to breathe"
"Don't let the vices you conquered on the road - fear, selfishness, vanity, prejudice, envy - creep back into your daily life."
"Keep things real and keep on learning. Be creative, and get into adventures. Earn your freedom all over again and don't set limits. Keep things simple, and let your spirit grow."… (mehr)