Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel… (edição 2003)

An inspiration and kick in the pants to this reluctant, learning traveller. ( )

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." ( )

One of those books where you highlight the whole damn thing.. Where you read it at the right time and place in your life.. It just resonates. ( )

I love how Potts digs into the philosophy of vagabonding- there are lessons about living simply and with awareness than can be applied to all aspects of life, not just traveling. Some of the tips and resources are now outdated, since this book was written in 2002, but it's a great jumping off place, and it definitely instilled wanderlust in me. ( )

This is the book I would carry with me if I had to sustain myself through misfortune. Frederick the Great carried the works of the Stoics in his saddlebags for the same purpose. I have read bits of this book for more than a decade and the words of Ralph Potts have inspired my blogging and my travel writing since I first left old Girty's shores in 2006. There are so many quotes in this work, and so many pointers to other books to read, it is like a crystallisation of everything Potts ever read or learnt all jam-packed in a relatively quick read. For me, this book is nothing short of inspiring. Always has been, always will:
As Salvador Dali quipped, 'I never took drugs because I am drugs.' With this in mind, strive to be drugs as you travel, to patiently embrace the raw, personal sensation of unmediated reality - an experience far more affecting than any intoxicant can promise" (pp. 169-70). Potts has something special. He is the me I only hope I can be. I don't mean that I want to quit my job and become a vagabond. Far from it. Potts is a philosopher. Vagabonding is a 21st century philosophy book in the tradition of [b:Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance: An Inquiry Into Values|629|Zen and the Art of Motorcycle Maintenance An Inquiry Into Values|Robert M. Pirsig|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1410136019s/629.jpg|175720], only better. Potts has what I want, and ever since reading bits of his work all those years ago, I have been inspired by his philosophy. For me, education and travel make us free. Not politicians or political systems. If I had the option of returning to my youth (which I do not want!), I might consider becoming a vagabond. But I am the sum of my experience and rather blessed for it. So for me, the philosophy is key. But a practical philosophy. Think of tending your own garden, like [b:Candide|19380|Candide|Voltaire|https://images.gr-assets.com/books/1345060082s/19380.jpg|2833018]. Then read this book. ( )