Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel

People who like to plan and be prepared should treat this as a companion to more nuts-and-bolts guides. Others may find this plenty since travel is all an adventure anyway. It depends on your personality and comfort with the unknown. The rarely expressed aspect of Potts' book, however, is the acknowledgement that both work and travel are admirable and that one complements the other. To travel, you must also be productive sometimes. But to be productive, you also have to continually learn and see other points of view. Traveling abroad on more than a one-week vacation makes this possible. An entertaining and inspiring read.

Tim Leffel, author of THE WORLD'S CHEAPEST DESTINATIONS


Reality Check   December 18, 2006
 15 out of 28 found this review helpful

Potts offers some excellent insight and offers the perspective of an experienced traveler/vagabond and also the perspective of someone, in his case a well published journalist, who can perhaps use his "vagabonding" as a means to an end; as a way to support his thirst for the road. I have spent a fair amount of time bashing around over the years and chuckled at his mention of the "trustafariens" and holier than thous who would like nothing more than to make anyone they encounter believe they have the knowledge, the sensitivity and in many cases the affected accent of the populations and regions to which they have, this month, decided to attach themselves. How Potts suggests preparing for a trip, deciding whether or not to travel with someone or solo, the web sites, choosing the right guidebooks, etc is all very sound advice but I did miss the chapter of how to stay current with the literally tens of thousands of dollars in student loans most who might be inclined to vagabonding are burdened with. I understand about how liquidating assets might mentally and financially prepare one for an extended journey but I don't know too many out there who are interested in assuming someone else's debt to make it happen. I think a chapter about how frequent job hopping is going to lead to a point of diminshing returns might be useful as well. Quitting a job every 18 months or so to support a wanderlust ultimately makes someone unemployable or maybe only employable in those jobs with wages barely enough to cover this month's rent, never mind the airfare to your next destination. Also, let's not forget that vagabonding to many means hanging out there without medical insurance. That's great if you can afford the premium without the support of an employer but if you're making that kind of cash you probably don't need to work anyway. So, in short, many great thoughts about travel from someone who seems to have been able to leverage a career out of it. Oh, and by the way, how many nights in Tibet would the price of this book get me?


Been There. Done That. . .   January 30, 2003
 12 out of 13 found this review helpful

This is an earnest if somewhat dreamy primer on the subject of extended long term independent travel. It most closely resembles, in both spirit and content, Ed Buryn's classic sixties book Vagabonding in Europe and North Africa but without that author's now dated "groovy" countercultural musings. Potts indeed graciously acknowledges Buryn's contribution (unlike the shamefully disingenuous Rick Steves.)

The practical advice Potts offers is solid but also a bit sketchy. For the nitty-gritty of travel technique and practicalities I far prefer a book like Rob Sangster's The Traveler's Toolkit. Still, Potts does provide a very thorough listing of (mostly web-based) resources that will do much to fill in the gaps.

In the more contemplative sections on traveling "vagabond"-style, Potts writing is charming and mercifully free of the tendentious ideological dross that often characterizes writing about travels to what were once called "Third World" destinations. My special congrats to him for gently mocking the "traveler/tourist" dichotomy for the silly supercilious parlor games it often engenders.

Still, there is a somewhat moony, disembodied feeling to the book. Instead of all the gaseous quotations from the famous and unfamous (used as filler) I would have appreciated some more attention to hazards, dangers, and risks. These can be substantial: from wild auto-rickshaw drivers to leaky, overcrowded boats, from rabid animals to exotic diseases, and (last but not least) from rickety to downright pathological political regimes. The world can be a wild, wonderful place but it can also provide a cornucopia of nightmares for the ill-prepared and underinformed. Potts does his aspiring vagabonders a serious disservice by not leveling with them about the seamy and potentially hazardous underside of "shoestring" travel in exotic lands.


this book is akin to torture   October 22, 2005
 11 out of 11 found this review helpful

If you have even the slightest desire to drop all responsability and run around globetrotting this piece will only encourage you.
And if you don't have the means to do so this book will torture you with temptation.
Potts doesn't offer lots of cost-saving tips, he instead shares his philosophy of working your life to fit international travel.
If you are struck with wanderlust after reading this book- remember you were warned


Great book if you want to travel abroad long-term but aren't convinced that you have the time/money   September 28, 2005
 10 out of 10 found this review helpful

It's clear that Potts' agenda is to convince you to travel more. While he does largely dispel many of the imaginary barriers that prevent us from traveling more (primarily, the myth that you need a lot of money to travel), he's able to do this so well in part because he doesn't need societal acceptance or nurture long-term relationships as much as most people do. He admits that he generally likes to travel alone, and when he has social needs he finds short-term connections with fellow travelers will suffice.

All the same, he does a fabulous job of conveying how the American consumerist value system gives us an unhealthy preoccupation with material investment vs. personal investment, where "travel becomes just another accessory- a smooth-edged, encapsulated experience that we purchase the same way we buy clothing and furniture"- something we package into a two-week escape. Giving up this complicated and materialistic lifestyle can be as difficult as enduring coffee withdrawal, but the rewards of travel and self-discovery are worth it. His philosophy is well-supported by inspirational travel quotes from Thoreau, Twain, Pico Iyer, Ibn Batutta, and many others. Perhaps most inspirational of all, he calls up the Buddhist idea that we live in an eggshell and have few clues about what's in the world around us, then points out that vagabonding can help us get out of this shell and discover a broader view of the world.

I'd recommend this book to anyone, and while it's possible that you may not be the pure vagabond that Potts seems to be, this will definitely encourage you to travel more and help you make it happen. Whether you decide to quit your job and hit the road for the long haul, or just ask for a three-month sabbatical, this book will point you in the right direction and supply you with references to websites and books that will help make it a reality.