Vegabonding

by Rolf Potts

What is Vegabonding????

Vagabonding is about gaining the courage to loosen your grip on the so-called certainties of this world. Vagabonding is about refusing to exile travel to some other, seemingly more appropriate, time of your life. Vagabonding is about taking control of your circumstances instead of passively waiting for them to decide your fate

In reality, long-term travel has nothing to do with demographics — age, ideology, income — and everything to do with personal outlook. Long-term travel isn’t about being a college student; it’s about being a student of daily life. Long-term travel isn’t an act of rebellion against society; it’s an act of common sense within society. Longterm travel doesn’t require a massive “bundle of cash”; it requires only that we walk through the world in a more deliberate way.

it’s the ongoing practice of looking and learning, of facing fears and altering habits, of cultivating a new fascination with people and places

“Vagabonding,” as Ed Buryn bluntly put it thirty years ago, “is not for comfort hounds, sophomoric misanthropes or poolside faint-hearts, whose thin convictions won’t stand up to the problems that come along.” In saying this, Buryn wasn’t being a snob. After all, vagabonding involves sacrifices, and its particular sacrifices are not for everyone. Thus, it’s important to keep in mind that you should never go vagabonding out of a vague sense of fashion or obligation. Vagabonding is not a social gesture, nor is it a moral high ground. It’s not a seamless twelve-step program of travel correctness or a political statement that demands the reinvention of society. Rather, it’s a personal act that demands only the realignment of self.

“I don’t like work,” says Marlow in Joseph Conrad’s Heart of Darkness, “but I like what is in the work — the chance to find yourself.” Marlow wasn’t referring to vagabonding, but the notion still applies. Work is not just an activity that generates funds and creates desire; it’s the vagabonding gestation period, wherein you earn your integrity, start making plans, and get your proverbial act together. Work is a time to dream about travel and write notes to yourself, but it’s also the time to tie up your loose ends. Work is when you confront the problems you might otherwise be tempted to run away from. Work is how you settle your financial and emotional debts — so that your travels are not an escape from your real life but a discovery of your real life.

you need to strike a balance between tapping the inspiration that compelled you to hit the road and knowing that nothing short of travel itself can prepare you for the new worlds that await. The reason vagabonding is so appealing is that it promises to show you the destinations and experiences you’ve dreamed about; but the reason vagabonding is so addictive is that, joyfully, you’ll never quite find what you dreamed. Indeed, the most vivid travel experiences usually find you by accident, and the qualities that will make you fall in love with a place are rarely the features that took you there. In this way, vagabonding is not just a process of discovering the world but a way of seeing — an attitude that prepares you to find the things you weren’t looking for.

For the first-time vagabonder, of course, preparation is a downright necessity — if for no other reason than to familiarize yourself with the fundamental routines of travel, to learn what wonders and challenges await, and to assuage the fears that inevitably accompany any life-changing new pursuit. The key to preparation is to strike a balance between knowing what’s out there and being optimistically ignorant. The gift of the information age, after all, is knowing your options — not your destiny — and those people who plan their travels with the idea of eliminating all uncertainty and unpredictability are missing out on the whole point of leaving home in the first place. The goal of preparation, then, is not knowing exactly where you’ll go but being confident nonetheless that you’ll get there. This means that your attitude will be more important than your itinerary, and that the simple willingness to improvise is more vital, in the long run, than research.

Avoid compulsive whiners, chronic pessimists, mindless bleeding hearts, and self-conscious hipsters, since these kinds of people (who are surprisingly common along the travel trail) have a way of turning travel into a tiresome farce. Instead, find a partner who exudes an attitude of realism and open-mindedness (see chapter 8); these are the virtues you yourself will want to cultivate. Regardless of how compatible you are with your companion — even if your companion is a lover, sibling, or spouse — have no illusions about spending every moment together. Perfect harmony on the road is a pipe dream, so always allow your partnership room to breathe, even if this means amicably splitting up for weeks at a time. Thus, in your mental as well as your practical preparations, you should always be ready to go it alone — even if you don’t think you’ll have to.

Normal experiences (such as ordering food or taking a bus) will suddenly seem extraordinary and full of possibility. All the details of daily life that you ignored back home — the taste of a soft drink, the sound of a radio, the smell of the air — will suddenly seem rich and exotic. Food, fashions, and entertainment will prove delightfully quirky and shockingly cheap. In spite of all your preparation, you will invariably find yourself wanting to know more about the histories and cultures that envelop you. The subtle buzz of the unknown, initially a bit of a fright, will soon prove addictive: Simple trips to the market or the toilet can turn into adventures; simple conversations can lead to charming friendships. Life on the road, you’ll soon discover, is far less complicated than what you knew back home — yet intriguingly more complex.

Vagabonding is about not merely reallotting a portion of your life for travel but rediscovering the entire concept of time. At home, you’re conditioned to get to the point and get things done, to favor goals and efficiency over moment-bymoment distinction. On the road, you learn to improvise your days, take a second look at everything you see, and not obsess over your schedule. Make a point, then, of easing your way into your travels. Shortly after arriving at your initial destination, find a “beachhead” (be it an actual beach, an urban travelers’ ghetto, or an out-of-the-way town) and spend a few days relaxing and acclimating yourself. Don’t strike off to “hit all the sights” or actualize all your travel fantasies from the get-go. Stay organized and interested, but don’t keep a “things to do”