The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel book info and recommendations from remarkable people

The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel

October 4, 2022

Categories:Non-Fiction

For readers who dream of travel, yearn to get back out on the road, or want to enrich a journey they’re currently on, The Vagabond’s Way explores and celebrates the life-altering essence of travel all year long. Each day of the year features a meditation on an aspect of the journey, anchored by words of wisdom from a variety of thinkers—from Stoic philosopher Seneca and poet Maya Angelou to Trappist monk Thomas Merton and Grover from Sesame Street.Iconoclastic travel writer and scholar Rolf Potts embraces the ragged-edged, harder-to-quantify aspects of travel that inevitably change travelers’ lives for the better in unexpected ways. The book’s various sections mirror the phases of a trip, including• dreaming and planning the journey: “All life-affecting journeys—and the unexpected wonders they promise—become real the moment you decide they will happen.”• embracing the rhythms of the journey: “The most poignant experiences on the road occur in those quiet moments when we recognize beauty in the ordinary.”• finding richer travel experiences: “Developing an instinct to venture beyond the obvious on the road allows you to see places as mysteries to be investigated.”• expanding your comfort zone: “No moment of instant gratification can compare to savoring an experience that has been earned by enduring the adversity that comes with it.” The Vagabond’s Way encourages you to sustain the mindset of a journey, even when you aren’t able to travel, and affirms that travel is as much a way of being as it is an act of movement.

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Rendors (4)

MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant) Winners

Tim Ferris Show Guest

Gretchen Rubin

Author, blogger and speaker

Tim Ferris Show Guest

Thought-provoking, encouraging, and inspiring, these one-page reflections on the power and pleasures of travel will make even a homebody yearn to hit the road.

Peter Hessler

Writer and journalist

MacArthur Fellowship (Genius Grant) Winners

In an age of bucket lists, Instagram posts, and one-up travel, Rolf Potts is a breath of fresh air. This book reminds us that the essence of travel isn’t necessarily linear—it’s the moments of beauty and insight that happen spontaneously along the way, rather than the plans and the destination.

Andrew C. McCarthy

Columnist

Rolf Potts has long been a road warrior and a deep thinker about travel. In The Vagabond’s Way, he distills decades of hard-won insight into bite-sized morsels, and the result is a wise, generous, and profound book. It is a gift for anyone engaged in the journey.

Eric Weiner

Speaker and author

The Vagabond’s Way won’t help you find the best deals on flights or hotels or take viral Instagram photos. It will inspire you, challenge you, and remind you why we travel in the first place: to see the world, and ourselves, just a bit differently. Don’t read this book in one sitting. Dip into it, as I did, savoring each page as you would having a cup of coffee with a kind and wise friend.