The Vagabond's Way

366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel

By: Rolf Potts

Narrated by: Rolf Potts

“Thought-provoking, encouraging, and inspiring” (Gretchen Rubin) reflections on the power of travel to transform our daily lives—from the iconoclastic travel writer, scholar, and author of Vagabonding

For listeners 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.

©2022 Rolf Potts (P)2022 Random House Audio

Critic reviews

“The book is set up as a series of meditations—travel quotes that Potts reflects on and reacts to. . . . The result of this formula is a book that’s snackable, weighty, and fun all at once. The premier travel writer of a generation offering travel inspiration in short bursts and fun anecdotes? Sign. Us. Up.”—Uproxx

“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.”—Andrew McCarthy, New York Times bestselling author of Brat and The Longest Way Home

“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.”—Peter Hessler, New York Times bestselling author of River Town

De un Vagabundo madurando

Este libro te hará hacer las maletas y comprar un boleto pa ir al lugar que siempre querías conocer. También este libro te hará parar justo en tu rutina en casa y agradecer los momentos que normalmente ignorarías por culpa de la misma rutina. Si vos sos un slow traveller Potts siempre inspira tu alma volar.

Great content - not a huge fan of the format

Format is that you read one page/meditation a day for a year. The content is great though. I recommend buying. Rolf is an amazing thinker and writer - what Joseph Campbell did for mythology Rolf does to travel writing

A lifetime of insights into finding beautiful experiences.

Great selection of quotes paired with stories of travel adventures laid out in a format that invites you to take it slow, both in consuming the book and experiencing the world and people around you.

In the audiobook format it can often be hard to notice when the author begins reading a quote.

Don't read this if leaving scares you. -Arty Shöfr

Arnold Scaffolding said it best: "Uhhh, yeah no no.. This book offers your brain what it's always wanted to hear. But DO NOT read this if you're ill prepared to leave your comfortable home"

WOOF.

I'll be getting my passport asap, and it gives me butterflies.

Sincerely, thank you to Arthur Shafter for introducing me to Mr. Rolf Potts!

10/10 will f*** my physical copy of this wonderful piece of literature! Hopefully on a majority of our coninents!

-Thanks!

-C²

didn't make it through opening.

I enjoyed his first book, but this feels forced and a desperate attempt to publish.