[Book Review] Vagabonding by Rolf Potts

Potts, Rolf. Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. Random House Publishing Group. Kindle Edition.

Vagabonding by Rolf Potts is a difficult book to classify, because it interacts with so many genres from travel to minimalism to self-help to the purpose of work and life. On the surface, the book is about a type of travel called vagabonding, wherein the traveler seeks respite from the time-demands of modern life in order to slow down and interact with the world in a more meaningful way. Along the way, it explores many philosophical questions about simplicity, minimalism, and the purpose of work.

“Vagabonding is not a lifestyle, nor is it a trend. It’s just an uncommon way of looking at life — a value adjustment from which action naturally follows. And, as much as anything, vagabonding is about time — our only real commodity — and how we choose to use it.” Beginning with this beautiful definition of vagabonding as a way of reclaiming man’s relationship to time, the main body of the book provides a how-to guide on applying the concept of vagabonding to one’s own life and travels. Potts details the preparation needed for vagabonding (including how to work and save up for travel), what to do while on the road, and how to bring this philosophy back home with you.

Because vagabonding is a metaphor for life, the book touches upon many significant philosophical questions: What is the purpose of work? What is the purpose of travel? What is the purpose of life? What does it mean to lead a rich life? A meaningful life? What is the best way to spend one’s most precious commodity, i.e., time? How to make the most of travel and experience the richness of different countries and cultures?

Although Potts does not provide any definitive answers to the deep questions he raises, he provides very thought provoking meditations and arguments on the topics and provides a guide which readers can use to answer the questions through their own experiences. Some of his arguments include the idea that you must earn your freedom (through work) as preparation for vagabonding, that vagabonding is a way of engaging with simplicity and minimalism, that it allows you to be open to new experiences, new people, and new cultures, that it can reinvigorate your spiritual life, and so on. Ultimately, vagabonding is a metaphor for life, and Potts’ philosophy of vagabonding is at the same time Potts’ philosophy of life. The question of “how to travel” is really the question of “how to live your life?”

Vagabonding, I think, is ultimately a modern day Walden, where life in Walden pond is replaced with the life of vagabonding. Both experiments are motivated by a desire to recover a more authentic relationship to the concept of time, which we seem to have collectively lost in the hustle and bustle of modern life. As such, the premise will resonate with many readers who feel that there is something wrong with the busy-ness of modern life.

I personally found the most value in the opening and closing segments of the book, which are about preparing for travel (earning your freedom through work) and about coming back home after travel. This is similar to the feeling I got after reading Walden, where I was very impressed with the motivations and conclusions of Thoreau’s experiment, but could not relate very much to the details of his day to day life in Walden. I think I am still seeking my own answer to the question of how to recover lost time and I must find my own answer to this question.