Thought Press.

In my line of work I see people every day planning their holidays and travels. One thing I have noticed is the constant pull toward luxury travel and pre-planned everything. I once created this guy’s entire itinerary for his trip to New York City with his family, right down to specific times and subway directions. It’s all about lazy tours or staying in the hotel for the whole week.

“Luxury, then, is a way of being ignorant, comfortably.” - Leroi Jones

My friend Kate has been planning a round the world trip (for about 14 months) and my first reaction was “Where the heck do you get this money?” She introduced me to a book called Vagabonding by Rolf Potts. It’s all about changing your mindset about travelling. Vagabonding is about long-term travel where you actually have the time to experience living in a new place instead of rushing from attraction to attraction in the few days you have. In all that rush you miss the true essence of a place.

What about the money? You live cheaply on about $1,000 per month. While you may make general plans, spontaneity is what makes your vagabonding experience better. You accept whatever comes, good and bad. I feel in the Western world we need to have more acceptance of things. As Potts said, we live in a culture where we’re spoiled with extremely high expectations and superior customer service. When something goes wrong, we flip out and can’t accept it.

The reading truly excited me and got me thinking about my future and how much I desire to see the world, something other than my own country. This also gives me a larger incentive for heavier saving. In the book, Potts explains that work is part of the vagabonding experience, where you work and earn for the reward of vagabonding.