Outdoor Quote: Rolf Potts

Filed in archive Outdoor Quotes on September 13, 2007

Rolf Potts is one of the greatest travel writers in the world. Yes, a bold statement, but a true one. He is one of the reasons why I wanted to become a travel writer. His book, Vagabonding, single-handedly changed my life. So, its no surprise that one of my favorite outdoor quotes comes from his book.

If you've never heard of Rolf Potts, slap your hand and head over to his blog, Vagablogging.

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. Long-term travel doesn't require a massive "bundle of cash"; it requires only that we walk through the world in a more deliberate way.

This deliberate way of walking through the world has always been intrinsic to the time-honored, quietly available travel tradition known as "vagabonding."

Vagabonding involves taking an extended time-out from your normal life - six weeks, four months, two years - to travel the world on your own terms.

But beyond travel, vagabonding is an outlook on life. Vagabonding is about using the prosperity and possibility of the information age to increase your personal options instead of your personal possessions. Vagabonding is about looking for adventure in normal life, and normal life within adventure. Vagabonding is an attitude - a friendly interest in people, places, and things that makes a person an explorer in the truest, most vivid sense of the word.

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.