Like you,
I was heavily influenced by our friend Rolf Pott's book Vagabonding.
He started sending many maids and men security guards with her so that
people do not say that she goes Vagabonding.
So, while my public speaking gigs still tend to focus on Vagabonding, I have taken my creative life in new directions.
Because from the outset I was
more vested in reportorial-narrative travel writing, Vagabonding has ended up being a nice complement to the rest of my career.
I think those early travel experiences are the best
ones to draw from when writing a book like Vagabonding, since those are the experiences readers will identify with.
But of course all we really have is the present moment, and Vagabonding can be amazing as ever if you allow it to be,
regardless of how things have changed.
Vagabonding is for anyone who's ever dreamed of travel, whereas the
Marco Polo book has been embraced by a more specialized readership, one that is already interested in travel and travel writing.
When I first started thinking about traveling the world,
I bought a book most of you have probably heard of: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term
World Travel by Rolf Potts.
When I was listening to working-edits of the Vagabonding audiobook a few weeks ago,
I kept getting caught up in the same feelings of wanderlust I felt when I was just starting out as a traveler.
My second book, Marco Polo Didn't Go There, won lots of awards,
but it hasn't sold nearly as many copies as Vagabonding- and that makes sense,
because it's a more specialized, narrative book, less given to broad advice.
I may never write a book that proves as popular as Vagabonding, but I would reckon that allows me to follow my heart
and do what interests me rather than try to re-create or outdo my first book.
In the introduction chapter of the book,
I poke fun at the idea of creating a“Vagabonding publishing empire,” before going on to declare that I planned
to write the book in such a way that it didn't require sequels or spinoffs.
The most important motivating factors in my long-term travel career had been existential ones-
factors that were rooted in cultivating a mindset that made Vagabonding possible- so that's what I detailed on my website,
and that's what caught the attention of an editor at Random House.
Rolf is re-releasing the book in an audio format(it's also the first book in the Tim Ferriss Book Club) and, to celebrate the book turning ten, I wanted to bring Rolf
back on the site to talk about the fine art of Vagabonding(I first interviewed him in 2009).