“Few things are more ridiculous than the spectacle of a “budget traveler” losing his temper at a rickshaw driver over $0.10, while negotiating a ride to a bar where he’ll blow $10 on beer.”
–Rolf Potts, Vagabonding (2003)

“In the establishment of modern society, the individual act of sightseeing is probably less important than the ceremonial ratification of authentic attractions as objects of ultimate value, a ratification at once caused by and resulting in a gathering of tourists around an attraction and measurable to a certain degree by the time and distance the tourists travel to reach it. The actual act of communion between the tourist and attraction is less important than the image or the idea of society that that the collective act generates. The image of the Statue of Liberty or the Liberty Bell that is the product of visits to them is more enduring than any specific visit, although, of course, the visit is indispensable to the image. A specific act of sightseeing is, in itself, weightless and, at the same time, the ultimate reason for the orderly representation of the social structure of modern society in the system of attractions.”
–Dean MacCannell, The Tourist (1976)

“I had assumed that traveling was the crap bit you had to tolerate in order to get to the places you wanted to see, but it occurred to me that maybe the places were the shit bits that you had to tolerate in order to do the traveling.”
–William Sutcliffe, Are You Experienced? (1998)

“Quitting, for me, means not giving up, but moving on; changing direction not because something doesn’t agree with you, but because you don’t agree with something. It’s not a complaint, in other words, but a positive choice, and not a stop in one’s journey, but a step in a better direction. Quitting-whether a job or a habit-means taking a turn so as to be sure you’re still moving in the direction of your dreams.”
–Pico Iyer, “Quit Pro Quotes”, Utne Reader, Sept./Oct. 1996

“Worldwide, we are seeing the transformation of cultures into ‘local color’, making peoples’ cultures extensions of the modern mass media. Culture is being packaged, priced, and sold like building lots, rights-of-way, fast-food, and room service, as the tourist industry promises that the world is his/hers to use. All the ‘natural resources’, including cultural traditions, have their price, and if you have the money in hand, it is your right to see whatever you wish.”
–Davydd J. Greenwood, “Culture By the Pound”, from Valene L. Smith’s Hosts and Guests: The Anthropology of Tourism (1977)

“He who does not travel does not know the value of men.”
–quoted in Bruce Chatwin’s The Songlines (1987)

“In reality, travel is not a social contest, and vagabonding has never represented a caste on the tourist/traveler hierarchy. Depending upon circumstance, a sincere vagabonder could variously be called a traveler or a tourist, a pilgrim or a satyr, and victor or a victim, an individual seeker or a demographic trend. Indeed, the main conceit in trying to discern travelers from tourists is that you end up with a flimsy facade of presumed insiders and outsiders. By the vacuous standards of fashion, insiders and outsiders are necessary — but in the realm of travel (where, by definition, you are always a guest in foreign places) such a distinction is ridiculous.”
–Rolf Potts, Vagabonding (2003)

“If you really want to learn about a country, work there.”
–Charles Kuralt, A Life on the Road (1990)

My story about the Moken sea gypsies of southern Myanmar, which originally appeared in Conde Nast Traveler last summer (under the title “The Last Archipelago”), reappears for the Asian market this month in Destinasian magazine. Renamed “The Moken Way“, the article is the cover story for Destinasian’s February/March issue. The story includes more stunning photos of the region by Cathrine Wessel.

“What I find is that you can go anywhere, you can do just about anything, if you’re not in a hurry.”
–Tony the Beachcomber to Paul Theroux, Fresh-Air Fiend (2000)

My thanks to Andie Miller for sharing this quote. It originally appeared in Theroux’s The Happy Isles of Oceania, and I reference it in the pages of Vagabonding as well. Good stuff.