I am in Memphis at the moment, en route to New Orleans, so this will have to be quick. Since I am on the road at the moment, I am only getting news of the Asian tsunami in bits and pieces, but naturally I am worried about the human toll of the disaster — particularly in Thailand, where I have many Thai friends and traveling acquaintances. So, very quickly:

1) If you haven’t already, please donate to the relief efforts, even if it is just a few dollars. Google has set up a donation link page here.

2) If anyone has news of or knows of the situation in Ranong, Thailand (my former expat home), please let me know. I have yet to hear from my friends in the area.

3) If you know of online reports from travelers in Thailand — especially the Phuket or Koh Phi Phi area — please post links or anecdotal information here (or email me), as I am worried about the fate of a stretch of the Andaman Sea (and the people who visit there) that feels like a second home to me.

This blog may be somewhat silent in coming days, since I’ll be in New Orleans for the New Year holiday — but before I sign off, I want to give away five copies of Vagabonding to interested parties.

The only catch is that those of you who receive these copies of Vagabonding cannot keep them. Rather, I’d like you to release them into the “wild” at various locations around the globe. Then, you and I both can track the progress of these books as they travel their way from person to person around the world — hopefully informing and inspiring people along the way.

The concept for this kind of global book exchange comes from the BookCrossing.com website, where one can register one’s favorite books, then leave them in public places for other readers to discover at random. Progress of a given book is tracked through an online journal at BookCrossing.com. Since Vagabonding is itself about actualizing the serendipity of travel, I figured it’d be fun to send a few copies of the book off on fateful journeys around the world, in the hopes the book will be discovered by people who would never otherwise know about it. As the BookCrossing website says, “it’s a fascinating exercise in fate, karma, or whatever you want to call the chain of events that can occur between two or more lives and one piece of literature.”

Since Vagabonding has been well-publicized in the United States and Canada, I don’t want to “release” all the registered copies of the book in North America alone. Thus, if you are headed to Europe, Asia, Australia/New Zealand, Africa, or Latin America in 2005, send me an email letting me know where you might plan to leave a copy of my book. If it sounds like a promising destination, I’ll send you a registered copy of the book that you can leave for the rest of the world to find.

I’m interested to see how this project goes, and I will occasionally report on the progress of the “vagabonding” copies of Vagabonding on this blog. Drop me a line if you’re interested in receiving a “catch-and-release” copy!

[Above: Rolf takes in the spectacle at Machu Picchu back in January of this year -- one of his "cool moments" of 2004.]

This morning I was going through a bunch of photos on my laptop and reflecting on where I’ve been and what I’ve done this year. I started the year in Ecuador (and it looks like I’ll end it in New Orleans), and many very cool moments have ensued. One — hiking around at Machu Picchu in Peru — is pictured above. Others, in roughly chronological order (with text links to pop-up photos), include:

Justin from Missouri (who posts comments to this blog from time to time) wrote me at the Vagabonding.net Q&A to ask the following question:

“How important do you think it is to travel with a concept in mind if you plan on writing a travel book? I have an extended solo journey planned that I want to write about, but I’m lacking a concept. Should I postpone my trip until I have found a concept that will lend itself to enjoyable reading?”

This is what I told him:

“Don’t postpone your travels waiting for a writing concept to occur to you — just get out there and travel. For starters, you will learn so much on the road that any pre-vagabonding concept you dream up will probably seem kind of silly once you’re amassing your actual travel experiences. Moreover, it’s doubtful your concept will attract the attention of an agent or editor unless you already have some travel and publication credits under your belt. And, finally, trying to adhere to a rigid ‘concept’ on the road can sometimes get in the way of your wandering and simple wandering is one of the best things you can do on the road.

“In the end, travel and writing are both processes that you get better at with time and experience. I should know, since at age 23 I tried to write a book about my 8-month North American vagabonding experience and failed. But that failed book was a great exercise in finding my voice and learning persistence. It wasn’t until five more years and many more travels that I finally started getting my travel stories published and the experience I accumulated in the meantime made all the difference.

“Hence, my advice is this: Throw yourself into your travels, and let your travels change the way you see the world. Have fun, and seek out new places, people and ideas. Take copious notes, and start writing stories. Submit those stories to online or print magazines. Laugh off the rejections, and celebrate the successes. Don’t be afraid to fail (as a writer or a traveler), and learn from those failures. Be patient. Read voraciously. Get a job (or volunteer) overseas. Fall in love with someone from a distant land. Write letters home regularly. Learn new languages. Become an expatriate for awhile. The deeper these travel experiences, the better equipped you will be to write about your travels, and the better your chances of finding a personally meaningful concept for a travel book.

“And, of course, even if these travels never lead to a book, you will at least have had the pleasure of living them and living life richly is more important than publishing books about it.”

Jen Leo has already mentioned this, but I’ll reiterate that Newley Purnell has posted “Bloggers’ Favorite Books of 2004“, which includes feedback from the bloggers behind sites like BoingBoing, Old Hag, MoorishGirl, The Elegant Variation, Written Road, and Vagablogging.

I’ll let you surf over to Newley’s entry to find out what my favorite books were this year (but I’ll hint that one of them is called The Art of Mackin’).

What did you read and enjoy this year? Feel free to post below…

“There is still an overwhelming social compulsion — an insanity of consensus, if you will — to get rich from life rather than live richly, to “do well” in the world instead of living well. And, in spite of the fact that America is famous for its unhappy rich people, most of us remain convinced that just a little more money will set life right. In this way, the messianic metaphor of modern life becomes the lottery — that outside chance that the right odds will come together to liberate us from financial worries once and for all. Fortunately, we were all born with winning tickets — and cashing them in is a simple matter of altering our cadence as we walk through the world.”
–Rolf Potts, Vagabonding (2003)

“I soon realized that no journey carries one far unless, as it extends into the world around us, it goes an equal distance into the world within.”
–Lillian Smith, The Journey (1954)

I’ve been pleasantly surprised by the number of readers who’ve written me in recent days to tell me they are buying copies of Vagabonding as Christmas presents. Apparently, folks consider it a great gift for travel-inclined friends and family, since the dead of winter is when people are dreaming of escape and stoking their wanderlust. I think that’s a great point.

The types of people that readers tell me they have targeted for Christmas copies of Vagabonding include:

• College or high school students nearing graduation.
• Twenty- and thirtysomethings who don’t like their jobs, are currently between jobs, or are considering a sabbatical from work.
• Friends and family members who don’t quite “get” the gift-giver’s urge to travel.

To this I might also add that Vagabonding is a great gift for anyone who dreams of (or has talked about) long-term travel, but thinks they’re too poor, busy, disorganized, afraid, uninformed, or old/young to actually do it.

So thanks, everyone! I whole-heartedly agree that Vagabonding makes a great Christmas present. It doesn’t cost much, either. To pick up copies as stocking-stuffers, hit your local bookstore, or try the following online services:

I recently got a question at the Vagabonding.net Q&A, and I’m hoping you all in the blogosphere can help me answer it.

John from New Jersey writes:

“Your book has given me that one last push to get out there and see the places I’ve always dreamed about. I read it cover to cover, only to re-read it again to keep inspired, since my trip is still a couple of years away. My question is, I am planning to be gone at least five years, and will have a small fortune to finance my expedition. I like the idea of using my ATM card for access to cash, but what if I am still overseas when it (and my credit cards) expire? My new cards will more than likely be mailed to a friend I trust here in the states, but what is the best way to get them to where I am? Is the poste restante trustworthy and does every country honor it? If I use an international bank, say Citibank, can they send it to a branch? What other options might be available?”

As for my reply to John — I’ve found that the Poste Restante system is reliable around the world, but I’d be more inclined to use the same system he plans to use at home: a trusted friend. I’d reckon after several months of traveling the world John will have plenty of friends in his host countries, and he can use their home addresses to receive new ATM and credit cards.

But perhaps there is a better way. Has anyone else dealt with this challenge overseas? What are your impressions of the Poste Restante system? If you have any ideas or suggestions regarding receiving sensitive mail abroad, please post below…

“It takes an enormous effort to avoid all theories and just see — just experience directly. But, for a time, subjective experience might benefit from a little freedom before we try to slap it into a conceptual straightjacket. Sometimes it’s better to just sit and watch. It’s surprising what you can learn that way.”
–Michael Crichton, Travels (1988)