This morning I talked about solo independent travel with writer Wendy Knight and host Marty Moss-Coane for the “Radio Times” program on WHYY in Philadelphia. The recurring refrain, both among myself, Wendy, and call-in listeners, is that traveling alone is a great way to engage and interact with the world around you. An online audio version of the discussion can be found here (Wendy is the initial guest; I join in around minute 24).

“[As] a Western country becomes richer, its people overall do not become happier. The reason for this is that over time our standards and expectations rise to meet our income. A Gallup poll has asked Americans each year: “What is the smallest amount of money a family of four needs to get along in this community?” The sums mentioned rise in line with average incomes. Since people are always comparing their incomes with what others have, or with what they are used to, they only feel better off if they move up relative to the norm.”
–Richard Layard, “Happiness is back”, Prospect, March 2005

“I was simply restless, quite likely because of a dissatisfaction with the recent trajectory of my life, and if there is a better, more compelling reason for dropping everything and moving to the end of the world, I don’t know what is.”
–J. Maarten Troost, The Sex Lives of Cannibals (2004)

Note: J. Maarten Troost, who wrote the very funny travel book from which the above quote is taken, will be the subject of my featured interview on next month’s RolfPotts.com Writers page. Sneak preview here.

I’m still working away in seclusion up in northern Kansas, but I wanted to pop online and post a few items — including the quote above, as well as some recent missives from Vagabonding readers. Over two years after the book came out, it’s great to hear letters like this:

“I just finished Vagabonding and it is one of the best books that I have read on the subject (and believe me, I read a lot of travel books!). I recently returned from a four month lone backpacking trip (Asia, SE Asia, Oz, NZ, Pacific Islands, Indonesia) and found myself nodding in agreement as I paged through the book. Whenever I tell people about my travels, I get the same response “Oh, I could never do that! It’s too expensive/frightening/I have too many obligations”, etc. It was really encouraging to see in print the same things that I have been telling them for years. I am heading out for my second trip this year (six months in Northern and Eastern Europe), so will be using a lot of the new tips and resources that I picked up. I actually find it quite easy to travel as a woman alone thanks to the Internet, the kindness of locals and fellow travelers and great books like yours. Thanks so much for a great resource!”

…and this:

“I recently came across your book and I’ve been reading your writings ever since. I’ve got to say you are a bit of an inspiration for me. I was born and raised around Parsons, Kansas for the first 18 years of my life. After high school I was dying to get outta there so I joined the Marine Corps. That pretty much put the sweet taste of world travel in my mouth and I’ve been hooked ever since. Now I’m out of the Corps but still traveling. In about 3 days I’m leaving for a trip to Australia. It’s my first trip Down Under and I’m stoked. Anyhow I just wanted to let you know that your writings have inspired me and I’m focusing on taking more away from my travels than a hangover.”

…and this:

“I couldn’t wait for your book any longer by mail so I went out and bought another copy (it finally did arrive the day I finished it). I’m glad I have an extra copy because after reading it I think it will be the perfect book to give to my parents so they better understand what I’m doing. I can’t tell you how much your book meant to me. Thank you. Once I started reading it I couldn’t stop until it was finished. You put into words what I had been feeling for the last 6 months.”

“We all paint the people we’ve never met and the places we’ve never seen in broad strokes, based on what we’ve read or heard or seen on TV. Of course, we make such judgments at our peril, but hoary cliches persist and survive because we find them useful. Often, when we want to know how to think about or engage with a representative of an unfamiliar culture, stereotypes are all we have to start with. I remember one morning ten years ago in London, when I told a Jamaican-born cabbie I was visiting from Chicago. He asked me two questions: if I knew Michael Jordan, and (more cautiously) if I owned a gun.”
–Todd Pruzan, “Global Warning”, The New Yorker, April 11, 2005

For next few weeks, I’ll be on the family farm in northern Kansas, finishing a screenplay project. This means I’ll probably only be blogging about once a week until sometime in May. In the interest of reducing spam, I’m disabling the comments here — so if you have any questions or comments just send me an email (which I will check every few days or so).

In the meantime, here’s a random sampling what I’ve been up to, and what I have upcoming:

• I am still taking applications for my Creative Writing Workshop at the Paris American Academy this July. Application deadline is April 30th, or whenever the class is full (and I’ll post here if the class fills up before the 30th).
• I am having a Vagabonding book signing at Watermark Books in Wichita on Monday, May 2nd at 7 p.m. If you’re in Kansas around then, come and see me!
• Before my recent return to the prairie, I spent the first two months of 2005 living in the French Quarter of New Orleans. This led to many interesting experiences, not the least of which was getting hired as an extra in the upcoming Lindsey Lohan movie, Just My Luck. This marks the third time in 12 years that I’ve been a movie extra, though I doubt the Rolf Potts Background-Talent Box Set (which would include Dr. Giggles and The Beach in addition to Just My Luck) would do much business at Blockbuster.
• The current issue of Harper’s has a Bill McKibben story called “The Cuba Diet”. Upon reading the article, I discovered that this exploration of organic agriculture in Cuba is thematically identical to a story proposal I sent to the International Reporting Project in 2003. In mentioning this, I don’t mean to imply that McKibben stole my idea (he is actually much more qualified to write on matters of health and the environment than I am) — I just wonder why a topic good enough for Harper’s was turned down (as it was in 2003) by the IRP. [Indeed, for all the variety of writing and travel experience I've accumulated over the years, I have yet to crack the code of getting grants and fellowships (though I suspect my lack of elite schooling has something to do with it: 70% of the IRP Fellows in the session I applied to were Ivy League grads).]
• I recently re-read a couple of my favorite books — Joseph Heller’s Catch 22, and John Steinbeck’s Cannery Row. It’s probably the sixth time I’ve read each book since I was a teenager, but it was still a pleasure to re-immerse myself in the stories and characters. Kind of like re-visiting old friends.
• Speaking of which, some old college/Korea-expat friends recently visited me in Kansas, where I caught this fish.

“Though many landscapes are increasingly sullied, that need not spell the decline of travel writing. It does mean that travel writing must confront the real world, slums and all, rather than escape into an airbrushed version of a more rustic past.”
–Robert D. Kaplan, The Ends of the Earth (1996)

Though I don’t typically blog about the mail and feedback I get from Vagabonding readers from week to week, I recently got a couple messages that made me feel great — and reminded me why I wrote the book in the first place. Here’s one:

“I wanted to let you know that I really appreciated your insights in Vagabonding. I have been doing it for years without really having a name to capture the feeling — I just knew when I was 17 that buying that one-way ticket to Mexico City was the thing to do. Now I’m in the work phase, frothing at the bit to get back on the road. It has been 2 1/2 years since my last big voyage, and I am so ready. I quit my job and leave for South America the beginning of December. Your book allowed me to be OK with working until then, seeing this as my savings time, not dead space, and reminding me of why I put myself through this stationary existence. I recommended it to a co-worker who has been in the same boat as me. He went out and bought it and reads a little every day, savoring it. He swears he is on a place to Portugal by 2006.”

…and here’s another:

“Your book came to me at just the right time, and provided just the right words. I expected the same rusty trustafarian slant from your book that I’ve heard from local granolas who’ve traveled around the globe. Instead, I received many gifts from an articulate spiritual sojourner who wrote a book from the heart, filled with humor, thoughtful perspective, and excellent resources. Thank you for writing a book that helps me, a person going against the grain of conformity, to live my dreams. Wish me luck on my adventure!”