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“Traveling on a shoestring was a good training for almost everything — the cheaper the hotel I stay in, the better the stories that come out of it. And I think that’s almost an unfailing law.”
–Pico Iyer, in Michael Shapiro’s A Sense of Place (2004)
I head off for Paris tomorrow to teach my creative writing workshop, so today I wanted to share some new messages from Vagabonding readers. As always, I’m encouraged by the fact that people are finding travel inspiration from my book. Here’s an outtake:
“I just wanted to say thanks for writing Vagabonding. It is always something I dreamed about doing, but never had the courage. Knowing that there are other people who see the world as I would like to gives me hope. After grad school I will have to make my career work for me and my travel dreams instead of letting my career keep me stagnant. I just wanted to say thanks.”
…and here’s another one:
“I just wanted to send you a quick email and let you know how much I’ve enjoyed reading Vagabonding. I’m planning a trip around the world and came across your book on Amazon.com while searching for some travel guides. I have to say that the cover caught my eye and I bought it on a whim. I had no idea what to expect. Thanks for making me laugh, for making me think and most of all, for making me excited to get on the road. I was very impressed with your writing style - it’s thought-provoking, humorous, witty and insightful. Vagabonding is probably the best ‘travel guide’ I’ve ever read. I’ve even called friends to read excerpts from it…”
“Death twitches my ear. ‘Live,’ he says. ‘I am coming.’”
–Virgil, Roman poet, c. 70 - 19 BC
[Above: The old house where I grew up in Wichita, Kansas.]
After thirty-three years of living in one place, my parents have moved from their home in a working-class north Wichita neighborhood to a prairie farmstead near my sister’s farm in north-central Kansas. And, while I haven’t stayed for more than three successive weeks in Wichita since the mid-1990’s, I’ll miss my regular visits to the city where I grew up. With my family elsewhere, it looks like I’ll have to find new excuses to head down there.
Right now I’m enjoying my time on the new family farm before I head on to New York and then France, to teach my creative writing workshop at the Paris American Academy. When I return, I hope to renovate a small house on the farm property as a writing retreat where I can work when I’m stateside. I’ll have to post some updates later this summer, as that project progresses!
“Bohemian primitivism is [mainly] in the mind. The community yearned for is symbolic, not actual. Its undivided organic wholeness is something imagined rather than observed. The unique aesthetic sensibilities remote communities embody are hypothesised — deduced from pretty textiles or attractive pots. And even if one takes the trouble to visit such places, one is still only a tourist who stays briefly before returning to the safety of a waiting metropolis with hot baths and digestible food.
“But the cream of the jest is to come. This is a tale of unrequited love. The French intellectual may admire the Andalusian muleteer, but the muleteer thinks he’s mad. There may indeed be a brown-skinned woman with burning eyes waiting for Flaubert, whispering the language of the houris. But the words she whispers are
Often readers write in to ask my advice about purchasing round-the-world plane tickets. I usually tell them to forgo buying RTW tickets, since your vagabonding travels will be more flexible and spontaneous (and often much cheaper) if you just make your way around the world on a series of one-way buses, boats, planes, and trains. A few weeks ago, a reader from Colorado took time from his travels to write and tell me how well this strategy has been working for him:
“I remembered sending you an email about seven months ago when I was still planning my post graduation travels. I had asked you for advice on where to buy a RTW ticket. Your response persuaded me to go another route and buy one-way tickets, which I have been traveling with for four months now. I am having such an amazing time, and a large part of this is due to my complete flexibility and freedom. I was in NZ, tramping and fly fishing for three months, and now I have been exploring the big island of Hawaii with a group of local kids who just graduated from Hilo. Soon I will be on my way to Europe. The plan is to make it to Latvia for the summer solstice festival called Jani. I am a full blooded Latvian who speaks the language, but was born in the USA and have never seen more than 35 Latvians in one place at the same time. How I will get there, when I will go there, how long I will stay, and where I will go before, during, and after my visit there is a mystery. And I love it!”
As today is the summer solstice, I hope he’s having a good time in Latvia, and that he’s continuing in his open-ended travel strategy!
From Alan Lightman’s Einstein
You don’t often see mainstream magazines touting the virtues of vagabonding, so it’s encouraging to see that this month’s Men’s Journal features a cover story entitled, “How to Take a Year Off”, by Ethan Watters and Dean Latourrette.
This article, which mainly looks at the lives of a handful of men who’ve put work on hold to travel for a year or more, is not available online — but here’s a list of recommended online travel-sabbatical resources from the article:
For a more comprehensive list of vagabonding resources, check out my Resources page at Vagabonding.net.
Though blogs have long been a popular way for independent travelers to showcase their adventures online, it seems as if the travel-blogging concept has caught the attention of the travel and tourism industry as well. According to a recent CNN story, Pennsylvania’s state tourism office has elected to promote its destinations by hosting a series of in-state travel blogs at VisitPA.com. The featured bloggers are six “real people” who’ve been traveling across the state visiting Civil War battlefields and theme parks, attending NASCAR races, motorcycling and mountain biking across rural regions, and checking out urban nightlife. An added perk for these bloggers is that the Pennsylvania state tourism office is footing the travel bill.
The bloggers started posting on June 1st, and their online journals can be found here.
Over at the Vagabonding.net Q&A, Matt from Ohio wrote in with a rather esoteric query:
“I read Vagabonding a year ago and have finally paid off my student loans and saved up enough money to head off for as long as my finances/stamina will allow. My only concern is this: I’ve played cello since I was 6 and I’m afraid my technique and skills will wither away after a year or more away from it. Is there any solution to this problem you can see?”
This is what I told him:
“A cello is far too cumbersome for easy vagabonding, but this doesn’t mean your cello skills need to deteriorate as you travel. I suggest two possible solutions: either contacting local cellists and orchestras as you travel, or bringing along a collapsible travel cello.
“Of these options, the first might be the most interesting. I’m not sure how easy this would be to do, but you might try contacting national and community orchestras along your travel itinerary (either in advance or as you go). These orchestras are surprisingly common, and can be found in almost any country, from Thailand to Egypt to to Latvia to Paraguay. This process is potentially going to be a bit time-consuming — but it could also be quite rewarding, as it will give you a pretext to meet fellow musicians in other countries. Music schools might work as well. The idea is to meet cellists who can help you find a practice instrument in their town. I’d imagine many such cellists will even invite you to play with their quartet or orchestra — especially in smaller communities, where having an American guest cellist would be a novelty.
“The second option would be to make the (somewhat pricey) investment and buy a travel cello. A little Google research reveals that a few companies make them. In a CNN.com interview, for instance, New York Philharmonic cellist Carter Brey recommends the electronic SVC-50 cello by Yamaha, which can collapse to fit in an airline overhead bin (star session cellist Erik Friedlander has also mentioned this as his travel cello). This model costs about $1800, but you might find a cheaper model on eBay. For a cheaper, non-electronic travel cello, check out the collapsible Prakticello.
“One advantage of traveling with a collapsible cello is that it will be a great conversation-starter in whichever hostel, guesthouse, garden or street you choose to practice!”
To all of this I might add that this advice can be applied to travel with nearly any instrument. That is, use your musical skills and passions as a pretext to meet local musicians as you travel. This might be a tad time-consuming, but it’s a great way to get off the backpacker circuit and meet new people!
