Vagabonding: An invitation to a book club

I first read Vagabonding in 2006, when we were in the throes of planning what we expected to be a one year trip. I was devouring everything I could find for inspiration, looking for the tools I needed as we grappled with breaking free from a very “normal” American life and plunging into the unknown, with four kids in tow. I’d read books specific to every aspect of packing, cycling long distance, travel with children and life on the road, and I had a binder full of notes.

Then, I cracked the spine of Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, the dust settled around me, a calm descended, and I remembered something very important: our journey wasn’t about preparation, it was about perspective, and we weren’t headed out on a lark, we were embarking on a lifestyle. Of course the book handed me tools, it’s chock-full of resources to build on, but more importantly Rolf sung the timeless song of the vagabond for our generation. He articulated the age old messages of light-footed simplicity in a way that our modern minds recognized.

I decided, a few weeks ago, that I need to re-read this book. I’m six years in to a lifestyle of full-time travel and it’s now “routine” for me. Taking over as Managing Editor of this site has required me to dig deep into 11 years worth of content on a subject near to my heart and it’s reminding me of all of the best reasons that I’ve chosen the life I have. As I seek to refocus this blog on the core values of Rolf’s book I’ve found myself, yellow highlighter in hand, turning pages and rediscovering the beauty the philosophy of Vagabonding.

And so, I wanted to invite you to join me. For the next ten weeks I’m going to move, chapter by chapter, through the book and post some of my highlighted bits here. Starting now, with Chapter One. If you don’t have a copy, you have lots of choices: paperback, kindle, audio, among others. It’s even available in several foreign languages if you look!

So here we go…

Chapter 1: Declare Your Independence

“Ultimately, this shotgun wedding of time and money has a way of keeping us in a holding pattern. The more we associate experience with cash value, the more we think that money is what we need to live. And the more we associate money with life, the more we convince ourselves that we’re too poor to buy our freedom. With this kind of mind-set, it’s no wonder so many Americans think extended overseas travel is the exclusive realm of students, counterculture dropouts, and the idle rich… Vagabonding is not a lifestyle, nor is it a trend. It’s just an uncommon way of looking at life–a value adjustment from with action naturally follows. And, as much as anything, vagabonding is about time–our only real commodity– and how we choose to use it.”

This jumped out at me because it draws our attention to time as a commodity and the wrong thinking that has lead us to connect it to money in the economic sphere. One of the things long-term travel has taught me, over and over, is the truth of that last assertion: that time is our only real commodity and how we use it is a choice.

Please share your reflections on Chapter One in the comments!