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2 episodes with vagabonding an uncommon guide
2 episodes with vagabonding an uncommon guide
2 episodes with vagabonding an uncommon guide
In this episode, I'm joined by Rolf Potts. Rolf has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, NPR, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include adventures such as piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind.Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his newest book, The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel, was published this past October of 2022. His bestselling debut book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel has been through thirty-seven printings and translated into several languages worldwide.This was personally one of my favorite and most surreal episodes as a host because Rolf's first book Vagabonding was one that shifted my outlook and changed my life for the better.Inside The Episode:Lessons that can only be learned through international travelDebunking the many myths that keep most people from travelingHow travel and adventure brings you into the presentTactics for traveling more with limited time and moneyHow to travel long-term for less than your regular living expensesWhat living with little (or no) belongings teaches you about lifeRolf's favorite, least favorite, and most surprising countriesHow Rolf literally circled the globe without so much as a fanny packThe pros and cons of technology, social media, and smartphones in travelConnect with RolfThe Vagabond's WayVagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World TravelRolf's WebsiteInstagramFacebookTwitterConnect With BradleyBradley's InstagramSupport the show
Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind.Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his newest book, The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel, was published by Ballantine Books in October of 2022. His bestselling debut book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), has been through thirty-five printings and translated into several languages worldwide. He has also written a cultural history of travel souvenirs for Bloomsbury Academic's Object Lessons series, co-authored a travel-themed comic book, and written a volume about the psychogeography of gangsta rap for Bloomsbury's vaunted “33 1/3” series of music criticism. His collection of literary travel essays, Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer (Travelers' Tales, 2008), won a Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers, and became the first American-authored book to win Italy's Chatwin Prize for travel writing.⚡ Connect with Rolf Potts: https://rolfpotts.com/about/bio/ | https://twitter.com/rolfpotts | https://rolfpotts.com/bookssection/books/⚡ Connect with Greg Witz: witzeducation.com | LinkedIn | Instagram | Twitter | FacebookCheck out our betterLEADER Program: https://www.witzeducation.coLearn More About Greg Witz and betterHUMAN:Greg's sole mission in life is to challenge all of us to be better. MAKING HUMANS BETTER HUMANS has been at the foundation of Witz Education for over 30 years. As an entrepreneur, thought leader, author, mentor, and father, Greg creatively blends psychology and communication skills with street smarts and a no-BS approach. From startups to the White House, bringing entrepreneurs and business leaders to the top of their game is Greg's passion. His rich understanding of organizational and human development coupled with his own corporate experience allows Greg to effectively and energetically design and deliver tailor-made programs that have transformed thousands of Witz clients' careers and personal lives.Learn more about what Witz Education can do for you at witzeducation.com
Rolf Potts is a Travel Writer, Essayist, Adventurer and Teacher best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel. This American author has been through adventures on all six continents. Things like traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma and driving a Land Rover across South America are on his list, but there's so much more to it. He's gathered teachings from all over the place and written amazing books about it. His bestselling debut book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, has been through thirty-five printings and translated into several languages worldwide. Potts has, over the years, felt somewhat at home in places like Bangkok, Cairo, Pusan, New Orleans, New York, and Paris, where he runs a series of creative writing classes each summer. He is based in north-central Kansas, where he keeps a small farmhouse on 30 acres with his wife, Kansas-born actress Kristen Bush.
Rolf Potts is the author of five books, including Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), and The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel (Ballantine, 2022). You can Rolf on Instagram and Twitter @rolfpotts. Website: https://rolfpotts.com/ For show notes and transcript visit: https://kk.org/cooltools/rolf-potts-travel-author/ If you're enjoying the Cool Tools podcast, check out our paperback book Four Favorite Tools: Fantastic tools by 150 notable creators, available in both Color or B&W on Amazon: https://geni.us/fourfavoritetools
If you could travel anywhere in the world right now, where would you go and why? Rolf Potts (@rolfpotts) is a travel writer, podcaster, and author of the bestseller Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. His latest book is The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel. I have always said travel is the most mind-expanding thing a person can do. Rolf, a serial traveler, reinforces this in our conversation this week. I've known of Rolf for a long time but we never met until this very moment. Learn more about Rolf Potts - rolfpotts.com/
Traveling the world, especially for an extended period, may be a luxury you only dream about or can only do every few years. But, what if there was a way to make it happen? And, way sooner, and for less money than you ever imagined? Or, what if there's a way to evoke that sense of wonder and curiosity that travel brings out of us without leaving our immediate neighborhood? What would it look like to keep the spirit of the journey or travel alive at home, using it to engage with and learn from the community that's right in front of us in a new and meaningful way? My guest today, Rolf Potts, is a firm believer in the life-altering benefits of travel - even if that means driving heading just a few blocks outside your normal routine - and how we can use adventure as a metaphor for life itself, and I'm excited to dive deeper into his philosophies and stories about life, travel, and wonder. Rolf has shared much of his wisdom and travel stories in his books Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel and his newest release, The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel. In our conversation today, we explore Rolf's strategies for doing immersive travel in a meaningful way, uncover the ways anyone, even those who can't travel, can use the vagabond mindset to disrupt their routines at home, and we touch on a few moments of adventure and curiosity that have shaped and inspired us. You can find Rolf at: Website | Instagram | Deviate with Rolf Potts PodcastIf you LOVED this episode you'll also love the conversations we had with Tim Ferriss about centering humanity and love in work and life.Check out our offerings & partners: My New Book SparkedMy New Podcast SPARKEDVisit Our Sponsor Page For a Complete List of Vanity URLs & Discount Codes.Indeed: Connect with your talent audience so you can make more quality hires faster. Start hiring NOW with a $100 sponsored job credit to sponsor your job post at Indeed.com/GLP. Offer good for a limited time. Terms and conditions apply. Need to hire? You need Indeed.Cozey: The comfortable sofa made for modern living. Cozey is a Canadian company that makes modular sofas-in-a-box that are shipped fast and for free across Canada. Design the perfect sofa for your space and have it shipped to your door for free. Assembly is tool-free and super easy. Visit Cozey.ca to start your 30-day risk-free trial.Shopify: Try Shopify FREE and start a business or grow an existing one. Get more than e-commerce software with tools to manage every part of your business. Sign up for a FREE trial at Shopify.com/GOODLIFE to start selling online today. Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.
Travel can often be approached as just another consumer good; travelers quickly dive in and out of a place, check off the things they want to see, harvest the requisite pictures to prove they were there, and wear their trip as a status symbol.My guest, Rolf Potts, thinks there's a better way to approach travel. After exploring the world for years, he wrote a book called Vagabonding, which laid out the practicalities of how to execute long-term travel.Twenty years later, he's back with a new book — The Vagabond's Way — with reflections on the more philosophical side of that kind of travel which you can take on any type of trip. Today on the show, Rolf explains the vagabonding ethos, which involves slowing down, being open to surprises, and really paying attention to your experiences. He first discusses how taking an overly romantic view of travel can actually diminish your enjoyment of traveling. We then turn to the idea that seeking to take a more authentic approach to travel shouldn't mean trying too hard to differentiate yourself from "typical" tourists, and how to approach stereotypical tourist stuff with a nuanced view. We discuss how to use the idea of pilgrimage beyond its religious connotations as a pretext for choosing which places to visit. We also delve into how to deal with the culture shock that can come both from visiting a new place, and returning home from a long trip. We end our conversation with how the attentive, adventurous attitude which underlies the vagabond's way can also be applied to exploring your own backyard.Resources Related to the EpisodeRolf's previous book: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World TravelAoM Podcast #653: The Dirtbag's Guide to LifeSunday Firesides: This One's for MeAoM podcast and article on microadventuresConnect With Rolf PottsRolf's Website
Rolf Potts — The Vagabond's Way, Tactics for Immersive Travel, Pilgrimages and Psychogeography, Empathy Machines, Full-Throated Love, The Slow Sense of Smell, Lessons from Thích Nhất Hạnh, Falling Upward, and More | Brought to you by Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, Vuori comfortable and durable performance apparel, and Eight Sleep's Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating. More on all three below. Rolf Potts (@rolfpotts) is the author of the international bestseller Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. His newest book is The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel. He has reported from more than 60 countries for National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times Magazine, and Travel Channel. Many of his essays have been selected as “Notable Mentions” in The Best American Essays, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and The Best American Travel Writing.He is based in north-central Kansas, where he keeps a small farmhouse on thirty acres with his wife, Kansas-born actress Kristen Bush. My 2014 interview with Rolf can be found at tim.blog/rolf.Please enjoy! *This episode is brought to you by Eight Sleep! Eight Sleep's Pod Cover is the easiest and fastest way to sleep at the perfect temperature. It pairs dynamic cooling and heating with biometric tracking to offer the most advanced (and user-friendly) solution on the market. Simply add the Pod Cover to your current mattress and start sleeping as cool as 55°F or as hot as 110°F. It also splits your bed in half, so your partner can choose a totally different temperature.And now, my dear listeners—that's you—can get $250 off the Pod Cover. Simply go to EightSleep.com/Tim or use code TIM at checkout. *This episode is also brought to you by Vuori clothing! Vuori is a new and fresh perspective on performance apparel, perfect if you are sick and tired of traditional, old workout gear. Everything is designed for maximum comfort and versatility so that you look and feel as good in everyday life as you do working out.Get yourself some of the most comfortable and versatile clothing on the planet at VuoriClothing.com/Tim. Not only will you receive 20% off your first purchase, but you'll also enjoy free shipping on any US orders over $75 and free returns.*This episode is also brought to you by Athletic Greens. I get asked all the time, “If you could use only one supplement, what would it be?” My answer is usually AG1 by Athletic Greens, my all-in-one nutritional insurance. I recommended it in The 4-Hour Body in 2010 and did not get paid to do so. I do my best with nutrient-dense meals, of course, but AG further covers my bases with vitamins, minerals, and whole-food-sourced micronutrients that support gut health and the immune system. Right now, Athletic Greens is offering you their Vitamin D Liquid Formula free with your first subscription purchase—a vital nutrient for a strong immune system and strong bones. Visit AthleticGreens.com/Tim to claim this special offer today and receive the free Vitamin D Liquid Formula (and five free travel packs) with your first subscription purchase! That's up to a one-year supply of Vitamin D as added value when you try their delicious and comprehensive all-in-one daily greens product.*For show notes and past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast.For deals from sponsors of The Tim Ferriss Show, please visit tim.blog/podcast-sponsorsSign up for Tim's email newsletter (5-Bullet Friday) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Discover Tim's books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissYouTube: youtube.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss LinkedIn: linkedin.com/in/timferrissPast guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.See Privacy Policy at https://art19.com/privacy and California Privacy Notice at https://art19.com/privacy#do-not-sell-my-info.
In this episode, Spanish professor David Martínez welcomes travel writer Rolf Potts into the studio to recount stories of risky adventures, unlikely friendships, and intercultural hospitality. The two give tips for new travelers and share their advice on how to be a good guests in a foreign place.Rolf Potts is a travel writer, essayist, author of several books including Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel and Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer. He leads intensive courses at Paris Writing Workshops and hosts a podcast called Deviate with Rolf Potts.David Martínez teaches Spanish and directs George Fox University's Center for Study Abroad. He completed his PhD at the University of Georgia, where he focused his studies and wrote his dissertation on the representation of the Spanish transition to democracy (1969-1981). He is particularly interested in contemporary Spanish authors (Ignacio Martínez de Pisón, Rafael Reig, Marta Sanz, etc.) whose works aim at a demythification of the hegemonic narrative of the transition. He has presented his research at various conferences and venues across the United States.These podcasts are also all video recorded and on our YouTube channel! You can also visit our website at https://georgefox.edu/talks for more content like this.
Rolf Potts is the author of "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel." His podcast is called "Deviate with Rolf Potts."
Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian, Sports Illustrated, NPR, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel has been through thirty-two printings and translated into several foreign languages. His collection of literary travel essays, Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer, won a 2009 Lowell Thomas Award from the Society of American Travel Writers, and became the first American-authored book to win Italy's prestigious Chatwin Prize for travel writing. His newest book, Souvenir, was published by Bloomsbury in March of 2018. Rolf's stories have appeared in numerous literary anthologies over the years, and more than twenty of his essays have been selected as “Notable Mention” in The Best American Essays, The Best American Non-Required Reading, and The Best American Travel Writing. His writing for National Geographic Traveler, Slate.com, Lonely Planet, Outside and Travelers' Tales garnered him five Lowell Thomas Awards. He has lectured at venues around the world, including New York University, the University of Lugano, the University of Melbourne, Authors@Google, and the World Affairs Council. He has taught semester-long nonfiction writing courses at Penn and Yale. Though he rarely stays in one place for long, Potts has, over the years, felt somewhat at home in places like Bangkok, Cairo, Pusan, New Orleans, New York, and Paris, where he runs a series of creative writing classes each summer. He is based in north-central Kansas, where he keeps a small farmhouse on 30 acres with his wife, Kansas-born actress Kristen Bush.
Reminisce with us as we replay this one-of-a-kind interview with Rolf Potts in Paris, France during his Travel Writing Workshop, where he and Kristin talk about some of his biggest lessons and realizations from 25 years of globetrotting. Rolf Potts is an American author, essayist, screenwriter, and long-term traveler who is known for his best-selling book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. Tim Ferriss has cited Vagabonding as the reason he decided to travel the world for a year in 2004-2005. As a result, Tim went on to write The Four-Hour Work Week. Iconic, right? In this episode, Kristin and Rolf talk about what it's really like to be a long-term world traveler while sharing their candid thoughts on why people are so resistant to being nomadic, even though it's in our DNA. Rolf shares words of wisdom on the downfalls of modern society and consumerism, what it was like to be a nomad in the 90s, and why “time wealth” is such an important concept in the 21st century. This conversation is unlike any conversation Kristin has had with a fellow traveler. Rolf's top travel tips and life lessons are sure to make you want to pack your bags and hit the road! EPISODE 111 TOPICS DISCUSSED: Expectations vs. Reality of travel. Rolf experience doing van life before #vanlife. The benefits of long-term travel and using your “time wealth” wisely. Why you may be afraid to get out of the rat race and travel earlier in life. The importance of constantly reassessing your motivations and desires in life. Why you should consider hiring a travel guide (no matter how well-traveled you are). How to avoid crowds and still have fun during the busy tourist season. What your bucket list should really be used for. Where Rolf's inexpensive home base is located and what it's like to come back home after traveling. QUESTIONS ANSWERED: Why do humans have the innate desire to travel? With so much accessibility to travel and digital nomadism, why are people still resistant to it? Do you still fit in here in the U.S. after so many years of traveling abroad? Why should people travel slowly rather than having a busy itinerary? Do you consider yourself a lifetime traveler? What does the world not know about you? And much more! RESOURCES Featured Product: Remote Health Insurance by SafetyWing - International health insurance for expats, digital nomads, and remote workers (including US and Canadian citizens). Get 5% off your first year of Remote Health! Activate discount on checkout page. Books: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel The 4-Hour Work Week by Tim Ferriss Tools of Titans by Tim Ferris Podcasts: Deviate w/ Rolf Potts Videos: Watch the video version of this interview Europe Reopening for Tourism [SUMMER TRAVEL UPDATE] Connect with Rolf Visit his Website Sign up for his Writing Workshops Connect with Kristin: Follow on Instagram Subscribe to Traveling with Kristin on YouTube Subscribe to Digital Nomad TV on YouTube Follow on Medium Follow on Clubhouse @KristinWilson Join the Badass Digital Nomads Facebook Group ........................................................................................... Support the Badass Digital Nomads Podcast: Buy Me a Coffee Become a Patron Leave a 5* Review: https://lovethepodcast.com/digitalnomad Buy Official Merch Search All Episodes: www.badassdigitalnomads.com Thank you to Mikael Mokale from Finland for leaving the following review: Incredibly inspiring! Whether you are or aren't planning to become a digital nomad, you should definitely give this podcast a listen. It gives an inspiring perspective of different life stories of interesting people in a really engaging way. You should also check out Kristin's "Traveling with Kristin" and "Digital Nomad TV" on Youtube and @travellingwithkristin on Instagram. ........................................................................................... Thank you to my 2021 Patrons: Teklordz, Trader Walt, Shawn, Gary, Gary R, Yozhik, Bronwyn, Cynthia, Erick, Yasmine, Mike, Isaac, Michael, Scott, Karen, Erik, Heather, Craig, RZ, Timothy, Richard, Fred, Lakshay, Yohji, Annie, Ray, Ron, Henry, Kelly, Alejandra, Keith, Stephen, Eddy, Warren, James, Daniel, and Javier. Become a Patron for $5/month at Patreon.com/travelingwithkristin ........................................................................................... Podcast descriptions may contain affiliate links of products and services we use and recommend at no additional cost to you.
Rolf Potts is the author of Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long Term Travel. Rolf has been practicing the art of travel for over 25 years. From more than sixty countries, his writing has been featured in National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. On this episode, we talk about practical travel, writing, reflection, loneliness, and much more. Enjoy!Highly recommend everyone checks out Rolf's website and book.Want to support my work? Rate and review the podcast on Apple iTunes and share it with someone who might like it. :)Join my email newsletter family.Say hey on Instagram! @MaxwmccoySubscribe to the podcast:iTunes or SpotifyBeats by Eric Godlow See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Rolf Potts is a legendary travel writer, who’s book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel has been a classic piece of travel writing for many years. Rolf’s writing has appeared in National Geographic, The Guardian, Outside, The New Yorker, and Sports Illustrated. Potts has been part of creative writing workshops and/or taught classes at places like Paris American University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. In addition to travel writing and his Vagabonding success, Rolf Potts’ adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Potts is also the author of Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer and the new edition of Vagabonding includes a foreword from Tim Ferriss. Most recently Rolf has launched his own podcast called “Deviate”. Rolf leaves the listeners with some final advice encouraging them to travel and reminding them that its not as difficult or as dangerous as they might think. In this episode of The Millennial Travel Podcast we discuss: What does it mean to be “time rich” versus most people travel in such a hurry? Rolf Potts explains how he taught English in Korea What does Rolf Potts think about the digital nomad movement? Why do people want to go back in time for nostalgic reasons when they travel? A quick story of when Rolf Potts got lost getting off the beaten path. How people can cut the cord on their smartphone while traveling. How can people truly disconnect, so they don’t get burned out? How to make your “vacation your vocation”. What can we learn from the “slow food movement” or “slow travel movement”? How can people afford to travel more often and travel for longer? Travel to cheaper places He lives in Kansas because of the low cost of living, so he can afford to travel more often What is Rolf Potts’ life like in Kansas and what does he appreciate about it? Rolf is from Kansas and learned to appreciate what he has at home. How does an old school traveler like Rolf Potts feel about Instagram culture in travel? The Millennial Travel Podcast Rapid Fire Questions: If Rolf Potts could go to one bar tomorrow what would it be? McGlinchey’s in Philadelphia or a Korean soju tent If Rolf Potts could take six months to travel anywhere where would he go? The United States because it’s such a large, diverse country What is Rolf Potts favorite US National Park? Olympic National Park in Washington Rolf Potts favorite piece of travel gear? You don’t need any luggage to have a good time, so he said good shoes or a smartphone. Resources: Rolf Potts’ best seller: Vagabonding Rolf Potts’ book Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer (Travelers' Tales Guides) Rolf Potts’ book Souvenir (Object Lessons) Rolf Potts podcast Deviate @RolfPotts on Instagram @RolfPotts on Twitter His website rolfpotts.com Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or Spotify. You can find all the links and past show notes on millennialtravelpodcast.com Direct support for The Millennial Travel Podcast comes from The Millennial Travel Guidebook: Escape More, Spend Less, & Make Travel a Priority in Your Life... and from our new USA hiking and camping trips at Under30Experiences!
Live Different Podcast: Business | Travel | Health | Performance
Rolf Potts is a legendary travel writer, who’s book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel has been a classic piece of travel writing for many years. Rolf’s writing has appeared in National Geographic, The Guardian, Outside, The New Yorker, and Sports Illustrated. Potts has been part of creative writing workshops and/or taught classes at places like Paris American University, University of Pennsylvania, and Yale University. In addition to travel writing and his Vagabonding success, Rolf Potts’ adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Potts is also the author of Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer and the new edition of Vagabonding includes a foreword from Tim Ferriss. Most recently Rolf has launched his own podcast called “Deviate”. Rolf leaves the listeners with some final advice encouraging them to travel and reminding them that its not as difficult or as dangerous as they might think. In this episode of The Millennial Travel Podcast we discuss: What does it mean to be “time rich” versus most people travel in such a hurry? Rolf Potts explains how he taught English in Korea What does Rolf Potts think about the digital nomad movement? Why do people want to go back in time for nostalgic reasons when they travel? A quick story of when Rolf Potts got lost getting off the beaten path. How people can cut the cord on their smartphone while traveling. How can people truly disconnect, so they don’t get burned out? How to make your “vacation your vocation”. What can we learn from the “slow food movement” or “slow travel movement”? How can people afford to travel more often and travel for longer? Travel to cheaper places He lives in Kansas because of the low cost of living, so he can afford to travel more often What is Rolf Potts’ life like in Kansas and what does he appreciate about it? Rolf is from Kansas and learned to appreciate what he has at home. How does an old school traveler like Rolf Potts feel about Instagram culture in travel? The Millennial Travel Podcast Rapid Fire Questions: If Rolf Potts could go to one bar tomorrow what would it be? McGlinchey’s in Philadelphia or a Korean soju tent If Rolf Potts could take six months to travel anywhere where would he go? The United States because it’s such a large, diverse country What is Rolf Potts favorite US National Park? Olympic National Park in Washington Rolf Potts favorite piece of travel gear? You don’t need any luggage to have a good time, so he said good shoes or a smartphone. Resources: Rolf Potts’ best seller: Vagabonding Rolf Potts’ book Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer (Travelers' Tales Guides) Rolf Potts’ book Souvenir (Object Lessons) Rolf Potts podcast Deviate @RolfPotts on Instagram @RolfPotts on Twitter His website rolfpotts.com Listen to the full episode on Apple Podcasts, Stitcher, Soundcloud, or Spotify. You can find all the links and past show notes on millennialtravelpodcast.com Direct support for The Millennial Travel Podcast comes from The Millennial Travel Guidebook: Escape More, Spend Less, & Make Travel a Priority in Your Life... and from our new USA hiking and camping trips at Under30Experiences!
The World's #1 Personal Development Book Podcast! In this episode, I have the pleasure to interview author Rolf Potts. Rolf has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Sports Illustrated, the Travel Channel and much more. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Mekong River, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Our conversation today is all about one of my Top 5 Favorite Books of all-time, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. Please enjoy this amazing conversation with Rolf Potts. Today's episode is sponsored by Audible. Try Audible for free: www.bookthinkers.com/audibletrial. The purpose of this podcast is to connect you, the listener, with new books, new mentors, and new resources that will help you achieve more and live better. Each and every episode will feature one of the world's top authors so that you know each and every time you tune-in, there is something valuable to learn. If you have any recommendations for guests, please DM them to us on Instagram. (www.instagram.com/bookthinkers) If you enjoyed this show, please consider leaving a review. It takes less than 60-seconds of your time, and really makes a difference when I am trying to land new guests. For more BookThinkers content, check out our Instagram or our website. Thank you for your time!
Rolf Potts’ adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Rolf is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, which has been through thirty-two printings and translated into several foreign languages. Inside the Episode: (5:14): Elliot introduces Rolf and we jump right into his book, Vagabonding. (8:41): Rolf describes his book, Vagabonding and how its popularity took hold as tech advancements allowed for better online working experiences. As a result, the term “Digital Nomad” became a philosophical ideology and a benchmark for success for travel enthusiasts around the world. Thanks Rolf. Who here is guilty of the “checklist mentality” while traveling? It is SO easy to want to run from one landmark to the next the second you step down in a brand new city. But as Rolf explains, sometimes, the things that you may feel are holding you up, or slowing you down can actually be more authentic to your experience than any landmark. The lesson here is: Be Present. Enjoy each moment. Take in the city through a cab window if you’re stuck in traffic. Enjoy the conversation if your waiter is taking longer than expected to bring the check. Or just throw out your plans and travel spontaneously all together - we won't judge. (30:10): Are you a “Checklist Traveler”, a “Vagabond”, or somewhere in between? On the podcast with Rolf we discussed the variation in travel styles. From itinerary driven vacationers to spontaneous budget backpackers - there seems to be just as many travel preferences as there are people packed into the Vatican in July. So which travel preference reigns supreme?! Listen to find out :) (30:34): Rolf has spoken! We (Americans) can still be partial-Vagabonds with our depressingly few vacation days. It’s all about perspective and how you manage your experience. You may not be backpacking for 6 months through Europe, but you can still see the world through the eyes of a true Vagabond if you so choose. Vagabonding does not give you a moral high ground, so don’t be a hater. That person infatuated with the Great Wall of China, or the over touristy Champ De Mars could have spent years planning and saving for that experience. To them, it’s profound. Just as profound as your backroad Tanzanian trip, your multi-day trek through Peru, or the time you woke up in bed with a random Indian man in Thailand (no, just us?). Point is: “Don’t be a dick.” (34:55): “It just doesn’t cost that much to travel and have amazing experiences” - Rolf Potts, on The Travelers Blueprint Podcast. When he broke it down, it made so much sense. Say you buy 1 cup of coffee per day for a year from Dunkin for $2 a cup. The $730 you spent could get you about 2,284 meals in Thailand. Your money can go SOOO far in other countries. The experiences will be priceless. Moral of the story: Save your money and travel the world. (47:42): Rolf makes a great point that it’s ok to miss things. If you're traveling slow, you can always come back and experience what you didn’t the first time. “You’ve given yourself a gift for the future” (55:19): Material possessions just don’t provide us with the same satisfaction that experiences do. Don’t believe me? Think about what makes you happiest. What are your happiest memories? Chances are, your happiest moments involve a loved one. They involve a place in time with that loved one. They rarely involve the unboxing of a new flat screen TV or shaking hands with a car salesman. (1:06:00) The Rapid Fire Round!! Learn More About Our Guest: (https://rolfpotts.com/) (https://rolfpotts.com/deviate/)... Support this podcast
Originally aired October 16, 2018 Today's episode features the man who wrote 'the book' on the philosphy of long-term travel, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel ( https://www.amazon.com/Vagabonding-Uncommon-Guide-Long-Term-Travel/dp/0812992180 ). Being one of my biggest inspirations, it was an exciting episode to record! Rolf's travel writing has appeared in National Geographic Traveler ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/National_Geographic_Traveler ) , Outside ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Outside_(magazine) ) , Salon.com ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Salon.com ) , Slate.com ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Slate.com ) , The Guardian ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/The_Guardian ) , and World Hum ( https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/World_Hum ). When not traveling Rolf spends his time on a plot of land in rural Kansas. https://twitter.com/rolfpotts https://rolfpotts.com/ If you’re ready to have your own adventure, head over to www.lost.travel ( http://www.lost.travel/ ) and enter ADVENTURESPORTS for 10% off your next adventure. Advertising Inquiries: https://redcircle.com/brands
Listen and explore:What is vagabonding?Vagabonding during the pandemicWhat it means to be time-rich and time-poorThe value of driftingShifting from an achievement mindset to an appreciation mindsetGoing from a possession life to an option-filled lifeVagabonding as a route to self-discoveryLetting go of expectations and goals and embracing serendipityWhere Rolf finds himself now after 26 years of vagabondingMentioned on this episode:Rolf's book: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel Rolf's podcast: Deviatehttps://rolfpotts.com/Rolf on the Tim Ferris PodcastConnect with us:Website: www.thefarout.life Email us at info@thefarout.lifeOn Instagram: @thefaroutcoupleJulie-Roxane on Instagram: @julieroxaneAlasdair @ www.alasdairplambeck.comSupport this podcast:Become a patron at: https://www.patreon.com/thefaroutcoupleLeave a review on iTunes!Share this episode with a friend! :DCredits:Intro music: "Complicate ya" by Otis McDonaldOutro music: "Running with wise fools" written & performed by Krackatoa (www.krackatoa.com)
Podcast Notes Key Takeaways Focus on maximizing your satisfaction, not your audience reachOften times you can sacrifice your creativity to reach a larger audience, but it will cost you some satisfaction“It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.”– Rolf Potts“Different is better than better” – Sachit Gupta“I’m not trying to create a better interview, I’m trying to create a different experience both for the guest and the audience”Once your brand gets to a certain size, you can cut out the middleman (book publishers, traditional media, etc.)Your reputation used to be your college degree or connection to a middleman, but today it’s the size of your followers “More and more, creative people are going to be expected to manage their own business, their own marketing, their own promotion. And I think just as equally, business people are going to find that their world is enhanced by being creative.” – Rolf PottsThere’s a difference between having 5 years of experience and having 1 year of experience that you’ve repeated 5 timeseval(ez_write_tag([[728,90],'podcastnotes_org-medrectangle-3','ezslot_0',122,'0','0']));Read the full notes @ podcastnotes.org“It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.” –Rolf Potts Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and strategies to grow and monetize your audience. Rolf Potts is the author of four books, including the bestseller "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel." On today’s episode of the Conscious Creator podcast, host Sachit Gupta speaks with travel author Rolf Potts. The conversation takes a bit of a different form from previous episodes, discussing their individual views on creative work and podcasting. Rolf shares his philosophy about pursuing the most soulful way of working, the inherent authenticity of TikTok, and more. They also talk about how they prepare for podcast interviews, the current media landscape as compared to Old Hollywood, and the differences between radio and podcasting. Episode Highlights: Once you’ve gotten successful at something, you want to branch out and expand, not just continue to do the exact same thing. The distinction between the business side and the creative side have become far less siloed with things like podcasting. At what point do social media algorithms start to change your art itself? There’s a difference between having 5 years of experience and having 1 year of experience that you’ve repeated 5 times. When preparing for an interview, Sachit asks guests what they’re usually asked about so he can talk about something else, and asks them what they’re rarely asked about but wish they were. The entire idea of Rolf’s podcast is to talk to experts about something other than their expertise. Rolf’s sees his podcast as being personality-driven rather than topic-driven. You have to learn to think about your business expertise in a creative way. Rolf’s book Vagabonding is a somewhat philosophical book because he built his own travel philosophy out of desire to travel rather than travel experience that was handed to him in his upbringing. Rolf has always been driven to find the most soulful way of doing things and to treat everything he does as an education. There’s a difference between success that’s just an endless pursuit like Pac-Man and success that actually enhances your life and that you allow yourself to appreciate and enjoy. Our lizard brains love brief excitements and dopamine hits that come from clickbait culture, but that is not in any way connected to soulfulness. Authenticity and being true to your vision is what makes you successful. TikTok is a platform that has encouraged authenticity down to its algorithm making discoverability and the probability of going viral more equal across the board instead of favoring accounts with existing large followings. In Old Hollywood, consolidation was on the side of the production studios, and now in social media the consolidation is on the side of distribution with Google and Amazon Web Services. Social networks are reality prisons. People often now believe that admitting that you were wrong about one thing means you are always wrong about everything, but in reality, scientists modify their conclusions based on changing data all the time. Podcasting is distinct from radio because in the past, not anyone could have a radio show, but now production is available to anyone. The response to COVID-19 goes against all American sensibilities. Because we can’t see the virus, we can’t see the “attack,” people behave as if there’s nothing to react to. Podcasting represents human conversation in a way that other social networks don’t. 3 Key Takeaways: Expanding beyond your niche is a way to improve your work in your initial specialty. Pursue soulfulness rather than success. Production tools are now accessible to everyone, so figure out what you want to say and be authentic when you use them. Tweetable Quotes: “It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.” –Rolf Potts “I’ve been on the business side because I believed my creative side wasn’t good enough for a long time… I ended up being on the business and marketing side for creators because I felt like I couldn’t be like that. So that intersection of creative and business has always driven what I’ve done.” –Sachit Gupta “More and more, creative people are going to be expected to manage their own business, their own marketing, their own promotion. And I think just as equally, business people are going to find that their world is enhanced by being creative.” –Rolf Potts “Something is attacking our country, yet we’re having the same old conversations. We’re trying to stick a dagger in somebody else’s argument when both of us should be listening to what’s happening.” –Rolf Potts Actions: Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a review. Thank our guest and let them know what you thought of today’s episode — send Rolf a message through his website! Head on over to Creators.Show to get new episodes, exclusive guides like our guide on “How to Connect With Busy Influencers”, partner deals and additional bonuses. Resources Mentioned: Conscious Creators Podcast website Rolf Potts’ Website Rolf Potts’ Instagram
Conscious Creators Show — Make A Life Through Your Art Without Selling Your Soul
“It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.” –Rolf Potts Welcome to the Conscious Creators Show; where through intimate and insightful interviews with authors, actors, musicians, entrepreneurs and other podcasters, you'll learn tools and tactics to 10x your creativity and strategies to grow and monetize your audience. Rolf Potts is the author of four books, including the bestseller "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel." On today’s episode of the Conscious Creator podcast, host Sachit Gupta speaks with travel author Rolf Potts. The conversation takes a bit of a different form from previous episodes, discussing their individual views on creative work and podcasting. Rolf shares his philosophy about pursuing the most soulful way of working, the inherent authenticity of TikTok, and more. They also talk about how they prepare for podcast interviews, the current media landscape as compared to Old Hollywood, and the differences between radio and podcasting. Episode Highlights: Once you’ve gotten successful at something, you want to branch out and expand, not just continue to do the exact same thing. The distinction between the business side and the creative side have become far less siloed with things like podcasting. At what point do social media algorithms start to change your art itself? There’s a difference between having 5 years of experience and having 1 year of experience that you’ve repeated 5 times. When preparing for an interview, Sachit asks guests what they’re usually asked about so he can talk about something else, and asks them what they’re rarely asked about but wish they were. The entire idea of Rolf’s podcast is to talk to experts about something other than their expertise. Rolf’s sees his podcast as being personality-driven rather than topic-driven. You have to learn to think about your business expertise in a creative way. Rolf’s book Vagabonding is a somewhat philosophical book because he built his own travel philosophy out of desire to travel rather than travel experience that was handed to him in his upbringing. Rolf has always been driven to find the most soulful way of doing things and to treat everything he does as an education. There’s a difference between success that’s just an endless pursuit like Pac-Man and success that actually enhances your life and that you allow yourself to appreciate and enjoy. Our lizard brains love brief excitements and dopamine hits that come from clickbait culture, but that is not in any way connected to soulfulness. Authenticity and being true to your vision is what makes you successful. TikTok is a platform that has encouraged authenticity down to its algorithm making discoverability and the probability of going viral more equal across the board instead of favoring accounts with existing large followings. In Old Hollywood, consolidation was on the side of the production studios, and now in social media the consolidation is on the side of distribution with Google and Amazon Web Services. Social networks are reality prisons. People often now believe that admitting that you were wrong about one thing means you are always wrong about everything, but in reality, scientists modify their conclusions based on changing data all the time. Podcasting is distinct from radio because in the past, not anyone could have a radio show, but now production is available to anyone. The response to COVID-19 goes against all American sensibilities. Because we can’t see the virus, we can’t see the “attack,” people behave as if there’s nothing to react to. Podcasting represents human conversation in a way that other social networks don’t. 3 Key Takeaways: Expanding beyond your niche is a way to improve your work in your initial specialty. Pursue soulfulness rather than success. Production tools are now accessible to everyone, so figure out what you want to say and be authentic when you use them. Tweetable Quotes: “It doesn’t really matter how big your audience is if you don’t really have anything to say. Having something to say is way more important than having a giant audience.” –Rolf Potts “I’ve been on the business side because I believed my creative side wasn’t good enough for a long time… I ended up being on the business and marketing side for creators because I felt like I couldn’t be like that. So that intersection of creative and business has always driven what I’ve done.” –Sachit Gupta “More and more, creative people are going to be expected to manage their own business, their own marketing, their own promotion. And I think just as equally, business people are going to find that their world is enhanced by being creative.” –Rolf Potts “Something is attacking our country, yet we’re having the same old conversations. We’re trying to stick a dagger in somebody else’s argument when both of us should be listening to what’s happening.” –Rolf Potts Actions: Subscribe to the show on Apple Podcasts or on your favorite podcast app and let us know what you think by leaving a rating and a review. Thank our guest and let them know what you thought of today’s episode — send Rolf a message through his website! Head on over to Creators.Show to get new episodes, exclusive guides like our guide on “How to Connect With Busy Influencers”, partner deals and additional bonuses. Resources Mentioned: Conscious Creators Podcast website Rolf Potts’ Website Rolf Potts’ Instagram
Rolf Potts is one of the world’s most notable travel writers, author of five books on his adventures, pioneer “digital nomad” before that was even a thing, a totally inspiring person who has carved his own path through life and now helps others do the same through writing workshops and his excellent podcast, Deviate. (Worth noting that as of the time of this episode’s publication, his latest podcast episode is about dinosaurs!) For me personally, Rolf’s one of the most influential writers I’ve ever read, for his book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, a slim but profound volume that utterly changed my life forever.In this episode we look back on Rolf’s twenty-five years of world travel and travel writing, and how the digital transformations of the 21st Century have changed the way we move around on and experience this planet. We talk #vanlife, citizen diplomacy, psychogeography, the Instagram effect, getting lost with Google Maps, writing as a way of paying attention, and seeing your own home with fresh eyes. It’s a powerful discussion that ignited in me that old call to journey past the far horizon — which, it’s key to note, can also mean the inner boundaries of normalcy we raise around our lives, an invitation to encounter the familiar anew…Rolf’s Website, Writing, & Podcast:https://rolfpotts.comGrab the books we mention in this episode:https://amazon.com/shop/michaelgarfieldSupport this show on Patreon for secret episodes, the Future Fossils book club, and more awesome stuff than you probably have time for:https://patreon.com/michaelgarfieldMentioned: Marco Polo Didn’t Go There by Rolf Potts, Storming The Beach, Vagabonding by Rolf Potts, Kevin Kelly, Google Maps, Lonely Planet Guide to Thailand’s Islands & Beaches, The Beach by Alex Garland, Leonardo DiCaprio, Jim Benning, World Hum, Present Shock by Douglas Rushkoff, Burning Man, Matt Kepnes, The Glass Cage by Nicholas Carr, Temporary Autonomous Zone by Hakim Bey, The Pessimists Archive, The Tao Te Ching translated by Brian Browne Walker, Ari Shaffir, Livinia SpaldingRelated Reading:“Giving Into Astonishment: Scenes from Burning Man’s American Dream" by Michael Garfield (2008)Theme Music: “God Detector” by Evan “Skytree” Snyder (feat. Michael Garfield)https://skytree.bandcamp.com/track/god-detector-ft-michael-garfieldAdditional Intro Music: “Lambent” by Michael Garfieldhttps://michaelgarfield.bandcamp.com/album/little-bird-the-eschaton See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
In his first book, the now iconic “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-term World Travel”, Rolf Potts promoted the ethics of independent travel. It was released in 2003 and – after more than 20 editions and many translations worldwide – had a huge impact on the global traveler scene. In this episode of Unfolding Maps, he talks about how he tried to infiltrate the set of the movie “The Beach” (starring Leonardo DiCaprio), how travel itself has changed in the past decades, and how we can best overcome misconceptions that threaten to lessen our travel experience. Rolf also wrote for National Geographic Traveler, The Guardian, The New Yorker, and New York Times. He has taught writing at Yale University, University of Pennsylvania, and the Paris American Academy. www.rolfpotts.com See acast.com/privacy for privacy and opt-out information.
Welcome to another episode of The Tim Ferriss Show, where it is my job to sit down with world-class performers of all different types—from startup founders and investors to chess champions to Olympic athletes. This episode, however, is an experiment and part of a shorter series I’m doing called “Books I’ve Loved.” I’ve invited some amazing past guests, close friends, and new faces to share their favorite books—the books that have influenced them, changed them, and transformed them for the better. I hope you pick up one or two new mentors — in the form of books — from this new series and apply the lessons in your own life.To kick things off, here are four of my recommendations, which I had originally included in the back of The 4-Hour Workweek. I called them “The Fundamental Four.”Please enjoy!Books mentioned: The Magic of Thinking Big by David Schwartz, How to Make Millions with Your Ideas: An Entrepreneur's Guide by Dan S. Kennedy, One Simple Idea: Turn Your Dreams into a Licensing Goldmine While Letting Others Do the Work by Stephen Key, The E-Myth Revisited: Why Most Small Businesses Don't Work and What to Do About It by Michael E. Gerber, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts, and Awareness: The Perils and Opportunities of Reality by Anthony de Mello.This podcast is brought to you by The Ready State Virtual Mobility Coach. The first person I call for help with my athletic recovery or mobility training is Dr. Kelly Starrett at The Ready State. Kelly is a mobility and movement coach for Olympic gold medalists, world champions, and pro athletes.Kelly created a program called Virtual Mobility Coach. It’s like carrying a virtual Kelly Starrett in your pocket. Every day, Virtual Mobility Coach gives you guided mobility videos. It walks you step-by-step through Kelly’s proven techniques to relieve pain and improve your range of motion. Right now, listeners of this podcast can try Virtual Mobility Coach totally risk-free for two weeks without paying a penny. And after that, you can get 50% off your first six months. Just go to thereadystate.com/tim and use code TIM50 at checkout. Relieve pain, recover faster, and improve your performance in the gym with The Ready State Virtual Mobility Coach. Visit thereadystate.com/tim and check it out.If you enjoy the podcast, would you please consider leaving a short review on Apple Podcasts/iTunes? It takes less than 60 seconds, and it really makes a difference in helping to convince hard-to-get guests.For show notes and past guests, please visit tim.blog/podcast.Sign up for Tim’s email newsletter (“5-Bullet Friday”) at tim.blog/friday.For transcripts of episodes, go to tim.blog/transcripts.Interested in sponsoring the podcast? Please fill out the form at tim.blog/sponsor.Discover Tim’s books: tim.blog/books.Follow Tim:Twitter: twitter.com/tferriss Instagram: instagram.com/timferrissFacebook: facebook.com/timferriss YouTube: youtube.com/timferriss
About This Episode: Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), has been through twenty-six printings and translated into several foreign languages. Find out more about Rolf at: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel Rolf's Website See the Show Notes: www.jeremyryanslate.com/637 Sponsors: Command Your Brand Media: Be featured as a guest on top-rated podcasts, just like this one, for massive attention for your brand. www.commandyourbrand.media/apply Audible: Get a free 30 day free trial and 1 free audiobook from thousands of available books. Right now I'm reading "The Closer," about legendary NYY Closer Mariano Rivera, head over to www.jeremyryanslate.com/book
Rolf Potts is an American author, essayist, screenwriter, and long-term traveler who is most known for his best-selling book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. Tim Ferriss has cited Vagabonding as the reason he decided to travel the world for a year in 2004-2005. As a result, Tim went on to write The Four-Hour Work Week, which is how I found out about Rolf’s books in 2007. 12 years later, I enrolled as a student at Rolf’s first Travel Memoir Workshop this summer (a new addition to his annual Paris Writing Workshop series). He sat down with me to talk about some of his biggest lessons and realizations from 25 years of traveling. He also shares tips on: • How to find adventure and avoid crowds during the social media era • What your bucket list should really be used for • Why you should consider hiring a guide when you travel (no matter how many countries you’ve been to) 20 years since writing Vagabonding, Rolf continues to inspire people with through his work. As technology and the ability to work remotely create unprecedented conditions for people to live a location-independent, digital nomad lifestyle, Rolf’s advice remains as relevant as ever. Enjoy! Connect with Rolf: https://rolfpotts.com/ About Kristin: Kristin Wilson is an online entrepreneur, writer, speaker, and content creator who has lived and worked in 60+ countries. She coaches people who want to work online and travel through her courses, workshops, and two YouTube channels. She also consults companies in adopting remote work policies. Kristin is a Top Writer on Quora and Medium who has been featured in Bloomberg Businessweek, ESPN, The New York Times, Huffpost, HGTV’s House Hunters International, and more. ........................................................................................................ Support the Podcast: NEW: Become a Patron and access exclusive content Shop for your travel and remote work accessories in my Amazon Store Leave a Review on Apple Podcasts Connect With Me on Socials: Follow on Instagram Subscribe to Badass Digital Nomads Podcast Check Out DIGITAL NOMAD TV on YouTube Subscribe to Traveling with Kristin on YouTube Join the Badass Digital Nomads Facebook Group
Rolf Potts is the author of “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.” He has written for high profile travel magazines such as National Geographic Traveler, Outside, The Guardian, and more. Rolf has been vagabonding the world for about 20 years while writing about his travels.
ERIK: Hi everyone and thank you for joining me today for the first episode of Mastering Monday’s, the interview segment, with our amazing guest Rolf Potts. Have you ever considered travelling to far off lands and staying not just for a few days or a week, but for three weeks, one month, or maybe even longer? If the thought of living in another country and exploring their culture and not just sight-seeing excites you and gets you dreaming about places you have never seen, you must get familiar with Rolf Potts. Rolf is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel from Random House 2003, has been through thirty printings and translated into several foreign languages. On a personal note, Vagabonding has transformed how my wife and I think about travel and has propelled us to action. We now have some very exciting travel plans in this next year, but that’s for another day. More about Rolf. Rolf Potts is reported for more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, the New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times magazine, Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents and include hitchhiking across eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and travelling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. His collection of literary travel essays, Marco Polo Didn’t Go there: Stories and Revelations from One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer (Travelers’ Tales 2008), won a 2009 Lowell Thomas award from the Society of American Travel Writers and became the first American authored book to win Italy’s prestigious Chatwin Prize for travel writing. Though he rarely stays in one place for more than a few weeks or months, Potts feels somewhat at home in Bangkok, Cairo, Busan, New York, New Orleans, and north central Kansas, where he keeps a small farm house on thirty acres near his family. Each July he can be found in France where he is the summer writer in residence and program director at the Paris American academy. And I am honored to have Rolf with me today, so without further ado, here is my interview with Rolf Potts. ERIK: Thank you for joining me for another episode of Mastering Monday’s. This is the interview segment, and this is the interview segment that I mentioned in the last Mastering Monday email with Rolf Potts. So Rolf is with me today, Rolf thank you so much for being with me today. ROLF: I’m happy to talk with you. ERIK: I’m really excited to speak with you. I know that many of the concepts in your book, Vagabonding, have actually impacted my way of thinking about travel, and actually how my wife and I think about travel is a more accurate description, and I want to thank you for that because the information in this book has just truly revolutionized the way I’m thinking about our future travel. We are currently engaging in the planning and the dreaming of what this potential travel is going to look like 2019 and we’re looking at doing an experimental trip of maybe four to six weeks over in Europe or maybe south America, but I thought maybe you could take just a moment and provide a high level summary of your book Vagabonding, which is the source of my inspiration, and how do you experience or how have you experienced long term travel and the primary way that long term travel differs from traditional travel and vacationing. ROLF: Yeah, well the core idea is to enable people, practically and just as importantly philosophically, in a matter of attitude. Travelling the world in earnest for weeks and months and years instead of just previously allotted vacation time. You should think about how you spend your time and spend your time in a way that enhances your life and causes you to dream. And so quite simply, and I’m not going to knock vacations, because vacations are rewarding activities, but often times vacations are very short term, they are very constricted, they are sort of bought like a commodity. You tend to throw money at a vacation. Whereas Vagabonding is more taking your life on the road. And there are some parts of the world where you can literally spend less per week than you spend at home, with rent and food and everything else. And so you are travelling not as a consumer but just sort of moving through the local economy, finding a way to save money and make it pay out in time. And really just to live those travel dreams that most of us have had our whole lives that we don’t think apply to us. When in fact not only do they apply to us, that we should take practical ways to make sure that they can happen to us. ERIK: Right, you know as I have listened to your book and read your book, I have done it both ways, that way I can tab it and mark things that are interesting, I have just wondered to myself, “How did you begin doing this?” What was the impotence or the origin of you deciding to travel and maybe you could offer my audience a short story that describes how you became such a world traveler in the first place? And maybe even how that relates to your ability to write about that so poignantly in your books in essays. ROLF: Sure, well I am a very American soul. I grew up in Kansas, right in the middle of the country. I always loved going on vacations when I was a kid, but I didn’t see the ocean until I left because my family travelled locally but not very much far distance travel. And I really grew up thinking that I would save all of my travels for the end of my life, I didn’t even think about it too much. This describes my travel plans as it was post-retirement. But then as I got older, there were several factors that made me realize that regardless of how you shape things out in your life as a traveler, it’s good to optimize travel now. And so I was in my early twenties when I thought this, but I’m not saying this in a way that should deter the older demographic such as your clients, but I just thought that based on a summer job in Kansas stocking shelves in a grocery store, I really didn’t like it very much. And then I realized that any ongoing work, regardless what relation it was, I didn’t really care for, was sort of what I was in for. I thought I was going to create my own alternative to the American workaholic life – I’ll take a dream trip and then I can go back to being an American workaholic. So when I was quite young, actually I was still in college, I graduated in college and I worked as a landscaper. A good blue-collar job. Saved a lot of money, got a van. Travelled around the United States for about eight months. And it’s still one of my favorite trips, and I have been to many more exotic places since then. But you can only have that first deeply meaningful trip once I guess. And I just realized that travel wasn’t as expensive as you might think it would be. It’s not as dangerous or difficult as you think it might be. Travel was something that I could accept, not just travel in the vacation sense but long-term travel, as something that I could access my whole life. And so I later went and started to run out of money. I went to Korea to teach English oversees for a couple of years. And that is something we can come back to, working oversees and teaching oversees. And that can apply to all different kinds of all ages and demographics. But I saved some more money, and two years working in Korea afforded me two and a half years of travelling around Asia full-time, and that is when I transitioned into being a travel writer. That was twenty years ago this November, nineteen years and eleven months ago that I was still in Korea doing my work. And now I have been a travel writer. That Asia and European and Middle Eastern Vagabonding trip brought home the lessons from my first Vagabonding trip. That travel doesn’t need to be super expensive, you can take your time, you don’t have to micromanage it, you can learn as you go, and it can be a really life enhancing project. And so I have sort of internalized that, it’s not like I have been travelling fulltime for the last twenty years. I alternate periods at home, I actually have a home, a home base at least, back in Kansas. As a travel writer, I am gone most of the year, probably more often than not. But I have a place to come home to. And travel has really enhanced my life and home has enhanced my travels. And it has become a, well it’s a normal way of living for me. And my book Vagabonding, which showed up on your radar, has been out for fifteen years now. And it’s been out as an audiobook for about five years now. And I’ve just had this conversation with many, many, people over the years and often times it’s just a matter of reassurance. It’s just a matter of me reassuring people that it can happen. You don’t have to be an extraordinary Indiana Jones person for this to happen. You just have to make some small adjustments to enable it to happen. ERIK: Right, you know when you hear about how you started your travel life, it seems so unique compared to the experience to most people. And I just thought of so many questions as you were describing that. So really, in no particular order, one of them is that yes, our listeners are transitioning from this stage of accumulating wealth so that they can retire and not have to work anymore and maybe they haven’t had a chance to do that. And they may not be interested or physically able even to do a year at a time, but maybe certainly more than a week at a time. Which is where you get that buzz of sight seeing that can be a little unfulfilling as opposed to living somewhere and getting into the culture and getting to know people. One of the other associated, I think, built in limitations that people have, are that they presume they need high end accommodations. They presume they need a granite countertop, a hotel bed of a certain quality. What would you say to those people that are now just considering this maybe after age fifty-five and trying to give them a comfort level about what the accommodations may actually be like and why you don’t necessarily need that fancier four-star hotel feel to truly, truly, enjoy your trip. ROLF: Well, addressing one thing that you mentioned earlier, which is length of travel. And I have taken some trips that have been eight months, two years. But I have always insisted that travel isn’t a contest. It’s not about how long your trip is but what kind of trip fits your desires and dreams as a traveler. I don’t know if I could travel for more than two years at a time. And I know some people who would travel for six weeks and that scratches their travel itch and it just makes them happy, and I really respect that. I think one thing for your listeners to consider is just how much of a chunk of their year they want to spend travelling. Because they could take a whole year, or they could do a smaller portion of that year that is longer than a typical vacation. As far as accommodation, this is something that shifted slightly for me. There was some dirt bag, hostel, travelling that I did in my twenties that I don’t do now that I am in my forties. I am more likely to rent a car now that I am in my forties. And I am more likely to seek out certain kinds of comfort simply because I can afford it. And you know, in a place like Thailand, you can find a dirt bag guesthouse for ten dollars and it’s fine. There is not much room in it, you might be sharing a little hall with backpackers from all over the world, which is kind of interesting, but an older demographic of travelers can spend maybe thirty dollars and get a place that is clean and beautiful and comfortable. And it is just locally owned. It is not a Hilton or a Radisson, it is just owned by the local people in Thailand or Colombia or Romania. And it’s not an extravagant place, but as I have said in my book, I quote a guy who says, “For all your wealth, you only sleep in one bed.” A bed and a combination is the place where you are going to be sleeping. For most of the day you will be seeing the world. You don’t travel the world to have your best night’s sleep. And actually, the best way to enable a good night sleep, even if you are not in a super expensive hotel room, is to have some good adventures during the day and earn your sleep. I am a big fan of travelling in that local economy. Side stepping, I think there is this assumption that we need a lot of middle men, or we need to plan everything in advance, that a brand name hotel is going to be a better hotel. And I’m not going to knock brand name hotels, but the world is full of cheap hotels, inexpensive restaurants and food stalls, even in a place like Mexico or eastern Europe – bus lines that are wonderfully comfortable and a fraction of a price to the other ways of getting around. This is something that you can research or something you can discover on the road. ERIK: It almost seems like one of the basic behavior patterns that somebody might need to break is that of preconceived ideas of what it is going to be like. Open yourself up to the idea that it may not be as uncomfortable or that people will be interested in you or being around people you don’t know is actually going to be an enjoyable experience. ROLF: Yeah, it’s not going to be uncomfortable, but even just slightly changing your idea of what comfort is. Maybe you don’t need a super high thread count sheet. Maybe you don’t need a five-course meal or a personally driven tour car. There are just ways of keeping an open mind to what’s required because I think that there’s a mindset in the US that is tied into a fear of faraway places and what might happen there. But it’s not routed in empirical information. Its routed in workspace scenario. And it’s so easy to be safe and to save money, and to have a great time on the road. Even if your fifty, sixty, seventy, years old. It’s just a matter of being open to that empirical reality rather than the fear. ERIK: You know that brings me to a quick question which is when you really went on maybe one of your first more exotic trips, to a place you hadn’t been before. And you had less experience under your belt. I’m assuming there was a level of anxiety as you have just expressed, can you tell me just a little bit about what was different about that first or second travel experience oversees? How was it different than what you thought it would be like and talk on how that related specifically about your pretravel anxiety. ROLF: Well, when you’re asking that question – what popped in my head was actually my USA trip, my very first one before I went overseas, and I lived in a camper for eight months. And I was just worried, should I bring a firearm? What should I do – I was living in a van much of the time. Is that going to create a problem, what am I going to do every day? How are expenses going to shape out? And I just found that just by planning for but confronting those sorts of fears, it’s as if a part of me was waiting for the bad things to happen and they just never did. And each day on the trip I not only became more confident in regard to those fears, I also became more competent as far as granting those things and becoming a savvier traveler. I had weird anxieties like would I be accepted in the youth hostels, what would people make of me? Did I have the right shoes? All of this stuff. And every single case was just something where I walked into each situation and the worst-case scenario never really actualized themselves. And I could use my competence and could jump ahead a little bit in my travel career - in 2010 I went around the world with no luggage. ERIK: Right, for six weeks, right? ROLF: Yeah, it was sort of a stunt. Just stuck a few items in a vest, including a little bit of backup clothing. And I had a cameraman with me, and you can find that video series online, the one problem was that I adapted so quickly, that after a week having no luggage wasn’t a challenge. I just washed my extra clothes every day. And I didn’t worry about what kind of junk I had in my pockets, because all my entertainment, all my activity, all my food, was outside of my person. It was in the destination itself. And so that was a trip that I undertook ten years into my travel career, but it reminded me how easily adaptable we are. And I say it in the book, but the way to create the money to travel is to simplify your life, is to downsize a little bit. And an actualization of that is trying to put everything you own in a backpack and trying to go around the world, which you can’t. Travel already forces you to simplify. And in this very extreme case of simplification from my baggage trip, I realized that even having next to nothing, even having two spare pares of underwear, a spare t-shirt, a toothbrush, and a few other things, even that is something that I got used to. ERIK: You know another aspect, the folks that are listening to this podcast, the fantastic realization is they actually have experience. They’ve been alive for fifty-five, or sixty, or sixty-five years old or more. And they have travelled. And they probably know more than they might even think they know that they could apply to maybe long-term travel. And a lot of them actually are at a point where they want to downsize so they don’t have as many material things. I see that happen as a natural course of events from retiring. So in some respects, the idea of longer travel, less material possessions, or a smaller place to house those, is a natural fit for this. And just a realization that longer travel could be a perfect fit for retirees. That brings me to really this idea that you’ve travelled so extensively, that I’m sure that you run into folks fifty-five plus that are travelling around the world. Some vacationing, some longer-term travel. And as you’ve run into those people, can you just briefly talk a little bit about – what have you found is their rationale at that age for doing longer term travel? How did they overcome some of the barricades to making that happen? The norms and the culture that might naturally preclude that from taking place? And how have they felt differently having been on a trip? ROLF: I’ve met a spectrum of travelers who are older. Who are around retirement age. And the funny thing is that the happiest ones are the kind that you meet in the hostel and the unhappiest ones are the ones you meet at the resort. And I’m not knocking resorts, and just saying resorts bring out your inner adolescence. I’ve heard so many complaints, people spending a lot of money in a beautiful part of the world who complain because their soup is cold. And they didn’t get another towel at the swimming pool or something. That somehow these small little worries creep into the vacations of even the most expensive travelers. Whereas older travelers who just are relaxed and ease into it and sort of travel on the cheap, sometimes on the same trails as backpackers take, sometimes a little bit more money than most backpacker’s take, they learn to appreciate that it just doesn’t matter if the soup is cold. You are on the other side of the world, you are living your dream. That is the irony that I have found, the happiest retiree travelers I have met are the ones out having adventures. One thing you were talking about earlier, that people of the retirement age have more life experience. Those things are so transferable to the travel experience. I’ve met men and women who have spent their whole life negotiating contracts and clients who are lights out in a market on the far side of the world and there’s no price tags and you have to haggle. They have the most fun, once they realize that it’s just an extension of what they are already good at, they have so much fun while they are doing it. And one corollary to this, I have met a number of people in their fifties, sixties, seventies, that have joined the Peace Corps post retirement. That is totally a separate thing, I’m not suggesting you should join the Peace Corps. They joined the Peace Corps, took their lifelong skills to a part of the world where they were useful and needed, and then they took side trips. It’s a roundabout way of agreeing with you whole heartedly that all of these life skills can actually really resonate through our travels. They don’t have to just be sightseers taking pictures in front monuments. We can actually find connections to these rich lives that we’ve led. And the older we get, I’m going to be fifty in a couple years so I’m feeling older, the older we get the more richness we have in those life experiences. The deepest travel in really such a special way. ERIK: I think it’s really poignant the way you describe the difference between the traveler that stays in a fancy hotel and somebody who is maybe is doing it on the cheap as you say. Because what happens I think, if you pay a lot of money, you have this artificial expectation, or real expectation, that everything should be a certain way then because you paid the money and you’re setting yourself up for disappointment. Where if you do it on the cheap, all those expectations are out the window and you focus on what’s really important which isn’t the cold or warm soup, but on experienced travel, culture, and relationship. I just think you put that really well. ROLF: You’re not a consumer. You don’t have consumer complaints because you’re not a consumer. If your soup is cold, who cares? You hung out with nomads, you know? You had an interesting experience. And again, and I don’t want to put a too fine a point on this, in most parts of the world – we have a weird relationship with older people in the United States – in most parts of the world, being older earns you a respect that is uncommon. Being an older person from a wealthy country like the United States, taking an interest in people who might have similar interests on the far side of the world, maybe a core part of the world, celebrity might be a way to stretch it a little bit, but you really are afforded a special measure of welcome and grace simply because you’ve lived a rich life. ERIK: That’s a great observation. A lot of my listeners, in addition to just hearing about some of these basic concepts that I think they certainly get me thinking and I could listen to this type of conversation all day. But I think people want to start transitioning into, “Ok this idea makes sense. I hear you, I would like to potentially investigate this.” So maybe we can transition into some specifics, actionable ideas that can help them evaluate, if so inclined, how to take action to create these memorable travel experiences. And I don’t know if this question will help you get into that conversation but how might you coach someone who has just retired or is about to retire into an otherwise standard retirement phase and to have them reevaluate travel and evaluate the idea of slow travelling for longer term. Like we said, not for years at a time. But maybe instead of ten days, you do it for four or six weeks. How would you coach them to evaluate that? ROLF: I would start with a couple things. Gosh, which one should I start with? I’ll start with the goal setting because it sounds like something you’ve done. Did you say you had a trip planned for 2019? ERIK: We are looking at Argentina, Italy, or even northern Europe. We are still trying to figure that out. And our goal is to stay four to six weeks, and we’ve never done anything like that before in our life. But because of your book, we are definitely putting that on the agenda and I am doing a lot of serious planning and dreaming about it. But it’s going to happen. ROLF: Even if you’re in a position where you are trying to make this transition, even having a rough estimate, a rough but concrete estimate, of when you are going to leave is very helpful. If you are a little apprehensive, you might say, “I’m not sure if I can do this in the next six months, but within two to three years it is going to happen.” And then, once that goal is in there, once you put it on your calendar, once you put it in your mind, once you’ve admitted to your family and friends that this is what I’m going to do, then there is this delightful accountability that just makes those two to three years so much fun. Because you are thinking about your destination. You’re researching, you hear it’s name on the news, it becomes a part of your life before you even go there. It’s just really a fun thing. ERIK: Sorry to interrupt, but what I have found is every day when I get home and I have a glass of wine and I’m sitting in my office and I’ve done all of my case work and client communication, that I just want to get on Airbnb and take a look at all of these places I can go and spend amazingly low prices to stay somewhere for a month or two at a time and I am living vicariously right now through the internet and getting so excited about the trip that I don’t think there is much that could turn me away from executing on that now. ROLF: Yeah, and that goes hand in hand with sort of announcing it. So that people start asking about it, there is basically no way you could pull back. You would be letting down people’s expectations. Another thing, its sort of in tandem with the goal setting thing, and it might even come before the goal setting, and that is decide where you want to go. Because I think, I mean travel is something that’s just normal for people to dream about. Maybe when you were a kid you dreamed of going to Egypt, and now you feel sort of embarrassed about that dream. But maybe you should reexamine it, there is a certain wisdom in that kid part of yourself that longs for another part of the world. And so that’s one way of narrowing down where you want to go. Another thing to be tied into the life experience, you know. As I say in Vagabonding, even if there’s a dumb inspiration for going to a place, it’s always worth it when you get there. There’s been people that have gone to New Zealand because they like Lord of the Rings and it is filmed there. But There’s very little regret for lack of Hobbits. On the other side of the ocean, once you’re in it, if you allow yourself the time, then there are all these surprises that are going to go beyond Hobbits and beyond the dreams that you thought about before. You don’t have to overthink it. If you get excited it, if your pulse ticks up a little but when you look at a map of the Tuscan region of Italy, then I think that is reason enough to go. And then you start setting those goals and it is a part of your life, before you even leave home it is a part of your life. And it just becomes an exciting part of the process. ERIK: You had mentioned in the book, Vagabonding, adventure. And you actually just spoke about it briefly a second ago, you dedicate an entire chapter to adventure. What are some examples of adventures that retirees might pursue on their trips that are more appropriate to how they might want to experience the world? ROLF: Well the kind of adventure I advocate in Vagabonding is very much applicable to retirees. Because it’s not hang-glide across a canyon type adventure. It’s not the tour operator extreme sports definition of adventure. It just means, leave yourself open for some unpredictability. Go to the bus station and take a bus to a village you’re not necessarily familiar with. And see what happens when you get there. Or go into that market that seems strange but smells wonderful. Maybe move your wallet to your front pocket and dive in. It’s those small adventures that are sort of outside your expectations and plans that I consider to be not only the best adventures but the most memorable experiences. Even neurologically, we tend to remember surprises better than routine. That’s open to everybody. Just use common sense, if there is one disadvantage besides somewhat compromised mobility when you get older, sometimes the older people are seen as a mark. For pickpockets and stuff like that. Exercise common sense if you go to a delightful pub in Bucharest and you come out five beers in and its two in the morning, get a cab. Don’t walk home in the name of adventure. So keeping in mind to use common sense, just be unpredictable, maybe in a controlled way, but unpredictable. ERIK: Great. I’m going to skip around a little bit here but when it comes to these adventures which almost always are going to involve interacting with the local people, in those different countries, how should they approach authentic interaction with the community that they travel to? Such as this local involvement in a way that is not going to put them at additional risk or at least give them a level of comfort? ROLF: Well adding on to what I just said, if you hire a walking tour guide for the day, odds are he or she will have family and friends in the city and you can sort of befriend these people. Maybe tip them a little bit and just use them with a structured experience into a window of a less structured experience. And I mean there are ways to meet people on the street but even in the internet age there are meet ups. Meetup.com. There’s websites, there’s social media posting about activates that are going on in the city. If there is a painting class in Paris or in Buenos Aires or wherever you are, maybe go to the painting class. Painting classes are popular with an older demographic of people. Suddenly you’re there, maybe their English is as bad as your Spanish, but you are trying. You are speaking in very simple terms and a smile is a great form of currency. I could talk about ways to meet people randomly on the street, but I think that the time you have interacted with people on meet ups and group tours or organized classes, you’ll have the instinct to interact in the street in the places you are. ERIK: Sure, that makes perfect sense. The little bit about philosophical discussion here is there is this natural desire I think for many people when they retire if they haven’t done much travel and they’ve been looking forward to it so much that when they finally do retire and they don’t have a constraint of working nine to five, that they might binge travel. And there may be this subset of people that really look back and have enjoyed that, but I think, and the studies would actually show, that binge travelling doesn’t offer the type of fulfillment that they thought they were going to get. So how do we coach them to overcome this natural desire to go on ten separate trips in two years hitting each place for a week at a time, which might be the intuition to actually move in that direction? ROLF: Well I think this is something, it’s a normal thing. The study of the younger aristocrats in the grand tour of Europe in the 18th century, they were often would fit as many things as possible, they were list driven. Well now we have this new phrase that nobody used twenty years ago, the Bucket List. There is this movie called the Bucket List. A list of things you want to do. And I think this is particularly acute for people who’ve just retired as there is just a built-up desire and they want to do everything. They are finally set free and they want to do everything on their bucket list. And so what happens is that they end up micromanaging their bucket list in a way that doesn’t really optimize the best experience of each place. They are ticking things off the list. They find a great one-week tour here, and a couple months later another tour there. And they are just sort of barely brushing up against the bucket list. I think the best kind of bucket list is the kind that gets you at the door, and once you are at the door you can sort of put it in your back pocket and not really think about it. Because regardless of the bullet points on your bucket list, it’s the between spaces – it’s the smaller experiences, the relationships and the surprise experiences that are going to happen that really make them memorable. Even after retirement, you still have a big slot, if you have the health for it, a big slot of time to do things. Even if you don’t, I’m a big believer, and I’m not going to knock anybody who wants to have a glass of wine with their patients, but I’m a big believer in the slow and nuance experience of a single place more so than the rushed experiences, ten places, in that same amount of time. ERIK: I mean it’s almost analogous to your work life, you’ve been working so hard and feverously. You have this rat race buzz going in your head and vacations end up feeling a lot like that. To your point then – by slowing down, number one, you’re not as physically exhausted because you’re approaching it in a slower, less physically demanding way and mentally demanding way. And it’s a much more comfortable experience overall that you can look back on and your memories are even if not every single specific moment is remembered, your overall impression is – that was a comfortable, exhilarating, and emotional experience that I enjoyed. And I just think back to – we went on our first big trip, we have four children, so the six of us went to Mexico to an all-inclusive resort in 2018 and we were gone for seven days and it cost an ungodly amount of money to do that. The food was mediocre, there were no people to actually build bridges with because you were actually boxed off inside of this resort. There were no true experiences, we did go scuba diving for a couple of hours. That was the one thing I remember, is that one experience. And other than that, my best day was the last day before we left and it was the day that I finally took a moment to just sit on the beach and read a book and look up at the palm trees and the blue sky and sit there and appreciate that moment. And yet, I wasn’t doing anything necessarily, and it was still my most enjoyable moment. ROLF: Yeah, again that is sort of the consumer experience where you are comparing your expectations versus what is delivered. Just being in a place and not worrying about what’s included because you are sort of creating your own menu. And I think you mentioned we live these workaholic lives, and we rush and we work really hard, and that transfers to the kind of travel we do, especially at the end of the career. You can spend your whole life having one-hour lunches, not knowing how weird that is in Italy. So allowing yourself to go to a place where that is all you do. You wake up, I am using Italy as an example, you wake up, you have a coffee, you go for a walk. You sit down for lunch. The service is slow but you realize that it is slow because Italians favor their lunch. You have pizza like you’ve never had it before, you’ve had pasta like you’ve never had it before. You realize hot chocolate is this delicious warm sludgy thing that’s somewhere between pudding and the liquid hot chocolate we have in the United States. And maybe you go for an afternoon walk, and maybe you hit a couple of sites. And by home standards, you’ve done nothing. But you’ve actually experienced Italy. I think it’s understandable why we get into these micromanaged mindsets when we travel because that’s how we live our day at work. ERIK: You know you just actually explained to me what would be an example of the best day ever in Italy. And that’s why we’ve actually chosen Italy and the visualization that I was picturing in my head while you described it is was what I’m hoping to have. Exactly like that, so it was so interesting. You’ve said it exactly as I have been visualizing it and I just get more excited about it every minute. ROLF: And it’s there you just have to allow yourself to experience it, that happens every day in Italy. ERIK: Right. You mentioned in your book, you go over some three very specific tips in one of the earlier chapters and one of the tips that you mention is that of journaling. Why do you think journaling when somebody travels is so important? ROLF: Journaling, I’ve come to realize, one I’m a writer and it is sort of a natural thing for me. But journaling is almost like the old-fashioned version of your camera phone now. But it slows you down, it’s something that, it’s a ritual of paying attention to what you are doing. I’ve never knocked travel photography too much because unless you are taking just a bunch of generic pictures, you are trying to find a way of framing your experience in a way that is memorable. And photos are fun to go back to – well so are journals. And actually, journals go a couple layers of complexity beneath a photograph because you can reflect on what you’ve seen. And you can use a journal to just write down the date and event, but you can also reflect on the day and the event. You can draw connections to the life you lived before and in the ways we’ve discussed, I think there are ways that travel will remind you what was enjoyable about your life back home and your hobbies and your talents. So a journal is a way that in the end of the day or in the morning when you are having coffee in that café, you can just write it down to remind yourself, to remind yourself to be grateful. But also remind yourself to keep paying attention. And then over time those journals are something you can go back to, months later in the dead of winter, when your suntan is gone, and your back home. You can open that journal and remind yourself of how confident, or happy, or good at problem solving or whatever went into that journal. And just sort of remind you who you were at that moment. So it’s a way to pay attention, it’s a way to have a conversation with yourself. ERIK: As much as pictures are, I think they are visual, and we rely on visuals a lot as human beings, by the same token if you just think about any book you’re reading, there’ll be a few pictures, but pages and pages of words and that is where the meat on the bone is, if you will, it’s in the words where you are really uncovering those details. And I’ve been starting to journal on my own, just on my daily life here in Colorado, and ever since I heard that tip in your book, I’m looking forward to journaling about the experience. I can’t wait to actually do that too, so I just think it’s a great tip so that’s why I pulled that one out. Maybe we can get tactical for a moment. One question that I think that a lot of retirees would have is if I am travelling abroad, you know there is more the industrialized countries like Germany, and Italy, England, Japan, maybe even Argentina. But then you might be going off the beaten path periodically, and those types of instances, both of those – the industrialized nations and otherwise, how does medical insurance work? To make sure that if you have an issue, that you be taken care of and the insurance that you have in the United States translates. ROLF: Well, one thing is to check with your health insurance company and just sort of see how it applies to oversees situations. My health insurance doesn’t have an oversees situation, so I buy travel insurance. Check with your local insurance, if they don’t cover overseas that is find. There are all kinds of resources online, I have them in the book and on vagabonding.net/resources. Of places you can go and find a travel insurance policy that applies to your own specific situation. ERIK: I didn’t even know anything like that existed. So travel insurance covers medical care overseas? ROLF: It does, but here is the funny thing. Overseas medical care usually doesn’t cost very much. Like in the developing world, I can go to the pharmacy and self-prescribe stuff. If I know what my sickness is, the pharmacists are not going to ask for a prescription. It sounds dicey, but it’s just how it works. Another thing, in a place like India or another developing country, medicines are so much cheaper than they are in the US. I think the United States is an outlier in how expensive it is for healthcare. I’m not necessarily saying your clients should do the same, but what I do is I just get disaster insurance. I buy travel insurance that will give me the helicopter flight out of the developing country to a first world hospital if something terrible happens. It almost never happens, but if I fall of a cliff and crush my leg, and there’s no hospital in Bangladesh or Nepal that can attend to that, then I have this insurance that will cover the expensive medivac to the first world hospital. Past that, I mean sickness is fairly common. Usually it’s just stuff like traveler’s diarrhea, the kind of stuff you get from eating unfamiliar food. And there is self-medication – if you get traveler’s diarrhea you can eat rice or yogurt or other bland foods. You take a few medicines and you sort of flush it out of your system. I guess it depends on the country, but I usually just go with the disaster insurance and call it good. ERIK: I have two more questions – the first one is very tactical. What I am finding out during my investigation is I feel like I can find accommodations, even during the high season in Europe, relatively inexpensively. No more than my mortgage is, I can stay for a month over in Italy in a place that we can call our own and our own single-family dwelling, if you will. But the travel, the air travel – your primary travel to get you to the other country and back to your point of origin, certainly if you use standard methods of researching flight and travel – can be quite expensive. That alone will cost more than all of your staying in a particular country for a month. Do you have any tactical tips, and certainly if you have relevant resources on a website, please mention those, on how people can get more savvy about their initial travel to and from their primary destination? ROLF: Well one consideration is the off season. It can be very expensive to fly to Paris, for example, in July, but it can be very affordable to fly to Paris in March. So if you don’t mind taking an extra coat and enjoying Paris in the almost spring time, then you can save a lot up front. Actually, that savings goes across the board. Anytime you are in a place where it is tourist low season, there is going to be more availability, there will be shorter lines at attractions. Even hotels are going to be cheaper. One thing to keep in mind, if you are willing to not plan every hotel in advance, hotels are haggleable almost everywhere in the world. Just do a lot of research, and this is something that can happen while your dream is coming two years or six months away. Is that often times flight prices are cheaper far in advance. There is a flip side – sometimes they are cheap on the last planes as well. But often times there are cheaper airlines that they aren’t the Delta’s or the Lufthansa type airline. ERIK: I have seen as I have been doing my investigation, that if I am willing to break it into two separate tickets, and I use Norwegian Air as an example, to get me from New York or Boston over to someplace in Europe, as opposed to looking for a flight that is an all in one with one airline from Denver to Europe. That if I add two plane tickets together, one to New York, then Norwegian air to get me wherever else I am going, that that combined cost may be have the price of the roundtrip ticket to Europe from Denver direct. ROLF: Correct, there’s more strategies that the time we have to discuss in the podcast. But that is a great one, it’s a stepping stone approach. Since we don’t have time to talk about flights full time, one thing to do is to just turn on your favorite radio station, brew a pot of coffee, and a couple of weekend mornings, just searching around on flight search engines. Googling search terms like cheap flights. The more you tinker, the more you learn. And there are flight consolidators, there are mailing lists that will send you alerts when certain flights and certain airports, including Denver, get cheap. And so without being too specific, I’ll just say that a good four to six hours of internet research can save you hundreds if not thousands of dollars down the line. Just by familiarizing yourself with the normal prices, with the seasonal cycles, and the with these special airline websites and consolidators. ERIK: Great advice. My final question is – if you were to recommend one or two steps, so this might be a little larger concept than a tip, one or two steps that a retiree can take that can make their next trip their best trip ever, what would you recommend? ROLF: My advice would sort of consolidate what I have already talked about. And that’s to give yourself permission to go slow. Even before then is treat your goal. Put your goal on the fridge or the wall or on your smart phone. And think about it and research it and dream about it, and make it a part of your present life. And in that way, you can’t talk yourself out of it. Number two, go slow, go slow slash don’t micromanage. Again, I am not going to knock the travel industry, but they like it when we micromanage because then they can upsell all of the stuff. Go slow, don’t micromanage, and this may sound weird but establish a beachhead. When you have that four-week trip and your dream destination, spend the first weekend literally in one place. Have those long lunches and just sort of acclimate yourself. Spend that first week in a beautiful place, be it a beach or along a city plaza. And just relax, get used to the time zone. Take long meals, take long walks. And that is really a very concrete way to enable that slow travel, for travel can seem like a distraction. And I think if you literally push yourself to spend your first week of your four-week or your four-month trip in one place, then you can really see for yourself how rewarding that slow kind of travel is. And then, I guess my last big picture advice is, that any given trip doesn’t have to be the end all. It doesn’t have to be the bucket list kicked forever, it doesn’t have to be the last big blast before you go back home and live your normal retired live with your normal routine. And even at any age, travel can become part of your cycle of life as you are older. You might go to Tuscany and have this little apartment that you rent every winter, and it just becomes a part of thing. Don’t set limits on how travel can serve your retirement time. Because if you allow it, it can really just become a dynamic part of the way you live as a retiree. ERIK: Excellent, well Rolf I want to thank you so much for joining me today. I think that your insight is just so valuable for those that are interested in looking at a different way of travel. My hope is that anyone that listens to this podcast reads your books Vagabonding. Can get just one idea or concept that will allow them to truly enjoy their next travel experience differently than they ever imagined they could. So I just wanted to thank you so much for your time today. ROLF: You bet, I love talking about this sort of thing and I really wish the best to the listeners and hope that they can have some life enhancing travels. ERIK: So that’s Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding. Everybody go out there and enjoy this day, because as I always say, it’s the last one you will have that’s just like this.
For this week’s episode, we sat down with Hannah Puckett: digital strategist, ocean advocate, citizen scientist, and everything in between. Growing up, Hannah was drawn to the outdoors. She spent her summers camping with her family and road tripping across the country. With a passion for writing and research, she studied advertising at the University of Texas at Austin and graduated with a masters degree in strategic business communications. After some self reflection, at age 25, she decided to trade in her spreadsheets for a rubber rain suit, cubicle for the Alaskan Wilderness, thus embarking on a journey to explore her unusual passion for oysters. Hannah's Resources: Woofing Program: World Wide Opportunities on Organic Farms Wwoof costs $40/year to join and allows you to connect with more than 2,000 farms across the USA. Of those 2,000 , Hannah was able to find one oyster farm. And that is how she met Dave. Find out more at wwoofusa.org Oyster Eating: Hannah jokes that the number of "oyster celebrities" can probably be counted on one hand. But blogger and self-proclaimed oyster sommelier, Julie Qui would be included. Link to blog: Rowan Jacobsen's Rules of Oyster Eating (and Julie Qiu's In a Half Shell Blog) Books: Lastly, Hannah shared some good reads that were important to her journey. Below are her reflections. OYSTER 101 : Meet Paris Oyster: A Love Affair with the Perfect Food by Mireille Guiliano, 2014 "Bite sized and delighful from start to finish; when reading Paris Oyster, it's as if you're at the table with Guiliano sipping on Muscudet and Belons as she tells you everything you'd want to know about how to enjoy oysters like the French... a wonderful gift for oyster lovers, both novice and expert." A Geography of Oysters: The Connoisseur's Guide to Oyster Eating in North America by Rowan Jacobsen, 2008 "The unofficial American Oyster Eater's Field Guide, as told by a guy who literally went there and tried that. It's a comprehensive index of oyster varieties unique to North America's East, West, and Gulf Coasts, and an almanac of noteworthy farms and oyster bars that serve them. Jacobsen is inspirational to me personally as a curious person who has turned interests into income... who also dabbles at the intersections of food, cultures, and the environment." The Big Oyster: History on the Half Shell by Mark Kurlansky, 2007 "Oyster culture is more intertwined to the story of The United States than I ever knew. For history nerds, this book is as informative as it is a blast to read, all about the growth of New York City as told via the rise and fall of it's once bountiful, world-famous oyster beds." Inspiration for Living Non-Traditionally: Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-term World Travel by Rolf Potts, 2003 "Living Your Best Life Out of a Bag 101: This book is choke full of resources, tips, and words of wisdom from fellow slow travelers, and how to enjoy and sustain a life on the move." Let My People Go Surfing: The Education of a Reluctant Businessman by Yvon Chouinard, 2006 "Chouinard's memoir is, first and foremost, a very cool story, but it was inspirational to read his reflections on how running a business based on values takes guts, community, and time. And encouraged me not to rush the journey... the dude is 79 years old and is still playing outside, doing awesome work for the world." The Kon Tiki Expedition: Across the Pacific by Raft by Thor Heyerdahl, 1948 "In 1947, five Norwegian dudes sailed a wooden raft across the Pacific to prove the plausibility that cultures of the South Pacific may be descendants of South America. The academic community said it was impossible, that they were insane, to even try was a death wish... and with the help of SO MANY PEOPLE (private loans by fellow 1920's explorers, South American authorities, the US Army)... they did it. Kon Tiki is Heyerdahl's memoir of that expedition." More Good Reads: Self Reliance, Ralph Waldo Emerson, 1841 "Emerson argues the imperative and importance of thinking for one's self, of questioning accepted dogma, and resisting hoard mentality, and living true to the intrinsic truth of the individual. Read it in chunks over the course of several days. It's dense, but each line packs a philosophical punch." Women Who Did: Stories by Men and Women 1890-1914 by various authors, edited by Angelique Richardson, 2006 "One of my favorite reads of 2017. A collection of stories told by women and men from a time when the limits of what it means to be 'woman' were bursting at the seams. Each author paints their unique gaze of what it was like to be or to witness a modern woman becoming herself at the turn of the 20th century."
Welcome to the Process Hacker News, your weekly roundup of useful news and updates from Process Hackers who have been guests on Hack the Process with M. David Green. This week we’ve got Amish barns, traveling vagabonds, cooking entrepreneurs, and more. Enjoy! For all the links, visit the show notes for this episode at http://www.hacktheprocess.com/process-hacker-news-for-april-3-2018/ Fundraiser Pledge $100 a month for a great cause by joining Fund Club by Ashe Dryden. This week, Fund Club will be raising funds for Project Alloy, a group that builds an inclusive tech community by offering financial grants to early-career individuals and underrepresented people in tech so they can attend tech conferences. Writing Several Amish families whose barns were struck by a tornado, but whose community helped them get back on their feet, show how overcoming change is possible with other people’s help. This story is shared and explained in a blog post by Jon DeWaal. Avochato, whose CEO is Alex De Simone, just came out with a blog post about how the bands Krewella and ZHU sell out tours by using Avochato. Read on to see how the magic happens! Luis Congdon has a new essay in Entrepreneur about how relying only on social media marketing can be disastrous for business. He’s also got a new podcast interview in which he chats about traveling the world with Author Rolf Potts, author of Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. Workshops LeadFuze, founded by Justin McGill, and RightMessage by Brennan Dunn just teamed up to bring you a workshop about how to supercharge leads and conversions, happening on April 4. Veterans are welcome to join a one-day pathfinder program on April 15 at Golden Gate Park in San Francisco for a day of fun and community. It’s free for those who have served since 1990. Bill Duane is the Vice Chairman of the Board of Veteran’s Path, the organization that brings vets together. Media The Have It All Podcast’s latest episode talks about how to let go of making others wrong, because as hosts Guy and Ilan Ferdman have learned, judging other people’s behavior just causes you stress. Post-workout meals are just as important as the workout itself. That’s why Malek Banoun focuses on this subject in his latest vlog. What’s men’s empowerment coach JuVan Langford up to lately? Watch a day in the life of JuVan. Listen to Chef Fabio Viviani chat with Jay Wong about cookbooks, entrepreneurship, and the true cost of success on The Inner Changemaker Podcast. Recommended Resources Military veterans can turn their skills into a corporate career. How? Read up on this article created by Dorie Clark, who was mentioned as a resource by Nicole Holland and Ron Carucci. Jayna Dall guests on Entrepreneurs Journey to tell host Yaro Starak how she turned children’s lesson plans into a $250,000 a year online business. Michelle Dale is a follower of Yaro’s entrepreneurial journey. Kim Scott, recommended by Ron Carucci will be in London for TNN Speak-up on April 10, which will help inform entrepreneurs about the future of feedback. It’s free to register! Thanks for checking out this Process Hacker News update from Hack the Process. If you liked what you saw, please leave a comment to let us know what processes you’re hacking.
When you let yourself travel the world, you will feel grateful for giving yourself the opportunity to know the possibilities for your own happens. On this episode, we are here with Rolf Potts, who wrote the iconic book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, which is a book that greatly inspired a lot of people. Also, he has written for National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside New York Times, The Believer, The Garden, and Sports Illustrated. He's written several books and traveled the world. Rolf talks about what extended stay in other countries means and how it is possible for you to do it now and plan it by yourself. Get all the resources for this episode and listen to more at https://www.thrivinglaunch.com
Rolf Potts is a travel writer, journalist, and life-long traveler. His highly influential book Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel has sold over one million copies. He has over twenty years of writing, lectures, courses, and content available online. His new book Souvenir was released this week and is available in all book stores. In this episode we talked about his recent travels in Namibia, his journey down the Mekong River in a boat, choosing your own passions rather than meeting the expectations of others, Rolf's new book Souvenir, what the future holds for Rolf's travels, and much more. Check out Rolf Potts: http://vagabonding.net/ http://rolfpotts.com/ http://twitter.com/rolfpotts http://www.instagram.com/rolfpotts/
Rolf Potts is a travel writer, essayist, adventurer and teacher. I discovered Rolf Potts from listening to Tim Ferris. Rolf's book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to The Art of Long-Term World Travel is attributed by Ferris as the basis for his stick-it-to-the man 4-Hour Workweek. I sat down with Rolf Potts over Skype from our Joy Bus to learn from him about learning to live curiously. Potts calls rural Salina, KS home after having his pick of equitably frugal options abroad. His Mid-West roots pulled him back to be near family and friends. Key insights from Rolf Reframing your thinking enables you to power jettisons from real life to discover long-term world travel. If you wait until society tells you to go, you never will. We forget how easy it is to give to ourselves. Insulating yourself from discomfort limits our travel adventures. How to build a Time-Wealth philosophy to create enough time to experience the travels you dream about. GO. GO. GO. Stop waiting. About Rolf Potts Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind.
Rolf Potts is a travel writer, essayist, adventurer and teacher. I discovered Rolf Potts from listening to Tim Ferris. Rolf's book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to The Art of Long-Term World Travel is attributed by Ferris as the basis for his stick-it-to-the man 4-Hour Workweek. I sat down with Rolf Potts over Skype from our Joy Bus to learn from him about learning to live curiously. Potts calls rural Salina, KS home after having his pick of equitably frugal options abroad. His Mid-West roots pulled him back to be near family and friends. Key insights from Rolf Reframing your thinking enables you to power jettisons from real life to discover long-term world travel. If you wait until society tells you to go, you never will. We forget how easy it is to give to ourselves. Insulating yourself from discomfort limits our travel adventures. How to build a Time-Wealth philosophy to create enough time to experience the travels you dream about. GO. GO. GO. Stop waiting. About Rolf Potts Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind.
Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), has been through twenty-six printings and translated into several foreign languages.
Rolf Potts has reported from more than sixty countries for the likes of National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Slate.com, Outside, the New York Times Magazine, The Believer, The Guardian (U.K.), Sports Illustrated, National Public Radio, and the Travel Channel. His adventures have taken him across six continents, and include piloting a fishing boat 900 miles down the Laotian Mekong, hitchhiking across Eastern Europe, traversing Israel on foot, bicycling across Burma, driving a Land Rover across South America, and traveling around the world for six weeks with no luggage or bags of any kind. Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), has been through twenty-six printings and translated into several foreign languages.
Risk Without Regret: Stories from Risk Takers, Inspiring Entrepreneurs, Small Business Owners
A Facebook friend of mine, Jason Reaves, reached out to me about a month or so ago. He actually initiated a group message on Facebook which also included Joshua Santos, a person I was not familiar with. Jason gave the backstory and was basically the middle man, connecting Joshua and myself together.After learning more about Joshua, I knew he was the perfect candidate to be on this podcast, so I set out to make that happen. One of the coolest things he's done recently was connecting Andy Frisella and Sean Whalen together. Both of these guys are in your face, smart business men, and have big followings. Funny thing, Joshua didn't really know either of them, and both guys thought the other knew Joshua. Turns out, he just wanted to bring them together to create magic, which is exactly what happened.Sit back, relax, and listen to Joshua's inspiring story about building relationships and consistently adding value. Enjoy!Subscribe to the podcast!Featured products/services:Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel by Rolf Potts. I'm over halfway through with this awesome book and I'm ready to buy my first international flight very soon. If you've always wanted to travel the world, buy this book. Seriously. Check it out now...Create Your Online Shop is the online course I'm building to teach people how they can start selling their products and services on the web. Trust me, it's not as tough as you might think. And to help get you going, I'm giving away my 5-Step Guide for free! Just visit this link and download it right now. To learn even more about the course, listen to episode 9 where I really go into all the details.Show notes:[02:55] Tell us who you are...If you're value-based and you're not trying to cheapskate your customers, then things end up turning out pretty well for you in the long run.[06:15] Did you go to college?I never really went to class, I just kinda dropped out.The name of the game is showing the hustle. Showing that you really want it.Putting yourself on the line without really thinking about what your friends and family are thinking about you at the time.[08:50] Explain the "concierge" title...I had a knack for connecting people to other people and building these relationships.I've been providing some value to them just as they've done to me and so many other people.[10:35] Is this monetized?I've never asked for any payment ever.Provide value and you won't be able to not accept any money. -Ray HigdonYou'll dictate money the more value you provide.It just goes to show that what I'm doing right now is paying off, not just monetarily but from a passion perspective.[13:00] Did you have a regular job while you were building this up?[14:05] How did you get connected with the MFCEO podcast?Create the legacy that you want to create for your family.Most people just wanna hit play on their laptop and hopefully the money comes out of the sky. They wanna live this laptop lifestyle and that's just not the way it is.[16:35] What fears do you have?My main goal is to experience fear.If I take the foundational values that I have right now, the integrity, the hustle, the vision, I'll make it anywhere.When you're entering in a field 100% full throttle, like taking that risk without any regret, that's when things really start happening for you.[21:35] Why are you moving to California this year?[22:55] Explain the kinds of people in your mastermind group, and masterminds in general...You are the average of the five people you hang out with.You're gonna have to cut out a lot of people in your life, and that's gonna be on a consistent basis.A mastermind is all about having fun, learning, growing, assessing where it is that you are and where you want to be, and going out there and doing it.[27:45] What have you had to give up?I had to give up the time that I would sit and do nothing.[30:15] Any advice you don't agree with?Whatever you decide to listen to needs to be congruent with the person that you want to become.If you know there's something that you want to do—that you may have some serious fear towards, but you know you have to get over that hurdle to see what's on the other side of the hedge—then go ahead and explore it.You just need to be yourself.[34:05] Talk about Mike Dillard / Self Made Man...[34:35] Skills everyone needs...Be relentless in your desire to learn, even if you don't feel like it sometimes.Always be willing to take another person's perspective and welcome the meta-level of learning.[37:50] Is hustle more important than talent or skills?The person with a hustle mentality is eventually going to get good at what they do.When [a hustler] gets good at what they do, and they still have that hustle in their blood, that person is going to have the most opportunities down the road.Always be the first one to get there and the last one to leave so you can be ahead of the curve.[40:35] Is there a specific moment that stands out that makes you proud?When you're working hard, other people will notice.At the end of the day, my main goal is to provide value.It's because of the possibility of this really working out that makes me want to chase it even more.One of my missions in life is to just wake people up, shake them up a little bit, and make them realize that you could be gone tomorrow. This is it. You have two decisions: become great and continue to do that, or sit on the couch and be forgotten.The ones who look weird to the world and society, those are the guys that I want to stick around with.[46:00] Any specific habits that keep you going?[48:55] What inspires you?Favorite Book: The War of Art: Break Through the Blocks and Win Your Inner Creative Battles by Steven PressfieldGet off your ass and continue to work—continue to master your craft—because the world is begging you for it.Wherever you go, there you are.But rest assured, if your actions are aligned with your vision, the Law of Attraction will work for you.[58:00] How has social media helped you over the years?[1:01:00] Did you ever have an "aha moment" in your journey?When you truly find what you want to do, and you can do it day, night, weekend, Chirstmas, New Years... you really get to experience the full power of following your passion.[1:04:00] What's a big risk you've taken?When you've crossed a certain threshold in your life and you're married to your passion and the vision that you've created in your mind and you're going to do anything in the world to manifest it into reality, nothing matters anymore.Connect with Joshua:Facebook: facebook.com/joshua.santos.31337Twitter: @joshuajsantosInstagram: @jsconsultinghubPeople, websites, & products mentioned:Gary VaynerchukRay HigdonAndy FrisellaThe MFCEO Project - PodcastSean WhalenMike DillardSelf Made Man - PodcastWesley ChapmanJoshua JordisonTai LopezMark CubanJohn Lee DumasSteven PressfieldTim FerrissOrder of Man - PodcastJoe Rogan - PodcastLewis HowesThanks again for listening and reading the show notes. Be sure to leave me a review on iTunes and I can't wait to share the next episode with you soon. Until next time, think less, risk more, regret nothing!
Rolf Potts is probably best known for his book "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel," which earned him a loyal following of devoted travelers & the distinguished title of "Jack Kerouac for the Internet age" from USA Today. Rolf's second book, "Marco Polo Didn't Go There," is equally impressive & is a collection of previously published essays & articles with some added juicy details behind some of his adventures. As you've probably guessed by now, Rolf is a little hard to pin down, but try to keep an eye out for one of his travel-writing courses or lectures listed on his website at www.RolfPotts.com or on Twitter at @RolfPotts. He was the 2011/2012 writer-in-residence at the University of Pennsylvania, & he's currently lecturing at Yale. If you're fortunate enough to be in France this July 1-28, make sure to check out one of Rolf's classes at the Paris American Academy where he's been the writing workshop director since 2005. I caught up with Rolf at New York's Hostelling International, where we talked shop about the travel-writing world.
Molly Young, freelance writer for GQ and New York. Show notes: @rolfpotts rolfpotts.com [2:00] Murder of football player in Kansas shakes town (Sports Illustrated • Feb 2013) [15:00] Salon travel column (1999-2000) [16:30] "Storming the Beach" (Salon • Jan 1999) [19:30] "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel" (2002) [21:00] "My Beirut Hostage Crisis" (Salon • June 2000) [25:00] Wikipedia: Flaneur [35:30] 'No Baggage' web series
Rolf Potts, travel writer. Show notes: @rolfpotts rolfpotts.com [2:00] Murder of football player in Kansas shakes town (Sports Illustrated • Feb 2013) [15:00] Salon travel column (1999-2000) [16:30] "Storming the Beach" (Salon • Jan 1999) [19:30] "Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel" (2002) [21:00] "My Beirut Hostage Crisis" (Salon • June 2000) [25:00] Wikipedia: Flaneur [35:30] 'No Baggage' web series
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