Vagabonding: n. (1) The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time. (2) A privately meaningful manner of travel that emphasizes creativity, adventure, awareness, simplicity, discovery, independence, good humor, realism, and growth of spirit. (3) A deliberate way of living that makes the freedom of travel possible.
It is not unusual for Michael and me to email each other from across the room. One of us will be reading something that we feel would interest the other. Instead of explaining it all, we will copy the link and share it. Recently Michael sent me a link to a podcast on the concept of vagabonding.
Occasionally I am accused of not giving the proper attention to these shared links. That was certainly not the case this time. I found myself intently listening to this podcast, then taking notes. The podcast covered some travel related content and then it concluded with Rolf Potts, the author of the book Vagabonding, reading the first two chapters of his book. I was hooked.
I knew other families were traveling as we were, but the use of the term vagabonding to describe us was entirely new to me. It means more than being nomadic without the negative connotation assumed with homelessness. Everything Potts explained regarding the term made sense. I loved the content of his first two chapters and thought it would be a good topic for a blog post. We have been traveling for more than nine months and I have fallen desperately behind with posts. This podcast gave me a fresh perspective on our decision to travel long term and it has inspired me to get back on track with the blog. I thought I would start again by using Potts' explanation to revisit our decision to begin long term travel and to participate in the concept of vagabonding.
The idea of abandoning our former lifestyle centered around taking control of our circumstances and moving in the direction of our dreams. We knew it wasn't popular. It was, however, a private choice within a society that Potts describes as constantly urging us to do otherwise.
We had talked about the idea of taking a gap year for many years and most supported us. But then we decided to sell the house and not limit ourselves to one year. It just seemed like the right path for us. Why wait for retirement? Why continue to work to reward ourselves with a two week vacation - using the future as 'a phony ritual to justify the present?' Why pass up a chance to spend more time with our children discovering and exploring the world on our own terms? We were in total agreement with Thoreau when he said that most people were 'spending the best part of one's life earning money in order to enjoy a questionable liberty during the least valuable part of it'....reminding us that tomorrow is promised to no one.
So with that in mind, we decided to take action. Potts' description of how we felt during the planning process was quite spot on. We began to 'look at maps with narcotic tingle of possibility.' This was our choice, our plan, our adventure, and it was exciting.
Long term travel, as Potts explained, is not just for recent university graduates, new age dropouts, or the idle rich. Although you do see some of the latter staying in the nicest hotels, doing all the touristy activities all while traveling in the most luxurious vehicles accessible. Some are escaping for their allotted two week reward vacation, others are out spending family money. Potts humorously refers to those individuals as 'trustafarians.' While they might not agree, funding your own expedition makes a difference in your experience. You need to work for your freedom, 'not to escape real life, but to work on the discovery of real life.'
I resigned from my job. I quit. It wasn't reckless or a negative act. It doesn't mean I gave up. In this case it means we are moving on, and changing directions, not because it doesn't agree with us, but because we don't agree with it. It was a positive choice. I like how Potts says that by joining the vagabonding crowd we are 'choosing to earn to live rather than live to earn.' We will continue to look and learn, face fears and modify habits, and foster new fascinations of people and places.
So as I listened to Michael reading the Walt Whitman poem "Song of the Open Road" to our children while sitting in our room in Kampot, Cambodia, I realized that there is nothing in the world I would rather be doing. We have gladly embraced our choice of freedom - vagabonding.
"To see nothing anywhere but what you may reach it and pass it,
To conceive no time, however distant, but you may reach it and pass it.
To look up or down no road but it stretches and waits for you, however long but it stretches and waits for you,
To know the universe itself as a road, as many roads, roads for traveling souls."
excerpts from "Song of the Open Road" by Walt Whitman
The Mekong River in Phnom Penh, Cambodia