Rolf Potts's Blog, page 70

Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

“We travel because we need to, because distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity. When we get home, home is still the same. But something in our mind has been changed, and that changes everything.”

–Jonah Lehrer, “Why We Travel,” Panorama Magazine (Deccember 2009)

Original article can be found here: Distance and difference are the secret tonic of creativity

Vagabonding Case Study: Heather Healey

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Heather Healey

heathersharmony.me

Age: 25

Hometown: Salt Lake City,Utah

Quote: “I am most looking forward to the moments of clarity when I realize that I am living my dreams.”

How did you find out about Vagabonding, and how did you find it useful?

When I discovered your website I’d had my travel blog for a couple months and loved reading your case studies and success stories. When I saw you had a book I instantly wanted to read it, I bought it as a Christmas gift to myself. I’ve highlighted insightful phrases, written my own reflections in the margins and have loved reading every chapter!

I found myself relating and agreeing with nearly the whole book, it’s really encouraging to know that while it’s a unique lifestyle it’s not as uncommon or impossible as the mainstream public thinks it is.

What is your job or source of travel funding for this journey?

I knew I wanted a life that fit into travel rather than trying to fit travel in my life so I got my degree so I could have something to offer during my travels and will be traveling slow teaching English. I originally bought a condo and hoped it would turn a profit to help fund my travels but in the end I was desperate to get out from under it and also got laid off my job with a nice chunk of severance pay, so one way or another the recession has served me well.

Do you plan to work on the road?

Yes. Teaching English as I go, my first stop as an ESL teacher isSouth Korea. I am open to other employment opportunities but teaching is one sure route.

What was the reaction of your friends/family/colleagues as you planned your trip?

More often than not it’s a mixture of shock and jealously, some doubt my choice and some wholeheartedly support it.

Any tips or lessons learned from the travel-preparation process?

While it is good to research, plan and prepare if there is one lesson I’ve learned from traveling its that everything will work out. I never cease to be amazed at how the universe guides me to the opportunities I didn’t know I was looking for.

How long do you hope to spend on the road?

As long as I am still passionate about being on the road, which I suspect will be indefinitely.

Which destinations do you hope to visit?

To be honest I’ve got such grand dreams that it’s turned out to be a never ending list. I can’t make it everywhere so for now I am leaving the traveling to my intuition and the universe and as I get further into vagabonding I may take more control to visit specific destinations.

Which experiences are you most looking forward to?

I am most looking forward to the moments of clarity when I realize that I am living my dreams and I continue to make it happen! Right now it’s all a big leap of faith, on one hand I am completely confident I can find a way to sustain my gypsy desires and on the other hand I second guess my abilities to make money and keep the traveling going.

What are you packing for the journey?

3 cameras (a point and shoot, a water proof and my Nikon), my laptop, Chap Stick, mascara and a whole lot of passion!

Do you have any worries or concerns about the journey?

Loads of concerns and worries like injury, loneliness and a lack of money but none of them can hold a light to the worries and concerns I have about NOT going.

How can we best follow your adventures?

My blog, facebook page and twitter are where all the humor, insights and nuggets of wisdom are! It would be an honor if you would share the journey with me, the more the merrier!

Website: heathersharmony.me
Twitter: heathertravels

Are you a Vagabonding reader planning, in the middle of, or returning from a journey? Would you like your travel blog or website to be featured on Vagabonding Case Studies? If so, drop us a line at casestudies@vagabonding.net and tell us a little about yourself.

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding Case Study: Heather Healey

Every country has an Underground

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Picture credit: DerSpiegel Online

It was 2010 and I had been working and traveling in Asia for three years filled to the brim with excitement, discoveries and cultural experiences into the ‘Other’. Time was going slow, and it was a good sign: I learnt that when you start feeling that you have more time than you can handle, it means that you are living your life to the fullest. However, after a while we all need a traveling break: so I decided to go deeper in that new tropical relationship I just found, try to slow down and look for a job, and pursue all those kind of things everybody is running away from before he/she starts vagabonding. Life is a circle, after all, and as much as we want to chase away those ghosts, they sporadically come back to pull our feet at night. I needed that pause: the over pollution of random backpackers in Southern Thailand planted the seed of deja-vu, tiredness and however you want to call it deep into my soul.

So I stopped. And for a little while, I thought I was leading the perfect life, having a routine, but being away from my genetic home.  Well, as I wrote just a few lines above, life is a circle, and once again I crossed its edge and felt miserably restless in Malaysia. There had to be something else that I did not experience, that I still had overlooked. Something worth staying longer, besides the pleasures and obligations of a not-so-new, already consolidated relationship.

When I got sick of looking straight ahead, I remembered that back home, I used to look underground. How could I have been so limited by just concentrating on the upper layer of things? Brandishing a cultural shovel, I started digging deep underground until I hit a rock. Well, many rocks: hard rock, punk rock, heavy metal, black metal, crustcore, grindcore and God save me how many more rocks!! And they had not been hidden so deeply. I had just overlooked them, not fully concentrating on the place I lived. I learnt that, to be happier when traveling long term, I had to watch the world with the eyes of a fly: multidirectional, spherical vision. The lesson I learnt has been able to keep me here, as I reached a comfortable niche at the bottom of that underground well, propelling serendipitous occasions for the greatest cultural insight.

I am not preaching that in order to be traveling happy you have to play heavy metal or punk rock music with the locals, BUT if I found my particular special niche, and my own way, I argue that everybody can accomplish the same with a bit of multidirectional determination.  

Original article can be found here: Every country has an Underground

Vagabonding Field Reports: Visiting the rarely visited in Bolivia

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Cost/day: $15

What’s the strangest thing you’ve seen lately?

It’s really hard to imagine a sight much stranger than the one of dinosaur foot prints standing right next to your own feet but that’s what you get in a lot of places in Bolivia. When we visited the incredible but often overlooked Torotoro national park, we had heard that there were some old prints that you could get close to but we never expected to get this close to them. It’s mind bending to image what your surroundings must have looked like a few million years ago standing in the exact same places where these creatures roamed.

Describe a typical day:

Torotoro national park is a stunning environment and most of our days are spent hiking to see the canyon, the dinosaur foot prints, watching condors soar over your head or just watching the sun sink in the sky. We usually have a basic breakfast of breads and spreads before heading out. The park itself is actually quite small and there are a couple of local guides that can take you to the edges of the park to see whatever you wish to see and still be back for dinner. There are some incredible caves to explore for the adventurous ones, full of blind fish and incredible narrow arches. In the evenings, dinner is served at the local “restaurant” which, as far as I can tell, was a woman’s house until a few people decided to have dinner with her one night and then she painted “Restaurant” on her door and the rest is history. There is of course, no menu. You just indicate how many plates you want and they come hot and tasty.

Describe an interesting conversation you had with a local:

After visiting Torotoro park, we moved on to Sucre where we were swarmed regularly by kids looking to sell us services or products. The typical fair of shoe shining service or trinkets or, strangely, oversized maps. A couple of kids sat around talking to me trying to convince me to polish my beat up running sneakers. I asked them about their business and they explained that shining shoes is actually the best of the businesses as the maps don’t sell well. I then started to chat up one of the kids selling maps. In my broken spanish, I tried to explain a bit about my trip and showed him the countries I had visited. He confirmed that maps were a poor seller which got me wondering why he sold them in the first place. Basically, from what I could understand, he sold them because he had them. Simple as that. I didn’t end up buying one – wouldn’t have a place to put it – but I did end up handing him and the others a bunch of fresh fruit that I now regularly carry around.

What do you like about where you are? Dislike?

Bolivia is a stunning place. The landscape is probably the most diverse of all the countries I have visited thus far. You can be in the amazon in the morning and mountain climbing in the afternoon to visiting Salt flats on the weekend. It’s incredible and absolutely beautiful. A lot of people will blow right through Bolivia visiting the amazon basin then a quick trip down the “death road” with a short stop at the Salt Flats. But they are missing out on some incredible places. Torotoro is just one gem among many that not many people will visit. Bolivia should play a much more prominent role in South American tourism than it currently does. It’s just such an incredible place.

That said, I’ve noticed that the people in Bolivia are more reserved than in other South American countries and tend to keep to themselves which has made random conversations more challenging.

Describe a challenge you faced:

The biggest challenge I faced in Bolivia was to find a way not to panic and cause a massive scene on the overnight bus from Coroico to Rurrenabaque. That sounds rediculous unless you have actually been on that road and been on that bus. In which case, you know exactly what I mean. That stretch of road is the continuation of the “Death Road”. The buses take the mountain passes at night and the hours spent in pitch black darkness winding through those roads were the most terrifying of my life. At one point, as our bus was forced to inch up against the cliff edge to allow oncoming traffic to squeeze by, I swear I felt the bus slipping. I couldn’t get the feeling out of my head. I started looking for open windows to lunge out of when the bus finally did give out and topple down the cliff. I am not even kidding.

What new lesson did you learn?

You could argue that the lesson I should learn is just to relax and close my eyes during some of those insane bus rides (I did survive after all) but I think the better lesson is just to fly when possible. I took this advice on the way back and avoided the round trip.

Where next?

Moving south and onwards to Argentina.

Original article can be found here: Vagabonding Field Reports: Visiting the rarely visited in Bolivia

Why the two week trip matters

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

A young friend of mine is posting elated pictures from Amsterdam, and two days later, from Dubai. She’s just graduated from Berklee School of Music in Boston, no slouch accomplishment, and she’s treating herself to a couple of weeks of travel. The joy in her journey is palpable in the photos she’s posting. Of course she’s meeting people who are on a three month walk about and proud of that, and folks 9 months into their gap year who are smug, but I think her two week foray is wonderful.

For lots of people, long term travel is something that grows slowly. The idea of vagabonding is a gentle unfolding that begins with a new backpack, a solid RTW ticket paid for up front and hotels in safe districts booked weeks in advance. For some folks, getting out of their state for two weeks is seriously outside the box and a grand scale adventure. Taking that first two week trip after college, or making the most of that precious vacation time is the definition of their wildest dream. It is in the living out loud of those small bites of freedom that their dreams grow, they meet people who stretch their paradigm and the door to the great big world swings wide.

We shouldn’t discourage, or deride the two week travelers. In fact, they should be applauded and encouraged whole heartedly. A months long, RTW journey isn’t the only way to travel in a way that is valuable to the soul. If more people would take that two weeks and do something that mattered, to them personally, or to an organization they believe in, or to folks they’ve never met but have read about on a blog they follow, the world would be a better place.

It is in those two week chunks that eyes are opened, compassion is developed, dreams are kindled, boxes are stretched, glass houses are shattered and kids who’ve grown into adults with no sense of themselves in the bigger picture are brought to their knees at the abject joy and wonder of the world and the commonalities that run like threads between humanity on every corner of the planet.

 If two weeks is all you’ve got, and a resort is the edge of your comfort zone, I say, “GO!” Do all you can do, and you’ll come back finding that you can actually do a little more. If you’re already vagabonding, come out in support of the “little guy” and celebrate every attempt to live in the world, every heart that dares to brave the unknown, and every adventure in the making. Two weeks matters, and it’s a hell of a lot better than nothing.

Original article can be found here: Why the two week trip matters

Visas: always check before you go

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

U.S. passports and residency paperwork for Argentina. Photo: Beatrice Murch / Flickr

Argentina recently enacted new visa rules, according to this post on The Flight Deal. U.S. citizens must pay a “Reciprocity Fee” of $160. More importantly, this must be paid before entry. If you don’t do this, you’ll be denied entry on arrival. The reciprocity refers to how if Country A charges Country B’s citizens a visa fee, then Country B will do the same to Country A’s citizens.

This problem happened to another backpacker I’d met in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. I was having breakfast with some fellow travelers at First Cup Cafe in Bukit Bintang. A British girl talked about how she was excited to go to Vietnam.

I asked, “So have you got your visa yet?”

“I’ll just get one on arrival,” she said.

The rest of us looked at each other, our faces saying, “Who wants to tell her the bad news?”

Clearing my throat, I spoke up. “Vietnam requires you to apply for a visa before arrival. You’ll have to go to a Vietnamese consulate. You might be able to apply for an e-visa on short notice.”

“Oh no! Really?!” she said.

After breakfast, the girl and her friend hurried back to the hostel to get online and check their options. In the end, they skipped Vietnam in favor of Thailand’s beaches. From the happy photos she shared on Facebook, it worked out for the best.

A good resource to check is Project Visa. To be sure, you should always check with the official website of that country’s consulate or embassy.

Have you ever had visa problems? Do citizens from your country enjoy lower visa fees? Please share your stories in the comments.

Original article can be found here: Visas: always check before you go

The person you are matters more than the place you go

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

The person you are matters more than the place to which you go. For that reason we should not make the mind a bondsman to any one place. Live in this belief: ‘I am not born for any one corner of the universe; this whole world is my country.’ If you saw this fact clearly, you would not be surprised at getting no benefit from the fresh scenes to which you roam each time through weariness of the old scenes. For the first would have pleased you in each case had you believed it wholly yours. As it is, however, you are not journeying; you are drifting and being driven, only exchanging one place for another, although that which you seek — to live well — is found everywhere.”

–Lucius Annaeus Seneca, 63 A.D., quoted in “Hither and Yon,” Lapham’s Quarterly, Summer 2009

Original article can be found here: The person you are matters more than the place you go

BootsnAll Introduces World’s First Multi-Country Flight Finder

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Vagabond – a person, usually without a permanent home, who wanders from place to place; nomad.

While vagabonders may not have a permanent home, they do still need a way to get around. Most of us vagabonders who decide to take off, whether it’s for a couple months, a year, or permanently, utilize some combination of flights, buses, trains, and any other number of ways to get from point A to point B.

If you’ve ever planned this type of trip, you know that flights are going to be the most expensive part of the trip. Not only that, but trying to decide between buying a multi-stop flight prior to leaving or one-ways as you go, then trying to decide which website/company to go with, can be a time-consuming and maddening process.

BootsnAll is hoping to make that part of the planning process much easier for you.

For the past two years, we have been hard at work on a new product that we think is going to change how people plan long-term trips. It’s a multi-country flight finder that allows travelers to get instant prices, with no rules, and book up to 25-leg trips online. Surprisingly, this has not been done before. Try to book a trip online (Travelocity, Expedia, Kayak, Airtreks etc), with more than 6 legs. It can’t be done…. until now!

You may have noticed us linking to Indie in past posts on Vagablogging, and that’s because we’ve had it in beta testing mode for a few months. So that means that people have been searching and buying on Indie. See what some industry experts and customers have to say about Indie:

Rolf Potts says, “BootsnAll’s Indie allows you to explore the possibilities of long-term travel in a way that actually reflects the flexibility of independent travel. It enables you to research international multi-stop and around-the-world flights with instant pricing, online booking, and none of the cumbersome rules and restrictions that come with airline-alliance bookings. If you’re only planning a trip from Point A to Point B you might not need Indie — but if your journey entails onward travel to Points C or D or Z, Indie is an essential research tool.”

Terry Jones, founder of Travelocity, says “Around the world travel planning has never been easy. For years this has been a manual task. When I went around the world in 1970 it took forever to get a price and it was manual. When I ran programming for SABRE air fare pricing, we always avoided RTW as it was just too hard. BootsnAll is a great answer for RTW fares in just a few minutes. I don’t know any other site that can do so many legs so quickly.”

“We travelled around the world last year and are looking to go again in 2013… We have had a number of quotes again using Star Alliance, etc. (that we used last time), but this system [Indie] seems a thousand times easier and lets us get to exactly where we want to go without the usual restrictions placed on you with other round the world ticket companies.” says Brian Kelly, an Australian traveler who is planning a round the world trip for his family of four.

Jamie Boud says, “Although I’ve never done an “around the world” trip, it’s something I think about often. It’s fun to plot out various trips just to see what the prices are, and then day dream about putting it all together.”

To start checking prices and building trips, all you have to do is register, enter cities and dates, click search, and Voila! Live pricing. See something you like? Go ahead and book.

To get you started, here are a few cool trips we’ve found recently:

Circumnavigate the Globe from Denver – $3125 – Denver > Rome > Mumbai > Honolulu > Denver $3125 taxes and fees included.
World Wonders from New York – $3049 – New York > Athens > Cairo > Delhi > Siem Reap > Mexico City > New York from $3049 taxes and fees included.
Big City RTW from London – $2839 – Bangkok > Sydney > Los Angeles > New York City > London  from $2839 taxes and fees included.
Gap Year from Brisbane – $5213 – Brisbane > Lima >overland> Bogota > Miami >overland> New York > Barcelona >overland> Rome > Bangkok >overland> Singapore from $5213 taxes and fees included.
RTW from Stockholm – $4170 – Stockholm > Singapore > Denpasar (Bali) > Sydney > Cairns > Auckland > Los Angeles > San Francisco > New York City > Stockholm from $4170 taxes and fees included.

Don’t forget to sign up for BootsnAll’s RTW newsletter, delivering special deals, RTW trip planning advice, and resources via email every single month. We also have a Facebook fan page and Twitter page, so be sure to like and follow those to keep up to date on all your RTW travel needs.

Original article can be found here: BootsnAll Introduces World’s First Multi-Country Flight Finder

The Art of Blending In

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Picture credit: Flickr/cogdogblog

Vagabonding should be about slipping into the cracks, reaching low, widening our perspectives into the hosts’ societies to enlarge our own ideas of them. Great: it sounds pretty simple on a screen, but oh boy, how it is not. My own experiences of living long term in several host countries have taught me that, instead, to go deeper you have to earn trust. And this is something that does not happen out of the blue. People, every way we look at them, are complex organisms. The brain, especially, has millions of subtle ways to defend itself. Have you ever spent time trying to really weigh the amount of real, insightful information we are getting when approaching individuals from other cultures? Sometimes, the sheer fact of being outsiders – and especially of the white type – is enough to warp experiences.

Spending more time in a single place may help, but at times is not really enough, either; I guess the secret lies in the way we approach people. At times – at least, this is my personal experience- we may look too serious trying to make a positive, authentic impression. The way we try to lower our defenses and expose our real objectives may put off people, same as being too relaxed may indispose them. And most times, people are the only “pieces of information” who may really open up our travels to the best, widest experiences. Trust, however, is a mutual contract and has to be negotiated accordingly in order to propel that subliminal feeling of really having experienced, having been there. I think that without working hard on earning the trust of others, even those who seem the most insignificant at first, we will not find a sense in our own inner research – a consequence of travel. And as much as this post may have brought up my complicated, thoughtful side, I feel of the utmost importance to open up the new year by wishing that every vagabond out there may find himself by earning the trust of others, and being the best human being he can be as he/she crosses the boundaries of this World.

Original article can be found here: The Art of Blending In

An Exciting Development in Indie Travel From Boots-N-All

Vagablogging :: Rolf Potts Vagabonding Blog

Sean Keener, CEO of Boots-N-All is a friend of mine and one of the most passionate people I know when it comes to developing resources to empower and encourage independent travel. A few months ago he let me in on the Beta testing of the ace up his sleeve, and today I’m as excited as he is about the launch.

The team over at Boots-N-All has made a giant leap forward for the indie travel market in developing a tool that will allow us all to chart our own courses in a way that has not been possible up to this point.

Did you Know?

Did you know if you try to book a flight with more than six stops – you need a travel agent?
Did you know it takes at least 48 hours to book this type of trip?
Did you know it can take days just to receive a price quote for this type of trip?

Not any more!

Enter Indie. 

It’s the first of it’s kind airfare booking service with no rules, instant prices and online booking for itineraries of more than six stops.

It’s being unveiled for the very first time today, after being in Beta for three months. As someone who travels full time, I can’t tell you how excited I am about the possibilities!

Kudos to Sean and the team for putting together yet another practical resource the could change the travel industry.

Check it out, people: http://indie.bootsnall.com

 

Original article can be found here: An Exciting Development in Indie Travel From Boots-N-All