Interview with Rolf Potts
Rolf Potts is one of the most famous writers of the modern traveler are. He burst onto the scene with his book Vagabonding, and since then, the book has had to travel to a for the first time travelers. Rolf has, in many ways, the face of modern backpacking are. He recently time to sit down from his busyschedule and Backpacking discuss
Nomadic Matt :. They are considered a kind of godfather of backpacking. Any long-term traveler knows about you. How do you feel about this difference with
Rolf Potts: This is a sobering thought, although obviously I did not invent or even revolutionize Backpacking phenomenon; I recast it, want to use the life to the fullest only in 21st century terms, for those who have long-term travel to live than that. The core philosophy of straying goes back by Walt Whitman and John Muir to Ecclesiastes and the Upanishads, so I'm sure are on the shoulders of giants.
Did you think your first book, stray, would be so successful? It is to be read as a new travelers on the road
When I found in Thailand to write seven years vagrant in a small room, I did not really focus on whether or not it would be successful. I was just trying to communicate an ethic of travel - and of life in general -The would encourage people to make the most of their time on Earth. The fact that the book has a nerve beaten with travelers since enjoyable for me is really - in terms of their success, but in the basic nature of this success not only. The book never had an advertising budget, so I would like to think his success has been earned on the strengths of his ideas, in a word-of-mouth-level.
on the tourist touch vs. Traveler debate in the introduction to your new book. While I prefer the backpack because it is low impact, each has its own style and is for me just to get someone out there is a victory in itself. Why do you think this debate is as much?
The Tourist v. Travelers debate a status ritual, and as such it has in common with the small obsessions from home as the realities and opportunities of the road. Ideally, travel should be an act of humble curiosity, and if you worry where you stand in relation to other people, you lose the point type. In a sense, the tourist / travelers debate is an exercise in uncertainty - a kind of comfort blanket, the man in the midst of the uncertain social atmosphere they cling enter when they leave the house. I think it's pointless to constantly evaluate your travels in regard to other people; Your energy is better just quietly make you look better, mindful traveler on your own terms.
Now again, it's all a part of this status match. Backpackers are to be generally younger - and status is large part of the youth culture of fraternity houses all age clubs Punk. Ideally, travel allows you to move away from the pissing contests, whatever the subculture you left behind, but of course, travel can sometimes be their own subculture with their own prejudices. I find it ironic that backpackers arrogance manifests itself most clearly in backpacker ghettos - places that have a very weak connection to the host culture. If you really such a super traveler are, chances are you'll be on your own, where it haughty comparing quiet life enriching experiences far from the backpacker ghetto, no need routes over banana pancakes and Bob Marley songs. have
Whenever travelers "the beach" view. That somewhere out there is a travel utopia where they will not be the only locally and everything will be perfect. What perpetuates this myth? Do you think its dangerous to the travel experience? That it creates expectations too high?
I do not think this attitude that all is new. People always take the path with unrealistic picture postcard expectations that do not always correspond to reality. The secret, of course, is to be on the reality openly, rather than trying to direct it to your expectations. The story of "The Beach" is about a group of people who are trying to create their own expectation-driven reality to an ultimately self-destructive level. In reality, utopia means "no place", and there is so much more to learn and enjoy in a real place - erroneously or not - as a so again we go to the meaning back on the road to be humble, "no place." to leave, do not cheat your ego or your expectations of the raw and exciting experience of reality. It is much better to learn a complicated and less than perfect on their own terms reality, constantly beating half-baked fantasies about your travel experiences.
My perception of these places is very strongly tied to certain experiences. In 1999 I had a frustrating series of experiences in the course of a few weeks in Vietnam. (Matt says: Me too!) I'd spent some amazing time in Cambodia and Thailand and Laos, and I felt my time had better spent in those places. But I know that this would only have been a case of bad luck for me when I was in Vietnam. I love a lot of friends who travel absolutely Vietnam, and I respect that. Maybe one day I'll go back and the country will take a back seat. As for Mongolia, I was surprised only by its landscape and the people who inhabit them. I come from the Great Plains, so I think that of course I fascinated by the Mongolian steppe.
There are many other places that I love, but to visit. Paris, where I teach a writing workshop every summer, is an absolutely gorgeous city. India is a continent in itself. I love visiting New York, and I love road tripping of the American West. Burma is a special place for me as Laos. But it's hard to pick favorites, as there are so many great places out there.
What do you think about the flashpacking trend? Backpacking has this myth that it is not real, if you have more than two cents to your name, but I think gizmos and gadgets make traveling easier today, as long as you get not bound by them.
I think "flashpacking" is a kind of annoying word (such as a "staycation"), but in practice I think it's great. And I'm not convinced there is a solid line between flashpacking and standard backpacking; I think backpack travelers fit in any number of economic categories. Sure, there are some people who are convinced that you are not really on the go, unless you're sleeping in ditches and squealing about $ 2 per day, but I think this kind of a stupid Orthodoxy. If you like sleeping in ditches, go for it - but backpackers who in hostels or home-stays or decent hotels remain as much potential for amazing travel experiences. And I think it is inevitable that more gadgets Intrinsic how we will all travel; the trick is in a challenge even if they do not know to use the gimmicks, if this electronic umbilical cord to cut and take a dip in your area.
If you could say one thing to a new traveler, what would it be?
Slow down and enjoy. Take your time, and do not set limits. New travelers both tend excited and nervous about the journey, and I think that's totally great and to be normal. Do not let that excitement and anticipation trick you to think you have a traffic jam all your travel dreams and ambitions in a trip. You will be ten times travel savvy after the first two weeks on the road, be flexible, and things do not micromanage. Not only take a trip; let you take it.
. For more information on Rolf Potts, on his website Vagablogging If you are interested in buying his books out of his classic, stray, and his new book: Did Marco Polo not go there, at Amazon
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