One cool thing about traveling through Kenya last summer was the number of fellow-travelers we met who were visiting from other parts of Africa. We met Kevine Kagirimpundu of Rwanda and B’Nor Mackey, originally from Ghana, at Nairobi’s Karen Blixen Museum. Kiki and I were curious about the place because of the 1985 Meryl Streep…
Bestselling author Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth and “success management”
Though people have been dreaming up “Bucket Lists” to help focus their travel and life goals for as long as the concept has existed, I have never consciously created one. Granted, I’ve had no shortage of year-to-year travel- and life-goals, but my “bucket list” experiences have typically been realized after the fact. For example, I…
One intriguing aspect of traveling through the desertlike landscape near north Kenya’s Ndoto Mountains was the opportunity it provided us to meet fellow travelers. The travelers in this case there were not Western tourists, but young Rendille “warriors” (tribesmen who’ve been circumcised, but are not yet married) who live traditional nomadic lives in the northern…
Road rituals, imagination, and bringing the mindset of travel back home (Vagabond’s Way book club remix)
“Staged authenticity” is a term coined by anthropologists to describe how, within the tourist economy, indigenous people perform a version of their culture that caters to the expectations of tradition-obsessed outsiders. My visit to northern Kenya this summer reminded me how complex and savvy displays of indigenous traditions can be — often mixing ancient cultural…
Author Thomas Swick’s on coming of age overseas in Poland, and becoming a travel writer
Authenticity, the wisdom of place, and how to act off the beaten path (Vagabond’s Way online book club, redo of e229)
Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
Authenticity, the wisdom of place, and how to act off the beaten path (Vagabond’s Way online book club)
Vagabonding audio companion: The story behind Rolf’s travel career and philosophy
