One of the pleasures of writing books that eventually prove popular with readers is hearing which quotes and outtakes from a book resonate with people.
A little more than three years after the release of The Vagabond’s Way, here are nine quotes from the book that readers seem to enjoy quoting back to me (both online and in person):
1) Travel allows you to experiment with new ways of seeing and being
Far from the constraints and prejudices of your own community, travel allows you to experiment with new ways of seeing and being, in a way that enhances your whole being.
2) Getting lost can help you find what you didn’t know you were looking for
Practiced with awareness – and a commonsense nod to safety – getting lost can be the surest way, as a traveler, to find what you didn’t know you were looking for.
3) Adventure lies in being willing to now know what will happen next
The truest legacy of adventure travel might well come in being willing to not know what will happen next in unfamiliar places, and steering the journey accordingly.
4) Travel can give us context for the life-choices we make when we get home
Travel can give us context for the life-choices we make at home, and – by exposing us to other ways of living – help us fine-tune those choices in a way that makes our home-life fuller.
5) Boredom is an invitation to pay closer attention to unfamiliar places
Boredom isn’t an irritant to be assuaged with digital distractions: it’s an invitation to pay closer attention to possibilities you have yet to notice in the place you’ve traveled so far to see.
6) A journey gives us new perspective on what in our lives is important
In taking us away from our own familiar comforts and routines, a journey allows us to come back with a profound new perspective on what in our lives is important.
7) Quiet moments when we recognize beauty in the ordinary are a gift of travel
Oftentimes, the most poignant experiences on the road don’t occur in the presence of some grand monument, but in those quiet moments when we recognize beauty in the ordinary.
8) The way to appreciate a place is to let it reveal itself through its own rhythms
The best way to appreciate a place isn’t to hurry off on an itemized sightseeing agenda, but to first slow down and let the place reveal itself through its own rhythms and rituals.
9) Be willing to balance your pre-trip goals with what you find along the way
As your travels begin, remember that your pre-trip goals will only constrain the journey if you aren’t willing to reinvent them as you learn and discover new things along the way.