In this one-of-a-kind handbook, veteran travel writer Rolf Potts explains how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel.

There’s nothing like vagabonding: taking time off from your normal life—from six weeks to four months to two years—to discover and experience the world on your own terms. In this one-of-a-kind handbook, veteran travel writer Rolf Potts explains how anyone armed with an independent spirit can achieve the dream of extended overseas travel.

“Thought-provoking, encouraging, and inspiring” (Gretchen Rubin) reflections on the power of travel to transform our daily lives—from the iconoclastic travel writer, scholar, and author of Vagabonding.

For readers who dream of travel—or long to get back out on the road—The Vagabond’s Way explores and celebrates the life-altering essence of travel. Each day of the year features a one-page meditation on a certain aspect of the journey, anchored by words of wisdom from a variety of thinkers—from Stoic philosopher Seneca the Younger and poet Maya Angelou, to Trappist monk Thomas Merton and Grover from Sesame Street.

Drawing on several millennia of examples — from the relic-driven quests of early Christians, to the mass-produced tchotchkes that line the shelves of a Disney gift shop — travel writer Rolf Potts delves into the complicated history of souvenirs.

Author: Tim Ferriss
Foreword: Arnold Schwarzenegger
Rolf’s chapter: “How to Earn Your Freedom”
Notable contributors: Jamie Foxx, Robert Rodriguez, Malcolm Gladwell, Margaret Cho, Edward Norton, Paulo Coelho, Rick Rubin, Alain de Botton, Sam Harris, Maria Popova, and Tony Robbins

Editors: Thomas Fox Averill and Leslie VonHolten
Rolf’s essay: “Digital Homesteading’”
Notable contributors: Kevin Young, Ian Frazier, Traci Brimhall, Jesse Nathan, and Wes Jackson
Originally published: October 12, 2025

Editors: Will Stockton & D. Gilson
Rolf’s chapter: “Jane’s Addiction’s Nothing’s Shocking”
Other acts covered in the book: the Doors, the Rolling Stones, Bob Dylan, Bruce Springsteen, Leonard Cohen, R.E.M., Digable Planets, De La Soul, the New York Dolls, the Smashing Pumpkins, Nine Inch Nails, Guided by Voices, and the Pulp Fiction Soundtrack.

For as long as people have traveled to distant lands, they have brought home objects to certify the journey. More than mere merchandise, these travel souvenirs take on a personal and cultural meaning that goes beyond the object itself. Drawing on several millennia of examples — from the relic-driven quests of early Christians, to the mass-produced tchotchkes that line the shelves of a Disney gift shop — Rolf delves into a complicated history that explores issues of authenticity, cultural obligation, market forces, human suffering, and self-presentation. More than just objects, souvenirs are a personalized form of folk storytelling that enable people to make sense of the world and their place in it.

In this reflective found-audio memoir, Rolf examines how meeting his soulmate during the Covid-19 pandemic (not long after a near-fatal motorcycle accident in Asia) has come to reinvent the way he experiences and understands nostalgia.

An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 key lessons from a deep-dive into Rolf’s failed 1995 van-life memoir, which predated — and set the stage for — his eventual bestselling debut book, Vagabonding.