Friends and vagabonders,

My latest update is short and sweet, in large part because I’ve been posting most of my new information over at my weblog. This summer I’ll be splitting time between Thailand (where I’ve been writing my second book) and Paris (where I’ll be teaching the travel writing section of a creative writing seminar at the American Academy). In publishing terms, the biggest news in recent months is that Vagabonding has entered its first foreign-language printing — an Italian edition (Vagabonding, l’arte di girare il mondo) that came out in June. “This is a book about how to earn your freedom,” read an early review in La Repubblica, “how to change your life so that it allows you to travel to each corner of the world. Despite worries about work and money, it encourages you to free your thinking and invest in life’s most valuable commodity: time.”

If you haven’t checked Vagablogging recently, there are plenty of things to catch up on. For news and musings on my life in Thailand, check my personal update archive. For tips on travel insurance, booking freighter ships, traveling as an air courier, joining the Peace Corps — and many other travel topics — go to Travel Advice. For quirky, esoteric takes on my book tour events in Seattle, Portland, San Francisco, Berkeley, Dallas, Kansas City, St. Louis, Wichita and New York, follow my Book Tour Diary. My blog also contains book reviews, travel quotations, links to online articles, and provocative quotes on international affairs issues. All of this content is updated on a more or less daily basis when I have computer access.

This summer, I feature three new interviews on my Travel Writers page. In June, I talk with Joan Tapper, the pioneering editor who helped found such popular travel publications as Islands and National Geographic Traveler. In July, I feature National Geographic Adventure contributing editor Tom Clynes, who penned the popular festival guidebook Wild Planet! And finally, in August, I’m pleased to interview guidebook publishing legend Tony Wheeler, who founded Lonely Planet Publications nearly three decades ago.

That’s all for now. Keep an eye on Vagablogging for daily updates, but be sure to check back here in Autumn, when I’ll announce my latest adventure (which, for the first time after seven years of living and traveling in Asia, will take place in the Western Hemisphere.

Till then, cheers — and happy vagabonding!

Rolf