The best journeys explore mindscapes as well as landscapes (book club remix)

“Sometimes it’s good to sit still and let a place move through you instead of you moving through a place.”  –Rolf Potts

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Vagabond’s Way book club participants discuss how one can be vulnerable to new experiences on the road instead of micromanaging an itinerary (2:00); how monuments to mortality help us think of travel moments in an existential way (11:30); how we can take the mindset of travel back home with us when the journey is over, and how the experience of travel changes as you age (20:00); the role of ritual and ceremony in slow travel, and the simple things we have in common with our host cultures (30:00).

Discussion moderator Luke Richardson is a traveler, author, and DJ based in England.

Notable Links:

• Rolf’s online book club signup
• The Vagabond’s Way, by Rolf Potts (book)
• The Cotswolds (region in central-southwest England)
• Lake Maninjau (caldera lake in West Sumatra, Indonesia)
• Rendille people (Cushitic-speaking ethnic group in northern Kenya)
• Locals often perform a distilled version of their culture (Kenya dispatch)
• Père Lachaise Cemetery (largest cemetery in Paris)
• Frédéric Chopin (19th century Polish composer and pianist)
• The Catacombs (underground ossuaries in Paris)
• Mount Kenya (second-highest peak in Africa)
• What we hope to see in places can be at odds with reality (Mentawai dispatch)
• Long-distance hiking at home (Deviate episode)
• Isiah Pacheco (Kansas City Chiefs running back from Rutgers)
• Patrick Leigh Fermor (English traveler and writer)
• Richard Rohr (American Franciscan priest and writer)
• Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, by Rolf Potts (travel book)
• Paris Writing Workshops (Rolf’s creative writing classes)
• China and Mongolia with my parents (Deviate episode)
• Lets Drift (Kenyan hiking club based out of Nairobi)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

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