Vagabonding

This blog is meant to help me journal my travels so that friends, family, and all my friends on the internet can see just what I am doing. I'm hoping to be able to upload short video clips as well as written posts on a regular basis as I travel. It may be a couple weeks before I really get things rolling but I will try to make a weekly update as often as I possibly can. 

At this point I have not decided. I am all set to move to Los Angeles this next week but money is going to be pretty tight and just taking a plane there seems like a waste. I am considering making my way to California with no real itinerary. Working anywhere I can along the way to get money for the day or week, hitchhiking, grabbing a short bus (short distance bus ride, not the short bus), or even taking the train when I can. This will not be the most direct, or cheapest way to travel but it will be the most interesting and give me much more experience than the eight o'clock nonstop from Des Moines to LAX.  

None of this is concrete right now, just a thought going through my head so don't expect it to work out just like I said. I think the idea of not having anywhere I need to be, or knowing what's going to happen next is pretty exciting. When I start getting ready to leave I will post a video. 

Rolf Potts, author of the book Vagabonding, describes the vagabonding lifestyle as: 

"The act of leaving behind the orderly world to travel independently for an extended period of time" and "A deliberate way of living that makes freedom to travel possible".

So put simply, it is the act of choosing adventures and travel experiences over working away your life for material things. In other words, you can still be at home and "vagabonding". It is a mindset, a new way of life, and it never goes away. One day when all of the things people spend their money on have rusted or ended up in yard sales and Goodwills, my travel experiences and stories will still be there. No one can take them away!

Going on a vacation and trying to squeeze 2 weeks of living out of a year just doesn't work. We always return in worse shape than before we left...with mail stacked up and the dread of going back to work. Take a look at my website for a great budget travel guide to get started.

I travel alone strictly as a budget traveler - which means I carry a backpack and sleep in bungalows and guest houses. There is usually no AC, I provide a feast for the mosquitoes, and I eat only local street food whenever possible. My average traveling budget is around USD $20 a day to live. (and it can be done way cheaper!)