Vanilla Travelers
An Homage to Rolf Potts
In the summer of 2003, I remember printing paper directions on a MapQuest website so my father and I could travel to Upstate New York on our 90s brown Chevrolet Astro van, him on the wheel and me riding shotgun. I was a rebellious asshole teenager, he was a stubborn father, and we were about to embark on a four-hour journey. This was not a great combination.
If either of us made a mistake, like him missing a turn or me giving him incorrect directions, an argument would quickly follow where we would blame each other, get into a shouting match, and then he would have to pull the car over and whip out a massive physical map of New York where we would try to reconcile the issue.
Traveling since then has become a lot easier logistically but, in some cases, more challenging and vanilla. For instance, I can find the perfect rated Airbnb or a hotel in a popular destination like Cancun or Tulum with a popular local list of things to explore. I can Uber to the airport, fly out there, and get to my luxurious stay with the beachfront views, folded towels on the bed, and bamboo decor.
The downside is that these experiences are often commoditized and left with no soul. Sure, the beach is beautiful, but in many cases, the food is Westernized, such as acai bowls and burgers with fries. The subject of this experience will be hanging out with many of the same people where they came from with nothing new to bring back except a potential sunburn.
Vanilla travelers are, therefore, a modern phenomenon, the human equivalent of choosing plain yogurt in a world bursting with flavor toppings. They are the brave souls who venture to exotic lands only to dine on cheeseburgers and shake hands with fellow expats, mistaking the “I Heart [Insert Tourist Trap]” t-shirt as a cultural deep-dive. They’re the brave adventurers who follow the herd to the same selfie spots, occasionally daring to go off-path, but only if there’s Wi-Fi.
A slightly more nuanced approach I see many travelers take, often from New York and Los Angeles, is to go to a very diverse place like Mexico City for a month or two and only hang out in the expat bubbles, leaving little room for exploration of the local culture. These are Vanilla-Plus Travelers.
And I get it! Sometimes, I am a vanilla traveler too, because it’s so easy. I don’t have to learn the language, explore an unknown place that’s not on Tripadvisor, or be uncomfortable in any way. Through a few apps, everything is uber-fied and handed to me on a silver platter as long as I can afford the prices.
For instance, I remember getting absolutely plastered with cheap alcohol every night in Thailand in 2014 on my first Asia trip, going to the touristy bars and clubs while hanging out with other Westerners, thinking we were discovering something new like Leonardo Dicaprio from the classic movie The Beach.
Did I have fun or learn anything new? I think so, but I genuinely don’t remember.
These experiences, while looking great on Instagram, rob me of the many benefits of intentional travel.
When I try to navigate past this modern travel product, one of the places I turn to crystallize my thoughts on how we can travel intentionally is reading Rolf Potts’ writing, especially his classic Vagabonding. It was also the book that Tim Ferriss read before embarking on his 18-month travel journey and eventually writing “The 4-Hour Work Week”, the modern digital nomad bible of the 21st century.
Slow Down & Learn To Adjust
“Vagabonding is like a pilgrimage without a specific destination or goal - not a quest for answers so much as a celebration of the questions” - Rolf Potts, Vagabonding.
One of the first things I learned the hard way is to slow down, spend more time in places that pique my interest, and once I feel into the place, be ready to change plans and expectations.
In early 2016, I remember going to Cartagena, Colombia, a beach colonial town in the north of Latin America, with 2 of my friends. I looked forward to the beach time and lovely weather, only to be severely disappointed. When we arrived there, it was extremely hot and humid, making sleeping difficult. The beach in the city was somewhat dirty, and we did not see any people swim. So after two days, we asked around the locals, regrouped, and decided to go to a beach one hour away called Playa Blanca, which had very little information about it online at the time.
When we arrived at the beach, expecting to find a hotel or accommodation, we were quickly greeted by several shady local guys who pretended to be nice to us. Still, we could feel their ulterior motives in their dark, piercing eyes. Like a pack of hyenas, they were sizing us up and following us around on the beach, contemplating how to rob us. Undeterred but nervous, we walked 40 minutes through the sand, water, and broken-down beach shacks, none of which looked safe or accommodating.
We were about to give up until, to our luck and surprise, we found a welcoming man named Hugo. He was a local with a deep brown tan in his 40s, who we instantly trusted like a second father as the shady gang following us retreated, not wanting to mess with him or us anymore. He put our bags and belongings in a big wooden chest under his beach bar and locked it.
With Hugo making us feel safe, Over the next few nights, we ended up eating the most delicious fresh fish, enjoying the beautiful views and water, jet skiing, exploring plankton at night, sleeping in hammocks on the beach, and making great friends with the few other travelers that somehow ended up there as we did.
These experiences were not what we expected when we got to Cartagena and were only possible because we slowed down, stayed flexible, packed light, and took calculated risks to see what would happen.
Self Exploration
“The secret of adventure, then, is not to carefully seek it out but to travel in such a way that it finds you” - Rolf Potts, Vagabonding.
I remember being a month into my stay in Bali in 2018, alone in my apartment, and feeling a deep feeling of loneliness. I don’t expect anyone to feel bad for me. After all, somehow feeling lonely in paradise makes the whole “feeling bad” thing even more questioning of what is wrong with me.
After a while, I decided to explore what emotional problems I was carrying with me in my mental luggage, no matter what part of the world I traveled to. In the following months, wanting to change my inner monologue, I opened myself up to new things like learning handstands, scuba diving, acro yoga, and men’s circles while meeting awesome people, lowering my expectations, and seeing how I become the kind of person that does awesome shit and gets to be part of remarkable experiences such as scuba diving with manta rays, riding to remote waterfalls, and dancing sober in ecstatic dances. I am so grateful for traveling, not only because of the pretty pictures but also for the opportunity to find what makes me tick much faster than if I were confined to my hometown.
While I am certainly not an enlightened guru and still have many problems, through these travels, I have learned and many times have had to remind myself of important life concepts that can technically be taught in a Buddhist or personal development book, like staying present, experimenting, lowering my expectations, keep things simple, learn what I like and who I want to spend time with, etc.
But I am too mindless to learn such cliche concepts cerebrally. I need to experience them firsthand through mistakes and successes in my personal life and travel.
“Vagabonding,” or as I like to call it, intentional traveling, “teaches you how to travel (and think), not just for one trip, but for the rest of your life.”
Don’t be a vanilla traveler like the younger Andriy.
— References:
Vagabonding: By Rolf Potts
The Vagabond’s Way (Newest Book): By Rolf Potts
PS, Thank you to to
from Write of Passage for helping me edit this essay!Cheers! Andriy
Your concept of vanilla travelers is spot on! Fantastic job articulating the very real challenge of actually getting foreign when in foreign lands. Such a easy but costly mistake to make. Only one question: where's your next trip to??
Love Potts' stuff! 'Vagabonding' changed our lives on the road! One thing I will say tho is: we eventually discovered a tension between how we wanted to live (ie, vagabonding, backpacking, adventurous-style "going with the flow" type of travel) and the life we actually need to live (ie, reliable wifi, quiet workspace, supermarkets and good restaurant options nearby).
In the end, we've had to dispense with the Potts way of travel and accept that we'll have to take time off work to do that at some point in the future—which we absolutely will!