Bret McKay here in Welcome to another edition of the Art of Manliness Podcast. Travel can

often be approached as just another consumer good. Travelers quickly dive in and out of

a place, check off the things they want to see, harvest the requisite pictures to prove

they were there, and wear their trip as a status symbol. My guest, Ralph Pots, thinks

there's a better way to approach travel. After exploring the world for years, he wrote

a book called Bagabond, which laid out the practicalities of how to execute long-term

travel. 20 years later, he's back with a new book, The Bagabond's Way, with reflections

on the more philosophical side of that kind of travel, which you take on any type of trip.

Today in the show, Ralph explains the Bagabond in ethos, which involves slowing down, being

open to surprises, and really paying attention to your experiences. He first discusses how

taking an overly romantic view of travel can actually diminish the enjoyment of traveling.

We then turn to the idea that seeking to take a more authentic approach to travel shouldn't

mean trying too hard to differentiate yourself from the quote-unquote typical tourist, and

how to approach stereotypical tourist stuff with a nuanced view. We discuss how to use

the idea of pilgrimage behind its religious connotations as a pretext for choosing

places to visit. We also delve into how to deal with the culture shock that can come

both from visiting a new place and returning home from a long trip. We enter conversation

with how the attentive, adventurous attitude which underlies the Bagabond's way can also

be applied to exploring your own backyard. After the show's over, check out our shownets

at aewim.iaslashvagabond.

Ralph Pots, welcome to the show. Glad to see you, Brett.

So you are a travel writer and you've written a lot about a travel lifestyle that you call

...