Photo: View from the saddle of my motorcycle waiting in traffic somewhere in Europe long ago.
“Travel is fatal to prejudice, bigotry, and narrow-mindedness, and many of our people need it sorely on these accounts. Broad, wholesome, charitable views of men and things cannot be acquired by vegetating in one little corner of the earth all one’s lifetime” – Mark Twain, The Innocents Abroad, 1869.
My longish hair and beard, my leather motorcycle jacket, drew immediate attention as I stepped into the elevator of a tall office building in Chicago. In the elevator a middle-aged man in a business suit appeared startled. Likely skilled in performing due diligence, he asked me something about what I was doing there, where I was going.
Long ago in late summer after college graduation, the only thing I remember with some clarity was his smile when I told him that I had recently returned from spending the summer riding a motorcycle around Europe. I was on my way to the office of the shipping company that carried my Triumph Bonneville 650 motorcycle from London to Chicago.
That must have been some adventure, he said, smiling. Yeah, it was, I said, perhaps a bit defensive and self-conscious. I detected a wistful feeling in his smile, asking in silence that he wanted to hear more about an adventure far from his present life in the business rat race. Perhaps he had experienced similar travel adventures in his youth, although he did not say.
A few years later my wife went on a similar adventure, this time in a car. We bought a small Fiat sedan and had it shipped back. Today our family travels are far more conventional, yet they remain inspired by the natural urge in humanity to explore and experience other people and places. Relating to Twain’s words about travel, if more people did so it would reduce the polarized plague currently harming our civic life. It’s encouraging to see that travel remains vibrant, despite pressures from high fuel costs.
The U.S. Travel Association’s spring 2026 U.S. travel update ‘projects travel spending growth at low but positive rates… Resilient domestic demand is partially offset by ongoing economic pressures, including inflation and geopolitical uncertainty… Total travel spending is forecast to reach $1.37 trillion in 2026 and $1.42 trillion in 2027 (inflation-adjusted).”
Research and reading
While online resources make travel planning much easier, I still like to pore over large road maps and read books. Around the time of my motorcycle adventure, I read a book entitled ‘Vagabonding’ or something similar. It confirmed my somewhat smug attitude at the time about trying to be a traveler and not just a tourist. I gave the book to a co-worker and never saw it again.
In his 2002 book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, Ralph Potts “promotes extended, independent travel as a way to gain life experience, challenging the idea that it’s only for the wealthy… a philosophical and practical guide that encourages taking time off to travel frugally and deeply, focusing on cultural immersion and personal growth rather than a typical vacation.”
More travel-related research about turned up the website of Greg Rodgers, who cites Potts’ book in his promotion of vagabonding. It’s unrealistic for most people to sell their house, get a remote job and live full-time on the road as did Rodgers, but perhaps we can infuse some of the vagabonding attributes into the family vacation.
In addition to all the travel guides, it can be very worthwhile to read books with travel themes, either fiction or non-fiction. Among the latter I am currently reading Dark Star Safari – Overland from Cairo to Cape Town, by Paul Theroux. Although I don’t anticipate visiting Africa, it’s interesting to learn about that part of the world so often out of the world view. Until pulling a copy from the shelf in the Travel section at Barnes and Nobel, I had not been aware of Theroux and his long list of fiction and non-fiction travel books. His writing is both informative and entertaining.
Before embarking on a short trip to Alaska, I read Coming into the County by John McPhee, and Heroes of the Frontier by Dave Eggers. Published in 1977, McPhee’s book of creative nonfiction gives you a good idea of Alaska’s people, terrain, and politics. Eggers’ novel follows a single mom and her two children escaping there in a beat-up motor home, their trials and adventures, yet with humor and hope that make it Metamodern. The 24th and final chapter reads, simply, “But then there is tomorrow.”
Although not exactly a recreational travel book, Nomadland – Surviving America in the Twenty-First Century, by Jessica Bruder is a very worthwhile read. Bruder spent months travelling around in a small van following “workampers” (Amazon’s term), largely transient older people trying to make ends meet. Although a bit sobering, it also conveys hope, humor, and strong community.
Prior to a cruise around South America and Cape Horn, a relative’s reading list included an excellent book by David Grann, The Wager – A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder. Definitely not a travel guide, yet it provides insight and understanding of the area and history of 18th Century British vessels demolished on the harsh Patagonia coast, and the survivors.
Travel through the ages
Looking at a map of human migration throughout the ages shows that travel has made the world what it is today. The methods and logistics have dramatically changed, but the results remain the same. Exploration, exposure to other people, and communication can build community at any scale.
Toward the end of my youthful European motorcycle trip, I briefly considered cashing in my return airfare and staying for a while. The word among youthful vagabonders at the time said you could get a job in the tulip fields in the Netherlands. Seasonal field work seems to be a common denominator among nomads.
With about five dollars in my wallet, I kept the airfare and returned to a more conventional life. The experience of such nomadic travel including campgrounds, youth hostels, and anywhere, set the stage for later adventures. The ‘anywhere’ included the time in northern Italy camping in a farm field. I awoke to the rumble of a tractor nearby; seeing me the farmer smiled, waved, and continued on his way, perhaps with the same thoughts as the guy in the elevator in Chicago.
