Cultivating Presence: Travel and Mindfulness

Rolf Potts — The Vagabond’s Way, Tactics for Immersive Travel, Pilgrimages and Psychogeography, Empathy Machines, Full-Throated Love, The Slow Sense of Smell, Lessons from Thích Nhất Hạnh, Falling Upward, and More | Brought to you by Athletic Greens all-in-one nutritional supplement, Vuori comfortable and durable performance apparel, and Eight Sleep’s Pod Cover sleeping solution for dynamic cooling and heating. More on all three below.

Rolf Potts (@rolfpotts) is the author of the international bestseller Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel. His newest book is The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel. He has reported from more than 60 countries for National Geographic Traveler, The New Yorker, Outside, The New York Times Magazine, and Travel Channel. Many of his essays have been selected as “Notable Mentions” in The Best American Essays, The Best American Nonrequired Reading, and The Best American Travel Writing.

He is based in north-central Kansas, where he keeps a small farmhouse on thirty acres with his wife, Kansas-born actress Kristen Bush. My 2014 interview with Rolf can be found at tim.blog/rolf.

Please enjoy! 

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[08:16] Ideal travel partners, living or dead.

[11:37] Breaking the ice among screen-glued strangers abroad.

[15:41] Finding safe homestays while traveling (and why you should).

[19:46] The Cal Fussman method of creating community on public transport.

[21:50] Finding the focus to make your travels purposeful.

[25:55] What Rolf learned by traveling with his senior parents.

[27:44] How Rolf found the girl next door on the other side of the world.

[32:53] Advice for anyone finding full-throated, open-hearted love elusive.

[36:50] What Rolf means by “full-throated.”

[37:20] Nothing makes you appreciate home like traveling the world.

[40:32] The most meaningful task for the traveler.

[45:45] Pilgrimage pointers.

[48:57] Getting lost is good for you. So is taking a break from mobile tech.

[52:43] Uncertainty as a gift of travel — and how to cultivate it by slowing down.

[1:00:21] Books, movies, and experiences that help slow the perception of time.

[1:04:27] “Novels are empathy machines.”

[1:11:06] How travel can give us context for the choices we make at home.

[1:20:10] Contemplating life’s next chapters.

[1:26:36] What compelled Rolf to write The Vagabond’s Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel?

[1:29:47] Billboards as the original attention economy device and parting thoughts.

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Past guests on The Tim Ferriss Show include Jerry Seinfeld, Hugh Jackman, Dr. Jane Goodall, LeBron James, Kevin Hart, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jamie Foxx, Matthew McConaughey, Esther Perel, Elizabeth Gilbert, Terry Crews, Sia, Yuval Noah Harari, Malcolm Gladwell, Madeleine Albright, Cheryl Strayed, Jim Collins, Mary Karr, Maria Popova, Sam Harris, Michael Phelps, Bob Iger, Edward Norton, Arnold Schwarzenegger, Neil Strauss, Ken Burns, Maria Sharapova, Marc Andreessen, Neil Gaiman, Neil de Grasse Tyson, Jocko Willink, Daniel Ek, Kelly Slater, Dr. Peter Attia, Seth Godin, Howard Marks, Dr. Brené Brown, Eric Schmidt, Michael Lewis, Joe Gebbia, Michael Pollan, Dr. Jordan Peterson, Vince Vaughn, Brian Koppelman, Ramit Sethi, Dax Shepard, Tony Robbins, Jim Dethmer, Dan Harris, Ray Dalio, Naval Ravikant, Vitalik Buterin, Elizabeth Lesser, Amanda Palmer, Katie Haun, Sir Richard Branson, Chuck Palahniuk, Arianna Huffington, Reid Hoffman, Bill Burr, Whitney Cummings, Rick Rubin, Dr. Vivek Murthy, Darren Aronofsky, Margaret Atwood, Mark Zuckerberg, Peter Thiel, Dr. Gabor Maté, Anne Lamott, Sarah Silverman, Dr. Andrew Huberman, and many more.

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