Travel contracts your possessions and expands your life (with Eric Weiner)

“Travel is one of the few activities we engage in not knowing the outcome and reveling in that uncertainty. Nothing is more forgettable than the trip that goes exactly as planned.” –Eric Weiner

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Eric discuss the tendency of travelers to idealize the very recent bygone past in places, and Rolf’s experience of traveling by freighter ship (2:00); Eric’s satisfaction in returning to places he’s visited before, such as India, and how to remain open to uncertainty and surprise on the road (9:30); how conversations about travel differ from generation to generation, culture to culture, person to person (20:00); what it was like for Eric to have his book The Geography of Bliss adapted into a TV show, and the nuances behind the concept of “happiness” (28:30); how the experience of travel is inevitably intertwined with the experience of home (38:00); how luxury hotels can insulate you from the experience of a place, and how “adventure travel” is modern concept (43:30); and how Eric’s relationship to home, and to time, has changed over the years (58:30).

Eric Weiner (@Eric_Weiner) is an award-winning journalist, bestselling author, and speaker. His books include The Socrates Express, and The Geography of Bliss, which is being made into a six-part docu-series, featuring actor Rainn Wilson, and due to air on NBC’s Peacock streaming service. For more about Eric, check out https://ericweinerbooks.com/

Notable Links:

• Philosophy compels us to live better (Deviate episode)
• Rainn Wilson and the Geography of Bliss (TV series)
• The Vagabond’s Way, by Rolf Potts (book)
• Boatswain (deck boss on a freighter ship)
• Seven Pillars of Wisdom (book by T.E. Lawrence)
• Eric Weiner’s Atlas of Ideas (email newsletter)
• Keitai denwa (Japanese mobile phone culture)
• Grunge (1990s alternative music culture)
• K-Pop (Korean popular music)
• Hangul (Korean alphabet)
• World Happiness Report
• Rainn Wilson (TV actor and producer)
• Quilts for Kids Nepal (nonprofit organization)
• Ibn Battuta (medieval Moroccan traveler)
• Beryl Markham (aviator and author)
• Kamba (ethnic group in Kenya)
• Thar Desert (arid region in India)
• The Geography of Genius, by Eric Weiner (book)
• Yi-Fu Tuan (Chinese-American geographer)
• “Little Gidding” (poem by T.S. Eliot)
• Uffizi Gallery (museum in Florence)
• Teaism (DC-based teahouse)

The Deviate theme music comes from the title track of Cedar Van Tassel’s 2017 album Lumber.

Note: We don’t host a “comments” section, but we’re happy to hear your questions and insights via email, at deviate@rolfpotts.com.