Rolf Potts likes to shit.
Well, who doesn’t. But I just wanted to say that as I was laughing at the opening of his latest work. Rolf just launched a new travel column with Yahoo! Yahooooooooo! It’s called Traveling Light: The Art of Independent Travel. His first piece was about saying good bye to traveller’s diarrhea, followed by a handful of travel tips. Just so you know, this isn’t a Blue List type of column. The travel vet Rolf that we know and love is all about staying close to the earth, and more importantly, close to the soul. But I said that, not him. Here’s what he has to say about the column.
Personally, I’m a big fan of the happy chaos that comes with travel, and that’s why this column is called “Traveling Light.” For me, traveling light doesn’t just mean that you’ll have more mobility and greater options if you bring fewer bags (though this is certainly true). Luggage aside, traveling light means wandering the world free of expectations, self-imposed limits, and the confining comforts of home. At its best, travel is a heightened state of being — something that pulls you out of your protective bubble and into the vivid adventure of direct experience.
Good luck with this, Rolf. I think it’s going to be great. Even if it was terribly hard to find if starting from the home page. What this collumn needs is an RSS feed. I couldn’t find it. And I’m not talking about a MyYahoo stamp, because I’m not using that. I want to add it to my aggregator. The one that I’m going to bring back from the dead just for this column.
One more comment….I’d have to disagree with Rolf about not bringing the iPod. Definitely bring it, but load it up with podcasts first. You can get bite sized travel guides online now, and those could help for those not wanting to carry a guidebook. Rolf did suggest that you leave it at home or limit your use to the planes, and that’s all well and good, but I think it’s a bit extreme. Music is inspiring. And I remember one of my first travel experiences as a child, driving through a redwood forrest listening to Depeche Mode on my walkman. I loved every minute of it and the sound of that crybaby “Someone” song brings be straight back to the sight of the magnificent trees towering above our car and the immense shade that we drove through. Sometimes you couldn’t even see the sun, and I was wowed by that. There was light green moss growing on the trees and I wanted to touch it.
So, bring your iPod, but use it sparingly. I’m confident Rolf and I would agree on that, in the end, after at least three beers and excited talks about what he’s going to write about next in upcoming columns. I’m so excited about this, Rolf!