“Anybody with curiosity and wanderlust can have their own Hippie Trail. They just need to get away from home, embrace the world, and have an adventure.” –Rick Steves

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Rick talk about Rick’s 1990s book Asia Through the Back Door, and how Rick recently rediscovered the old Asia travel journals he kept as a young man (2:30); how Rick prepared for the journey in the era before there were many guidebooks to the regions he was headed (9:30); what the experience of travel was like for Rick and his friend Gene on the Hippie Trail, including spiritual experiences (18:00); how travel can expand your sense of community, and diversify your sense for what wealth and poverty is (28:00); Rick’s first experience of smoking hash on the Hippie Trail, and how it gave him an appreciation for the joy of travel (34:00); and what lessons Rick brought home from the experience (39:00).

Rick Steves (@ricksteveseurope) is a travel expert, author, and TV host who specializes in Europe. His newest book is On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer.

Notable Links:

• Kevin Kelly on the lost world of 1970s Asia (Deviate episode)
• Travel can be a way to see the future, with Kevin Kelly (Deviate episode)
• Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn (Deviate episode)
• Hippie trail (Asia travel route in the 1960s and 1970s)
• Asia Through the Back Door, by Rick Steves (book)
• Iranian revolution (1979 overthrow of U.S. backed government)
• Soviet invasion of Afghanistan (conflict that started in 1979)
• Van Life before #VanLife (Deviate episode)
• Lonely Planet (guidebook publisher)
• Rick Steves’ Europe (TV show)
• Bucket shop (wholesale of air tickets)
• The Man Who Would be King (1975 film)
• ELCA (Evangelical Lutheran Church in America)
• LCMS (Lutheran Church – Missouri Synod)
• Bread for the World (Christian advocacy organization)
• Herat (city in Afghanistan)
• Freak Street (neighborhood near Durbar Square in Kathmandu)

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.

“In solitude, I often feel closer to the people I care for than when they’re in the same room.” –Pico Iyer

In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pico talk about how the best travels are often counterbalanced with a kind of stillness, in which one can find one’s “best self” (3:00); Pico’s decades-long experiences with monks in a California monastery, the benefits of a “childlike attitude” toward life, and how “fire” can be a metaphor for spiritual life (12:00); how Pico’s solitude is informed by, and in conversation with, nature (22:00); Pico’s engaged relationship with spiritual communities, even though he is not religious (30:00); the “counterculture” spiritual tradition that grew up around Big Sur, California, and the power of longing (39:00); and how solitude can be a gateway to other people (47:00).

Pico Iyer (@PicoIyer) is a novelist, essayist, and author. His newest book is Aflame: Learning from Silence.

Notable Links:

• Pico Iyer on what Japan can teach us about life (Deviate episode 73)
• The Vagabond’s Way, by Rolf Potts (book)
• Henri Nouwen (writer and theologian)
• New Seeds of Contemplation, by Thomas Merton (book)
• The 14th Dalai Lama (spiritual leader)
• The Snow Leopard, by Peter Matthiessen (book)
• Richard Powers (novelist)
• Desert Fathers (early Christian hermits and ascetics)
• Sign of Jonas, by Thomas Merton (book)
• Days of Heaven (1978 film)
• 4′33″ by John Cage (musical composition)
• New Camaldoli Hermitage (hermitage in Big Sur, California)
• Rigveda (ancient Indian collection of hymns)
• The Woman Lit by Fireflies, by Jim Harrison (book)
• Sarmoung Brotherhood (esoteric Sufi brotherhood)
• Henry Miller (novelist)
• Esalen Institute (retreat center in Big Sur)
• Bittersweet, by Susan Cain (book)
• Leonard Cohen (songwriter)
• Ludwig Wittgenstein (philosopher)

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.