Interviews

FEATURED: The Vagabond’s Way By Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show — September 27, 2022 Conversation topics include: 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 (#624). … read more

FEATURED: The Vagabond’s Way Ari Shaffir’s Skeptic Tank Episode 488 — October 4, 2022 In this three-hour conversation that took place in Paris, Rolf and Ari wander from the Palais-Royal, to the Louvre, to the Luxembourg Garden, to the Pont des Arts over the Seine, talking about things like chance, serendipity, and learning from mistakes on the road. … read more

FEATURED: The Vagabond Travel Ethos Brett McKay, The Art of Manliness podcast — October 5, 2022 Rolf and Brett discuss things like discuss things like Time Wealth and taking things slow, as well as how esoteric motivations (like an interest in Lonesome Dove, or Kenyan middle-distance running) can inspire a journey. … read more

FEATURED: What if You Could Take That Dream Trip? By Jonathan Fields, The Good Life Project podcast — October 6, 2022 Jonathan and Rolf talk about how travel has a way of reinventing how you come to live at home, why introverts make good travelers, how vulnerability is a key travel virtue, and how anticipating travel is itself a part of the journey. … read more

FEATURED: Vagabonder (with Rolf Potts) By Ari Shaffir, Skeptic Tank Podcast — July 20, 2017 “Rolf wrote one of my favorite books of all time called Vagabonding. It’s all about long term travel. It influenced the hell out of me. And I was so stoked to be able to talk about getting out there in the world with such a well worn traveler like him…… listen here

FEATURED: Longform Podcast: Rolf Potts By Aaron Lammer, Longform.org — March 20, 2013 “Instead of seeking out the stories, the stories sort of found me. I miss those days. I make more money from my writing now and I’m probably a better journalist. But having 7-day weeks to wander, month after month, for two years, was a great way to find travel stories….. read more

FEATURED: Ask Me Anything: Vagabonding author Rolf Potts Reddit AMA — November 14, 2013 “Being ‘efficient’ isn’t necessarily the best way to experience distant lands. Instead just wander, get lost, slow down, find a place you love and stay there awhile. Play games with your journey and keep learning…. read more

FEATURED: Rolf Potts on Travel Tactics, Creating Time Wealth, and Lateral Thinking By Tim Ferriss, The Tim Ferriss Show podcast — November 4, 2014 Rolf Potts is the author of Vagabonding, one of my favorite books of all-time. It was one of just two books (the other was Walden) that I carried with me around the world from 2004-2005. Those adventures led directly to The 4-Hour Workweek. … read more

FEATURED: A Conversation With Rolf Potts, Travel Writer By Daniel Fromson, The Atlantic — May 5, 2011 “The tourist demand for photographs of extreme-looking tribespeople has led to what anthropologists call ‘staged authenticity’: Local people will dress up in their most flamboyant ceremonial costumes when the tour bus shows up, because they can make more money dressed in goatskins and war-paint than T-shirts and sneakers … read more

FEATURED: The World Over: A Profile of Rolf Potts By Frank Bures, Poets & Writers — Nov/Dec 2008″I didn’t realize that there’s sometimes a stigma attached to travel writing. I started traveling around Asia in 1998 and I didn’t go home for any substantial amount of time until 2003. I was just this guy sitting in cheap hotels writing stories…”read more

Syria w/ Rolf Potts | You Be Trippin’ with Ari Shaffir
By Ari Shaffir, You Be Trippin’ — October 14, 2024
Rolf praises Con Air and stays at a Christian monastery in Syria, where the people are friendly despite the country’s bad reputation. He and Ari also discuss backpacking culture, his travel books, refugees, and sex outside of marriage….read more

Vagabonding: Straying from the Tourist Path
By Ali & Saeed, A2 the Show— November 19, 2023
Rolf talks about the transformative effects of exploring new cultures, the educational value of travel, the significance of embracing spontaneity and curiosity while on the road, and the importance of relationships in the pursuit of happiness….read more

The Vagabond’s Life: Making travel mix with your everyday life
By Anne Taylor Hartzell, All Who Wander— May 30, 2023
“How Rolf found his way from rural Kansas to living the #vanlife before it was a thing, working and living abroad, becoming a travel writer, teacher, and creating a movement in independent, long-term travel.”…read more

Vagabonding and The Vagabond’s Way
By Chase Warrington, About Abroad— April 10, 2023
Rolf shares his perspectives on the past, present, and future of global mobility, digital nomad visas, the best walking cities in the world, and visa hopping through Asia….read more

The art of travel: A vagabond’s joys, essence, and philosophy
By Jonathan Bastian, KCRW Los Angeles — January 14, 2023
“From our earliest ancestors, we’ve been travelers — first as nomadic tribes, and later as raiders, traders, explorers, and colonizers. Whether by ship or by foot, it’s human nature to move and explore.”…read more

Travel Meditations From a Stuck-at-Home Vagabond
By Kelly DiNardo, The New York Times — December 16, 2022
“Rolf Potts, the author who inspired wanderlust in many, has mastered the art of ‘engaged travel,’ which makes you see home with fresh eyes.”…read more

Lessons from Decades of Travel with Rolf Potts
By Aaron Millar, Armchair Explorer — November 9, 2022
“Travel-writing legend Rolf Potts shares stories and wisdom from a lifetime spent traveling the world – including how inconvenience can lead to extraordinary discoveries, and why boredom while traveling is a gift. “…read more

Show and Tell #338: Rolf Potts
By Kevin Kelly, Cool Tools — November 4, 2022
“The rich have money and the wealthy have time. You want to aim for wealth, not riches. Plan your travels around passions rather than destinations.”…read more

The Vagabond’s Way – Rolf Potts
By Leon Logothetis, Spontaneous Moments — October 28, 2022
“Travel is the most mind-expanding thing a person can do. Rolf, a serial traveler, reinforces this in our conversation this week.”…read more

Time Wealth, Slow Travel, and Immersing Yourself in a New Place
By Christopher Hutchins, All the Hacks — October 26, 2022
“Travel writer and author, Rolf Potts joins Chris to discuss time wealth, why that’s such a vital topic in life and what anyone can take from the concept to travel more richly.”…read more

Rolf Potts and The Vagabond’s Way
By Palle Bo and Rick Calvert, Travel Matters — October 22, 2022
“A vagabond is a person who wanders from place to place without a fixed home. Our guest today is the bestselling author of Vagabonding, who has written a new book called ”The Vagabond’s Way”…….read more

Meditations on Travel with Rolf Potts
By Pauline Frommer, The Frommer’s Travel Show — October 17, 2022 Pauline and Rolf discuss why time elongates when you’re in a new place, the benefits of traveling with your parents, and much more…..read more

The Vagabond’s Way
By Jason Moore, Zero to Travel — October 11, 2022 Rolf and Jason dive into exactly how travel changes our inner and outer perspective, allows us to embrace unseen parts of self, and try on new identities….read more

Be Well Traveled
By David Martinez, George Fox Talks — July 5, 2022 “Rolf shares stories of risky adventures, unlikely friendships, and intercultural hospitality. Tips for new travelers, and advice on how to be a good guests in a foreign place..”…read more

Vagabonding: Poetry in Motion
By Reuben Dreiblatt, The A.T. with You and Me — January 28, 2022 “There is no other book that instilled the sense of freedom and the desire to travel that Vagabonding did. We talk about the ordeal of coming home from a great trip, the beauty and sense of freedom poetry engenders, the power of quotes, and more..”…read more

Rolf Potts Interview | World’s Best Travel Writer
By Michael Knight, Best Book Bits — January 26, 2022 “I wrote Vagabonding alone in a room in Thailand. I didn’t really have any connections, it wasn’t reviewed in any major publications, and its success was a very grassroots thing that happened over the course of many years.”…read more

Rolf Potts – How to Travel Forever
By Duncan Gammie, dunc tank — January 8, 2022 “Your travel career changes over time. The things that are important to you as a traveler in your twenties and thirties aren’t as important to you in your forties and fifties. This allows you to discover aspects and subtleties of travel in a new way.”…read more

How to Live Like a Digital Nomad
By Liz Sheldon, Sentral — August 26, 2021 “Dabbling in a nomadic existence without checking out is something traveler, writer, and essayist Rolf Potts has spent years perfecting. One of the earliest to define a modern way of taking your life on the road, Potts chronicled his approach in his 2003 book Vagabonding.”…read more

Deviate: Creative Cross-Training (ft. Rolf Potts)
By Jay Acunzo, 3 Clips Podcast — August 16, 2021 “Rolf Potts’ podcast is usually an interview show with other writers, travelers and filmmakers. The episode analyzed here is an episode about a 20+ mile walk, the value in exercising different creative muscles, and how Rolf has stayed true to his show’s premise, even when he deviates from the topic of travel. “…read more

Time wealth, and why we travel
LaBossiere Podcast— June 28, 2021 “Rolf Potts talks time as wealth, the reasons why we travel, and the role of social media in both home life and road life.”…read more

Souvenirs: Memories of our Travels
ABC Radio Australia Nightlife — June 19, 2021 “Souvenirs can be personal and meaningful just to you. Host Suzanne Hill and travel writer Rolf Potts discuss much-loved memorabilia from times and places far away.”…read more

Sasha Sessions: A Team USA Podcast • Episode 19, with Sasha Cohen — April 19, 2021. Rolf joins 2006 Olympic figure skating silver medalist Sasha Cohen to discuss the challenges modern western society presents for travelers, how social media has changed the travel landscape, and how to create a lifestyle around travel. … read more

Rolf Potts – Travel, Freedom & Happiness
Black Country Buddhas Podcast — March 22, 2021 “Traveling full-time can be cheaper than paying rent and eating restaurant meals in any big city in Europe or North America”…read more

Long Term World Travel with Rolf Pott‪s‬ Peace with the Process Podcast — February 23, 2021 Why learn to love the process, when we can create a process that is easy to love? There is an art to long term world travel and Rolf Potts is an experienced artist in that respect.  …read more

Give yourself permission to live your dreams The Drew Pearlman Show — December 20, 2020 Life is of a short duration and so make sure that you are making decisions that don’t put off what is important. I think there are a lot of ways to our detriment we’re encouraged to live less richly than we could be, when in fact it doesn’t cost that much to live richly. …read more

Keeping Travel Authentic w/ Rolf Potts By Jalen Vasquez, Inspired By Fire Podcast— December 3, 2020 A discussion of the pros and cons of travel in the 2020s, and how the travel scene has evolved over time, and what defines an “authentic” travel experience. …read more

Rolf Potts: Art of Travel, Power of Loneliness, Writing By Max McCoy, Looking Up Podcast— November 5, 2020 Rolf and Max talk about talk about practical travel, writing, reflection, loneliness, and much more. …read more

30. Rolf Potts: Author of Vagabonding By Nicholas Hutchison, BookThinkers Podcast— November 30, 2020 An interview in a series of podcast discussions with world-class authors about new books and resources! …read more

TTB 109: Vagabonding with Rolf Potts By Bob DiMenna and Elliot Shibley, Travelers Blueprint Podcast — October 26, 2020 It’s ok to miss things as you travel. If you’re traveling slow, you can always come back and experience what you didn’t the first time. You’ve given yourself a gift for the future …read more

Rolf Potts on Travel as a Pilgrim (not a Consumer) By Julie-Roxane and Alasdair Plambeck, Far Out Podcast — September 9, 2020 Perhaps no other travel book has had such an influence on our generation as Vagabonding, which opens your eyes to the possibilities of long-term travel …read more

Rolf Potts on Vagabonding and Travel Writing By Rollie Peterkin, Divergent Path Podcast — June 29, 2020 In this podcast episode, Rolf talks about his development as a traveler and author, and the authors who influenced him as a young writer. …read more

Time Is Wealth – Interview with Rolf Potts By Donny Raus, One Life Podcast — April 20, 2020 We all end up at the same destination. The only difference is the journey we take to get there. Will you be happy with yours? …read more

A Vagabonding Life: An Interview with Rolf Potts By Tim O’Bryhim, Wichita Story — April 14, 2020 Few Wichitans can claim to be so prominently associated with a popular worldwide movement as Rolf Potts is with the concept of vagabonding….read more

Travel pros reflect on being grounded By Kate Silver, Washington Post — March 20, 2020 The coronavirus has clipped our travel wings, so checked in with some of the most esteemed professionals and personalities in the travel industry….read more

How to be Successful: Vagabonding With Rolf Potts By Gary Collins, Your Better Life Podcast — February 17, 2020 Have you ever wanted to sell everything and just travel the world, or maybe just go exploring on a budget?….read more

Rolf Potts on Twenty-Five Years of World Travel By Michael Garfield, Future Fossils Podcast — February 15, 2020 Rolf Potts is a pioneer “digital nomad” who has carved his own path through life and now helps others do the same through writing workshops and his excellent podcast, Deviate. …..read more

The Art of Long-term World Travel By Erik Lorenz, Unfolding Maps podcast — February 4, 2020 Rolf Potts’ book Vagabonding had a huge impact on the global traveler scene. Here Rolf talks about how travel has changed in the past decades, and how we can best overcome misconceptions that threaten to lessen our travel experience…..read more

Writing Travel Memoir with Rolf Potts By Jeremy Bassetti, All Over the Place Podcast — December 30, 2019 Rolf speaks about writing travel memoir, the differences between memoir and autobiography, and his Paris travel writing summer workshops……read more

Rolf Potts on How to See the World By Stephan Zimmerman, The Need to Know Podcast — September 9, 2019 Much of what Rolf stated in Vagabonding I utilized to make my trip one of the most incredible and transformational experiences of my life. In today’s episode, we discuss the common fears and misconceptions that people have when it comes to travel, tips and pieces of advice…..read more

Rolf Potts on 25 Years of Vagabonding Around the World By Kristin Wilson, Badass Digital Nomads Podcast — July 16, 2019 Tim Ferriss has cited Vagabonding as the reason he decided to travel the world and write The Four-Hour Work Week. Rolf sat down in Paris, France during his Travel Writing Workshop to talk about some of his biggest lessons and realizations from 25 years of traveling…..read more

Rolf Potts on Vagabonding, Souvenirs, and Getting Drunk at 5 By Francis Tapon, WanderLearn Podcast — February 8, 2019 Vagabonding is a seminal travel book. The author, Rolf Potts, made people realize that they don’t need to settle for just two weeks a vacation every year…..read more

Vagabonding with Rolf Potts By MeLinda Schnyder, AAA World — January/February, 2019 Readers often contact travel writer, essayist and creative writing teacher Rolf Potts to say that Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel has changed their life…..read more

Episode 158: The Peaks and Valleys of Travel with Rolf Potts By Chad Grills, The Mission Daily Podcast — December 4, 2018 Rolf Potts has written multiple books including Vagabonding, Souvenir, and Marco Polo Didn’t Go There. In this episode, Rolf shares his thoughts on the peaks and valleys of travel and the value of souvenirs…..read more

Rolf Potts, World-renowned Travel Writer By Landon Huslig, Wichita Life Podcast — November 5, 2018 Rolf grew up in Wichita before beginning his writing and travel career. We discuss his writing, travels, growing up in Wichita, and different approaches to life, money, and travel….read more

Life Strategies For Long-Term Vagabonding – Rolf Potts By Mason Gravley, The Adventure Sports Podcast — October 16, 2018 Today’s episode features the man who wrote ‘the book’ on long-term world travel, Rolf Potts. When not traveling Rolf spends his time on a plot of land in rural Kansas. …read more

Interview with Travel Writer Rolf Potts By Anna Mazurek, Travel Like Anna — October 15, 2018 There is a certain freedom in going into a jungle or a forest or a mountain range and walking all day for no reason beyond the fact that it brings you pleasure and allows you to commune with a more solitary, unplugged version of yourself. …read more

Podcast #92: Vagabonding author Rolf Potts By Palle Bo, The Radio Vagabond — October 12, 2018 I met Rolf Potts at TravelCon in Austin Texas just before he was to give the closing keynote in front of a room full of travel bloggers. It was fantastic to meet one of my heroes, who inspired me a lot in my planning to go traveling. …read more

Cultural Crossroads: Explorer Rolf Potts By Jason Webster, Idries Shah Foundation — October 8, 2018 I think people often think of travel in consumer terms, in the terms the travel and vacation industry has laid out for us — and this means vacationers pay a lot of money for comfort and haste …read more

Souvenirs and Slaying Dragons By Sean Lawlor, The Rumpus — April 30, 2018 In Souvenir, Potts guides readers through a philosophical, anthropological, and historical study of the objects we collect. Why do we buy souvenirs? What historical roots ground this ritual? Is one way of collecting souvenirs better than others? …read more

Author Rolf Potts Discusses Travels and Kansas By Frank Waugh, KAKE (ABC) TV Wichita — April 13, 2018 Rolf talks about travel and his new book Souvenir at the Wichita TV station where he once interned as a college student in the 1990s….read more

Podcast Episode 11 with Rolf Potts By Jeff Greenwald, Ethical Traveler Podcast — April 7, 2018 Jeff speaks with Vagabonding travel author Rolf Potts about his terrific new book, Souvenir; Natalie and Jeff discuss how volunteers abroad face “white fragility;” we hear some great music by Balkan Beat band Äl Jawala. …read more

Souvenirs 101 By Stephanie Rosenbloom, New York Times Travel — April 6, 2018 As Potts notes in a new little book called “Souvenir,” there’s more to this seemingly simple​ (perhaps frivolous to some​) ​practice than meets the eye. For one thing, it’s a ritual that spans millenniums, dating back to the oldest​ described​ journeys. . …read more

Rocks, Leaves, Toys, Tools, Trash By Erik Shonstrom, LA Review of Books — March 21, 2018 Rolf’s new book is a delightfully discursive and inquisitive account that seeks the source of our collective need to collect things ― ephemeral moments made tangibly manifest ― and use them as signposts for our own personal narratives. …read more

Vagabonding with Rolf Potts By Tim Vetter, The Voyages of Tim Vetter podcast — March 18, 2018 His highly influential book Vagabonding has sold over one million copies. He has over twenty years of writing, lectures, courses, and content available online. His new book Souvenir was released this week and is available in all book stores. …listen here

A Kansas-based travel writer on our obsession with souvenirs By Gina Kaufmann, KCUR “Central Standard” — March 15, 2018 A miniature Eiffel Tower, a plastic snow globe that encases the White House, a seashell from the beach … we don’t give much thought to souvenirs. A travel writer, who just wrote a book about souvenirs, shares why they tell a story of their own. …listen here

Rolf Potts: World Traveler By Chance Gilliam, Chance by Chance podcast, March 14, 2018 Esteemed travel writer and life-long adventurer Rolf Potts (Vagabonding, Souvenir) discusses topics such as hosting his podcast (Deviate), a philosophy of human interaction, social media usage, introversion, experimental travel through constriction, Kurt Vonnegut, immigration, mandatory national service and more. …listen here

The Gates of Hell By Hayden Lee, Travel Stories podcast, September 2, 2017 How do you become the traveler you know you can be? What is the first step on the road to travel? Rolf Potts has the answers to these questions in his back pocket, and he’s more than willing to share. ..listen here

Rolf Potts: Cultural Body Language, Vagabonding, Minimalism By Aaron Alexander, Align Podcast, July 17, 2017 Rolf Potts is an American travel writer, essayist, and author. He has written two books, Vagabonding and Marco Polo Didn’t Go There, and his travel writing has appeared in National Geographic Traveler, and Outside. …listen here

Vagabonding and the Art of Living Curiously By Aaron McHugh, Work Life Play Podcast — May 15, 2017 Reframing your thinking enables you to power jettisons from real life to discover long-term world travel. How to build a Time-Wealth philosophy to create enough time to experience the travels you dream about.…. listen here

Vagabonding Revisited: The Book That Inspired the Four Hour Work Week By Jeremy Ryan Slate, Create Your Own Life Podcast — May 10, 2017 Rolf talks about long-term travel as part of an ongoing interview series with lifestyle design pioneers, digital influencers, and successful entrepreneurs.…. listen here

Rolf Potts: The Journey Begins Now By Phil Treagus, The Reading Lists — January 30, 2017 Rolf talks about his reading habits, including his earliest reading experiences, the prospect of reading books on an iPhone, discovering sense of place in pulpy thriller novels, and all the classic travel books he’s never gotten around to reading…. read more

Tim Ferriss Podcast Transcription: Rolf Potts on Vagabonding By Tim Ferriss, August 23, 2016 This is a written transcription of the audio version of The Tim Ferriss Show. This episode features Rolf Potts talking about vagabonding, world travel, and the writing process. …read more

Rolf Potts on the Geto Boys and Twenty Years of World Travel By Zachary Stockill, Travels in Music — May 19, 2016 A talk about Rolf’s relationship to music while he travels, how aging is impacting his travel habits, long-term travel and egotism, Simon & Garfunkel, and more…. listen here

Rolf Potts on Creative Writing and Vagabonding By James Taylor, James Taylor Podcast — March 7, 2016 Rolf shares with us where he gets his ideas in writing and how those ideas are developed. Rolf also shares with us the concept of the expression “reading well”…. listen here

Rolf Potts: The Joy of Long Term Travel By Andrew Ferebee, Knowledge For Men Podcast — November 23, 2015 People treat time like it is a cheap commodity instead of a precious resource. You will never get a single second of your life back, it is time to start living accordingly…. listen here

How to Create Time Wealth and Be Time Rich By Michael Sandler, Inspire Nation Podcast — October 26, 2015 A conversation about working to live, instead of living to work, and about taking our own life adventure, how we can all get into it, what’s the simplest way to start…. listen here

Rolf Potts, Celebrated Travel-Writer and Best-selling Author By Lisa Colón DeLay, Spark My Muse Podcast — October 18, 2015 “If you get bored, lost, or lonely while traveling you are forced to be more imaginative and be more engaged with the people and place where you actually are. These are gifts of travel…. listen here

Rolf Potts on Marco Polo Didn’t Go There and Travel Writing By Britany Robinson, Travel Blog Success — March 31, 2015 “We categorize adventure travel in a consumer-minded way; it’s easy to forget that refugees do way more hardcore travel than we ever do…. read more

the 33 1/3 new author q&a: rolf potts By Michelle Chen, Bloomsbury Publishing — March 2, 2015 “Though Nevermind was more influential to my musical tastes than The Geto Boys, I never considered visiting Aberdeen. Grunge music was by definition an expression of the Pacific Northwest, but it wasn’t necessarily about place. Hip-hop, on the other hand, depicted place with street-level specificity…. read more

Rolf Potts’ Original Vagabonding Story By Sherry Ott, Meet Plan Go — October 2014 “There’s this idea that we need tons and tons of money to buy ourselves time, but that’s not really true. We just need to use what money we have to create time to do the things we love…. read more

Time = Wealth By Alastair Humphreys, AlastairHumphreys.com — October 14, 2014 “Simplicity is your ticket to travel. At home, it allows you to focus on what’s important and save money for the journey to come. On the road simplicity allows you to travel lighter and focus your attention on the world before you instead of the things you drag behind you…. read more

Rolf Potts On Present And Future of Travel Journalism By Kira Tverskaya, The Loving Stranger — May 14, 2014 “I don’t think travel journalism is a zero-sum game; I think more traditional literary writing will continue to exist, even as technology makes it easier to evoke a distant land through pictures or videos or social media…. read more

What’s so special about Kansas: Interview with Rolf Potts By Kristin Conard, Kansas Trail Guide — April 10, 2014 “Travel influenced my decision to come back to Kansas. In seeing how families drew strength and meaning from one another in distant corners of the globe, I made a decision to find a place close to my family…. read more

The Writer’s Hot Seat: Rolf Potts on Travel Writing By Michael Toner, Barnstorm Journal — February 4, 2014 “The more you write, the more your story tells you which details are and are not necessary… read more

Smart Travel Advice: Don’t ‘Micromanage’ Your Next Trip By Christopher Elliott, Huffington Post — January 26, 2014 “”My best advice to is to research your trip to your heart’s content before the journey begins. Then, once your travels are underway, toss out your itinerary and let the destination itself guide you… read more

An Uncommon Interview About the Art of Long-Term World Travel By Matt Kepnes, NomadicMatt.com — November 14, 2013 “You don’t need to be Indiana Jones to discover something new and amazing on the road; you usually just have to walk 20 minutes in any direction, or take a bus to a town that isn’t listed in your guidebook…. read more

How Social Media Is Changing the Way We Travel By Mike Richard, Vagabondish — November 12, 2013 “Serendipity is still out there, but one has to unplug a little, worry less about crowd-sourcing recommendations, and more about getting information and inspiration from one’s immediate surroundings…. read more

Interview with Author and Essayist Rolf Potts By John Bocskay, Outside Looking In — September 25, 2013 “Often I use my time in Korea as an illustrative example of how you can intellectualize cultural difference all you want, but you can’t really understand it until you are immersed in that culture, making discoveries and mistakes as you go…. read more

When in Roam: Rolf Potts By Christine Maxfield, CompassMag Podcast — May 27, 2013 “Some of my best travel experiences have been the result of boredom, loneliness, and inconvenience. The immediate gratification and psychic comforts that come with technology can thus detract from the hard-won joys of patient immersion in a place…. read more

2°E with Rolf Potts in Paris By Johnny Miller, Maptia — May 22, 2013 “There’s something about paper maps that involves active effort and imagination, a process of filling in the blanks with your own imperfect perceptions. I don’t want to lose that…. read more

Sitting down with Rolf Potts By Leyla Levi, Yale Herald — March 1, 2013 “I got a lot of emails asking how I could afford to do this and I decided to answer by making a list of philosophical reasons for travel. That 11-point list eventually became the 11 chapters of Vagabonding….. read more

Where to for travel writing? By Iain Manley, Old World Wandering — September 24, 2012 “From Herodotus to the imperial-era Brits, travel accounts examined other cultures in part to answer the question, “Who, as a people, are we?” The information age has shifted this question so that it now asks, “Who, as a person, am I?”…. read more

Interview with Rolf Potts: Legendary Traveler & Writer By Clint Johnston, TripHackr — July 19, 2012 “These days we have so many technologies and online resources that faraway places can at times feel familiar, but there’s no substitute for going to a place, smelling its air, getting lost in its back-alleys… read more

Going On Long Walks: An Interview with Travel Writer Rolf Potts By Bryan Schatz , PacSafe.com — June 7, 2012 “A flâneur is someone who has decided to break out of the usual pathways and ruts of their habit-driven lives by taking random adventures through his own city. They aren’t walking with any goal save experience…. read more

Vagabonding Vagabond: Our Interview with Rolf Potts By Vago Damitio, Vagobond.com — February 18, 2012 “I think traveling and living out of a van during my first vagabonding trip taught me some essential lessons about minimalism. I didn’t have a lot of room for extra “stuff”, so all I brought were some clothes and camping gear…. read more

Interview with Rolf Potts: Travel Writer & Journalist By David Thompson, Dave’s Travel Corner — September 16, 2011 “Traditional stability is probably the biggest sacrifice that comes with travel writing — especially since building the requisite level of expertise requires that you stay on the road longer than the average vacationer…. read more

The World According to Rolf Potts By Peter Moore, Wanderlust — August 23, 2011 “I’m actually a fan of tourist zones, within reason. I like getting off the beaten path, of course, but I think you can learn a lot about a country by spending some time in its most overcrowded tourist attractions. Every tourist zone is subtly emblematic of the country itself … read more

Rolf Potts Went There By Luke Armstrong, The Expeditioner — April 11, 2011 “If you see a fight at a bar and tell the story later, you don’t start by describing what brand of urinal cakes were in the toilets, you cut straight to the most relevant and dramatic parts of what happened. That doesn’t mean you’re fictionalizing the events and details, it just means you’re sticking to the most relevant ones … read more

How I afford two-month vacations CNN Money — April 1, 2011 “In choosing to live cheaply and forgo the trappings of luxury — in keeping my expenses lower than the daily living costs of most U.S. cities — I was able to enrich my journey with life’s most valuable commodity: time … read more

Has technology robbed travel of its riches? The Guardian (U.K.) — March 5, 2011 “What in Orwell’s day was a matter of rail transit is now an issue of constant connectedness — what I like to call the ‘electronic umbilical cord.’ At one level this makes travel more accessible, but part of travel’s charm has always been its disorienting uncertainty …” read more

Lucky 13 Questions for Rolf Potts By Michael Hodson, GoSeeWrite.com — March 3, 2011 “I’m thinking I’d like to be portrayed by Zach Galifianakis. I realize he’s nothing like me, but I’d want the audience to be entertained, and I’m sure there’s comedic potential in a short, bearded, Greek-American version of Rolf Potts teaching English in Korea, learning the bagpipes in Cuba, and otherwise getting into misadventures. … read more

Q&A: Rolf Potts on watching the Travel Channel for 5 solid days By Jeff Hart, Culture Blues — February 28, 2011 “I’ve been working on a series of scripts for a travel mockumentary (think “The Office” meets a National Geographic series) that simultaneously explores and lampoons the genre — and I’d love to think there might be a network clever and ballsy enough to embrace meta-programming.” read more

Around the world in just his clothes By La Carmina, CNNGo.com — November 26, 2010 “Twelve countries, six weeks, zero baggage. Writer Rolf Potts takes the term traveling light to its minimal extreme … read more

Backpacker Novels: A Conversation With Kristin Van Tassel, World Hum — November 11, 2010 “These books, while kind of sensationalistic, pointed toward a tipping point in the way people were traveling. They seemed to imply that the rituals of travel were becoming indistinguishable from the rituals of home. … read more

My travels: Rolf Potts goes round the world with no luggage The Guardian (U.K.) — November 6, 2010 “We tend to pack unnecessary things because certain items feed into our psychic bubble of comfort – a kind of half-hearted attempt to bring home with us – when in fact not much is required, in the material sense, to enjoy a great time on the road. … read more

The Future of Air Travel? By Neil Cavuto, FOX Business News — October 1, 2010 “The cost of flying is soaring and your money is soaring out of your pockets. How about filling your pockets with something else. Maybe your luggage? Impossible you say? Well, I want you to meet the guy who says you’re wrong, really wrong. … read more

Round the World With No Luggage By Leila McKinnon, Weekend Today Australia — September 20, 2010 “Australia’s breakfast television program interviews Rolf via remote from Singapore amid his round-the-world journey with no luggage or bags of any kind. … read more

Peter Greenberg Worldwide Hosted by Peter Greenberg — September 1, 2010 In the midst of his attempt to travel around the world with no luggage, Rolf talks about his adventures with radio and TV personality Peter Greenberg. Read here.

How to Travel 12 Countries with No Baggage Whatsoever By Tim Ferriss — August 20, 2010 “Rolf sees his no-baggage journey as a real-time experiment in traveling ultra-light, and a field-test for a more philosophical idea — that what we experience in life is more important than what we bring with us. … read more

Man Circles the Globe Without Luggage By Scott Mayerowitz, ABC News — August 20, 2010 “Rolf Potts won’t be worrying about luggage fees or lost bags as he travels around the world over the next six weeks. That’s because he isn’t bringing any luggage, not even a carry-on. … read more

Rolf Potts on Travel Blogging By Matt Gibson, Transitions Abroad — April 19, 2010 “I’m not sure that journalism schools have ever been all that essential for travel writers, and traditional educational institutions don’t often touch on the literature of travel. It’s a genre that readers tend to discover on their own — and for writers it’s a genre that arises from a passion for travel and writing that is often independent of formal education… read more

How I Travel: Rolf Potts By Steve Bramucci, Bootsnall.com — January 19, 2010 “One of these days, some random Vagabonding reader is going to recognize me while I’m making a fool of myself in some exotic corner of the world. You don’t become a travel expert by being flawless in your travels, but by trying new things and being willing risk mistakes… read more

What’s In Your Backpack, Rolf Potts, Travel Guru? By Lola Akinmade, Matador Goods — November 11, 2009 “A leading name in the world of travel and vagabonding, award-winning travel writer and author Rolf Potts gives Matador a peek into his backpack before heading off to Genoa, Italy to claim his much-deserved Chatwin Prize for travel writing…. read more

How to be a long term traveling Digital Nomad By Markus Albers — February 9, 2009 “One of the great things about vagabonding-style long-term travel is that it’s pretty much recession-proof. This is because vagabonding isn’t about how much money you have so much as how you choose to spend that money… Part II

Interview with Rolf Potts By Matthew Kepnes, NomadicMatt.com — January 18, 2009 “Ideally, travel should be an act of humble curiosity, and when you start to worry about where you stand in relation to other travelers you kind of lose the point. In a sense, the tourist/traveler debate is an exercise in insecurity — a kind of comfort blanket that people cling to amid the uncertain social atmosphere they enter when they leave home… read more

Travel Writing 2.0 By Stephanie Pearson, Outside — November 2008 “A generation ago travel writing was an extractive task, a one-way communication that tended to exoticize far-off places. It’s harder to do that these days, since the guy you write about in, say, Ethiopia can read what you’ve written and disagree with you…read more

A Vagabond from Kansas tells his tales By Peter Delevett, the San Jose Mercury-News — November 8, 2008 “Any place can be a cool place to go. Not just Paris and Cape Town, but your hometown. Down the block. Flyover country. I’ve always believed that the destination is less important than what you find along the way… read more

Rolf Potts Talks: New Book, Old Notes, Future Career By Kelly Westhoff, GoNomad.com — October 21, 2008 “At the end of the day, though, we’re still stuck inside the tourist matrix. One old conceit of travel writing was to make that matrix disappear, to make it seem as if you were standing alone and unique in the world encountering the exotic by yourself, when in reality, you usually do it in a crowd of people…. read more

The Stories Behind the Stories By Carly Blatt, JohnnyJet.com — October 20, 2008 “The endnotes in Rolf’s new book often include explanations about why he used specific narrative techniques or why he had to leave out certain parts of some experiences. Many of his endnotes answer questions that we as readers would ask a friend telling us travel stories over a beer…. read more

Rolf Potts on “Letting it Flow,” and the Stories that Never Got Written By Eva Holland, Matador Pulse — September 22, 2008 “Even when my writing is flowing, it’s doing so in the context of a deliberately structured narrative. The passages of mine that seem to flow down the page didn’t necessarily flow that way onto the page… read more

Rolf Potts: Revelations from a Postmodern Travel Writer From World Hum — September 19, 2008 “I’d like to think that travel literature in coming decades will champion a kind of Postmodern Realism — a measured-yet-optimistic sensibility that cuts through the fantasies of tourism and the alarmist hue of international news reporting to leave us with something essentially human and true about the rest of the world… read more

An Interview with Rolf Potts (Vagabondish) By Mike Richard, Vagabondish.com — September 18, 2008 “I didn’t travel abroad when I was a kid, nor did I have much money growing up, but I eventually wandered my way across the world just the same. In many ways, I wrote Vagabonding as a letter to my 18 year-old self, to encourage people like me about the possibilities of travel…. read more

Rolf Potts Answers Your Travel Questions From Bootsnall.com — September 17, 2008 “I get irritated if I hear someone brag about the time he’s spent on some rice farm near Vang Vieng, and then in the next breath bag on people who live in “Red States” he’s certainly never visited. How can you consider hanging out with a Laotian farmer a virtue when the idea of a Kansas farmer brings a sneer to your face?… read more

Rolf Potts on the “tourist” versus “traveler” debate By Sean O’Neill Budget Travel — September 16, 2008 “So your next-door neighbor went to Guyana and he wants to tell you all about it — is he showing off or just channeling the excitement of his journey? Odds are it’s the latter — and if you reflexively judge him as a travel snob just because he went someplace exotic and enjoyed it, then you’re the one who’s being a jerk… read more

Rolf’s Marco Polo “Virtual Book Tour” Appeared in various online venues — September 15-26, 2008 Rolf marks the debut of Marco Polo Didn’t Go There with a series of interviews and features in blogs and websites such as Tim Ferriss’s 4-Hour Work Week and National Geographic Traveler‘s “Intelligent Travel”…read more

Rolf Potts: Traveling Mercies By K. Van Tassel, The Wittenburg Door — Nov./Dec. 2007Rolf talks travel and religion with the Christian satire magazine that published his first paying freelance story in 1992…full article

World Hum: Reflections on Home Produced by Michael Yessis — November 18, 2007 In this audio slide-show, Rolf and New York Times travel columnist Matt Gross discuss where they live, and how travel has influenced how they look at home. See it here.

Frommers.com podcast Hosted by David Lytle — September 16, 2007 Topics covered in this 20-minute chat include overcoming the language barrier while traveling, how literature inspires travel, keeping safe on the road, how to meet people in your travels, and Rolf’s summer writing classes in Paris.Listen here

Rolf Potts On The Future Of Travel Writing By Tim Patterson, Brave New Traveler — August 9, 2007 “Rolf shares his thoughts on travel writing for the Internet, the intoxicating “hum of possibility” that travel generates and why “speeding off toward the horizon with a sack full of Benzedrine is not always the best way to approach a journey …full interview

Vagabonding and the Joy of Journeys Q&A with Tom Chiari of UConn — Posted August 2007 “Vacationing is a way of using travel to escape from life for a short time; vagabonding is a way of using travel to embrace life for an extended period. Vagabonding isn’t necessarily better than vacationing — everyone needs ….full Q&A

Travel Writing and Americanness Q&A with Melanie Tortoroli of Harvard — Posted May 2007 “Even those Americans who presume to reject American culture do it in a very American way. Culture is stronger than you think — more visceral than intellectual — and you can’t just will it away when you move overseas ….full Q&A

Campaign for the American Reader Page 69 Test By Marshal Zeringue — January 5, 2007 Rolf analyzes Page 69 of Vagabonding as part of an independent online initiative encouraging people to read more books …full article

Rolf Potts interview: Eight Diagrams By Wayne Yang, Eight Diagrams — June 14, 2006 “At the time, I thought the USA journey would be a ritual of getting travel out of my system before I got serious and started a normal, stationary American life. As it turned out …full interview

Global Nomads and Travel Journalism Q&A with Lea Teuscher of City University (UK) — Posted October 2005 “Recently, I think traditional travel media have been conservative, more aligned to “safe” trips and attractions close to home, or without any cultural “risk”. As far as I’m aware, there are very few major travel newspaper sections or magazines that cover …full Q&A

Rolf Potts on Long-Term Travel By Clay Hubbs, Transitions Abroad — March 2004 “Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to Long-Term Travel is a remarkably well-written book in which the author expands on virtually all the views I have presented in Transitions Abroad over the past 27 years. Like us, he keeps all his …”full interview

Young Pioneers interview By Dan Eldridge, Young Pioneers — Spring 2004 “At 33 years old, travel writer and self-proclaimed ‘vagabond’ Rolf Potts is easily the youngest pioneer featured in our Independent Travel Icons issue. If his youth alone doesn’t make you jealous enough, consider that Potts’…” full interview

Be a Vagabond ABC-TV Portland, AM Northwest — March 18, 2003 “Rolf Potts wants to tell you how to travel. He doesn’t want to suggest a destination, or what to bring, or how to get there. He’s not interested in such practical thoughts — Potts is after your …full interview

Q&A with Vagabonding author Rolf Potts By Jim Benning, World Hum — February 4, 2003 “Rolf Potts made a name for himself writing evocative travel stories as the Vagabonding columnist at Salon.com. His piece “Storming the Beach” became an instant classic and landed him in the pages of the 2000 Best American Travel Writing anthology. Since then, Potts’ writing has appeared in publications far and wide, including National Geographic Adventure and Conde Nast Traveler …full interview

Hitting the road: Author Rolf Potts travels in search of that very small moment By Gretchen Giles, North Bay Bohemian — January 23, 2003 “When Rolf Potts was 23 years old, he’d had enough rainy weather. He had $5,000 saved, a few good friends, and the van was running OK. So on New Year’s Day 1994, he and some pals took off from their Northwest college home in search of sun. Thirty-eight states and eight months later, Potts realized that he’d found a new calling … full interview

For Rolf Potts, every day is a winding road By Jayne Clark, USA Today — January 10, 2003 “Rolf Potts is living a life that most avid travelers only dream of. While most of us make do with a carefully orchestrated 10 days here, two weeks there, the 32-year-old from Wichita has been moving through Asia and Europe and North Africa for the past six years. He has learned a thing or two along the way …full interview

Former English teacher wanders into literary stardom By Andrew Weber, The Korea Herald — August 11, 2000 “He has contracted cholera in Laos, spied on Leonardo DiCaprio in Thailand, and partied with the world’s wildest librarians in St. Petersburg. Through it all, he has always found time to post his stories at Salon.com. Meet Rolf Potts, the Jack Kerouac of the Internet age…. read more

Rolf Potts on Vagabonding – 1999 By Jeff Lebow, PusanWeb — June 28, 1999 In his first-ever video interview, Rolf talks about independent travel, literary influences, writing for Salon.com, expatriate life in Korea, and his upcoming travel adventures….. read more