Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts

Travel Writer, Essayist, Adventurer, Teacher

Rolf Potts

  • About
    • Bio
    • Interviews
    • Newsletter signup
  • Contact
  • Writing
    • Essays & Travel Stories
    • Dispatches
    • Travel Writer Profiles
    • No Baggage Challenge
    • Vagablogging
  • Books
    • Vagabonding
    • The Vagabond’s Way
    • Souvenir
    • Marco Polo Didn’t Go There
    • The Geto Boys (33 1/3)
    • Audiobooks
    • Anthologies
    • Introductions & Forewords
    • The Misadventures of Wenamun (comic)
  • Videos
    • Kansas Never Plays Itself
    • TV / Film
    • Travel dispatches
    • Lectures
    • Video Interviews
  • Events
  • Classes
  • Blog
    • Updates
    • Books
    • Poetry
    • Film, TV, Theater
    • Music
    • Sports
    • Writing Craft
  • Podcast
Dispatches, Film, TV, Theater Jordan

Intrigue under the big screen

May 25, 2000

At a 1-dinar cinema in Amman, Jordan, the real story has little to do with the movie itself.

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Dispatches Egypt

The baksheesh diaries

April 11, 2000

In Egypt, Rolf discovers that even the simplest experiences sometimes carry a price tag.

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Dispatches Cyprus

Skepticism and salvation in Cyprus

February 22, 2000

An unorthodox tour of the second and final tomb of Lazarus puts a strange twist into Rolf’s Larnaca layover.

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Dispatches Greece

A Greek romance

January 4, 2000

At Corfu’s Pink Palace, the ouzo flows, the crockery flies and the libidos run wild.

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Dispatches Latvia

Fear and loathing in Latvia

November 23, 1999

Between the fistfights and the Finnish girls, it’s hard to get any writing done.

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Dispatches Laos

Retch-22: Laos in the time of cholera

August 24, 1999

The official analysis was “diarrhea, with vomiting.” Right.

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Dispatches Vietnam

Searching for Binh Hoa

August 10, 1999

Hoping to find an obscure Vietnam War killing field, Rolf discovers that some lessons of history teach themselves.

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Dispatches Cambodia

Song of the broken road

May 18, 1999

For adventurers headed overland to Angkor Wat, Cambodia’s Route 6 is Disneyland gone bad.

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Dispatches Thailand

Getting stoned with Mr. X

April 20, 1999

Rolf wanders in search of an Indiana Jones adventure in Thailand’s gem country.

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Dispatches Thailand

Penny Pinched

April 6, 1999

In the first installment of “Vagabonding,” Rolf pays through the nose for his penny-pinching ways.

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Dispatches Korea

Korea’s no-man’s land

February 3, 1999

Rolf describes a visit to Korea’s DMZ, one of the planet’s oddest tourist attractions, where visitors can pick up everything from propaganda to perfume.

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Books by Rolf

  • Souvenir (Object Lessons) book cover
  • The Geto Boys cover

Podcast: Deviate with Rolf

  • Debunking the mythology of BEFORE SUNRISE, with co-writer Kim Krizan (in Paris) March 10, 2026
  • Super Bowl special: Why football kind of matters, with Chuck Klosterman (kind of) February 5, 2026
  • Time is your truest form of wealth (and travel helps you embrace your riches) January 8, 2026
  • Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places December 16, 2025
  • Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012) November 4, 2025

Recent Blog Posts

  • 5 Thoughts on Confession in Memoir, from Emily Fox Gordon March 5, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Erin Levi February 26, 2026
  • Seven of the best Deviate episodes about 1990s zeitgeist (& zeitgeist-adjacent) experiences February 19, 2026
  • Using AI to enhance a 37-year-old photo of me with Barry Sanders’ Heisman February 4, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Jen Rose Smith January 29, 2026
  • 11 Outtakes from Chuck Klosterman’s “Football” January 20, 2026

Travel Writer Interviews

  • Travel Writer: Erin Levi February 26, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Jen Rose Smith January 29, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Natalie Compton January 1, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Mark Orwoll December 4, 2025
  • Travel Writer: I have been interviewing one writer a month for the past 25 years November 6, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Rebecca Hall October 2, 2025

Books

Vagabonding

Vagabonding

The Vagabond’s Way

The Vagabond’s Way

Souvenir

Tools of Titans

Kansas Matters

The 33 1/3 B-sides

Souvenir

50 Ways of Looking at Nostalgia

Recent Podcasts

Debunking the mythology of BEFORE SUNRISE, with co-writer Kim Krizan (in Paris)

Super Bowl special: Why football kind of matters, with Chuck Klosterman (kind of)

Time is your truest form of wealth (and travel helps you embrace your riches)

Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places

Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012)

Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025)

An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir

Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore)

Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road

Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie

Travel Writers

Travel Writer: Erin Levi

Travel Writer: Jen Rose Smith

Travel Writer: Natalie Compton

Travel Writer: Mark Orwoll

Travel Writer: I have been interviewing one writer a month for the past 25 years

Travel Writer: Rebecca Hall

Travel Writer: Jen Murphy

Travel Writer: Robin Esrock

Travel Writer: Michael Engelhard

Travel Writer: Kathleen Hughes