Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts

Travel Writer, Essayist, Adventurer, Teacher

Rolf Potts

  • About
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  • Writing
    • Essays & Travel Stories
    • Dispatches
    • Travel Writer Profiles
    • No Baggage Challenge
    • Vagablogging
  • Books
    • The Vagabond’s Way
    • Vagabonding
    • Souvenir
    • Marco Polo Didn’t Go There
    • The Geto Boys (33 1/3)
    • The Misadventures of Wenamun
    • La déchirante histoire de l’homme qui inventa le livre de poche
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Film, TV, Theater, Books, Essays & Stories, Travel

Storming “The Beach”

January 30, 1999

When he tries to infiltrate a movie set on a heavily guarded Thai island, Rolf embarks on a rollicking post-modern travel adventure, somewhat starring Leonardo DiCaprio.

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Essays & Stories Korea

Man bites dog

October 28, 1998

Koreans and Americans both love dogs — they just have a different way of showing it.

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Poetry, Essays & Stories

Staring Off Into Space is an Investment in the Soul

September 1, 1998

Poetry: “Looking at a steer and / imagining balls is not / nearly so hard as / looking at balls and / imagining a bull.”

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Essays & Stories, Travel

A look back at the Korean presidential election of 1997

June 24, 1998

Political commentary: Dissident politician Kim Dae-jung was not (as Time declared upon his inauguration) “Destiny’s Choice” to lead Korea into the new millennium, but the beneficiary of mudslinging, opportunism and circumstantial luck amid a wacky 1997 election season.

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Essays & Stories U.S.A.

The Mystical High Church of Luck

April 28, 1998

Rolf goes to Las Vegas with $5 in his pocket, discovers the Mystical High Church of Luck — and ends up losing $100.

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Essays & Stories, Travel

Letter from Korea: September 1997

September 15, 1997

Commentary: Simon Peter once found that a relatively small amount of faith allows a man to walk on water, but he was never faced with the more relevant prospect of navigating intersections in a city where 15.5-ton Hyundai buses careen four abreast down streets originally designed for oxcarts.

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Books, Essays & Stories

A review of Robert Bly’s The Sibling Society

September 16, 1996

Book Review: Robert Bly’s The Sibling Society is the latest doom-oracle for those born after the advent of polyester clothing. Conveniently, society is never as good as it was during the time when a given doomsayer came of age, and everything since has been a slippery slide on the downward spiral.

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Vagabonding Trip Planner

Books by Rolf

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

Podcast: Deviate with Rolf

  • Mars on Earth: The world’s driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there May 6, 2025
  • Why a chapter about “slum tourism” was edited out of The Vagabond’s Way (with Chloe Cooper Jones) April 1, 2025
  • Long-term travel 101: Matt Kepnes on how to slow down and save money on an extended global journey March 25, 2025
  • Travel memoir lab: On blending travel narrative with a broader memoiristic life-narrative March 4, 2025
  • How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves’ life (and influenced Rolf’s travels too) February 11, 2025

Recent Blog Posts

  • On travel writing, writing classes, community, mentorship, and how travel fosters creativity May 8, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Dustin Grinnell May 1, 2025
  • An audio book-club podcast companion to Rolf’s 2022 book “The Vagabond’s Way” April 24, 2025
  • 18 essential bits of creative advice from Kevin Kelly’s “Excellent Advice for Living” April 17, 2025
  • A return, once again, to Khao San Road (my neophyte backpacker travel home more than 25 years ago) April 10, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Blake Boles April 3, 2025

Travel Writer Interviews

  • Travel Writer: Dustin Grinnell May 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Blake Boles April 3, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Tania Romanov March 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Lucas Peters February 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Pier Nirandara January 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Troy Nahumko December 1, 2024

Books

The Vagabond’s Way

The Vagabond’s Way

Lands of Lost Borders

Tools of Titans

The 33 1/3 B-sides

Vagabonding

Souvenir

Marco Polo Didn’t Go There

The Misadventures of Wenamun

The Geto Boys (33 1/3)

Recent Podcasts

Mars on Earth: The world’s driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there

Why a chapter about “slum tourism” was edited out of The Vagabond’s Way (with Chloe Cooper Jones)

Long-term travel 101: Matt Kepnes on how to slow down and save money on an extended global journey

Travel memoir lab: On blending travel narrative with a broader memoiristic life-narrative

How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves’ life (and influenced Rolf’s travels too)

A travel writers’ Super Bowl special: Pico Iyer and Rolf discuss NFL football from the global perspective

Pico Iyer on how solitude, stillness, and silence play an essential counterbalance to the traveling life

Life changing travel experiences: Memories of traveling to Syria, 25 years on (with Ari Shaffir)

Travel memoir lab: How to fast-track your travel book by working with a hybrid publisher

HoneyTrek: A case study in making a full-time living as travel influencers and content creators

Travel Writers

Travel Writer: Dustin Grinnell

Travel Writer: Blake Boles

Travel Writer: Tania Romanov

Travel Writer: Lucas Peters

Travel Writer: Pier Nirandara

Travel Writer: Troy Nahumko

Travel Writer: Laura Kiniry

Travel Writer: Rosie Bell

Travel Writer: James Michael Dorsey

Travel Writer: Shahnaz Habib