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
    • 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
    • Audiobooks
    • Anthologies
    • Introductions & Forewords
  • Videos
  • Events
  • Classes
  • Blog
    • Updates
    • Books
    • Poetry
    • Film, TV, Theater
    • Music
    • Sports
    • Writing Craft
  • Podcast
Essays & Stories India

You Have Now Entered the Tourist Zone

May 22, 2006

Why do places grow vaguely annoying once they become travel destinations?

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Dispatches India

India’s isle of ghosts

March 19, 2006

On a journey through western India, Rolf explores the former Portuguese outpost of Diu, which brims with history’s phantoms.

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Vagabonding Trip Planner

Books by Rolf

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

Podcast: Deviate with Rolf

  • An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir September 2, 2025
  • Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore) August 5, 2025
  • Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road July 1, 2025
  • Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie May 20, 2025
  • Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie May 16, 2025

Recent Blog Posts

  • Four video glimpses into the life of Alice Potts (from Wichita, Coffey County, and Saline County, Kansas) September 27, 2025
  • Remembering Alice Potts (1943-2025) September 18, 2025
  • 9 Outtakes from Robert Moor’s “On Trails” September 11, 2025
  • 6 thoughts on enhancing your screenplay by fine-tuning your villain September 9, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Jen Murphy September 1, 2025
  • 7 tips for making your writing stronger, from William Zinsser August 21, 2025

Travel Writer Interviews

  • Travel Writer: Jen Murphy September 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Robin Esrock August 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Michael Engelhard July 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Kathleen Hughes May 29, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Dustin Grinnell May 1, 2025
  • Travel Writer: Blake Boles April 3, 2025

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

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

Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie

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)

Travel Writers

Travel Writer: Jen Murphy

Travel Writer: Robin Esrock

Travel Writer: Michael Engelhard

Travel Writer: Kathleen Hughes

Travel Writer: Dustin Grinnell

Travel Writer: Blake Boles

Travel Writer: Tania Romanov

Travel Writer: Lucas Peters

Travel Writer: Pier Nirandara

Travel Writer: Troy Nahumko