Rolf Potts

Rolf Potts

Travel Writer, Essayist, Adventurer, Teacher

Rolf Potts

  • About
    • Bio
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  • 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
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  • Podcast
Essays & Stories Korea

Expats in Asia

October 24, 2006

Korean-born U.S. filmmaker Wonsuk Chin is making a movie that is partially inspired by Rolf’s 1990’s expatriate writings about Busan. With the movie in pre-production, Rolf travels to Korea to meet Chin and reflect on the expat experience.

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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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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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Dispatches, Travel Korea

Ignorants abroad

June 22, 1998

An American expatriate weathers the slings and arrows of learning another language.

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Books by Rolf

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

Podcast: Deviate with Rolf

  • 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
  • Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025) September 30, 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

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

Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 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