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
    • 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)
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    • Kansas Never Plays Itself
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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

  • Travel memoir lab: How your journeys can inspire fictional adventure stories September 7, 2026
  • Best of Travel: Paul Theroux on the necessary obstacles of meaningful journeys August 4, 2026
  • The geography of sports movies (with Chuck Klosterman and Michael Weinreb) July 3, 2026
  • Designing a creative life on your own terms (with Cedar Van Tassel) June 2, 2026
  • What movies (do and don’t) show us about places before we travel there May 5, 2026

Recent Blog Posts

  • Notes from an interview about the 21st-century legacy of the “Mile-High Club” September 10, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Daniel Scheffler September 1, 2026
  • Five of my favorite cartoons from Edward Steed’s “Forces of Nature” August 20, 2026
  • MISL 1980s: Tales From a Lost Soccer League (foreword, by Rolf Potts) August 13, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Brendan Shanahan August 1, 2026
  • “Jane Room Superman,” by Rolf Potts (1998) July 23, 2026

Travel Writer Interviews

  • Travel Writer: Daniel Scheffler September 1, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Brendan Shanahan August 1, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Angie Chuang July 1, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Perry Garfinkel June 1, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Caroline Van Hemert May 1, 2026
  • Travel Writer: Rachel Rudwall April 2, 2026

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

Travel memoir lab: How your journeys can inspire fictional adventure stories

Best of Travel: Paul Theroux on the necessary obstacles of meaningful journeys

The geography of sports movies (with Chuck Klosterman and Michael Weinreb)

Designing a creative life on your own terms (with Cedar Van Tassel)

What movies (do and don’t) show us about places before we travel there

Exploring the idiosyncrasies of male friendship, with Andrew McCarthy

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

Travel Writers

Travel Writer: Daniel Scheffler

Travel Writer: Brendan Shanahan

Travel Writer: Angie Chuang

Travel Writer: Perry Garfinkel

Travel Writer: Caroline Van Hemert

Travel Writer: Rachel Rudwall

Travel Writer: Erin Levi

Travel Writer: Jen Rose Smith

Travel Writer: Natalie Compton

Travel Writer: Mark Orwoll