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
Dispatches, No Baggage Challenge, Travel U.S.A.

Why Rolf is Traveling Around the World With No Luggage

August 19, 2010

From his home in rural Kansas, Rolf lays out the reasons why he wanted to circumnavigate the globe without so much as a fanny pack or a man-purse.

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Essays & Stories U.S.A.

A Vagabond Finds a Home

November 18, 2007

Rolf finally found a place to call his own — a bunkhouse overlooking the Kansas prairie. It’s infused with the lessons he’d learned from 13 years living out of a backpack.

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Essays & Stories U.S.A.

The New B Movie

October 7, 2007

Why your video store stocks “mockbusters” alongside the blockbusters: A look at how one Hollywood B-movie studio stays in business.

Dispatches U.S.A.

In New Orleans: The Allure of Disaster Tourism

March 13, 2006

Is it weird to want to visit the flood-ravaged Lower Ninth Ward during Mardi Gras 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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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