Friends and vagabonders,
Twenty years to the month after my first international vagabonding journey, I have embarked on another multi-month adventure through Asia. Back in 1999 the journey began in Bangkok, lasted nearly three years, led to my first book Vagabonding, and was largely chronicled in my second book Marco Polo Didn’t Go There.
I had thought to begin my 2019 travels in the Thailand footsteps of twenty years earlier — but I ultimately decided that the spirit of that old journey was more important than its itinerary. This in mind, I’ve elected to travel through a host of new (to me) regions over the course of the winter – including Sumatra, Sri Lanka, Oman, the United Arab Emirates, Armenia, and the Republic of Georgia.
Essay- and podcast-length tales from this adventure will debut eventually, but for occasional travel updates in real-time be sure to follow my Instagram and Twitter accounts. I am undertaking this new Asia vagabonding journey with flight assistance from my podcast sponsor AirTreks, which for the past three decades has been helping vagabonders build inexpensive multi-stop and round-the-world itineraries for long-term travel. For a full run-down of AirTreks specials, check out my affiliate page.
Deviate Podcast: Season One Recap
Deviate, which debuted in the iTunes Top-50 in late 2017 (with a lot of help from my first guest, Tim Ferriss), completed its 52-episode Season One run in November of 2018. The podcast will be on hiatus as I travel this winter, though I hope to debut Season Two sometime this spring.
Based on pure audience numbers, here were the most popular episodes from Season One:
- Ari Shaffir on travel, memory, and the odd psychology of souvenirs
- Bestselling author Tim Ferriss on how to create a successful podcast
- Everest mountaineer Alison Levine on introversion and finding mentors
- Kevin Kelly on the lost world of 1970s Asia (and why you should travel now)
- Celebrating the best places to live (and the quest for home) in America
- Theroux Paul Theroux on the art of listening, and the necessary obstacles of deep travel
- Remembering Bourdain, and what we talk about when we talk about travel writing
- White Zombie guitarist J. Yuenger on music, expat life, and long-term travel
- The great railway bizarre: A Trans-Siberian story (plus audio endnotes)
- Author Pam Houston on the joys of creating home amid a lifetime of travel
Other popular and memorable episodes include a conversation with punk pioneer Ian MacKaye, an exploration of Satanic Panic in 1980s rock, a deep-dive into the political history of America’s national anthem, a tribute to 1980s teen movies, a reflection on the Sears Christmas Wish Book, a conversation about death and dying in America, and a chat with Beat Generation luminary Charles Plymell.
Due to exuberant audience demand, Season Two of Deviate will feature more travel-themed episodes. An index of Season One episodes, with links to show notes, can be found at the show’s RolfPotts.com archive. Please consider subscribing via iTunes, Stitcher, or other podcast aggregators.
New summer writing classes in Paris
Each July I direct a creative writing workshop in the artistic heart of Europe. For 2019 I’ve added several new short-form classes in Paris, including:
Travel Memoir Workshop (June 17-21, 2019)
A five-day intensive short course on the art and craft of travel memoir and personal essays about journeys and places. Instruction mixes lectures, generative writing assignments, group workshops, and one-on-one consultations.
Big-Idea Book Bootcamp (Aug. 11-16, 2019)
Learn skills and strategies to write your game-changing lifestyle book in this intensive one-week small-group workshop. Instruction includes 1-on-1 consultations, group workshops, roundtables, and craft classes to help develop your writing skills and mental approach.
“Dark Paris” Writing Retreat (July 29-Aug. 9, 2019)
I’ll teach the journal-writing portion of this two-week workshop and interactive city retreat focusing on horror, dark fantasy, gothic, and supernatural fiction. Other instructors include American Vampire writer Clay McLeod Chapman and young-adult horror writer Alex Dawson.
Paris Writing Workshop (June 30-July 27, 2019)
Now in its fifteenth year, this interdisciplinary one-month English-language writing workshop includes instruction in travel writing, memoir and personal essay, fiction, poetry, journal writing, and screenwriting.
To receive an application for any of these classes, just email an inquiry to info@pariswritingworkshop.com.
Travels, podcasts, and classes aside, please be sure to bookmark my RolfPotts.com blog, where I occasionally post essays (like this one on the definition of home, or this one on the death of Anthony Bourdain), writing tips, classic poems, and literary outtakes from the likes of Edward Abbey, Susan Sontag, James Baldwin, Paul Fussell, and Thomas Merton.
Happy vagabonding, everyone!
Share This
