Blog - Rolf Potts

American Pilgrim: Revisiting Rolf’s lost Travel Channel Thanksgiving special 24.11.2020 ↓

An audio remix of Rolf's old Thanksgiving Special for the Travel Channel

Solo travel: Celebrating the pleasures of (and strategies for) journeying alone 17.11.2020 ↓

The pleasures of (and strategies for) traveling solo, with Stephanie Rosenbloom

Vagabonding audio companion: Time Wealth and the spiritual texture of travel 10.11.2020 ↓

A "Vagabonding Audio Companion" episode, on the core principles of long-term world travel.

Coming-of-age on the road as a dirtbag backpacker (with Pam Mandel) 03.11.2020 ↓

Author Pam Mandel reflects on stories from her new travel book, "The Same River Twice"

On penis theft, creepy clowns, anxiety, and how culture tells us what is real 27.10.2020 ↓

Author Frank Bures on how culture-bound syndromes like "penis theft" aren't as weird as they might seem.

Pandemic love, cheating death, & cassette tapes: A personal history of nostalgia 13.10.2020 ↓

A meditation on the peculiar power of memories, 50 years into life

A folk history of Satanic Panic, backmasking, and rock music in the 1980s 06.10.2020 ↓

A personal history of becoming a rock music fan amid 1980s Satanic Panic

What it’s like to travel 37 countries (and counting) in a wheelchair 29.09.2020 ↓

Vagabonders Cory Lee and Zachary York talk about traveling the globe with physical disabilities

20 lessons learned from 20 years as a travel writer: A TravelCon keynote 22.09.2020 ↓

Rolf shares his keynote address from the 2018 TravelCon gathering

Sex, travel, and the art of being a better bad tourist (with Suzanne Roberts) 15.09.2020 ↓

Travel writer Suzanne Roberts on sex, beggars, and other ragged edges of the travel experience.

Drunk in China: A vicarious Middle Kingdom adventure via its favorite booze 08.09.2020 ↓

How appreciating baijiu liquor can help you better understand and experience Chinese culture

Growing up racially diverse: A not-so-politically-correct roundtable 01.09.2020 ↓

Rolf and his high school friends discuss racial diversity as they experienced it growing up.

Eric Weiner’s journey into the ways philosophy compels us to live better 25.08.2020 ↓

Author Eric Weiner on what time-honored philosophy teaches us about self-improvement

Life changing travel experiences: The best hostel ever (in Cairo) 18.08.2020 ↓

Celebrating the joys of travel hostels, and memories of an iconic hostel stay in Cairo

Brian Koppelman on the intimacy of podcasting and the genius of Iron Maiden 11.08.2020 ↓

Why we love specific albums from specific artists at specific times in our lives

Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s 04.08.2020 ↓

Author Ed Buryn on the timeless principles of independent travel

Kevin Kelly on how travel has changed over the past 50 years [rebroadcast] 28.07.2020 ↓

Futurist (and Wired magazine co-founder) Kevin Kelly on how travel has changed

Remembering Bettina Gilois (and what writers can learn from her work) 21.07.2020 ↓

Rebroadcast in honor of Emmy-nominated screenwriter Bettina Gilois (1961-2020)

Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die 14.07.2020 ↓

How to handle it when your parents die: A conversation with my parents

Bonus: Unpacking the mission of travel-writing in the 21st century 07.07.2020 ↓

Bonus: What travel-writing means in the 21st century, with Doug Bock Clark

What the world’s last subsistence hunters can teach us about humanity 02.07.2020 ↓

Author Doug Bock Clark on traveling Indonesia's last subsistence whaling culture

Revisiting The Great Gatsby, high-school-style, in quarantine 30.06.2020 ↓

Rolf and his high school friends' quarantine book club: The Great Gatsby

Why travelers visit museums (in places like Iceland), and what they find there 23.06.2020 ↓

Why travelers seek out museums (especially in Iceland)

Life changing travel experiences: Jumping freight trains in the Pacific NW 16.06.2020 ↓

Rolf and his friend Brian recall the experience of jumping freight trains as young men

Kate Harris on the way travel can lead us into deeper questions about the universe 09.06.2020 ↓

"Lands of Lost Borders" author Kate Harris on how travel puts us in touch with life's deepest questions