Episodes
-
Sense of place in cinema: Las Vegas Never Plays Itself, with Tod Goldberg
“Las Vegas is hard to capture in art without leaning on cliche. The movie Casino doesn’t lean on cliche because it created the cliche. The Hangover created the cliche for this next generation. Culture is is causing people to act a certain way when they get to Las Vegas.” – Tod Goldberg In this...
-
Travel memoir lab: How your journeys can inspire fictional adventure stories
“That first day in Mumbai, there was the slum to the side of us, there were sports cars that would have cost hundreds of thousands of dollars next to people walking with no feet next to 200 people crammed into a bus. Separating those layers in a nuanced way lifts the writing that shows that…
-
Best of Travel: Paul Theroux on the necessary obstacles of meaningful journeys
“All writing is trying to destroy a stereotype, and the individual that you’re writing about — the figure in the landscape — is actually the ideal.” —Paul Theroux Paul Theroux‘s highly acclaimed novels include Blinding Light, My Other Life, and The Mosquito Coast. His 1975 book The Great Railway...
-
The geography of sports movies (with Chuck Klosterman and Michael Weinreb)
“”When I was in the third grade my teacher announced to our class that Ronald Reagan had been shot. When she asked if we had questions, I raised my hand and asked her if the Indiana – North Carolina basketball game was still going to happen that night.” – Chuck Klosterman In this episode of...
-
Designing a creative life on your own terms (with Cedar Van Tassel)
“A joke is kind of like a little life-lesson in addition to being funny. If your joke is really good, there’s a little nugget of truth in it.” – Cedar Van Tassel In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Cedar discuss why kids want to be paleontologists and astronauts, and the existential “book” Cedar...
-
What movies (do and don’t) show us about places before we travel there
“When we don’t foster local filmmaking traditions, we end up making movies about what we think life is like in the cities we do see movies about.” – Jason Bailey In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Jason talk about how being from Kansas influenced their careers as travel writers and film…
more -
Talking about sense of place and “Kansas Never Plays Itself” on Yonder Radio
This week I appeared on Yonder Radio, an hour-long audio show and podcast produced by the Center for Rural Strategies, to talk about my feature-length found-footage video essay Kansas Never Plays Itself, which draws on a century of film to analyze how cinematic shorthand shapes the public’s...
-
Exploring the idiosyncrasies of male friendship, with Andrew McCarthy
“I asked everyone if they were lonely. All the guys my age said ‘no, I’m too busy; too much going on.’ When I answer that quickly I’m either lying or it’s something I’m afraid of.” – Andrew McCarthy In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Andrew talk about why Andrew took a USA road trip to reconnect…
-
Debunking the mythology of BEFORE SUNRISE, with co-writer Kim Krizan (in Paris)
“I think you have to pick your battles when you’re collaborating with people.” – Kim Krizan Kim Krizan (@kimkrizan) is the Oscar-nominated cowriter of the Before Sunrise movies, and the author of Spy in the House of Anaïs Nin. Notable Links:
-
Super Bowl special: Why football kind of matters, with Chuck Klosterman (kind of)
“I wish I loved sports, and particularly football, a lot less than I do. It consumes too much of my memory and too much of my time.” – Chuck Klosterman In this episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about why he’s talking to Chuck Klosterman’s former roommate Michael Weinreb about Chuck’s book Football,...
-
Time is your truest form of wealth (and travel helps you embrace your riches)
“In teaching us to appreciate rather than accumulate – to seek awe rather than outcomes – travel can be an ongoing exercise in gratitude.” – Rolf Potts In this episode of Deviate, Rolf remixes his interview from the All the Hacks podcast, with Chris Hutchins. They discuss the concept of “Time...
-
Kansas Never Plays Itself: How movies lie when they take us places
In this feature-length video essay that explores the role places play in storytelling, Rolf examines how Kansas — his home state — has been imagined, distorted, and mythologized in cinema and television for more than a century. Blending archival film clips, historical analysis, and deeply…
more -
Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012)
"All the Light We Cannot See" novelist Anthony Doerr and Rolf talk about travel and writing (from 2012)
-
Talking with my parents about how to handle it when your parents die (in memory of Alice Potts, 1943-2025)
Note: This encore episode is dedicated to the memory of Alice Potts, who died on August 20, 2025, aged 81. “In America aging is often seen as an insult rather than an inevitable human process. We don’t celebrate getting older; we ‘fight’ age by pretending to be young.” –Rolf Potts In this episode...
-
An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir
Writing-craft lessons from Rolf's would-be first book, 'Pilgrims in a Sliding World."
-
Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore)
Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s
-
Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road
Journalist and broadcaster Ash Bhardwaj on the motivations of travel.
-
Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie
Kim Krizan, who cowrote Before Sunrise with director Richard Linklater, talks about the travels (and historical moment) that influenced the movie
-
Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie
Kim Krizan, who cowrote Before Sunrise with director Richard Linklater, talks about the travels (and historical moment) that influenced the movie.
-
Mars on Earth: The world’s driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there
Mars on Earth: Wanderings in the World's Driest Desert
-
Why a chapter about “slum tourism” was edited out of The Vagabond’s Way (with Chloe Cooper Jones)
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
Long-term travel 101: Matt Kepnes on how to save money on an extended journey
-
Travel memoir lab: On blending travel narrative with a broader memoiristic life-narrative
Travel memoir lab: How to blend travel writing with a broader memoiristic life narrative
-
How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves’ life (and influenced Rolf’s travels too)
How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves' life (and influenced Rolf's travels too)
-
A travel writers’ Super Bowl special: Pico Iyer and Rolf discuss NFL football from the global perspective
A travel writers' Super Bowl special: Pico Iyer and Rolf discuss NFL football from the global perspective
-
Pico Iyer on how solitude, stillness, and silence play an essential counterbalance to the traveling life
Pico Iyer on how solitude, stillness, and silence play an essential counterbalance to the traveling life
-
Life changing travel experiences: Memories of traveling to Syria, 25 years on (with Ari Shaffir)
Life changing travel experiences: Memories of Syria, 25 years on (with Ari Shaffir)
-
Travel memoir lab: How to fast-track your travel book by working with a hybrid publisher
Travel memoir lab: How to fast-track your travel book by working with a hybrid publisher
-
HoneyTrek: A case study in making a full-time living as travel influencers and content creators
Mike and Anne Howard of Honey Trek talk about working as travel influencers and content creators
-
Live from Bali: How tourists, influencers, and nomads transform destinations (for good and for bad)
How tourists, influencers, and nomads transform destinations
-
A new film, shot in Kansas, aims to show what is possible for women’s artistic voices in rural America
Jenny Inzerillo of High Plains Public Radio’s “High Plains Morning” chats with actress/writer Kristen Bush about her film THE GAME CAMERA, the Rural Women Films initiative, and its artistic mission to uplift female voices in rural America. CONDENSED TRANSCRIPT Jenny Inzerillo: Folks, you are…
more -
Vagabonding audio companion: Obnoxious travelers (and how to avoid being one)
Ugly Americans (and non-Americans) on the road, and how to avoid being one
-
What you discover when you walk down every single street in New York City (encore)
Matt Green walked across America, then walked down every street in NYC. This is his story.
-
A history and future of digital and biological technology, with Jane Metcalfe
“We need positive visions of how all this technology gets deployed, because what we visualize is what we build.” –Jane Metcalfe In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Jane talk about the pioneering work she did with Wired during the dawn of the “digital revolution” (3:00); how and why Jane’s...
-
Bicycling across the USA (with no money or food) looking for human connection
Filmmaker Daniel Troia talks about his experience of biking across the USA with no food or money
-
Wonder Year: The Art of Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling
Insider tips for family vagabonding and worldschooling
-
How Rolf Ruined the 1990s: A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band
Rolf reflects on the music of Elliott Smith, Nirvana, and his own Pacific NW grunge band, Swizzlefish
-
Walk and Talk: Notes from a peripatetic salon across northern Thailand
An ambulatory field report from a "Walk and Talk" moving salon across northern Thailand
-
Essential tips and strategies for telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy
Essential tips and strategies for telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy
-
What it’s like to spend a full year traveling within a day’s radius of your home
What it's like to spend a full year traveling within a day's radius of your home, with Alastair Humphreys
-
Sports, superstitions, and sacraments: A Deviate Super Bowl Special (2024 remix)
Deviate Super Bowl Special: Superstitions, sacraments, and the weird emotional power of sports
-
Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth, and “success management”
Bestselling author Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth and "success management"
-
The best journeys explore mindscapes as well as landscapes (book club remix)
Road rituals, imagination, and bringing the mindset of travel back home (Vagabond's Way book club remix)
-
Going abroad for love, and travel writing that says something new about a place
Author Thomas Swick's on coming of age overseas in Poland, and becoming a travel writer
-
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club redo)
Authenticity, the wisdom of place, and how to act off the beaten path (Vagabond's Way online book club, redo of e229)
-
Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
-
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club remix)
Authenticity, the wisdom of place, and how to act off the beaten path (Vagabond's Way online book club)
-
Vagabonding audio companion: A life in (and philosophy of) long-term travel
Vagabonding audio companion: The story behind Rolf's travel career and philosophy
-
KCUR “Central Standard” radio interview with Rolf
A Kansas-based travel writer on our obsession with souvenirs. Interview by Gina Kaufmann Rolf Potts, travel writer and author of Souvenir A miniature Eiffel Tower, a plastic snowglobe that encases the White House, a seashell from the beach … we don’t give much thought to souvenirs. A travel…
more -
Raising My Parents in Mongolia
When Rolf's parents accompany him on a trip to Mongolia, he suddenly finds the whole parent-child dynamic reversed. But who's teaching whom a lesson?
We're indexing this podcast's transcripts for the first time — this can take a minute or two. We'll show results as soon as they're ready.
No matches for "" in this podcast's transcripts.
No topics indexed yet for this podcast.
Loading reviews...
ABOUT THIS SHOW
Travel Writer, Essayist, Adventurer, Teacher
Loading similar podcasts...
Frequently Asked Questions
How many episodes does Blog - Rolf Potts have?
Blog - Rolf Potts currently has 750 episodes available on PodParley. New episodes are automatically indexed when they're published to the podcast feed.
What is Blog - Rolf Potts about?
Travel Writer, Essayist, Adventurer, Teacher
How often does Blog - Rolf Potts release new episodes?
Blog - Rolf Potts releases new episodes frequently with a large back catalog of 750 episodes. Check the episode list for recent publication dates.
Where can I listen to Blog - Rolf Potts?
You can listen to Blog - Rolf Potts on PodParley by clicking any episode. We provide an embedded audio player for direct listening, and you can also subscribe via your preferred podcast app using the RSS feed.
URL copied to clipboard!