Potts is perhaps best known for promoting the ethic of independent travel, and his book on the subject, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel (Random House, 2003), has been through eight printings and translated into several foreign languages. His essays have appeared in over twenty literary anthologies, and fifteen of his stories have been short-listed for The Best American Travel Writing, including "Storming 'The Beach,'" which Bill Bryson chose as a main selection in 2000, and "Tantric Sex for Dilettantes," which Tim Cahill selected in 2006. His writing for National Geographic Traveler, Slate.com, Lonely Planet, and Outside garnered him Lowell Thomas Awards in 2003, 2004, 2006 and 2007; and he's been cited as an expert on independent travel by publications around the world, from National Geographic Adventure, to TIME Asia, to Italy's La Stampa daily, to the Australian Financial Review, to the Russian edition of Newsweek.

Though he rarely stays in one place for more than a few weeks or months, Potts feels somewhat at home in Bangkok, Cairo, Pusan, New Orleans, and north-central Kansas, where he keeps a small farmhouse on 30 acres near his family. Each July he can be found in France, where he is the summer writer-in-residence at the Paris American Academy.

"... Jack Kerouac for the Internet Age..."
—USA Today

"... [O]ne of the few young writers I know who is really bringing the high literary tradition of travel into the new century with a special brand of eloquence and wit and openness."
—Pico Iyer, author of Video Night in Kathmandu

"... a renowned shoestring traveler whose 2003 book, Vagabonding, is a crucial reference for any budget wanderer."
—TIME Magazine

"Rolf Potts is at the forefront of a new generation of literary travel writers that came of age with the Internet."
—Bookmarks Magazine

"Potts is arguably the best, and most consistent, individual travel writer and blogger on the web."
—Frommers.com (Editor's Choice)

"Potts makes a valuable contribution to our thinking, not only about travel, but about life and work. And he leaves us with a prescription for making our lives more meaningful and more fun."
—Boston Globe

"Rolf is one of the sharpest minds among the new generation of travel writers and bloggers."
—Rick Steves "Travel With Rick Steves"

"Potts encourages us to think about travel in a way that has been almost lost. He wants us to wander, to explore, to embrace the unknown and, finally, to take our own damn time about it."
—Tim Cahill, founding editor of Outside Magazine

"Anyone who enjoyed Rolf Potts's travel essays during the heyday of Salon.com already has an appreciation for his descriptive flair and storytelling ability. Unlike so many "I-went-here-and-this-happened" travel writers, his pieces are heavy on cultural nuance and light on self-aggrandizement."
—Globe and Mail (Canada)

"The foremost chronicler of the budget travel trail...Potts proves himself to be among the most patient, intelligent, well-read and culturally understanding travelers to pick up a pen."
—Young Pioneers

"Potts is one of the best new talents out there, and may become the next Paul Theroux."
—Lonely Planet author Joe Cummings, in Peace Corps Writers

"[A] world-class vagabond and journalist."
—Peter Greenberg, Travel Today Radio

"He's been drugged and robbed in Istanbul, checked out brothels in Cambodia where prostitutes are identified by numbers, and shopped for donkeys in the Libyan Desert. Rolf Potts usually has an interesting answer to the mundane question, 'So, what did you do today?'"
—San Francisco Examiner

"Author, journalist, and inveterate traveler, Rolf Potts has made a name for himself as a champion of vagabonding — spending extended time on the road, often without a hard-and-fast itinerary."
—National Geographic Traveler

"Rolf Potts, author of the book "Vagabonding" and perhaps the most successful, prolific travel writer to emerge in the past 10 years, captures the mindset of travel... As Potts points out, travel is about being a student of life."
—Times-Delta

"[RolfPotts.com is] a view into the adventurous life, distinguished work and provocative thoughts of an extremely talented young writer."
—Transitions Abroad

"Potts has a inimitable sense of humor, and his writing reflects a sharp eye for detail and for the absurd."
—Gadling.com

"Rolf Potts is a young, iconoclastic traveler and gonzo writer with a fresh voice..."
—Daily Herald

"If you find pleasure in following the exploits of just one man, voyeuristically living through the adventures of writer Rolf Potts is not a bad choice."
—Seven Days Vermont

"We wanted to know if it is still possible to have great, life changing adventures on a shoestring. Few are better equipped to answer this question than Rolf Potts."
—Times Online (U.K.)

"Rolf Potts ist ein Weltreisender."
—Lufthansa Magazine

"Get on the road. Never come back. Join Rolf Potts on his never-ending journey."
—Lonely Planet online