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Not sure where to start? For a good overview, try Rolf's radio interview with Rick Steves, or his video discussion at Google. In the print realm, the interviews at USA Today, Eight Diagrams, World Hum, or the North Bay Bohemian make nice starting points.
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Radio, Video, and Podcasts
One on One @ National Geographic Traveler
Interview by Keith Bellows — April 2008
National Geographic Traveler editor Keith Bellows talks to Rolf about the art of long-term world travel, the legacy of the Hippie Trail, the joys of traveling in despotic countries, and Rolf's new book project about Latin American dance.
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Outtake from Odyssey: Driving Around the World
Produced by Adam Burgess — TV debut in fall of 2007
A YouTube character-reel outtake of Rolf shopping for fireworks on the El Salvador-Honduras border during a 2003 Land Rover expedition. Footage comes from the TV documentary Odyssey: Driving Around the World, which debuted internationally in the fall of 2007. [Footage begins at 00:30]
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| World Hum: Reflections on Home
Produced by Michael Yessis — November 18, 2007
In this audio slide-show, Rolf and New York Times travel columnist Matt Gross discuss where they live, and how travel has influenced how they look at home.
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Frommer's radio "Travel Show"
Hosted by Arthur and Pauline Frommer — September 16, 2007
Topics covered include the importance of work to any vagabonding journey, the cheapest regions of the world to travel these days, the inherent safety that comes with vagabonding in local economies, and the joys of traveling slow.
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Authors@Google video
Introduced by Alexander Newman — August 2, 2007
A YouTube video of Rolf talking about vagabonding and the art of long-term world travel. Includes Q&A questions from the audience.
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| SmarterTravel.com podcast
Hosted by Christine Sarkis — June 11, 2007
A podcast interview about to plan for your first solo trip. Includes reasons why solo travel beats group travel, and resources for preparing for a solo journey.
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| NPR's "Travel With Rick Steves"
Hosted by Rick Steves — May 19, 2007
In an hour-long session for this weekly public radio show, guidebook guru Rick Steves interviews Rolf about the art of long-term travel.
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| NPR's "Radio Times"
Hosted by Marty Moss-Coane — April 29, 2005
Rolf and travel writer Wendy Knight discuss the joys of solo travel with call-in listeners from WHYY in Philadelphia. [Note: Rolf joins the interview at 23:50 minutes.]
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| NPR's "On the Line"
Hosted by Brian Lehrer — March 1, 2000
Rolf joins Joe Cummings of Lonely Planet and Susan Orlean of the New Yorker to discuss the ethics and idiosyncrasies of backpacker culture in light of the Leonard DiCaprio movie, "The Beach."
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| Pusanweb interview
By Jeff Lebow — June 1999
Streaming video interview from Pusan, South Korea — Rolf's former expatriate home. Rolf talks about travel, expatriate life, and how he got started writing. |
 | Profiles and Punditry
Rolf Potts: Adventures on a shoestring
From the Times Online (U.K.) — April 2, 2008
"In a time when adventure travel is equated to deep-bush walking safaris or Arctic polar bear watching, 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... read more
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Rolf's Very Subjective Guide to Bookstores
From the National Geographic Traveler blog — December 13, 2007
"In 15 years of near-constant global travel, I've found bookstores to be both a psychic sanctum and a destination in themselves in faraway places. I seek out bookstores not just to find more...read more
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"Rolf
Potts: Traveling Mercies"
By K. Van Tassel, The Wittenburg Door — Nov./Dec. 2007
Rolf talks travel and religion with the Christian satire magazine that
published his first paying freelance story in 1992...full
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"Globetrotter says wealth lies in experiences"
By David Clouston, Salina Journal — August 14, 2007
"Few in Salina will recognize Potts when he returns from his travels to unwind at his rural farm home in Saline County. But the 36-year-old Wichita native's byline is familiar among readers of ...full article |
| "Rolf Potts On The Future Of Travel Writing"
By Tim Patterson, Brave New Traveler — August 9, 2007
"Rolf shares his thoughts on travel writing for the Internet, the intoxicating "hum of possibility" that travel generates and why "speeding off toward the horizon with a sack full of Benzedrine is not always the best way to approach a journey ...full interview |
| "Vagabonding and the Joy of Journeys"
Q&A with Tom Chiari of UConn — Posted August 2007
"Vacationing is a way of using travel to escape from life for a short time; vagabonding is a way of using travel to embrace life for an extended period. Vagabonding isn't necessarily better than vacationing — everyone needs ....full Q&A |
| "Conquering your fears and living your travel dreams"
Los Angeles Times blog series — July 5-10, 2007
"The most shocking thing when many people dream of taking time off for world-travel is not the audacity of the dream itself, but the fact that so many folks never get around to doing it. Many of us fantasize about ...full article |
| "Travel Writing and Americanness"
Q&A with Melanie Tortoroli of Harvard — Posted May 2007
"Even those Americans who presume to reject American culture do it in a very American way. Culture is stronger than you think — more visceral than intellectual — and you can't just will it away when you move overseas ....full Q&A |
| "Campaign for the American Reader Page 69 Test"
By Marshal Zeringue — January 5, 2007
Rolf analyzes Page 69 of Vagabonding as part of an independent online initiative encouraging people to read more books ...full article |
| "AirTran's Go Magazine: Dream Jobs"
By Catherine Arnold — May 2006
Rolf's travel-writing career is included in a roundup of "dream jobs," including film directors, whale naturalists, and professional poker players ...full article |
| "Rolf Potts interview: Eight Diagrams"
By Wayne Yang, Eight Diagrams — June 14, 2006
"At the time, I thought the USA journey would be a ritual of getting travel out of my system before I got serious and started a normal, stationary American life. As it turned out ...full interview |
| "Rolf Potts: Travel Writer and Vagabonding Guru"
By Nana Chen, eMarginalia — December 2005
"At 34, Rolf Potts, the author of Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel, has wandered through forty-five states and fifty-five countries. It all started a decade ago when ...full interview |
| "Global Nomads and Travel Journalism"
Q&A with Lea
Teuscher of City University (UK) — Posted October 2005
"Recently, I think traditional travel media have been conservative, more aligned to "safe" trips and attractions close to home, or without any cultural "risk". As far as I'm aware, there are very few major travel newspaper sections or magazines that cover ...full Q&A |
| "Rolf Potts on Long-Term Travel"
By Clay Hubbs, Transitions Abroad — March 2004
"Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to Long-Term Travel is a remarkably well-written book in which the author expands on virtually all the views I have presented in Transitions Abroad over the past 27 years. Like us, he keeps all his ..."full interview |
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"Young Pioneers interview"
By Dan Eldridge, Young Pioneers — Spring 2004
"At 33 years old, travel writer and self-proclaimed 'vagabond' Rolf Potts is easily the youngest pioneer featured in our Independent Travel Icons issue. If his youth alone doesn't make you jealous enough, consider that Potts'..." full interview |
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"Wanderlust turns writer into a career vagabond "
By Janet Fullwood, Sacramento Bee — November 23, 2003
"Always wanted to bum around Asia for a year but thought you couldn't afford it? Stop making excuses, counsels travel advocate Rolf Potts in a thoughtful new book about taking a break from the rat race: Vagabonding begins the moment you stop making excuses, start saving money and ..."full interview |
| "Rolf Potts Speaks Out"
By Claire Smith, Student Traveler — October 2003
"Rolf Potts wants to tell you how to travel. To be more accurate, he wants to tell you how to think when you travel. He doesn't want to suggest a destination, or what to bring, or how to get there. He's not interested in such practical thoughts — Potts is after your ...full interview |
| "Q&A with Vagabonding author Rolf Potts"
By Jim Benning, World Hum — February 4, 2003
"Rolf Potts made a name for himself writing evocative travel stories as the Vagabonding columnist at Salon.com. His piece "Storming the Beach" became an instant classic and landed him in the pages of the 2000 Best American Travel Writing anthology. Since then, Potts' writing has appeared in publications far and wide, including National Geographic Adventure and Conde Nast Traveler ...full interview |
| "Vagabonding with Rolf Potts"
By Michael McCarthy, Intentional Traveler — February 2003
"There are two types of people: those who live to work, and those who work to live. Then there is Rolf Potts, who lives to travel and to learn. At age 32, Potts is a veteran shoestring traveler with a decade of wandering the planet under his belt. In ...full interview |
| "Hitting the road: Author Rolf Potts travels in search of that very small moment"
By Gretchen Giles, North Bay Bohemian — January 23, 2003
"When Rolf Potts was 23 years old, he'd had enough rainy weather. He had $5,000 saved, a few good friends, and the van was running OK. So on New Year's Day 1994, he and some pals took off from their Northwest college home in search of sun. Thirty-eight states and eight months later, Potts realized that he'd found a new calling ... full interview |
| "For Rolf Potts, every day is a winding road"
By Jayne Clark, USA Today — January 10, 2003
"Rolf Potts is living a life that most avid travelers only dream of. While most of us make do with a carefully orchestrated 10 days here, two weeks there, the 32-year-old from Wichita has been moving through Asia and Europe and North Africa for the past six years. He has learned a thing or two along the way ...full interview |
| The Significance of Salon Travel
By Jim Benning, Online Journalism Review — September 2000 |
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BlurbsBook reviews
Commentary and criticism on Rolf's book and anthology appearances, featuring outtakes from Outpost, Publisher's Weekly, MSNBC, the Oxford American, the Globe and Mail Kirkus Reviews, the Boston Globe, the Seattle Weekly and Amazon.com. |
