Rolf Potts (born October 13, 1970) is an American

travel writer The genre of travel literature or travelogue encompasses outdoor literature, guide books, nature writing, and travel memoirs. History Early examples of travel literature include the '' Periplus of the Erythraean Sea'' (generally considered ...

, essayist, podcaster, and author. He has written five books, including ''Vagabonding'' (Random House, 2003), ''Marco Polo Didn't Go There'' (Travelers Tales, 2008), ''Souvenir'' (Bloomsbury, 2018), and ''The Vagabond's Way'' (Ballantine, 2022). The lifestyle philosophies he outlined in ''Vagabonding'' are considered to have been a key influence on the

digital nomad A digital nomad is a person who travels freely while working remotely using information and communications technology such as the Internet. Such people generally have minimal material possessions and work remotely in temporary housing, hotels, c ...

movement.

Career

Online journalism

The son of schoolteachers from

Wichita, Kansas Wichita ( ) is the List of cities in Kansas, most populous city in the U.S. state of Kansas and the county seat of Sedgwick County, Kansas, Sedgwick County. As of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, the population of the city was 397, ...

, Potts' earliest vagabonding journeys included hopping freight trains across the

Pacific Northwest The Pacific Northwest (PNW; ) is a geographic region in Western North America bounded by its coastal waters of the Pacific Ocean to the west and, loosely, by the Rocky Mountains to the east. Though no official boundary exists, the most common ...

, and taking an eight-month "van life before #VanLife" Volkswagen Vanagon journey around North America in the early 1990s. He later taught English in

Busan Busan (), officially Busan Metropolitan City, is South Korea's second list of cities in South Korea by population, most populous city after Seoul, with a population of over 3.3 million as of 2024. Formerly romanized as Pusan, it is the economi ...

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia. It constitutes the southern half of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and borders North Korea along the Korean Demilitarized Zone, with the Yellow Sea to the west and t ...

before embarking on a pioneering multi-year digital nomad journey, writing from-the-road travel dispatches for such dialup-era online outlets as salonmagazine.com (which later became

Salon.com ''Salon'' is an American politically progressive and liberal news and opinion website created in 1995. It publishes articles on U.S. politics, culture, and current events. Content and coverage ''Salon'' covers a variety of topics, includ ...

). In 1999, while traveling in

Thailand Thailand, officially the Kingdom of Thailand and historically known as Siam (the official name until 1939), is a country in Southeast Asia on the Mainland Southeast Asia, Indochinese Peninsula. With a population of almost 66 million, it spa ...

, Potts attempted to infiltrate the film-set of a

Leonardo DiCaprio Leonardo Wilhelm DiCaprio (; ; born November 11, 1974) is an American actor and film producer. Known for Leonardo DiCaprio filmography, his work in biographical and period films, he is the recipient of List of awards and nominations received ...

movie called '' The Beach''. His essay about the experience, "Storming 'The Beach'," was chosen by

Bill Bryson William McGuire Bryson ( ; born 8 December 1951) is an American-British journalist and author. Bryson has written a number of nonfiction books on topics including travel, the English language, and science. Born in the United States, he has be ...

for inclusion in ''The American Travel Writing 2000''. ''Poets & Writers'' later noted that, "the story, far from being an account of a simple-minded stunt, was actually a fantastic narrative mixed with meditations on the 'shadowlike ironies of travel culture,'

Walker Percy Walker Percy, Oblate of Saint Benedict, OblSB (May 28, 1916 – May 10, 1990) was an American writer whose interests included philosophy and semiotics. Percy is noted for his philosophical novels set in and around New Orleans; his first, ''Th ...

's 'traveler's angst,' and 'the greater struggle for individuality in the information age.'" In 2022, more than two decades after "Storming 'The Beach'" went viral, ''Uproxx'' noted that it "ushered in a new era of young, web-first...travel writing that influenced a generation." Potts' travel writing has appeared in venues such as ''Outside'', ''National Geographic Traveler,'' ''Slate'', and ''The Atlantic''. In 2010, he wrote and field-produced an online video series about a six-week journey that took him around the world with no luggage or bags of any kind. In addition to writing about travel, Potts has also written about U.S. military reading lists for ''The New Yorker'', Islamist

Sayyid Qutb Sayyid Ibrahim Husayn Shadhili Qutb (9 October 190629 August 1966) was an Egyptian political theorist and revolutionary who was a leading member of the Muslim Brotherhood. As the author of 24 books, with around 30 books unpublished for differe ...

's travel memoirs for ''The Believer'',

mockbuster A mockbuster (also known as knockbuster or drafting opportunity) is a film created to exploit the publicity of another major motion picture with a similar title or subject. Mockbusters are often made with a low budget and quick production to maxi ...

B-movies for the ''New York Times Magazine'',

Allen Ginsberg Irwin Allen Ginsberg (; June 3, 1926 – April 5, 1997) was an American poet and writer. As a student at Columbia University in the 1940s, he began friendships with Lucien Carr, William S. Burroughs and Jack Kerouac, forming the core of th ...

's poem " Wichita Vortex Sutra" for ''The Nation'', and the murder of small-college football player Brandon Brown for ''Sports Illustrated''.

Books

''Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel'', Potts' first book, mixes practical advice with philosophical insights about the value of travel. Upon its release in 2003, the ''Boston Globe'' called it "a valuable contribution to our thinking, not only about travel, but about life and work." ''USA Today'' dubbed the author "

Jack Kerouac Jean-Louis Lebris de Kérouac (; March 12, 1922 – October 21, 1969), known as Jack Kerouac, was an American novelist and poet who, alongside William S. Burroughs and Allen Ginsberg, was a pioneer of the Beat Generation. Of French-Canadian ...

for the Internet Age" (Potts has downplayed the comparison). The book has been through more than 30 printings, and has been widely translated worldwide. Potts' second travel book, ''Marco Polo Didn't Go There: Stories and Revelations From One Decade as a Postmodern Travel Writer'', debuted in 2008. The book won a Lowell Thomas Award in the United States, and in 2009 became the first American-authored book to win Italy's

Bruce Chatwin Charles Bruce Chatwin (13 May 194018 January 1989) was an English travel writer, novelist and journalist. His first book, ''In Patagonia'' (1977), established Chatwin as a travel writer, although he considered himself instead a storytelling, s ...

Prize for international travel writing. In 2016 Potts released a short book about the

psychogeography Psychogeography is the exploration of urban environments that emphasizes interpersonal connections to places and arbitrary routes. It was developed by members of the Letterist International and Situationist International, which were revolutionar ...

of the

Geto Boys Geto Boys (originally spelled Ghetto Boys) were an American hip hop group originally formed in Houston, Texas. They saw commercial success in the 1990s with the lineup consisting of Bushwick Bill, Scarface and Willie D. The group became best ...

' eponymous,

Rick Rubin Frederick Jay Rubin (, ; born March 10, 1963) is an American record producer. He is a co-founder of Def Jam Recordings, founder of American Recordings, and former co-president of Columbia Records. Rubin helped popularize hip hop by produci ...

-produced third album for the

33⅓ ' (''Thirty-Three and a Third'') is a series of books, each about a single music album. The series title refers to the rotation speed of a vinyl LP, RPM. History Originally published by Continuum, the series was founded by editor David Ba ...

series of music criticism, and in 2018 he wrote ''Souvenir'' for Bloomsbury's

Object Lessons Object Lessons may refer to: * Object Lessons (book series), an essay and book series about the hidden lives of ordinary things * Object Lessons (novel), a 1991 novel by Anna Quindlen * Object lesson, a teaching method that consists of using a phy ...

series of books about "the hidden lives of ordinary things." The ''Boston Globe'' called ''Souvenir'' "a treasure trove of … fascinating deep dives into the history of travel keepsakes."

TV, film, and popular culture

Potts was featured in several episodes of the 2007

National Geographic Adventure Nat Geo People (short for National Geographic People) is an international pay television channel owned by National Geographic Partners, a joint venture between The Walt Disney Company (73%) and the National Geographic Society (27%). Targeted a ...

documentary '' Odyssey: Driving Around the World'', and appeared as a commentator in the 2013 documentary film '' Gringo Trails'', which explored the impact of tourism on travel destinations and host communities worldwide. In "Burn Rate," a 2022 episode in the sixth season of Showtime's '' Billions'', Rian ( Eva Victor) brandishes a copy of ''Vagabonding'' while "visualizing" a long-term journey in her office ("Rolf shows us how," she tells a coworker). In "Axe Global," the penultimate season 7 episode of ''Billions'', Rian leaves a copy of ''Vagabonding'' in the office of her boss Taylor ( Asia Kate Dillon) before leaving on an open-ended journey to Morocco and North Africa.

Guest lecturing

Potts was the 2011-2012 ArtsEdge Writer-in-Residence at the University of Pennsylvania's

Kelly Writers House The Kelly Writers House is a mixed-use programming and community space on the campus of the University of Pennsylvania in Philadelphia. Founded in 1995 by a group of students, faculty, staff, and alumni of the University of Pennsylvania, the Kel ...

. He more recently taught nonfiction writing at

Yale University Yale University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701, Yale is the List of Colonial Colleges, third-oldest institution of higher education in the United Stat ...

, and he directs annual summer writing workshops in Paris.

Personal life

When not traveling, Potts lives in a small farmhouse on 30 acres of land in rural north-central Kansas. He is married to actress Kristen Bush.

References

External links

Rolf Potts
official website
Deviate: Because the Best Things in Life are Off-Topic
Rolf Potts' podcast
The Vagabond Travel Ethos
The Art of Manliness Podcast (2022)
Rolf Potts on Travel Tactics, Creating Time Wealth, and Lateral Thinking
Tim Ferriss Podcast (2014)
Longform Podcast #33: Rolf Potts
(2013)
A Conversation With Rolf Potts, Travel Writer
''The Atlantic'' (2011)
The World Over: A Profile of Rolf Potts
''Poets & Writers'' (2008)
Rolf Potts: One-hour lecture
Talks at Google (2007) {{DEFAULTSORT:Potts, Rolf American travel writers American male non-fiction writers Living people 1970 births Writers from Wichita, Kansas People from Saline County, Kansas Friends University people George Fox University alumni University of Pennsylvania faculty Yale University faculty