Deviate
Rolf Potts veers off-topic in this unique series of conversations with experts, public figures, and intriguing people.
Episodes
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 wrote when he was four (2:00); how Cedar got started r
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 critics, and the long cultural shadow of The Wizard of Oz (2:3
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 with his friends (2:15); what kinds of friends Andrew
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:
Kim Krizan on the philosophy of Before Sunrise (YouTube video)
Screenwriting in Paris class, with
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, rather than Chuck himself (2:00); football-themed video
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 Wealth,” how it can be actualized through travel, and how
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 personal narration, Kansas Never Plays Itself traces how cin
Traveling as a writer, and awkward book-tour experiences, with Anthony Doerr (from 2012)
“I’m interested in writing because I don’t want to sleepwalk through life. I feel like we have an appallingly brief time on earth, and we’re here to see and understand and do as much good as we can before we’re gone.” –Anthony Doerr
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Anthony talk about how the pace of travel changes the experience of travel, and what
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 of Deviate Rolf and his parents, Alice and George Potts,
An audiobook about how (not) to write a travel book: 9 lessons from my failed van-life memoir
“No endeavor to write a travel book is ever lost, since it gives you a useful perspective on (and intensified attention to) the reality of the travel experience itself. When embraced mindfully, the real-time experience of a journey is invariably its truest reward.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf touches on nine lessons from attempting
Vagabonding pioneer Ed Buryn on what indie travel was like in the 1960s and 1970s (encore)
“Realizing that you will die greatly clarifies your vision of life, and stimulates opportunities for making the vision real.” –Ed Buryn
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ed discuss the impetus behind Ed’s first travels to Europe by van in the 1960s, and his early forays into self-printed and self-promoted books about the experience (3:00); how trave
Why We Travel: Happiness, curiosity, wonder, sex, healing, and other motivations for hitting the road
"No one motivation is ‘better’ than any other. We travel with different motivations at different times, and they sometimes overlap." –Ash Bhardwaj
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ash talk about curiosity as a motivation for travel (1:30); the ancient Greek concepts of happiness that underpin human motivations like travel, and how mentors influen
Before Sunrise (redo): Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic travel-romance movie
"Time spent traveling on trains, just staring out the window: I don't think that's lost time. That's when we have our best ideas." –Kim Krizan
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kiki introduce their interview with Kim Krizan by talking about their own personal love of the movie Before Sunrise, and how they first experienced it (0:30); Kim talks abo
Before Sunrise: Screenwriter Kim Krizan on what led up to the classic 1995 travel-romance movie
"Time spent traveling on trains, just staring out the window: I don't think that's lost time. That's when we have our best ideas." –Kim Krizan
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kiki introduce their interview with Kim Krizan by talking about their own personal love of the movie Before Sunrise, and how they first experienced it (0:30); Kim talks abo
Mars on Earth: The world's driest desert, and what travelers might find when they go there
“If you're someone who's always dreamed of going to Mars but you don't have the time to become an astronaut, you can just visit the Atacama Desert.” –Mark Johanson
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Mark talk about how Mark became interested in the Atacama Desert, and his experience in other world deserts (1:45); what Mark sought when he traveled t
Why a chapter about "slum tourism" was edited out of The Vagabond's Way (with Chloe Cooper Jones)
“Travel does not require leaving your city or state or country, but it does require leaving your comfort zone. And that can happen a block or two away from where you live.”
–Chloe Cooper Jones
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Chloe talk about why a section about “slum tourism” was cut out of Rolf’s newest book The Vagabond’s Way (2:30); how so much
Long-term travel 101: Matt Kepnes on how to slow down and save money on an extended global journey
“The most difficult part about traveling the world isn’t actually the logistics of a trip—it’s finding the courage to go in the first place.” —Matt Kepnes
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt talk about how his travel style has changed over the years, and how fears affect people’s travels (1:00); strategies for saving money on the road (10:30); and
Travel memoir lab: On blending travel narrative with a broader memoiristic life-narrative
“We do a lot of writing alone, in our own space. But writing is not a solitary practice. The business of writing requires a community.” –Angelique Stevens
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Angelique talk about what her writing life is like in the decade since she first took Rolf’s Paris class, with the ambition of becoming a travel writer, and how he
How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves' life (and influenced Rolf's travels too)
“Anybody with curiosity and wanderlust can have their own Hippie Trail. They just need to get away from home, embrace the world, and have an adventure.” –Rick Steves
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Rick talk about Rick’s 1990s book Asia Through the Back Door, and how Rick recently rediscovered the old Asia travel journals he kept as a young man (2:
A travel writers' Super Bowl special: Pico Iyer and Rolf discuss NFL football from the global perspective
“My life has often forced me to watch the Super Bowl in unusual circumstances. The first Super Bowl found me in boarding school in England, huddled under my bedclothes with an illegal transistor radio.” –Pico Iyer
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pico talk about the novelty of two travel writers talking about the Super Bowl, and Pico’s NFL fandom (4
Pico Iyer on how solitude, stillness, and silence play an essential counterbalance to the traveling life
“In solitude, I often feel closer to the people I care for than when they’re in the same room.” –Pico Iyer
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pico talk about how the best travels are often counterbalanced with a kind of stillness, in which one can find one’s “best self” (3:00); Pico’s decades-long experiences with monks in a California monastery, the
Life changing travel experiences: Memories of traveling to Syria, 25 years on (with Ari Shaffir)
“Syria is a mix of everything. There are multiple Christian cultures, multiple Muslim cultures, and multiple languages. It’s the crossroads of the world. It made for some of my best travel memories from that time of my life.” —Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate (which was remixed from an episode of Ari Shaffir’s You Be Trippin’ podcast), Rolf and Ari
Travel memoir lab: How to fast-track your travel book by working with a hybrid publisher
“In El Salvador, I dropped $5 out of my pocket at the border, and some guy came running up to me. At the beginning of the trip I would have been surprised by that. But by that point I would have been surprised if it didn’t happen.” —Matt Savino
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt talk about how the first version of his travel book was way too long
HoneyTrek: A case study in making a full-time living as travel influencers and content creators
“When we got into this, we didn’t know how to make videos. That’s a skill we’ve had to learn, because the industry has changed so much, from photos to videos. We are still learning all the time.” —Ann Howard
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf, Mike, Ann and Kiki talk about they got started traveling as a couple, how they made it affordable, and how they m
Live from Bali: How tourists, influencers, and nomads transform destinations (for good and for bad)
“Influencers are forever reinforcing the same images. They’re spending no time in the actual place, other than the requisite time to take the photo. From the local community’s point of view, these kinds of tourists bring very little value.” –Stuart McDonald
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Stuart talk about why Stuart chose to make his office in Wes
Vagabonding audio companion: Obnoxious travelers (and how to avoid being one)
“We’re having less enjoyable travel experiences, even as our photos show us having this amazing time, because we’re performing a version of travel for people who aren’t even there.”
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and David talk about the time-honored Americans pretending to be Canadian on the road, and why Americans at times have had a bad reputation
What you discover when you walk down every single street in New York City (encore)
“Traveling, for me, is all about destroying stereotypes and narratives about people and places.” – Matt Green
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt discuss Matt’s mission to walk every street in New York City (3:00); walking across the entire United States and breaking stereotypes (12:00); bucket lists as a catalyst for action (28:00); and Matt’s ex
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 professional focus shifted away from digital issues and into foo
Bicycling across the USA (with no money or food) looking for human connection
“My parents passed away and it created this sense of recklessness in me, but in a positive way: I wanted to create a travel experience and push myself and learn about myself. Because you never know how long you’re gonna be around for.”
–Daniel Troia
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Daniel talk about why Daniel chose to bicycle across America with no
Wonder Year: The Art of Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling
“The parent’s job as teacher on the road is to just create surface area between your kid and yourself and the world.” –Julie Frieder
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Julie talk about what a “Wonder Year” is, how she got involved with family travel, and why traveling with children is possible and enriching for everyone involved (1:30); how to get st
How Rolf Ruined the 1990s: A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band
“Look at any photo from a moment of supposed zeitgeist in American history, and it will be clear that not everyone in that moment represented the cutting-edge of culture.”
–Rolf Potts
In this essay episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about why he enjoys listening to Rob Harvilla’s podcast 60 Songs That Explain the ’90s at double-speed, but that he’s disappoi
Walk and Talk: Notes from a peripatetic salon across northern Thailand
“Something about the motion of walking is conducive to generating both ideas and conversation. You can empty your mind and open your mind at the same time.”
—Kevin Kelly
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf reports from a “Walk and Talk” across northern Thailand. Interviewees and conversation topics are listed by time-code below. Participant write-ups about
Essential tips and strategies for telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy
“We 'massage' the truth to make it fit the narrative we need it to fit in our lives.” –Andrew McCarthy
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Andrew talk about how Andrew got started in travel writing, and how writing himself on the page helped him see himself in the world (2:30); when he does and doesn't conflate certain details in the interest of a go
What it's like to spend a full year traveling within a day's radius of your home
“Unless we explore our neighborhood, we can’t imagine what might be right under our noses, nor be able to celebrate it, mourn its demise, or take action.” –Alastair Humphreys
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Alastair Humphreys discuss the concept of his new book Local: A Search for Nearby Nature and Wilderness (1:30); what Alastair found on his clo
Sports, superstitions, and sacraments: A Deviate Super Bowl Special (2024 remix)
“I hate the Kansas City Chiefs with a passion reserved only for things that I love.” —Tod Goldberg
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf shares his 2002 NPR “Savvy Traveler” dispatch about trying to watch the Super Bowl in Thailand (3:00); then he and Tod Goldberg discuss how they became NFL football fans as kids in the 1970s, and how this affected their fan
Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth, and “success management”
“Billionaires can’t take a week off? What’s the point of having a billion dollars if they have fewer options than I do?” –Tim Ferriss
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tim discuss common travel fantasies, and the fears that keep people from traveling (5:00); how we can redefine what “wealth” is and live fuller lives (18:00); why keeping a healthy pe
The best journeys explore mindscapes as well as landscapes (book club remix)
“Sometimes it’s good to sit still and let a place move through you instead of you moving through a place.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Vagabond’s Way book club participants discuss how one can be vulnerable to new experiences on the road instead of micromanaging an itinerary (2:00); how monuments to mortality help us think of t
Going abroad for love, and travel writing that says something new about a place
“When asked to give advice to young people looking to become travel writers, I invariably tell them to go – alone – and live in a country where they don’t speak the language.” –Thomas Swick
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tom talk about the thematic limitations of memoir writing, and the early stages of Tom’s career as a journalist (2:00); his dec
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club redo)
“One way of making famous landmarks more comprehensible is to look for surprises, good and bad, that go beyond what you are expected to encounter there, details that open you up to the raw imperfections of the encounter itself.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate – which is a redo of episode 229, which didn’t air properly due to technical problems
Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
“Not everyone who’s lucky is talented and not everyone who’s talented is lucky.” –Tom Bissell
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tom talk about Tom’s lack of travel experience when he joined the Peace Corps, and how he dealt with his early failures (2:30); the role that luck (as well as craft and obsessive reading) has played in his writing career (8
Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club remix)
“One way of making famous landmarks more comprehensible is to look for surprises, good and bad, that go beyond what you are expected to encounter there, details that open you up to the raw imperfections of the encounter itself.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Vagabond’s Way book club participants discuss how to break out of standa
Vagabonding audio companion: A life in (and philosophy of) long-term travel
“One ironic anxiety of travel is that suddenly you’re living in ‘organic time’ and you’re not used to it.” –Rolf Potts
In this “vagabonding audio companion” episode of Deviate, remixed from Aaron Millar’s Armchair Explorer podcast, Rolf talks about his earliest travel dreams, and what compelled him to finally take a vagabonding dream trip around North
A train isn’t just a vehicle; it’s a place (a remix encore, with Monisha Rajesh)
“A wonderful aspect of traveling by train is the transactional relationship between passengers who feed off one another, picking up tips, offering advice, guarding each other’s belongings, and generating a trust that is unique to railway travel.” –Monisha Rajesh
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Monisha discuss how her interest in train-travel dates
Travelers experience more when they slow down and ask lots of questions
“We live in an age where you can take a series short flights inside a country to speed things up. You end up going to more places, but you experience less, because you’re not really committed to that chicken bus full of really interesting people who want nothing more than to interact with you.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Vagab
“Dare to do Dirt”: Seeking rural places (and how to best experience them)
“Domestic travel to rural places can be as important as international travel that is more obviously cross-cultural.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Marci talk about how the best trips are guided by curiosity about eight key things, rather than checklists (2:00); what Marci has learned from several decades of writing guidebooks to rura
Vagabonding audio companion: Why (and how) travel souvenirs matter
“A souvenir can be anything from a travel experience that honors a certain moment in your life, certifies the journey that took you there, and celebrates the confluence of people and places and actions that made it possible.” – Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Suzanne talk about the ways souvenirs help narrate our travel experiences (2:0
Travel can return you to a kind of childhood (online book club remix)
“In alien parts, we speak more simply, unencumbered by the histories that we carry around at home, and look more excitedly, with eyes of wonder.” —Pico Iyer
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Vagabond’s Way book club participants discuss how he prepares for the book-club sessions (1:30); how the first days of one’s journeys have an optimistic ener
What museums reveal about places (and what they have to offer travelers)
“We do not just keep and collect things. We trouble ourselves to repurpose, create, and invent things just to carry, a little easier, those stories we cannot live without.”
—Kendra Greene
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf speaks to the directors of two very different museums — Dawn Hammat of the Eisenhower Presidential Library, Museum & Boyhood Home
Vagabonding audio companion: How to study abroad (even if you aren’t a student)
“Quietly use travel to deepen your life, and to build stronger relationships – not only with other cultures, but with your home. Figure out ways to give back.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and David talk about how travel allows you to “waste your twenties” in a good way, and how Rolf has come to define “adventure” (2:00); how to plan tr
Fear, family, and walking the Camino de Santiago (live with Andrew McCarthy)
“Not every fearful decision I’ve made has been bad, but most of my bad decisions have been based in fear.” –Andrew McCarthy
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Andrew talk about the two halves of Andrew’s professional life – acting and travel writing – and his transformative first journey on the Camino de Santiago in 1994 (2:00); Andrew’s decision to
Travel burnout is a real thing (and it’s OK to feel it sometimes), with Matt Kepnes
“The truth is that our travel anticipations, and our memories, have a way of holding only the most striking parts of an experience—the parts that don’t cause burnout.” —Matt Kepnes
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt talk about travel journaling, and a journal Matt has designed for travelers (1:15); why travel burnout happens, and how Matt first e
The Mystical High Church of Luck: Decoding Las Vegas (with Ari Shaffir)
“Things don’t happen in Las Vegas. Things are happened in Las Vegas. All actions in the town are so meticulously predicted and orchestrated that spontaneity itself exists only as the ghost of compulsion.” –Rolf Potts (in 1998)
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ari discuss Rolf’s 1998 Las Vegas essay “The Mystical High Church of Luck,” and their rela
How travelers create quests and find community (online book club remix)
“Nothing against bucket lists, but sometimes that interest that makes you weird and nerdy at home is going to make you vulnerable to all the weird nerdy people in some distant new place who are also interested in that thing.” —Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Vagabond’s Way book club participants discuss what compels us to be interest
Art introduces us to places before we go there (live from the Faroe Islands)
“You hear how there’s many words for snow in native cultures in Canada; there are actually over 20 words for ‘fog’ in the Faroe Islands.” –Matthew Landrum
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matthew discuss what makes the landscape and culture of the Faroe Islands distinctive, and how Matthew came to study Faroese (2:00); how your motivation to travel
Travel can be a way to see the future (and experience the past), with Kevin Kelly
“”I wasn’t partying. I wasn’t relaxing on the beach. I was photographing – working – every minute of the day. That was a means to see as much as I possibly could. And to keep looking.” –Kevin Kelly
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin discuss the ambitions and connections that led Kevin to Asia not long after high school (2:30); how Kevin’s inter
The best age to travel is whatever age you are now (an online book club remix)
“Success is often about finding just enough material wealth to fund the life that makes you happy.” —Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and The Nomadic Network book club participants discuss how travel can intensify the attention you pay to life at home (2:30); how the best discoveries of travel can’t be planned, and how you can give yourself p
Seek out global connections while you’re still at home (with Kristin Van Tassel)
“Travel has become a way to remind myself how it feels to get lost, and then get unlost. It is a way to remember the discomfort of uncertainty and the unfamiliar. It’s an exercise in receiving the unexpected.” –Kristin Van Tassel
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kristin discuss being in DC, living in Kansas, and Kristin’s family trip to Mexico usin
A Native American football team beat the 1927 NFL Giants: The story of John Levi
“Running back John Levi is about as easy to stop as a 200-pound eel. With his speed, and his shifting, sidestepping style of running, tacklers slide off of him like rain off a slicker.” –From the Minneapolis Star, October 1923
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf talks about a 1927 football game between the New York Giants and an all-indigenous Oklahoma tea
Why you go someplace is less important than just going (with Tony Perrottet)
“For ancient Roman tourists, the whole point of travel was to go where everyone else was going. Sightseeing was a form of pilgrimage.” –Tony Perrottet
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tony discuss the habits idiosyncrasies of ancient Roman tourists, and how they relate to modern travel (1:30); the class tensions and expectations inherent in differen
Integrating love of travel & love of home (with philosopher Chloe Cooper Jones)
“A willingness to fail is an important part of difficult beauty. Because difficult beauty will arrive first not as beauty at all.” –Chloe Cooper Jones
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Chloe discuss the philosophical concept of “easy beauty” and “difficult beauty” in the context of travel (2:30); how our relationship to places changes over time with
Travel contracts your possessions and expands your life (with Eric Weiner)
“Travel is one of the few activities we engage in not knowing the outcome and reveling in that uncertainty. Nothing is more forgettable than the trip that goes exactly as planned.” –Eric Weiner
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Eric discuss the tendency of travelers to idealize the very recent bygone past in places, and Rolf’s experience of traveling
Travelers create their own distinct global culture (with anthropologist Pegi Vail)
“Travel expands time, because you’re not experiencing the everyday of what you normally do. It’s all about discovery, and experiencing that with other people.” —Pegi Vail
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Pegi talk about how she originally sought to depict a “visual ethnography” of world travelers, their global impacts, and their power as a “gentrify
The travel industry is here to help you; feel free to ignore it (with Seth Kugel)
“Why fly fourteen hours from New York to Johannesburg to see a South African version of Brooklyn? To me, the only reason to know what destinations are ‘hot’ is to avoid them.” —Seth Kugel
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Seth talk about how the travel industry both helps and hinders the travel experience, and how Seth first experienced travel when h
Deviate Live in NYC: The Vagabond’s Way (onstage at KGB Bar with Ari Shaffir)
“There’s no getting lost when you travel, because you’re already there. You’re already where you’re supposed to be, which is somewhere in this new place.” –Ari Shaffir
In this episode of Deviate, which took place at New York City’s KGB Bar, Rolf and Ari talk about the premise of Rolf’s new book The Vagabond’s Way (2:20); why it’s important not to postpo
Reinvent what it means to be an “explorer” (with Kate Harris)
“Travel is often one part geography and nine parts imagination.” –Kate Harris
In this episode of Deviate Rolf and Kate discuss how travel can transform one’s idea of what “exploration” is (3:00); the concept of borders (14:00); nostalgia and the transformational effect of travel (25:00); the role of home in relation to travel (34:00); and letting advent
The subtler risks of travel carry rich rewards (with Carl Hoffman)
“I didn’t know where we were going, and I didn’t know how long we were going to be gone. I brought no food, not even a bottle of water. When that boat left the dock, I felt so free. I threw off all these anxieties about control.” –Carl Hoffman
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Carl talk about the premise of The Lunatic Express, which took Carl around
Uncertainty makes for the truest adventures (aka Tim Cahill’s Travel 101)
“Eat what is put in front of you. They are not making fun of you. The rooster’s head floating in the soup really is given to the honored guest. If you insist on being a picky eater, stay home.” –Tim Cahill
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Tim talk about the premise of Tim’s classic essay “Professor Cahill’s Travel 101” (1:30); the importance of havi
Traveling solo opens up new possibilities in a place (with Stephanie Rosenbloom)
“When you’re not sitting across from someone, you’re sitting across from the whole world.” –Stephanie Rosenbloom
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Stephanie talk about the rewards of traveling alone, and how to mix solo and companion travel within a single trip (2:00); how going alone makes you more receptive to museums, restaurants, and walking in a
Keeping a journal helps you make sense of the journey (with Lavinia Spalding)
“A travel journal helps you remember more than what you did and saw. It will helps you remember how you became the person you are today.” –Lavinia Spalding
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Lavinia talk about the section of Rolf’s book The Vagabond’s Way that touches on travel journaling, what what purposes a travel journal can serve (1:30); how jour
Paul Theroux on the merits of travel and the paradoxes of the global economy
“When you travel, you find out what it is you really want. You find out what you’re capable of, what your ambitions are.” –Paul Theroux
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Paul talk about how brotherly conflict is a time-honored trope in literature, and how travel can be a way to find your interests and ambitions in life (3:00); the ethical paradoxes a
Seeking real crowds beats crowdsourcing (from The Vagabond’s Way book launch)
“This is your one life. Think about it: If you dream of travel, it’s not as hard as you might think. You can find ways to make it happen.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ernest talk about how “vagabonding” is defined, how Rolf has come to define home, and what the premise of The Vagabond’s Way is (2:00); how Rolf researched and organiz
Preconceptions can blur what you see firsthand on the road (with Eddy Harris)
“I didn’t go to Africa to “feel African,” or become African. What I wanted to do was put myself in the shoes of the person I was traveling next to.” –Eddy L. Harris
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Eddy discuss why Eddy’s Africa travel book Native Stranger was not always well-received by America’s cultural gatekeepers in 1992 (3:30); what is was lik
Travel deviations can be as appealing as travel plans, with Ari Shaffir
“Naysayers can be the biggest obstacle for people who want to travel. Even if they know nothing about a place, they’ll think of reasons why you shouldn’t go there.” –Ari Shaffir
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ari discuss how the experience of travel changes as you get older, what it’s like to record an interview in public in Paris, and how lonelin
The Vagabond’s Way: An audio introduction to Rolf’s new book
“At its best, travel is embraced not as a flashy backdrop for our lifestyle ambitions, but as an act that touches every aspect of our being.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf reads the introduction chapter from his latest book, The Vagabond’s Way, which debuts on October 4th (and is available for preorder now from your favorite bookstore).
Vagabonding audio companion: Love, finding home, and telling TV travel stories
“I think sometimes as travel writers our most important job is to be a listener — to listen to the stories that people are telling each other in a place.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Ernest talk about why home is such an important place in one’s life, even when one travels to more far-flung places (3:00); why the vagabonding ethos
“On the Ice”: What it’s like to live and work at Antarctica’s McMurdo Station
“One thing we like to say [in Antarctica] is that nothing on the continent can kill you, except for the entire continent.” –Karen Pszonka
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Karen talk about how Karen first got a job in Antarctica (1:40); what weather is like during the Antarctic winter, the research being done at McMurdo, and a penguin named “Buddy”
A Critical Race Theorist’s guide to writing smut novels, with Dr. Kevin Harrison
“I told him, ‘You didn’t have a long, lucrative NBA career, but that doesn’t make you a failure. Yet if you let other people tell your story, that’s how you’re going to be depicted.” –Dr. Kevin Harrison
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Kevin talk about how Kevin started writing what he calls “smut novels,” how he sold them at the grassroots level,
Traveler ideals, hospitality, and the disappearance of an Italian priest in Syria
“I talked as much about the National Basketball Association in Syria as I did about politics. Syrians felt so global and interested in everything. As a young backpacker, I don’t know that I appreciated the historical moment that I was in.” –Rolf Potts
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Shaun talk about how they first came to know of Father Paolo and
Refuse to be Done: The art of creative persistence for long-haul projects
“The noun part of “writer” seems to require outside validation, but the verb part of it — “writing” — is something you’re either doing or you’re not.” –Matt Bell
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Matt talk about the importance of creative persistence and obsession (1:45); the importance of maintaining creative discipline and keeping concrete track o
Marcia DeSanctis on revisiting places, souvenirs, and travel as self-reinvention
“Travel imparts a liquid language whose sole property is the flow of questions.” –Marcia DeSanctis
In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Marcia talk about what it was like to work as a TV producer for Barbara Walters (1:30); how she made the decision to transition into prose writing, and how a sense of curiosity and abandon can inspire travel and travel
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