Deviate

152

Rolf Potts veers off-topic in this unique series of conversations with experts, public figures, and intriguing people.

Recent Episodes
  • Why a chapter about “slum tourism” was edited out of The Vagabond’s Way (with Chloe Cooper Jones)
    Apr 1, 2025 – 00:56:25
  • Long-term travel 101: Matt Kepnes on how to slow down and save money on an extended global journey
    Mar 25, 2025 – 00:28:29
  • Travel memoir lab: On blending travel narrative with a broader memoiristic life-narrative
    Mar 4, 2025 – 00:37:07
  • How a journey on the Hippie Trail changed Rick Steves’ life (and influenced Rolf’s travels too)
    Feb 11, 2025 – 00:44:26
  • A travel writers’ Super Bowl special: Pico Iyer and Rolf discuss NFL football from the global perspective
    Jan 31, 2025 – 00:38:55
  • Pico Iyer on how solitude, stillness, and silence play an essential counterbalance to the traveling life
    Jan 14, 2025 – 00:55:24
  • Life changing travel experiences: Memories of traveling to Syria, 25 years on (with Ari Shaffir)
    Dec 31, 2024 – 01:23:01
  • Travel memoir lab: How to fast-track your travel book by working with a hybrid publisher
    Dec 10, 2024 – 01:01:36
  • HoneyTrek: A case study in making a full-time living as travel influencers and content creators
    Nov 26, 2024 – 00:43:18
  • Live from Bali: How tourists, influencers, and nomads transform destinations (for good and for bad)
    Nov 12, 2024 – 00:38:59
  • Vagabonding audio companion: Obnoxious travelers (and how to avoid being one)
    Oct 22, 2024 – 00:45:40
  • What you discover when you walk down every single street in New York City (encore)
    Sep 17, 2024 – 01:30:57
  • A history and future of digital and biological technology, with Jane Metcalfe
    Aug 8, 2024 – 00:59:27
  • Bicycling across the USA (with no money or food) looking for human connection
    Jul 16, 2024 – 00:50:01
  • Wonder Year: The Art of Long-Term Family Travel and Worldschooling
    Jun 11, 2024 – 00:53:42
  • How Rolf Ruined the 1990s: A personal history of my grunge-bandwagon band
    May 14, 2024 – 01:19:36
  • Walk and Talk: Notes from a peripatetic salon across northern Thailand
    Apr 16, 2024 – 01:09:30
  • Essential tips and strategies for telling travel stories, with Andrew McCarthy
    Mar 12, 2024 – 00:58:23
  • What it’s like to spend a full year traveling within a day’s radius of your home
    Feb 13, 2024 – 00:57:12
  • Sports, superstitions, and sacraments: A Deviate Super Bowl Special (2024 remix)
    Feb 4, 2024 – 01:24:47
  • Tim Ferriss and Rolf discuss travel, time wealth, and “success management”
    Jan 9, 2024 – 02:08:27
  • The best journeys explore mindscapes as well as landscapes (book club remix)
    Nov 28, 2023 – 00:41:56
  • Going abroad for love, and travel writing that says something new about a place
    Nov 14, 2023 – 00:35:40
  • Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club redo)
    Oct 31, 2023 – 00:27:56
  • Travel memoir lab: Truth, luck, & multi-genre storytelling (with Tom Bissell)
    Oct 17, 2023 – 00:58:13
  • Seek places where your very presence makes you interesting (book club remix)
    Oct 3, 2023 – 00:27:05
  • Vagabonding audio companion: A life in (and philosophy of) long-term travel
    Sep 19, 2023 – 00:39:32
  • A train isn’t just a vehicle; it’s a place (a remix encore, with Monisha Rajesh)
    Sep 5, 2023 – 00:58:46
  • Travelers experience more when they slow down and ask lots of questions
    Aug 22, 2023 – 00:36:05
  • “Dare to do Dirt”: Seeking rural places (and how to best experience them)
    Aug 8, 2023 – 00:40:37
  • Vagabonding audio companion: Why (and how) travel souvenirs matter
    Jul 25, 2023 – 00:45:02
  • Travel can return you to a kind of childhood (online book club remix)
    Jul 11, 2023 – 00:46:30
  • What museums reveal about places (and what they have to offer travelers)
    Jun 27, 2023 – 00:17:50
  • Vagabonding audio companion: How to study abroad (even if you aren’t a student)
    Jun 13, 2023 – 01:00:19
  • Fear, family, and walking the Camino de Santiago (live with Andrew McCarthy)
    May 30, 2023 – 00:38:57
  • Travel burnout is a real thing (and it’s OK to feel it sometimes), with Matt Kepnes
    May 16, 2023 – 00:27:39
  • The Mystical High Church of Luck: Decoding Las Vegas (with Ari Shaffir)
    May 2, 2023 – 01:04:37
  • How travelers create quests and find community (online book club remix)
    Apr 18, 2023 – 00:26:00
  • Art introduces us to places before we go there (live from the Faroe Islands)
    Apr 4, 2023 – 00:47:59
  • Travel can be a way to see the future (and experience the past), with Kevin Kelly
    Mar 21, 2023 – 00:44:29
  • The best age to travel is whatever age you are now (an online book club remix)
    Mar 7, 2023 – 00:42:45
  • Seek out global connections while you’re still at home (with Kristin Van Tassel)
    Feb 21, 2023 – 00:44:32
  • A Native American football team beat the 1927 NFL Giants: The story of John Levi
    Feb 7, 2023 – 00:29:00
  • Why you go someplace is less important than just going (with Tony Perrottet)
    Jan 31, 2023 – 00:57:55
  • Integrating love of travel & love of home (with philosopher Chloe Cooper Jones)
    Jan 17, 2023 – 01:10:33
  • Travel contracts your possessions and expands your life (with Eric Weiner)
    Jan 3, 2023 – 01:04:54
  • Travelers create their own distinct global culture (with anthropologist Pegi Vail)
    Dec 20, 2022 – 01:00:32
  • The travel industry is here to help you; feel free to ignore it (with Seth Kugel)
    Dec 6, 2022 – 00:53:46
  • Deviate Live in NYC: The Vagabond’s Way (onstage at KGB Bar with Ari Shaffir)
    Nov 24, 2022 – 00:50:20
  • Reinvent what it means to be an “explorer” (with Kate Harris)
    Nov 20, 2022 – 00:49:58
Recent Reviews
  • Aidyl S
    Insightful, meaningful travel conversations
    I discovered this podcast after reading Rolf’s book (The Vagabond's Way: 366 Meditations on Wanderlust, Discovery, and the Art of Travel) — which I highly recommend. This podcast is a great resource to dive deeper into interesting and important travel topics. Rolf is a great interviewer who always asks insightful questions. Each episode offers greater nuance into the complex world of travel, which I greatly appreciate as a passionate traveler myself. - gottacaseofwanderlust podcast :)
  • Ilikewaterbottles
    Great podcast and nuanced conversations
    Rolf has a pleasant Kansas twang to his voice, and his conversations range from travel stories, musings, tips, to non-travel topics that push a more nuanced view of the world. Highly recommend! Also, highly recommended to read his book Vagabonding.
  • cgutfhj
    Best Travel Podcast
    Deviate is my favorite travel podcast. Rolf is a great host in several ways.
  • berlaewhsdahic
    What has happened to you?
    This used to be a wonderful pod, full of the wonder, beauty and adventure of travel. Now you just slog your latest book with tired diatribes against people who aren’t privileged enough to travel the way you do. Hope you get back to relevance
  • A Real Mensch
    Authentic, nuanced conversations (and more)
    The simple production, authentic tone, and nuanced conversations is what keeps me listening.
  • divebookreader
    Great podcast
    Look forward to each episode.
  • malfoxley
    Great show!
    Rolf, host of the podcast, highlights all aspects of being creative, impacting the world around you, and more in this can’t miss podcast! The host and expert guests offer insightful advice and information that is helpful to anyone that listens!
  • MarkWant
    Rolf shares his intelligence and breadth of knowledge
    If you’re looking for thoughtful and insightful dialogue with interesting people on fascinating topics, Deviate is for you. Easy to jump into , hard to leave.
  • Peace With The Process
    Vagabond
    Vagabonding and Marco Polo Didn’t Go There inspired me on my first van trip years ago, the podcast has rekindled that inspiration and is an amazing source of insight!
  • obacker19
    Entertaining, insightful and actionable! 🙌
    Whether you’re well established as someone who can translate creative energy into the impact you want to have on the world, or just getting started as a catalyst for change - this is a must-listen podcast for you! Rolf does an incredible job leading conversations that cover a huge breadth of topics related to the ins and outs of navigating the complexities of a life worth living - with leaders who’ve actually walked the path. Highly recommend listening and subscribing!
  • Appertapper
    Most Inspirational Podcast
    I cannot imagine a greater podcast! Rolf is a fantastic, interesting and respectful host who cultivates enriching conversation and story again and again. I drove through Kansas not long ago and I was reminded of all that Rolf has bestowed upon me. Thank you Rolf.
  • Tmenzo
    Unique content
    To me, this podcast is finally hitting its stride. It seems like it took a little while for Rolf to get comfortable with this medium and find what works best, but now I think this show fills a void in the podcast universe without limiting itself to a niche. He has figured out how to deliver new, interesting ideas on travel while also being able to keep it fresh with some interesting/relevant topics. Keep up the good work Rolf, and everyone go buy Vagabonding.
  • charles assad , charlitooo1
    Phenomenal
    I loved vagabonding and this podcast is like a dream come true. Almost like a new travel book every week. Ive listened to 30 episodes maybe and my fav would be “Best Hostel In the World” and the 2 episodes with Nomadic Matt. God I love it. Thanks For Creating!
  • Tight Rope Walker
    So good.
    Rolf's most recent episode with Tod Goldberg is a wonderfully entertaining romp down memory lane for those of us who recall the relative scarcity of NFL information and memorabilia pre-Internet age. Thank you, Rolf and Tod, for setting this year's Super Bowl in an interesting social-historical context!
  • Suiytiibvgfhjj
    Great travel podcast
    Less about what to see when traveling and more about how to travel. Really interesting and thought provoking.
  • memarovich
    Rolf Brings Out The Best In His Guests!
    Once again I’m amazed by the high quality of this show. Rolf has a special knack of drawing out thoughtful gems from the minds of his guests, most especially from writers. You got That Thing Rolf: keep it up! And thank you!
  • The Poor Man's Aristotle
    Rolf is a genuine personality
    Love this podcast, especially the new season. Rolf is a down-to-earth guy who always offers helpful, insightful advice and opinions. If you're into travel and want to broaden your views of how to explore the world, this is a podcast for you.
  • Pepe LeDoux
    Very enjoyable
    I’m glad the message was received to have more shows around travel experiences. I gave it the 5 stars for the thread with Ari and the cliffhanger for this new season with the details of your experience with psychedelics teased at the end of last season.
  • Justsomedude321
    Humorous and Helpful
    I discovered this podcast after finishing up Rolf's excellent book Vagabonding, and it was an immediate hit with me. It would have been easy for him to do a 100% travel based podcast, but he subverts this expectation with as wide a range of guests and topics as I've seen. For any aspiring creative out there it's pure gold, as he has painters, writers galore, and many more of this type who give valuable and varied insight. All the interviews are pretty lighthearted in nature, but as the name suggest, they meander into some unique and unexpected places. I thoroughourly enjoyed this podcast while traveling myself, and it's probably my most listened to podcast. Give it a go, and enjoy the ride!
  • CareInfinity
    Excellent, Interesting Podcast
    Rolf Potts natural curiosity and ability to communicate not only as a writer but as a podcaster is a must for the adventurous, curious mind. Listening to his podcasts makes the miles on my daily commute melt away.
  • PodcastListener8654
    Cool Guests
    Great conversations.
  • MGarlinghouse
    Great episodes
    Vagabonding was a big inspiration on my lifestyle, glad he's doing a podcast.
  • Hawaiiiboyy
    Great voice
    Fellow Kansan that feels like he’s just listening and hanging out back home, thanks for expanding my horizons through my ear drums.
  • The Angry Giraffe
    Great podcast
    Love the podcast, but the audio seems to be low and hard to listen to(with headphones)at work/in noisy environments.
  • 2Chapps
    Amazing
    As a Houstonian native and Metallica fan I felt like the Tom Bissell episode was made for me. Excellent conversation about wide-ranging topics and will be sure to listen to all future episodes.
  • Santim165
    Love his book, Now a podcast!
    I can only imagine What the podcast have to store
  • Logo.State
    Great!
    Easily my favorite author now has a podcast. This is great!
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