Deviate

Deviate episodes:

• 04.16.2024

  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...

  
• 03.12.2024

  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...

  
• 02.13.2024

  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...

  
• 02.04.2024

  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...

  
• 01.09.2024

  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...

  
• 11.28.2023

  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...

  
• 11.14.2023

  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...

  
• 10.31.2023

  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...

  
• 10.17.2023

  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...

  
• 10.03.2023

  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...

  
• 09.19.2023

  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...

  
• 09.05.2023

  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...

  
• 08.22.2023

  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...

  
• 08.08.2023

  “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...

  
• 07.25.2023

  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...

  
• 07.11.2023

  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...

  
• 06.27.2023

  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...

  
• 06.13.2023

  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...

  
• 05.30.2023

  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...

  
• 05.16.2023

  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,...

  
• 05.02.2023

  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,...

  
• 04.18.2023

  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...

  
• 04.04.2023

  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...

  
• 03.21.2023

  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...

  
• 03.07.2023

  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...

  
• 02.21.2023

  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...

  
• 02.07.2023

  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...

  
• 01.31.2023

  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...

  
• 01.17.2023

  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...

  
• 01.03.2023

  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...

  
• 12.20.2022

  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...

  
• 12.06.2022

  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...

  
• 11.24.2022

  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...

  
• 11.20.2022

  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...

  
• 11.13.2022

  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...

  
• 11.08.2022

  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...

  
• 11.01.2022

  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...

  
• 10.25.2022

  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...

  
• 10.18.2022

  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...

  
• 10.11.2022

  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...

  
• 10.04.2022

  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...

  
• 09.20.2022

  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...

  
• 08.23.2022

  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...

  
• 08.16.2022

  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...

  
• 08.02.2022

  “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...

  
• 07.26.2022

  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,...

  
• 07.12.2022

  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...

  
• 06.28.2022

  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...

  
• 06.14.2022

  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...

  
• 05.31.2022

  Chris Guillebeau on life goals, work, and travel as alt-university [encore]

  “Have a bias toward action.” – Chris Guillebeau In this episode of Deviate, Rolf and Chris discuss Chris’ quest to travel to every country in the world (4:30); discovering and fine-tuning your passions through travel (17:00); exploring creativity through various mediums, and discontentment...