Marco Polo Didn’t Go There by Rolf Potts is a compendium of the author’s best travel stories, a number of which were previously published in National Geographic Traveler, The New York Times Magazine, Salon.com, Slate, Conde’ Nast Traveler, and various anthologies of award-winning travel writing. Along the way he recounts in an amusing and historically informed manner some of the many exploits and encounters from around the world which have helped to shape him as a person and as an author.
Sample gems from this well-written collection include Potts’ attempts to crash the heavily guarded set of a Leonardo DiCaprio movie in Thailand, his virtual “abduction” by a well-intentioned but overbearing businessman in Beirut, his attempt to commit each of the seven deadly sins while looking for extra-large flip-flops in Grenada, sailing lessons in the Greek Cyclades with a bevy of beautiful female novices, and his heroic attempts at distraction so as to avoid seeing the Pyramids while in Cairo.
Each of the nineteen chapters includes a set of endnotes which provide instructive commentary on how the stories were written, and why Potts made the authorial and editorial decisions he did. These notes provide an intriguing glimpse into the mind of a highly successful travel journalist and provide guidance and advice to others who also aspire to the art of travel writing.
These endnotes are not solely of interest to would-be travel bloggers or authors, however, since they include many additional—and often hilarious—incidents and anecdotes from around the same time frame as each chapter’s adventure. Potts’ explanation as to why he didn’t judge these supplementary tidbits suitable for (or worthy of) incorporation into the originally published narratives may once again serve as helpful counsel from an experienced veteran to others just starting out in the field. There is also a “tutorial” for travel writers at the end of the book.
Potts is an advocate of what he calls “vagabonding”, an individualistic style of travel that tends to be fairly unstructured or unplanned so as to allow for the serendipities of fate that life on the road—or off the road in the bush, desert or jungle—uniquely affords. Generally speaking, vagabonds are self-consciously determined to avoid the sorts of itineraries that constitute “the tourist circuit”, and make room in their lives to travel over relatively long periods of time on a relatively low budget.
Potts discusses his travel philosophy in more detail in his first book, Vagabonding: An Uncommon Guide to the Art of Long-Term World Travel.
Scott Calef - Scott received his Ph.D in philosophy from the University of Oregon (go Ducks!) and after teaching in New Orleans and Arkansas he is now ...
