No Baggage Challenge -- Rolf Potts travels around the world with no luggage

Rolf Potts travels around
the world with no luggage
Best of the No Baggage Challenge

Best of the No Baggage Challenge

It’s been about 4 months since the No Baggage Challenge came to an end back in New York City. So we thought it was about time to revisit our favorite parts of the six week, 30,000+ miles, five continent No Baggage Challenge journey. Most Popular Videos: 19 London cliches in less than four hours Rolf […]

Dispatch

January 23, 2011
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Recent dispatches
No-baggage field report: Full circle (week 6)

No-baggage field report: Full ...

Reader challenge #5: Take your own No Baggage Challenge

Reader challenge #5: Take your...

Exploring the laws of physics in New Zealand

Exploring the laws of physics ...

No-baggage field report: Week five

No-baggage field report: Week five

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Thailand to Malaysia by train

Bangkok in 3 acts

Elephant poop cold remedy

South African Safari

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Dispatches
Thailand to Malaysia: Scenes from a train

Thailand to Malaysia: Scenes from a train

A little more than seven years ago, when I was living and traveling full-time in Thailand, I had one of the best train-travel experiences of my life while traveling south out of Bangkok to the town of Surat Thani.  I was sharing a second-class sleeper car with a Kiwi guy who was carrying a bottle […]

DISPATCHES

September 28, 2010
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The Same River Twice: Bangkok in Three Acts

The Same River Twice: Bangkok in Three Acts

Ever since the earliest days of my no-baggage round-the-world journey, I’ve wanted to test out the smell and appearance of my SeV travel clothing by trying to get past the “velvet rope” of some exclusive nightclub in some great world city. In Bangkok I finally got the chance to do this — and the results […]

DISPATCHES

September 24, 2010
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No-baggage field report: Week four

No-baggage field report: Week four

This week finds me in one of my favorite cities in the world — Bangkok — where I’ve recently arrived after flying across the Indian Ocean from South Africa. It’s great to be back in Thailand, where I lived off and on for the better part of two years in the early 2000s — and […]

DISPATCHES

September 22, 2010
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Justin’s elephant-poop cold remedy

Justin’s elephant-poop cold remedy

Of all the things I’d expected to experience when planning my no-luggage world journey, drinking elephant-dung tea in South Africa was not among them. I’d expected I might explore nightlife in Spain (which I did, while eating tapas in Madrid) or ride a camel in Egypt (which I did, at Giza) — and I even […]

DISPATCHES

September 21, 2010
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Reader challenge #4: Optimize your time-wealth

Reader challenge #4: Optimize your time-wealth

As I stated in my introduction post, the No Baggage Challenge isn’t just about traveling around the world without luggage — it’s also an inquiry into simplifying material concerns and seeking rich life-experiences. This in mind, I’d like to invite readers to join the journey by participating in a weekly series of challenges, most of […]

DISPATCHES

September 20, 2010
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Hanging with the animal paparazzi in South Africa

Hanging with the animal paparazzi in South Africa

If there’s one experience that stands out from the week I spent in South Africa, it was the time I sat in a safari-equipped Land Rover and watched two hippos get into a theatrical territorial showdown while my guide, Lembi, held forth for nearly 30 minutes on how it’s possible to assassinate people by slipping […]

DISPATCHES

September 16, 2010
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No-baggage field report: Week three

No-baggage field report: Week three

Three weeks into the no-baggage journey, I’ve left Egypt for South Africa, where I am currently checking out the wildlife near Kruger National Park. At the risk of sounding like an echo of last week, I still don’t feel like I’m missing any key items of gear. My daily hygiene routine continues to keep me […]

DISPATCHES

September 15, 2010
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How we make the videos (and how we lost one in Cairo)

How we make the videos (and how we lost one in Cairo)

One of the most interesting experiences during my no-baggage trip to Cairo came on my first full day in the city, when a local Egyptologist named Magdi Salash took me on an intensive historical tour of the Old City. Justin shot this interaction on video, and he and I have spent much of the past […]

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September 14, 2010
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Reader challenge #3: Unplug from the virtual world

Reader challenge #3: Unplug from the virtual world

As I stated in my introduction post, the No Baggage Challenge isn’t just about traveling around the world without luggage — it’s also an inquiry into simplifying material concerns and seeking rich life-experiences. This in mind, I’m inviting readers to join the journey by participating in a weekly series of challenges, most of which can […]

DISPATCHES

September 13, 2010
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An Egyptian straight-razor shave (in 21 easy steps)

An Egyptian straight-razor shave (in 21 easy steps)

Back when I was preparing for my no-baggage world journey, one of the first toiletry items I removed from the packing-list was my razor. I did this in part because I don’t mind keeping a light beard when I travel — but also because I was looking forward to visiting barbershops from time to time […]

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September 10, 2010
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