Rick Steves's Blog, page 30

What is travel as a political act?

Join me in the highlands of Guatemala at about 10,000 feet above sea level for some thin-air thoughts about what Guatemala and Bolivia have in common. Is it just a coincidence that the most indigenous countries in our hemisphere are also at some of the highest altitudes — and among the poorest?

I’m here with my crew, filming an upcoming special called “Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hunger, and Hope.” It will air this November on public television across the US. Stay...

I’m kicking off my 2019 travels with the first of 100 posts from the road. Right now, we’re in Guatemala, filming an upcoming special called “Ethiopia, Guatemala, Hunger, and Hope.” And this little clip celebrates how farmers who used to do subsistence farming, just growing corn in an attempt to feed their families, are now diversifying for the global market. These sugar peas are destined for London, and these farmers are destined to do some banking.

I’ll be posting almost daily now for the...

I’m in Guatemala, filming a new one-hour public television special about world hunger — and learning about extreme poverty and smart development.

On Friday, the news broke that President Trump plans to cut development and humanitarian assistance to three Central American countries, including Guatemala. This news has been heartbreaking and, frankly, baffling. If your motivation is to slow migration from Central America to the US, then development, jobs, and hope are the best medicine — and US...

I spend four months of every year in Europe, notebook in hand, lovingly researching and updating my guidebooks. But with more than 70 books on the market with my name on them, I can’t do it all alone. I’m grateful for the help of a trusted team of co-authors and researchers — many of them old friends — who travel in the Rick Steves style and are dedicated to making our guidebooks the best in print.

Join me in this clip as I meet with my wonderful Rick Steves Ireland co-author, Pat O’Connor. P...

I had so much fun with writer Sam Anderson while he was working on his profile of me for The New York Times Magazine.

The following passage, in particular, made me smile — and I thought I would reshare the little video that Sam refers to in his piece:

The town car crawled toward a shabby metal hulk spanning the East River.

‘Wow!’ Steves said. ‘Is that the Brooklyn Bridge?’

It was almost the opposite of the Brooklyn Bridge. The Brooklyn Bridge is one of the most recognizable structures in the...

These days, simply sightseeing in Europe you learn that climate change is not a theory — it’s a reality. In England’s Portsmouth, floodgates are being built on medieval streets that never needed them before. The Swiss (who don’t build ski lifts these days without plumbing them to make snow) remember summer skiing in the Alps as something their parents did. And the Dutch — famously smart, famously frugal, and famously below sea level — are spending billions of euros (for example, employing ha...

When it comes to walls, I believe we can learn from Europe, which has done more than its share of wall building in the past. From Hadrian’s Wall (built by the ancient Romans to defend the northern boundary of Britannia) to the Maginot Line (built by the French in the 1930s to keep out the Germans), these walls were symbols of mistrust and insecurity. They were necessary back then — but in our age, society is advancing and dismantling walls as we move forward.

With the fall of the Iron Curtai...

We just flew in more than 140 tour guides from across Europe and the USA for an intense week of workshops, radio interviews, tour reunions, travel talks…and rip-roaring fun.

I love our guides. They are remarkable people — big personalities who embrace life with gusto and passion. Here’s a little series of photos that capture a few of the countless wonderful moments that filled our time together.

I’m so excited to introduce you to our 26 new tour guides!

I just spent more than a week with this gang, and I couldn’t be prouder to have them on board at Rick Steves’ Europe Tours. Each one of them has a deep, personal knowledge of the regions in which they guide — and after a week of intensive training and the necessary apprenticing in Europe with our senior guides, they will be ready to meet and even exceed the very high expectations of our travelers.

I’m particularly thankful for the hi...

There was a time when I couldn’t imagine anyone but me leading a Rick Steves tour. For 25 years, I personally guided our tours. But for the last 15 years, rather than lead them, I’ve joined them as a tour member — and in 2018, 150 guides led more than 1,100 Rick Steves tour groups around Europe with my complete confidence.

I’m adamant about hiring guides I know and trust, and who share my love for Europe and passion for teaching. And to ensure they are clear on exactly what distinguishes a Ri...