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Rick Steves: Blog Gone Europe

I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions and what's on my mind. If you think it's inappropriate for a travel writer to stir up discussion on his blog with political observations and insights gained from traveling abroad, you may not want to read any further. — Rick

Last week we put up and took down the following article because USA Today agreed to run it as an editorial. (Newspapers understandably like to have exclusivity until they run something.) They ran it yesterday, so we've put it back up.

I've also included the way it ran in USA Today to share the frustration writers have with word counts. My blog entry was 1,100 words, and the USA Today version about half that — 580 words. I'm thankful USA Today ran my piece and think they did a fine job of making it fit both physically and stylistically. But you can see the toll cutting the article back takes on its wholeness. Extra words give context, color, transitions, and a smooth flow of ideas. Newspapers have limited space. Plus, of course, my blog entry needed to read a little more mature for a national paper (and without the provocative title). The gist of my entry: aid's nice...but deal honestly with the First World-imposed structural foundations of Haiti's misery. In a move in that direction, just this week the US government has proposed forgiving Haiti's international debt.

(If you click to the actual USA Today article, note how cool the hotlinks are to topics raised. And then read some of the comments. If you're impressed by the intelligence of some of our legislators, these people are the electoral soil from where they grow.)

No Aid to Haiti (original blog entry)

On Conan O'Brien's final Tonight Show last week, he said, “Don't be cynical. Cynicism is my least favorite trait.” I don't want to be cynical. It's not constructive. But on that spectrum between frustrated and cynical, I'm not in a very good place right now.

Just hours before that show, the four big networks joined together to broadcast a telethon to raise emergency aid for Haiti. America cares. We're coming to the rescue. When people are in need, it brings out the best in the American people — regardless of our politics, we are united in support. Locally, my church is collecting “health kits for Haiti.” There's a button on its website to help raise money. I'm inspired by the outpouring of goodwill. It's good and necessary and motivated by love.

But at the same time, I'm troubled that no one seems to be asking why Haiti is so wretchedly poor to begin with — so poor that even their presidential palace can be toppled by an earthquake. As soon as the passion of this moment fades, the US government will continue contributing to repressive trade policies that keep places like Haiti impoverished. Am I the only one disillusioned...concerned that almost nobody — especially those in our media or government — is talking about this?

Charity is good. It helps people. It feels good. It's easy to do, and easy to understand. But addressing the roots of structural poverty is the real challenge. A Toys for Tots-type organization collecting toys (“new and in their original packaging please”) brings cheer to poor kids who might not otherwise have a happy Christmas. And while caring people head to the mall with a longer shopping list, our society scuttles an opportunity to help those same families not to be impoverished by health care expenses. Again: simple charity...structural poverty.

During tough economic times or when dealing with the human suffering caused by natural disasters at home or abroad, each of us is confronted with a personal choice. You can: ignore; respond; or ask why, learn, and act to address the root of problem. Most good people take door #2. It's human nature.

Nobody wants to open door #3. But we must. For example, seismic safety is a luxury only the privileged can afford. While the numbers aren't in yet on Haiti's quake, in 2001 a similar quake hit El Salvador and left nearly a quarter of the country (1.5 million people) homeless. (2001 was a momentous year for the USA, but imagine...a quarter of your country homeless.) An earthquake of the same magnitude hit my hometown that same year, and no one died. I was at work in our new-at-the-time building and remember riding it out like a hobby horse (suddenly thankful for the code requirements that made me spend extra for construction that could withstand such a quake). The best those living in a Haitian shantytown can afford for earthquake protection is to live in what's called “miniskirt housing” — cinderblocks for the lower half of the wall, and light corrugated tin for the upper walls and roof. When a miniskirt house tumbles down, at least it won't kill you.

We can blame Haiti's squalor on voodoo, on its heritage of slavery, on corruption, on the fact that its main export is topsoil (in a treeless land, each rainstorm flushes precious soil into the sea), or on many other factors. But we must also look at American and European trade policies that help keep nations like Haiti underdeveloped — tariffs that help keep them “banana republics.”

A banana republic is a poor land whose economy is dominated by the export of its leading natural resource. It's subjugated by First World trade policies that allow it to export raw materials but not finished products. Higher tariffs for processed goods make it nearly impossible to export anything but cheap raw materials to the already-developed world competitively. Put simply, Haiti can export raw sugar but not candy. Ghana can export cocoa but not chocolate bars. Honduras can export peanuts but not peanut butter. Compounding that are subsidies for American agricultural products. Haiti would love to compete fairly for the American market with its sugar, rice, and textiles, but tariffs and subsidies created by our government (to protect you and me) make it impossible. In Haiti, you'll see fields that once grew rice now left unplanted. And across the street, a shack sells rice grown in the USA.

That is an example of structural poverty put upon countless millions of people, in part by the trade policies of the wealthy world. Sure, it may be good business for us in the short term. But having squalor south of our border may not be in even the greediest American's self-interest in the long term.

The most widely used term for poor countries these days is “the Developing World.” But I find that label ironic, since so many First World economic policies systematically and actively keep places like Haiti underdeveloped. (The chapter on El Salvador in my Travel as a Political Act book explains this more thoroughly.)

OK, I guess I am cynical. (I think that feeling's stoked by the growing power of corporations to shape policies that impact real people — like the Haitians our hearts will go out to for next week or so. Even before everyone was dug out of the rubble that was once Port au Prince, the US Supreme Court gave American corporations the constitutional right to be protected as individuals. That means they have the right to buy our government in the name of “free speech.” I fear our “democracy” is fast becoming one with a government still “by, for, and of the people” — but via the corporations we own. And, as that happens, why would our government ever reconsider these trade policies?)

Give aid or deal with the roots of the problem? That's the question. Mother Teresa inspired us to feed the poor. Like everyone else, I loved her. El Salvador's Archbishop Oscar Romero asked what were the roots of his nation's poverty. He was shot. Today, my pastor worked a slide show on Haiti into his sermon: a series of horrific scenes of squalor. The last frame read: “Haiti before the earthquake.”

On my last trip south of our border, I heard a local troubadour sing: “It's not easy to see God in the orphan child who cleans the windshields at a traffic light...but we must.”

So what do we do? I'm not sure. We can ask ourselves how costly it would be for the US to allow free trade so poor countries can compete with us. We can learn more about these issues. And we can support Bread for the World — see www.bread.org — which lobbies courageously, effectively, and against great odds for friendlier trade policies for people like the Haitians.

Here's how the same piece ran in USA Today:

Haiti: Behind Door No. 3, difficult questions await

When people are in need, it brings out the best in Americans. But at the same time, no one seems to be asking why Haiti had become so wretchedly poor to begin with — before the earthquake awakened the world. And as soon as the passion of this moment fades, the U.S. government, and others, will continue pursuing repressive trade policies that help keep places like Haiti poor.

When dealing with human suffering, each of us is confronted with a personal choice. You can (1) ignore; (2) respond; or (3) ask why, learn and act to address the roots of the problem. Most good people take Door No. 2. Charity is easy to do, easy to understand and easy to feel good about. It genuinely helps people in need. Meanwhile, few want to open Door No. 3. But we must. Addressing the roots of structural poverty is more challenging, but ultimately can be more effective.

We can blame Haiti's chronic poverty on its heritage of slavery, on corruption, or on the fact that its main "export" is topsoil (in a treeless land, each rainstorm flushes precious soil into the sea). But we must also examine global trade policies that help keep nations like Haiti "banana republics," poor lands whose economies are often dominated by the export of their leading natural resource. These countries are subjugated by First World trade policies that allow them to export raw materials, but not finished products.

Historically, higher tariffs on processed goods make it nearly impossible for less-developed countries to export anything truly profitable. Put simply, Haiti can export raw sugar but not candy. Ghana can export cocoa but not chocolate bars. Countries in Latin America can export peanuts but not peanut butter.

Domestic subsidies for U.S. agricultural products also hamper development in poor nations. Haiti would love to compete fairly for the U.S. market with its sugar, rice and textiles, but tariffs and subsidies (to protect American businesses) make it almost impossible. In Haiti, fields that once grew rice sit unplanted. And across the street, a shack sells rice grown in the USA.

Having desperately needy people south of our border is in no American's self-interest. For one thing, these policies contribute to a dilapidated status quo that amplifies the impact of natural disasters, which demand a costly international response.

And so, as Americans choose Door No. 2 (respond), let's also peek behind Door No. 3, which requires long-term thinking. While signing your Haiti charity check, ask how costly it would be for the U.S. to allow free trade so that poor countries could fairly compete with us. Make a point to learn about the economics of structural poverty. And then support organizations that advocate for the nations kept down by First World debt, subsidies and tariffs. For example, Bread for the World lobbies effectively for friendlier global trade policies. On my last trip south of our border, I heard a local troubadour sing: "It's not easy to see God in the child who cleans the windshields at a traffic light ... but we must." We have all been moved by images of people whose lives have been ripped apart in Haiti. Now let's try to empathize with how grindingly difficult those lives were in the days, months and years before that disaster.

At my church service last Sunday, my pastor showed us a slide show of horrific scenes of squalor. The last frame read: "Haiti before the earthquake."

Posted by Rick Steves on February 05, 2010
Comments (20)

A decade ago, while filming the “Surprising Bulgaria” show for my TV series, I met Lyuba Boyanin in Sofia. She was assigned to our crew by her country's tourist board. She and I clicked, and I knew we'd someday work together. (But back then, Bulgaria wasn't quite ready for prime time as a tour destination.)

Now, for 2010, we've added Bulgaria to our tour program, with Lyuba as our guide. It'll be our worst seller — and that's fine with me. I love Bulgaria, and it will be fun partnering with an enthusiastic local to introduce travelers to this southeast European enigma.

As a follow-up to the annual tour alum reunion and guides summit we had here in January, I got a thank-you letter from Lyuba, written after she returned home from her first visit to the USA. The wide-eyed enthusiasm of her letter (with all its fun little language quirks) charmed me and reminded me how rewarding it is to work with travelers on both sides of the Atlantic.

Dear Rick,

I am finally back to Sofia and do not believe that everything what was happened was real.

Visit to Edmonds change me a lot — now I am feeling as member of great family. Like the World is different now. Like I am not anymore alone but with so many new "relatives" and friends. Thank you very much for your hospitality and friendship. Everything we did in Edmonds was so interesting and important for me, but the warm relationship make me to feel very comfortable and to be proud to be a member of your team. Hope we will have successful many more new trips to Bulgaria in the near future and our Bulgarian crew will be bigger and bigger soon (maybe one day at least as big as the Turks!).

My visit was very fruitful and good for the work. Now I am familiar with American style of life, habits, breakfast, pizza, McDonalds, restaurants, museums, tours... This will make me a better guide.

And I received a lot of help from colleagues from your office and Rick Steves' guides. Looks like the baby (our dream that started so long ago to make tours together) has been really born! Thank you so much making my opportunity to be part of your family real. I have not a patience to start the trips to Bulgaria soon.

It will be great if you come here again to make a new show on Bulgaria and its people. This year in August (6-8) we are going to have big authentic folk festival, which is one of the unique festivals of Europe with over 10 000 participants from villages all around Bulgaria.

When you come to visit here we can do American Eve trying to prepare ribs and other food I have tasted in Edmonds. The Rick Steves Cooking book is still missing.

Have a good and successful day and let's hope this year marks great success for the tours. Think always white not black.

With love and many hugs to you and all the Rick Steves Crew!

Lyuba

Posted by Rick Steves on February 03, 2010
Comments (8)

My guidebook editor (Risa), TV producer (Simon), and radio producer (Tim) always nail me when I pop in one of my favorite and overused catchphrases. There are certain words Simon will let me use just once per script (like “proud,” “boom times,” “glory days,” or “carbonate”). Then I get this on the Travelers Helpline section of the Graffiti Wall on our website: “The Rick Steves Drinking Game.” I learned lots about my own brain patterns and limited vocabulary with this fun posting and thread. Here some of my no-no words (and quirky pronunciations) offered by attentive readers, viewers, and travelers. Let's all drink to new and creative ways for travel writers to say the same old thing.

“workaday” — as in “such and such is a workaday city”
“main drag”
Michael in Phoenix, AZ

How about “grab” — such as “grab a train,” “grab a bite”
Swan in Napa, CA

“backwater”
“sleepy”
“unchanged”
“sit back”
Jim in Oklahoma City, OK

“Raise your travel dreams to their upright and locked position.”
Teresa in Seattle, WA

On his podcasts he's always asking a guest interviewee, “What's your take on that?”
Nancy in Bloomington, IL

He also likes to use “salty” and “workaday” quite a bit when describing things.
Ashley in Baton Rouge, LA

“thrills” as in “maximum thrills per mile” or “sightseeing thrills” or “alpine thrills”
He uses the word “thrills” a lot.
Laura in Virginia

If you tried the drinking game with the word “local,” you might need to visit the ER for detox afterwards.
Tom in Somewhere Else, Not in USA

Here's another fun game...try this in Europe! Every time you see a Rick Steves guidebook, you go and get a gelato!! Hahahahaha...they would need to roll me on the plane!!
Jackie in Renton, WA

“ambience”... and he pronounces it different than I do.
Janet in St Joseph, MI

Whoever said he pronounces “ambience” differently, remember when he used to say “oh-BLISK”? For someone who was born and raised in the Pacific Northwest, he does have some interesting accent quirks. I wonder if he gets it from the Scandinavians in his family?
Teresa in Seattle, WA

“evocative”
P.S.: I hope he realizes this is all in good fun...apologies if no!
Betsey in New England

“Women/men/kids/locals strut their [insert appropriate adjective] stuff.” :)
Betsey's right, this is just good fun. We love Rick!
Penny in Tulsa, OK

“Iran”
“sit back”
“grab”
“thrills”
Audrey in Keizer, OR

I second “evocative”! I'm not sure if I've ever heard anyone else use the word.
Candice in San Antonio, TX

To Jackie in Renton, WA: I would like the gelato game more than the drinking game. My human body has low toleration for alcohol, but a high toleration for gelato.
Ron in Florida

Posted by Rick Steves on February 01, 2010
Comments (15)

My "No Aid to Haiti" entry was on the blog, and then it was gone. Several people asked what happened to it. Some (those who don't know me very well) thought I removed it because I'm afraid of the controversy. No way. I love the discussion generated by these edgy topics. In fact, I was so impressed by the thoughtful dialogue this entry sparked, that I've decided to turn the Haiti piece into a newspaper op ed. (Newspapers don't want to run something that's already out there — even in a blog.) So for now, I've removed it from my site. Stay tuned...it'll be back, and so will I. Thanks for your interest!

Posted by Rick Steves on January 26, 2010
Comments (17)

Europe Through the Back Door headquarters is finally quiet today after the busiest tour alumni party/tour guide summit we've ever hosted. For over twenty years, we've invited our guides and their tour members to town for a grand tour reunion. This year's "massing of the scrapbooks" was the best and busiest yet. Last Saturday, over 1,200 tour alums (of the 8,000 travelers who joined our tours in 2009) gathered here for four parties. They were joined by 80 or so of our guides (60 of whom we flew in from all corners of Europe).

At each reunion party, I had the pleasure of introducing a smattering of guides to the gang to share greetings from their culture. When I introduced Cristina from Portugal and happily announced that for 2010 we were breaking Portugal away from our Spain tour, she noted that for 800 years her country has fought to maintain its independence from Spain (and has the longest unchanged border in Europe), so this itinerary change was only right. As she spoke, it occurred to me that our guidebooks and tours have dealt with similar border challenges that the countries themselves have. (Ireland and Britain were once the same book, and eventually the Irish gained their guidebook independence, too.)

I introduced Alfio from Sicily. Noting that Italy no longer has a shrinking population, he added an aside that his baby boy is "obsessed with breast-feeding." He and his wife are being awakened nearly every hour through the night, and just before he left home, their little boy spoke his first word — tetta.

As usual, at the parties we acknowledged tour members who've taken the most tours. While plenty have enjoyed ten or twelve of our tours, no one gets near Larry from Springfield. He's survived 17 of our tours and stood up to announce he just signed up for our "Village France" tour in 2010. Thanks Larry!

That same Saturday, we hosted 21 "Test Drive a Tour Guide" classes in our town's three biggest venues. Each was filled with a mix of tour alums and potential first-time travelers interested in our various tour itineraries. (About half the people we took around Europe in 2009 were repeat customers. I think one of the most powerful marketing tools for this big sales event was to have alums and prospective first-time travelers in the same theater together to hear the guides describe the various tours. The energy and enthusiasm was palpable...and contagious.) I capped the day with an evening talk entitled "An Irreverent History of the ETBD Tour Program." Watch a video of last year's version of An Irreverent History.

My tour operations staff and I kicked off the week-long summit with an all-day general meeting on Friday. I started the day with a three-hour lecture on the heritage, ethics, and fundamentals of being a Rick Steves tour guide. I stressed our determination that our travelers get the absolute most value out of each experience on the itinerary and out of each guide. The bottom line: Employment is shaky for guides in general, but solid for our gang...and to keep it that way, we're raising the bar on what our guides provide our travelers.

In the days since Saturday, we've been huddling in extensive review and brainstorming sessions in which guides for each region gather and debate the fine points of their tour itineraries — sharing the lessons they learned and discoveries they made in the last year of guiding.

Each night was a party or dinner in a different venue in Edmonds. Getting 60 or 80 guides together in a bar or Mexican restaurant is a rare treat — all exuberant about their work, so fun to talk with, and happy to weave together countless friendships...and all right here in this beautiful corner of the USA. And it was a blast to see the fun they were having experiencing our country. When I welcomed Arnaud Servignat, our very sophisticated Parisian guide, with a nice margarita, the salt on the lip of the glass startled him. (I have the most trouble pronouncing Arnaud's last name...I keep pronouncing his name like the grape: Cabernet "Servignat.") Sharing stories of tough travelers, Irish guide Stephen recalled how he once guided an Australian who opened twist-top beer bottles with his eye socket.

For some Sunday-afternoon fun, we rented two school buses with local guides and gave our guides a bit of their own medicine: a guided tour...of Seattle. I can imagine the Seattle guide must have had a memorable experience herself, with forty European guides on her bus. Peter from Hungary noted that rolling boisterously down the freeway into Seattle felt like the scene in One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest when the inmates commandeered the bus and escaped their asylum.

Guides also enjoyed simply being in Seattle. A few, such as Lyuba from Bulgaria, had never been in the USA before, and they were as wide-eyed about our culture as their tour members are about theirs.

Of course, free time was also spent at the mall. A highlight: the Apple Store. The word spread quickly: "Same price as in Europe...but in dollars!" (meaning that a gadget you'd pay €300 for over there would cost $300 here — a 40 percent savings). I asked Arnaud to compare the service here with the service he's accustomed to in Paris. He said, "Here, it exists." Patrick from Brittany added, "There was more staff than clients, and they were jumping on you. They fixed my hard drive in two hours, with smiles. In France, it would be ten days and double the price."

Our tour guides get extra work with us as guidebook researchers. Along with our editorial staff, I spent Tuesday morning with the 20 guides who help update our guidebooks. And I enjoyed a breakfast at our local diner with our new guides. As the ten guides sorted through the menu, Gokalp (from Turkey) said, "In all the movies, you call waitresses 'honey.' Is it okay to do that?" When the waitress was taking the orders, and asked what kind of eggs, Nina from Italy asked, "Do we choose that?" When the waitress followed up with, "Your toast?", Nina asked, "Do we choose that, too?" When the various plates finally arrived, Lyuba from Bulgaria exclaimed, "Wow, it's a very serious breakfast!"

Seeing three young Turkish guides at the breakfast table was a reminder that Turkey is now our second most popular tour destination. These young Turkish guides filled the far east end of our table with bright eyes and exuberance...much like Turkey aspires to fill the east end of the European Union.

In the weeks leading up to our summit, I spent several long days with our tour operations staff reviewing our concerns and vision for each of our 30 or so tour itineraries. This week, while our staff and the guides were hammering out these ideas and the countless details of their respective tour itineraries, I was in our radio studio taping a world of radio interviews. Over the course of four six-hour recording sessions, we got 30 or 40 separate interviews (each streamed in the rough on our website and with live call-ins from around the country). Producer Tim Tattan now has raw material for about four months of radio shows in the can — and a lot of work ahead of him. Getting our foreign experts actually in the studio for all those interviews was a huge boon for our national radio show.

For a couple of days, we had our TV crew running around capturing the excitement of the event on camera, which we'll edit and eventually put up on our website for those who couldn't make it to Seattle for the occasion but wanted to.

My staff designed and pulled off this complex and exhilarating week as smoothly as could be. And today we say goodbye, as our guides fly back to points all over Europe — from Stockholm to Sofia, from Lisbon to Thessaloniki, from Glasgow to Izmir.

My brain is fried, my voice is hoarse, and my tour guide heart is soaring. Now we catch our breath, knowing we are primed and ready to lead a 2010 tour season brimming with rich experiences, vivid lessons, memories to last a lifetime, and busloads of good travelers.

Posted by Rick Steves on January 21, 2010
Comments (26)

I wanted to share an email with you that inspired me today:

Hi Rick,

This may be something you get ALL the time but I am giving it a shot. I admit, I am not writing as a long-time fan. But after hearing about you from my father, I have taken the time to look at your website and check out some clips of your shows. Let me explain.

My dad was diagnosed with leukemia in 2005. Eventually he was forced to quit his job in a hospital because the environment was something that his immune system could not handle. I do not want to go into the cliche details of a cancer patient's ups and downs. However, I would like to share a little detail of how your work has given a great ray of sunshine to a grim scenario.

At the age of 57, he was forced into home confinement because of this cancer. He joked around about becoming the stay-at-home husband he'd always dreamed of being. But we knew it was making him miserable. However, he would talk about some of the things he would do to stay busy. He especially loved the "European travel show with Rick Steves," as he put it.

As I eventually began learning, your show was what he looked forward to each day. He cut our phone conversations short so many times because your show was about to air! Through all of the depression and shock of trading in an active life for staying home each day fighting cancer, he found his joy through your program. He knew his illness would never allow him to travel to the grocery store again, never mind Europe. However, after every episode he would still make notes about all of the places he would love to go in the cities you visited.

During my last year of college I studied abroad in London. After returning, my dad was fully prepared to quiz me on the things I had done and seen because "Rick said THIS was the best place to go" or "Rick said THAT area near the Thames River had the best views." I laughed at the time but as I write this I really do appreciate the fact that my dad was able to escape the hell he was living in by traveling with you to London, Budapest, Normandy, Tuscany and all of the other places he could only dream about.

I realize this is part of the reason why you do the show and have heard thousands of stories, but I couldn't resist sharing this.

He is currently receiving treatment at a cancer center here in Houston, Texas. He came for a stem cell transplant but things are not looking so great and it doesn't look like he will make it to that transplant. But what keeps him going each day? Having his family here and the fact that he found a channel that sometimes airs Rick Steves' Europe!

It appears that you only do European travel so I take it that you won't be in Texas anytime soon. But I would love nothing more than to have him receive a personalized message from you, perhaps in the form of a phone call or hand written card. This may sound absurd but I figured it was worth a shot.

I understand if it's not possible and I haven't told him about this wild idea for that reason. But I do want to send a big THANKS from Houston!

-A new-ish fan, Adele Thompson

I hope Adele and her father's story can inspire us all to be thankful for our health, to embrace life while we have it, and to travel (if we're so inclined) while we can.

I used to be very wrongheaded about the value of my travel teaching being for “real travelers” only. Now I now see that part of my mission is also to help those who can only dream about faraway places to do so vividly.

Most of us will, one day, be able to carry on the way we like to only in our dreams. My dad will always be on the verge of buying a boat, even though his sailing days are over. And for as long as he's around, we'll talk of his next boat. My old landlord used to shuffle into my travel center (well into the Parkinson's disease that eventually took his life) to plan his next trip — even though his caretaker and I knew it would never happen. I remember unfolding the maps and marveling at how just daydreaming about flying away brought him such great joy.

I called Adele hoping to speak with her father today but he was unable. As I pop some DVDs in the mail to Adele's dad and hope they'll arrive in time to take him on a few more trips, I am reminded how our travel spirits can outlive our passports. And I'm inspired to respect and celebrate the resilient spirit that keeps us going.

Posted by Rick Steves on January 14, 2010
Comments (34)

A year after our Iran TV special aired, I still get feedback from Iranians in America thankful for our public television work. Now, as the protests in Iran persist, our government is encouraged to get more involved. Who knows the best action for the Iranian people? But my strong hunch is that Iranians need to earn their freedom (as France, the USA, and South Africa all did), and support in spirit from the USA is the most we should give. I believe (given the power of modern government propaganda) that concrete action in their support from the USA would actually hurt the students on the street. They would then be discredited as puppets of the USA, and a groundswell of politically naive and frightened Iranians would crush them.

The following letter, which I just received (and appears here with all its charming typos intact), gives a touching insight into the spirit I felt while in Iran. It is the spirit of a grassroots movement hungry for freedom.

Hi Rick,

My name is amir. I born in Isfahan on 1974 and I came to US. on 2001. It was too hard to get immigration visa and come to your beautiful and toppest country in the world. We went to Dubai and then Abu dhabi to get visa and I was so excited to see an American flag hangs on the building. I was excited to see inside the Embassy also. I got black stamp in my passport and crying that I couldn't get it. it was for 2000. on 2001 we went to istanbul and then Ankara and I saw American big flag that moving with breeze and hang on the building and we can not see american flag that hangs in Iran. I came to us and we landed in seattle first and i was so excited. we are walking in u.s. land finally. on the first trip on 2004 i saw American embassy again in Tehran and I saw those ad on the walls again. we are tired to violence to America and American Flag. Say new dialog. it is not only just my opinion not. it is many Iranian voice. We can not change many things but we are try.

For this christmas I got your dvd iran and I didnt belive that one of my American friend give it to me as a gift. I watched it 3 time and I cry...

I will go back to Isfahan on march Also I will buy your dvd and give it to my American friends.

we Love Americans sorry if sometimes in iran say something or violence to American flag. On 4th july I saw that howmuch Americans love their flag and in Iran they burn American flag.

sorry -we get shy to see that

amir 35 years -california

Posted by Rick Steves on January 13, 2010
Comments (9)

Last week I posted this. We sent it to our general list and we've had a great response. I thought you might enjoy another look at ways we can all travel well in 2010. Peruse the comments...add your own if so moved:

OK travelers, it's time for New Year's resolutions. In 2010, in my travels I will strive to maximize the experience these ways:

• In small towns, villages, and rural settings, take my last glass of wine away from the restaurant and enjoy it in the elements under the stars — in whichever corner of Europe I'm enjoying.

• Stretch 10 minutes a day so all my exercise will feel good rather than just tighten me up.

• Eat at the counter in market eateries to season the meal with all that local action.

• Order more adventurously to delve more deeply into regional cuisine and treats of the season.

• Drink more — and work less — late at night.

• Take time to talk with more people — both locals and tourists.

• Refuse to let small-minded victims of 24/7 news and media-stoked fear shrink my worldview.

• Buy clothes on the road and wear them.

• Take more photos with my tiny pocket tripod.

• Make music a bigger part of my travels.

• Embrace technology more vigorously in the interest of using my time smarter, capturing experiences, and then amplifying tales of the fun I've had — and the lessons I've learned — to others.

Please share your resolutions so we can all enjoy happier and more rewarding travels in the New Year. And best wishes to all in 2010.

Posted by Rick Steves on January 08, 2010
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In last week's blog list of New Year's Travel Resolutions, I pledged that I would "refuse to let small-minded victims of 24/7 news shrink my worldview." A few days later, at a New Year's Eve party, I finally found a way to enjoy Fox News.

The TV was running without the volume, and we were listening to early-1960s girl groups like the Shirelles and the Supremes. Watching the Fox talking heads--popping up in various boxes, hands busy helping make their points, the visuals were amazingly in sync with the playful party-and-heartache lyrics of the songs. It was an absolute delight. (If you make a Supremes channel with your Pandora app, then listen to it while watching Fox News on mute, you'll be there.) I guess it was particularly enjoyable because, even without hearing a word they were mouthing, I knew the “newscasters” were sowing fear while the audio track was celebrating life.

Older people seem most vulnerable to the 24/7 news fear-mongering. A week ago, a loved one called me up. He was almost breathless, saying that 283 Americans were nearly blown up by a terrorist. I pointed out that, while the thwarted attack could have been tragic, on that same day, 20,000 children around the world actually died because of bad water and no immunizations.

With the failed attempt to blow up a plane last week, blankets on laps and trips to the toilet are now suspect on flights. Egged on by our hysterical media, we're fixated on a risk we can never completely rid ourselves of. But that's not news: The Department of Homeland Security has kept our airports at code orange ("high risk") for the last three years straight.

The irony is that those most obsessed with the risk of terrorism are the ones empowering the terrorists...whose purpose, after all, is to frighten us. The people who need to travel the most are the ones whose worldview is shaped not by actually going places, but by 24/7 news coverage. And those news stations are peddling fear for profit. If it bleeds, it leads...and a thwarted terrorist attack at Christmas, if properly stoked and prodded, can turn into several days of huge ratings.

Last night, I enjoyed dinner with a 20-year-old who recently spent an exciting week in Cuba. He was filled with stories...and wisdom. Now he's planning to learn Arabic in Syria. The University of Damascus offers Arabic courses to English-speakers for free. The US Department of State warns that Syria is unsafe for travel, and our media is shouting about how dangerous our skies have become. But, inspired to learn a new language, experience a foreign culture, and meet the Syrian people, my young friend is ignoring all of those risks. He's way too young to be listening to the Shirelles. Why is he not afraid?

Here's to less fear in 2010.

Posted by Rick Steves on January 04, 2010
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For me, Christmas is more than a beautiful time of year.
It's a powerful time of year.
We're reminded of our humanity —
the hows and whys of our lives.
We're reminded — whether we like it or not —
of the rich blessings of friends and family.
We're reminded of triumphs and failures, gains and losses
in our families, communities, and world.
I think we're blessed, thrilled, nagged, or annoyed
by the story of the first Christmas
and the presence of our maker in our lives.
For me, with the grey blanket of a Seattle winter solstice as a backdrop, I become more keenly aware of my blessings
and the importance of taking time to survey and appreciate the things that combine to make our reality.
While things get revved up at holiday time,
celebrate the silence, too.
When silence strikes, make it a gift.
Have a wonderful holiday.
I hope you can make it one you'll long remember
warmly and happily.

Merry Christmas
May 2009 be looked upon as a springboard for a wonderful 2010

Posted by Rick Steves on December 23, 2009
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