Rick Steves: Blog Gone Europe

Dating Christian Churches

Our new PBS special, Mediterranean Mosaic (named with help from readers of this blog), is now airing all over the USA. In it we tackle subjects a bit more challenging than you'd see on a typical travel show. For instance, in the episode on Greece's Peloponnese, I was determined not only to show a Greek Orthodox church in action, but to explain how that brand of Christianity differed from Roman Catholicism and Protestantism. It's a challenge in a short script to write both accurately and clearly. It brings positive and negative comments like these:

I just finished watching "Rick Steves' Europe: Peloponnese Greece" on PBS in Atlanta. As a Greek Orthodox Christian living in America I wanted to thank you for including an excellent summary of Orthodoxy in your show. Rather than gloss over this element of Greek Culture you choose to educate your viewers to the roots of Christianity and how it's a part of traditional Greek living. It was an excellent reminder of why I enjoy watching your program. Jerry D. Odenwelder

Hi Rick, I was watching your Mediterranean Mosaic PBS Special when you were speaking about the History of the Orthodox Church. I thought I heard you state that the History of the Orthodox Church went back much further than that of modern day Protestantism and Catholicism? If you perform a simple Google search you'll find the list of Popes dates back to the Apostle Peter. Many Churches and Religions in this day and age that want to lay claim to the origins of Christianity, but the historical facts indicate that all present day churches are indeed an off-shoot of the Catholic Church. Of course former Catholic Priest, Martin Luther didn't appear on the scene until the 16th century. He was excommunicated from the Catholic Church due to his Heretical Theology. God bless, Michael.

Here was our response to the last comment:

Dear Michael, Thanks for your interest in our TV shows. Here is the line that you're thinking of, from our Peloponnese show: "Orthodox churches follow the earliest traditions of the Christian faith � these date from a time before the reforms created today's Roman Catholic and Protestant traditions." As you can see, we did not suggest that the Orthodox Church actually predates Catholicism, but that the liturgy and other facets of the Orthodox faith reflect the earliest traditions of organized Christianity. In fact, today's Orthodox people carry on many of the same traditions that Roman Catholics once did, before Catholicism changed over time. I hope this helps clear things up. And thanks for watching! Happy travels.

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Edumotion But No Nitty-Gritty, Please

A recent interview about my travel writing caused me to consider my work in a fresh way. I thought you might enjoy the questions and answers:

What one word makes a great travel story?
Edumotion. I needed two words, so I made up that word from "education" and "emotion." As I travel to learn, I write hoping to inspire others to learn. A good travel article needs to teach and show worthwhile lessons in a destination. A good article also hits the reader emotionally. (For example, "The Iranian woman poked her finger into my chest and said, 'We just don't want our children to be raised like Britney Spears.'") Emotions illustrate how a travel experience is real, matters, and can carbonate your life. What's the one thing you avoid when sharing a travel story?
Guidebook-type data. A newspaper or magazine article needs to inspire someone to travel. It's designed to be read by a travel dreamer on a couch at home � not weighed down by data to navigate by. A guidebook, on the other hand, is filled with the nitty-gritty data that gets you efficiently from A to B on the road. What are the similarities between the stories you tell for a living and the travel stories you share with friends and family back home?
I used to talk like Hans Christian Andersen about my travels with friends and family. As my work life dominates so much of what I am, I no longer talk travel with friends and family. If you walked into my living room, there's no indication that I've ever been to Europe.

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Force-Feeding Geese, Getting Naked with Germans, and Bushwhacking in Montenegro

Here's the fourth and final installment in my round-up of the ways that we're tweaking our tours to maximize experience in 2010: I believe that because our Best of the Adriatic tour is heavy on coastal towns, we end up rushing the powerful side-trip into Bosnia-Herzegovina, and don't go into Montenegro at all. For me, Mostar is a highlight, and a trip into Montenegro would be touristic bushwhacking � which is a big part of what ETBD is all about. But you just can't offer and sell a tour to Croatia without visiting the fabled Dalmatian Islands. As our itinerary stands now, we sail, have a long stop in Hvar, and spend two nights and an easy day (like a "vacation from our vacation") in Korcula. Then, after a long day driving, we arrive in Mostar after lunch, and have the rest of the day there. We leave Mostar the next morning for an exciting drive through the relatively wild and completely untouristed Serb part of Bosnia-Herzegovina to get to Dubrovnik. My sales staff weighed in on this, reminding me that if we add two days to the tour, it will be much more difficult to sell. (Tour length is a critical part of the sales decision-making process.) Given that this tour can't be longer than two weeks and still sell well in here in the country with the shortest vacations in the rich world (USA), we agreed that for now there was no way to smartly extend the time in Mostar, and that Montenegro isn't worth cutting existing stops out. I'm still frustrated with this, but we'll have to go with our existing plan for 2010. When our Germany, Austria, and Switzerland tour guides reported that a spa visit in Baden-Baden was no longer a part of our itinerary, I was disappointed. To me, Americans are childishly prudish when it comes to enjoying baths in Europe where the dress code is just a towel. This prudishness gets stronger (and makes more sense to me) when the Americans would be getting naked not just with a bunch of European strangers, but with fellow members of their own tour group...including tour buddies of the opposite sex. Much as I wish all Americans could experience the baths in a German spa resort, I finally agreed with my guides that you just can't build it in as a group activity. So, while I encouraged the guides to recommend this experience, taking the spa is something people will have the option to do on their free time in Baden-Baden (likely sneaking in at a time when they expect nobody else from their group will be there). Also in Germany, Trier is a fine stop, but I had a problem with giving it nearly a day and a half at the expense of the nearby Mosel River (which hosts my favorite castle, Burg Eltz, and the vineyard tranquility and river-town charm that many dream of � but never find � along the Rhine). So, in Trier, we decided to cut into a leisurely free day to create itinerary space for a long and beautiful day exploring the Mosel River. For 2010, we'll drive up the meandering river, skip Cochem but have lunch in sleepy little Beilstein (where I go to convalesce when really fried with my work in Europe), then tour Burg Eltz, before catching the autobahn back to Trier in time for dinner. In Vienna, Art Nouveau sights are trendy. But I learned that the consequence of our guides' passion for Vienna's organic and leafy architecture was that the Habsburg palace visit became a "free time option." (Free time is vital for a good tour. But I'm skeptical about relegating great sights to "free time options," as they often get beat out by easier, lighter activities � like shopping, laundry, and snoozing.) I may just be the world's biggest Habsburg fan, and this was their capital for centuries, making Vienna the eastern rival of Paris in Europe. The Habsburgs had two palaces that attempt to outdo Versailles: Schönbrunn and the Hofburg. While Schönbrunn, the summer palace in a gilded park on the edge of town, is the most visually striking from the exterior, the Hofburg � right in the town center and an easy walk from other tour activities � is just as splendid on the inside and comes with a gob-smacking treasury, Vienna Boy's Choir lore, and the Spanish Riding School. In 2010, we will do the Hofburg justice, and let Art Nouveau (whoever he is) just deal with it. I am fascinated that British travelers make a virtual pilgrimage to France's Dordogne to celebrate the force-feeding of the geese and, once the geese are slaughtered, to eat their huge and tasty livers � and yet, many Americans think the whole process should be outlawed. Few American anti-foie gras activists consider actually visiting a goose farm to talk with the owner and hang around for meal time (never much of a wait) to see the forced feeding. I have a favorite goose farm where our tour members could actually witness la gavage, as pulling the goose's neck up and filling its belly with corn is called (the process reminds me of transferring cereal from one box to another). Our French guides were all for the visit, but when considering our itinerary, being there during hours the farm is formally welcoming the public would rush our Dordogne River canoe trip. I enjoy the canoe experience even more than a Mr. Rogers-type visit to a goose farm. I encouraged my staff to keep the canoe time sacred and beg the farmers � for the love of goose-liver pâté � to let us visit outside of regular hours. If that doesn't work, we'll visit an alternate farm, and have both wonderful French experiences as part of our tours in 2010. Surveying all these changes, I'm satisfied that our 2010 tour will be more experience-packed than ever. I hope you'll agree....

Tweaking Tours for More Experience in 2010 (Part Three of Four)

Still buzzing from the fun, sharing, and brainstorming our tour staff enjoyed with our tour guides at our annual summit last month, we are busy incorporating itinerary changes we agreed upon into our 2010 tour plans. Here is the thinking behind more of what I hope are improvements. (Sorry for the delay in getting this entry out. This has been a particularly busy week.) For Spain, I suggested Gibraltar rather than the famous Andalusian hill town of Ronda (dramatically straddling its famous gorge). But our guides consider Gibraltar (the British military base-turned-tourist escape nippled onto the south tip of Spain) tacky, and strongly advised we stick with Ronda. Guides suggested we add Toledo's Mezquita del Cristo de la Luz (a ruined mosque) to balance the sightseeing, since we already visit a church and a synagogue in Toledo. After cringing at that whiff of political correctness, I said I thought that particular mosque is underwhelming at best. Instead, we agreed to visit the new, fully functioning Great Mosque of Granada in that city's Albayzín district, and see if our groups can actually check in with the imam there to see how Spain's largest Muslim community (10 percent of the town) is living with its neighbors. In Northern Ireland, we American visitors (even the sword-carrying Protestants) are predisposed to support the underdog Catholic minority. But to get the full story, we agreed to find an angry Ulster Protestant to talk with our groups about Orangemen activities in what we call a "reflections" setting. Orangemen have seemed to kind of terrorize the Catholic minority in Ulster � with its bombed-out Catholic churches, seemingly hateful Protestant marches through Catholic towns, and menacing bonfires that continue to this day. A reflections setting is when we sit down as a group with a local person in a quiet place, and our guide (without contributing otherwise) facilitates a reflective exchange between the local and our group. After participating in exchanges like this in El Salvador and Nicaragua, I've been encouraging them when the opportunity presents itself with our Europe tour program. (While Europe may be less contentious than political flashpoints, reflections meetings here can be just as instructive and inspirational.) We've done reflections meetings with Scandinavians who buy a kind of socialism by willingly paying higher taxes, Turkish Kurds supporting a separatist movement that threatens Ankara, Serbian Orthodox priests angry with American involvement in Kosovo, Hungarian grade school classes and their teachers, and American expats who've married into Italy (where mothers-in-law take mother-in-lawing to towering heights). We want our tours to connect with Europe in as many ways as possible. And reflections meetings are just another tool for this. Dublin has a "Musical Pub Evening Tour" in which a trio of local musicians meet a group in a pub and, over the course of the evening (and several pints of beer), lead their group on a crawl. They visit three pubs while explaining and demonstrating their instruments, offering the group an educational foundation for Irish music appreciation (and generally a nice Guinness buzz). I absolutely love the experience. Our guides said they did music evenings in pubs in other towns, and doing that plus taking groups on this music tour would be redundant. Considering how an evening of live traditional music in a small-town pub is even more fun after having the pub tour education, I proposed that this kind of "redundancy" was a beautiful thing. In 2010, we'll offer both experiences. In Florence, we have always offered a historic "Renaissance Walk" through the core of the old town. While the Renaissance Walk is the main thing, we also recognize that it misses the town's scant Roman history, its fascinating medieval history, and the heady years in the 1860s when Florence was the first capital of the new country of Italy. So, for our Heart of Italy and Venice/Florence/Rome tours, we're covering more dimensions of Florence's history by adding a local guide who'll use generally overlooked sights tucked here and there in the old town as a rack upon which to sort out these layers of the Florentine story. Then the guide will walk our groups across the Arno River to lead an artisan-focused walk through the crusty-as-a-cobbler Oltrarno district. In Slovenia, our guides were skipping the Skocjan Caves because they wanted to be sensitive to claustrophobic tour members. I love these caves and (at the risk of freaking out the paranoid ones) requested that we visit Skocjan instead of the visually impressive but empty Predjama Castle. We'll include the 1.5-mile hike through Europe's most awe-inspiring cave � a vast canyon evoking the hidden home of those flying monkeys from the Wizard of Oz, and illustrating memorably the honeycombed geology of Slovenia's Karst region. Some will need to be shepherded across the scary bridge over the subterranean gorge in the middle, and some may simply refuse to enter and wait with the driver at a café near the entrance. But we will include Skocjan Caves in 2010. ...

Tweaking Tours for More Experience in 2010 (Part Two)

I'm recapping a few of the changes to our tours for 2010, following up on our guide summit last month... Our Heart of Belgium and Holland tour is particularly tuned in to current issues, social issues, and environmental issues. (Our Dutch and Belgian guides love leading it, and I'm seriously considering taking the tour myself.) We deal with challenges facing the EU at its capital in Brussels. We tour a massive dike project to learn about how the Dutch are raising their levies in anticipation of higher seas (people who live below sea level tend to take climate change more seriously than others). And in Amsterdam, we want to hit the hot-button social issues � pot and prostitution. Touring the Red Light District, we make a point to understand the "harm reduction" rationale of having legalized, regulated, unionized prostitution. And we visit a coffeeshop to interview a man who makes his living legally selling marijuana to adults. In 2010, we hope to drop by Ludo's Paradox Coffeeshop � a mellow, mature, and comfortable place in the charming Jordaan District � for a drink and a Q&A session. While we couldn't include more than this as a formal part of our tour, those who want more than a smoothie from Ludo will be welcome to stay after, as the Paradox visit is the last organized stop for that day. Now that we're staying in the more charming old center of Naples (Piazza del Plebiscito) rather than the gritty train station neighborhood, our guides are more enthusiastic about our time there. Naples offers one of Europe's most fascinating "urban jungle" experiences, and we're now able to do it better than ever. We've come up with a clever new plan for our day visiting Pompeii, the ruined Roman city that was buried in ash by a volcano eruption in A.D. 79. First we drive our bus to the end of the road, from where our group hikes to the steaming summit of Mount Vesuvius. After our crater experience, we hit the Pompeii ruins, where our charismatic local guide, Gaetano, meets us. The bus goes into Sorrento without the group (to deposit our luggage at our hotel), and after Pompeii, the group catches the commuter train into Sorrento. From the train station, our guide gives an orientation walk through town, dropping by a famous gelateria for a demonstration and some tasting fun before strolling to our hotel to check in. For our Best of England tour, we've dropped touristy, overpriced, and crowded Warwick Castle, and will stop instead at Ironbridge Gorge to tour the birthplace of the Industrial Revolution. I've always felt Warwick was a bit cheesy. It's one of those historic sights that has completely sold out to an amusement park company, which runs it like a very aggressive business rather than part of England's patrimony. Ironbridge Gorge, on the other hand is classy, personal, untouristy, and � when you consider that the advances made here provided the foundation for British industrial dominance in the 19th century � quite a thrill to see and understand. The plan in Britain was to zip directly from one pristine natural wonder to another: rushing from North Wales to the Lake District to visit the national park center at Brockhole, then take a steamer ride on Lake Windermere en route to our two-night home base in Keswick. Instead, for 2010, after leaving Wales, we'll spend the middle of the day eating "candy floss" and taking white-knuckle rides in Blackpool for the "Coney Island of England" experience, and then arrive late in the Lake District. After the tackiness of Blackpool, the magic of the pristine lakes will be even more vivid. By cutting out a little redundancy, we'll enjoy an entirely different slice of the English sightseeing pie. Also in Britain, we'll say goodbye to our "coach" (tour bus) upon arrival in York to avoid an extra day of bus rental. Then we'll spend that money on train tickets for the group into London, which will get us there in two hours (rather than four hours by bus). Arriving at London's Kings Cross Station, we stow our bags on a different bus, tour the British Library (which is just across the street from the station), then enjoy a full four-hour introduction tour to London by bus. The cost to us is roughly the same, and we'll save two hours in transit, enjoy an English train ride, and take full advantage of the time saved to get a substantial bus tour of London before finally arriving at our hotel thoroughly oriented. I am thrilled with how our Best of Turkey tour connects our travelers with Turkish culture in intimate ways other tours do not. For example, I love the casual sit-and-talk time with the imam in the extremely remote and untouristy central Turkish town of Güzelyurt. I wanted to promise this in our promotional literature, but we decided it's an example of travel magic that can't be institutionalized. The same is true of visits with a "whirling dervish." Much as I'd like our groups to meet with a dervish to hear him explain why he whirls, this is not something that can be done routinely and on a strict schedule with a tour group. Some of my most vivid and wild memories of Turkish travels are in the public baths, or hammam. I was disappointed when I heard that our hammam visits had become "optional." My guides convinced me that, much as we like to get our travelers out of their comfort zones, we can't force people to go to local baths. American modesty is quite strong. We can enable people to enjoy this...but I agreed that it shouldn't be an included part of the tour. Also in Turkey, I find visiting the House of the Virgin Mary near Ephesus fascinating without getting too hung up on whether or not she actually lived there. I learned that visiting the house is actually controversial on our tours. People either believe she lived here, or they don't, and to present it either way tends to anger half the group. So, rather than include it as a standard part of our schedule in 2010, we will leave it as an option for those who want to believe it � and help those who stay to tour it easily get back to the hotel with a taxi. It's taken a lot of time and effort to brainstorm, debate, and implement all of these tour itinerary changes. But my staff and I are confident than in 2010, our tours will be more experience-packed than ever. ...

A Few Improvements Planned for Our 2010 Tours

The other day I talked about our annual review process, when we fly our guides in for our yearly summit and hammer out the details to make our bus tours the best and richest experience possible. You'll notice that while we're determined to maximize the experience we offer, we have to maintain our budget, too. Here are a few examples of changes where we reached consensus: In 2009, we were trying to visit both the concentration camp at Dachau and have a quick stop in Munich for a beer-hall experience. It was both rushed and emotionally jarring. Guides oriented their groups to Dachau, and then the group members only had time to see the documentary movie and museum � or explore the grounds � before rushing into Munich for the beer hall. We decided to skip the Munich visit and do Dachau more thoroughly: orientation, museum, and time to explore the barracks and camp. Then, as we process that powerful experience, we'll drive straight to a peaceful village in the foothills of the Alps. Like every tour in Bavaria, we tour Mad King Ludwig's fairy-tale castle of Neuschwanstein. While that postcard-image, most thrilling castle is on everyone's list, Ludwig's boyhood home � Hohenschwangau castle on the neighboring hill � is more historic. It gives a much better context in which to appreciate Ludwig and his Romantic Age. For our two Europe tours, we decided to get an earlier start (which means less free time in the afternoon) to visit both castles � first the older Hohenschwangau and then, with a fine historic orientation, the Disney-esque Neuschwanstein. We can reserve timed admissions to both, so the morning is both memorable and extremely efficient. We routinely hire local guides (since it's a passion of mine to let our groups enjoy a local voice and expert to complement the lead guide) and, concerned about tiring our tour members, use these great guides for only two hours. If you hire a guide, you pay basically the same half-day rate for a two-to-four-hour tour. I encouraged our staff to keep guides longer for more teaching. For example, after the two-hour Uffizi Gallery tour in Florence, take a coffee break and follow it with a one-hour old town walk featuring Roman, medieval, and modern aspects of Florence (which complement the Renaissance Florence walk we offer upon arrival in town). Our popular Best of Europe Family Tour goes from Rome to Paris. A highlight is an overnight in an argriturismo (farm house). For this pastoral, hands-on experience in Tuscany, a highlight for the parents has been a tour of its winemaking facility and a wine tasting. The children were busied with some other non-alcohol-related activity. I suggested that we introduce the kids on our tour to Italy's wine culture � and even let them enjoy a taste or two (if the parents are OK with that). When I was a 14-year-old kid touring Germany with my parents, friends we visited actually served their children "training beer" or "near beer" to drink along with the adults and their serious beer. Wine (and beer) can be a respected part of a cultural and social scene, and American kids can appreciate that as European kids do (without actually "drinking" until they are an appropriate age). On that same family friendly tour, we decided to swap out the wonderfully Gothic Sainte-Chapelle church in Paris for a Seine River cruise. The cost is about the same. The kids have seen lots of churches by this point of the tour. Not doing the church takes the crush off an otherwise demanding Paris sightseeing day. Doing the cruise gives us something memorable to do in the evening. It stretches the activities by taking some of the time pressure off daytime hours, yet stays within our budget. Whenever we enter a big city (like Paris) by bus � or hire a bus for a transfer from a train station, boat dock, or airport � it is efficient not to go directly to the hotel, but to take advantage of our bus and driver to get a guided orientation tour. This lets us efficiently see sights we likely wouldn't get to otherwise. In Bruges, the Half Moon Brewery tour is great, but eating there is like eating at a Belgian TGIF. This year, we'll still tour the brewery. But then, rather than tasting beer and having lunch there, we'll enjoy our beer-tasting in a characteristic pub in town. These pubs generally don't want an American tour group killing their time-honored ambience in prime evening hours. But it's our hope that we could invade the place early, around 5 p.m., for a beer-tasting session with the option for tour members to linger for dinner there. With all our meetings, I realized that I was under-appreciating the local expertise of our guides. We don't need to supplement their guiding skills by hiring local guides for city tours, as we would have back in the days when I was guiding and most of our guides were generalists. These days, most of our Spanish guides are Spanish, and our French guides are likely French. Many of them also work as local guides; they can capably do local tours. They prefer to do this. And they can give the tours in the context of what the tour members have already learned and experienced on our tour. Local guides are territorial, and their claims to their turf can be backed up by local laws. While it may be illegal for one of our guides to overtly guide a tour through many Italian cities, it's perfectly OK in Britain. (In cases when it's illegal but we want our guide to lead the tour anyway, we have to hire "silent local guides" who get paid but just accompany our group silently.) More tour changes later. ...

Making Our Bus Tours Better Than Ever...

For over 20 years now, my guides and I have had an exciting review process where we fine-tune our tour itineraries. For me, it's an important and exciting process because itinerary innovations and improvements can be multiplied by literally thousands of trip experiences. Originally, when we were tiny, it was a "mind meld" where my few guides and I would connect in a bar or café somewhere in Europe for a brainstorming pow-wow. Now the process is much more involved and takes place here in Edmonds. Our itinerary review has three stages: First, I meet with my tour operations staff. Steve Smith coordinates all our seventy-some guides. Michelle Kono directs our tour operations department. Michelle divides the tour operations responsibilities for each of our 35 itineraries among her staff. Each person is responsible for arranging and reserving all tour activities for the various tours they are assigned. They know these routes intimately and personally. For each separate itinerary, we review each day's plan and I weigh in with changes I'd like in an ideal world. We debate these and come up with a consensus as to what our vision is. For the second stage of the process, we factor in our guides' experience and advice. We fly our guides to Seattle from all over Europe for our annual itinerary planning summit � a series of round-table discussions covering each itinerary we offer. Michelle's staff oversees the itinerary sessions as all the guides share their experiences, discoveries, and lessons from mistakes from last year's guiding. They give my pie-in-the-sky wishes a hard reality check (factoring in drive times, legal limits on how long bus drivers can work, endurance levels and interest levels and comfort levels of their tour members, and their experience with these activities). I am intentionally not in these meetings so the guides are comfortable lambasting my ideas when necessary. They accept, reject, or modify my proposals and come up with proposals of their own. Michelle's staff distills all decisions into a summary document. After the guides fly home, we have the final stage of the process. Michelle and her appropriate staff person follow up with me � reviewing the synthesis that came out of the first two stages. We then finalize the changes for the coming year's tour program. Yesterday we finished up this collaboration. I am impressed and even humbled by the expertise and commitment to quality our guides exhibited in this process. They beat up a lot of my proposals, improved others, and came up with great suggestions of their own. And I am thrilled with the improvements we've reached consensus on. Our main theme through this process: Wring maximum experience out of every mile, minute, and dollar for our travelers in 2010. In challenging economic times, our guides know they need to work harder than ever. And we need to exceed higher expectations than ever. For 2010, we are determined to enrich the tour experience we offer. We will promise more in our promotional materials and tout the extras we offer more aggressively in our marketing. When we have a bus reserved to transfer a group from a boat or train to the hotel, we'll use it for a two-hour city orientation tour. When we hire a local guide for a two-hour museum tour, it'll be a particular guide...not just any local guide. And we'll keep that guide for a one-hour city walk after the museum. We'll nurture relations with local experts who enjoy giving our groups their personal insights into their cultures in casual happy hour/reflections times. We'll trade any redundancy for itinerary variety. We'll abandon the bus when the train will save two hours of time in transit. We won't baby the group if a particular activity may be out of some tour members' comfort zones. (We'll do the visits to the local baths, the coffeeshops, the concentration camp, or the force-feeding of the geese � offering those who just don't want that experience a comfortable alternative.) We'll be sure those on our tours will never be stuck in lines that Americans on other bus tours think just go with the territory. If there's an option that only half the group will likely have energy for after dinner, we'll commit our guide to organize the experience and escort it, even if it's not included in the actual tour. I'll share some of the specific itinerary changes next. ...

Teletubby Travels?

I am deep in the process of writing scripts for and setting up our 2010 TV production � five new shows in Spain, Helsinki, and Tallinn. Reminders of how our show is received keep me inspired to do better each year with our TV work. Today I'm inspired on by two very different communiqués. One is from the vice-president of our network, sharing wonky numbers of how our show was the most-watched show on Valentine's Day in Fort Myers, Florida. (I don't understand the numbers, either.) The other is from a parent marveling at how their infant and now child is addicted to our travel show. From the network:

Rick: fyi - Impressive number. This is in Ft. Myers, FLA. Rick Steves' Europe at 10:00 pm on WGCU: 1.7/3 (2.0 daypart avg.) APT's highest-rated show in primetime of 2/14.

From the parent:

Subject: A message from possibly one of your youngest fans (or, at least the mother of). Dear Rick Steves, For a decade now, my husband Chris and I have enjoyed your shows � watching them has become one of our traditions. It's our Saturday ritual. With coffee in hand, we sit back and journey with you "as our travel partner." That scene has changed little over the years, but the audience has grown. Our daughter, Talley, who is five, shares the couch with us � willingly � and has so for two years now. She has grown to appreciate travel, history, and the arts � a level of interest that I believe is beyond her years. And, I think we must owe this, at least in part, to your excellent programming. In the beginning, little Talley had no choice. Lying in my arms, she "watched" your shows with us. Later on, when the comprehension of what you were saying became a bit more challenging, the resulting rewinds, pauses, and such stretched the episodes two-fold. After fifteen minutes, she pined (and whined) for Winnie. Then when she was around 3½, she started requesting "Rick Steves" over Winnie the Pooh. Chris and I were in utter shock. Whenever we suggested other travel shows, Talley would insist on Rick Steves. Once I began to notice the effect your shows were having on Talley, I did not push them as a learning tool. I continued to treat them as I always had. Watching your shows is something that we enjoy together. This unintended, yet welcome, consequence showed me that I need not dilute learning to capture Talley's attention. Are the Rick Steves shows making her smarter? Are the shows expanding her horizons and understanding that I cannot gauge? Is this TV-time bringing us closer together as a family? I believe the answer is "yes" to all of the above. Now when we watch one of your episodes, she tells us to be quiet. She sits between us, with Boost (defined as any beverage that includes chocolate) in hand, and watches the entire episode; asking questions on what she sees; asking to fast-forward when the music "sounds scary"; asking to rewind when people are dancing so she can dance with them; and asking us to pause when she needs more Boost. A half-hour episode still last an hour, but I find the prolongation a parenting joy. The other day, my father-in-law recalled a conversation with Talley where she identified the Eiffel Tower in a magazine. He casually asked her several questions, not expecting to receive correct answers. The conversation went something like this: "Where is the Eiffel Tower located?" "In France." "What city?" "Paris � and I want to go there." "Talley, did you learn this from Little Einsteins?" "No, Rick Steves." I wanted to share my story with you � along with my appreciation. Please keep up the terrific work, and know that your programming affects probably more than your intended audience. We have had the fortune of enjoying one of your GAS tours recently. Hopefully, when Talley is a little older, we will make good on our promise to take her on one of your tours. And, hopefully, she will not have the expectation that you will be leading the tour! Keep on travelin'!, Elizabeth, Chris, and Talley

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We Answer All Questions

During our annual all-staff meeting, we covered all the bases. I stressed our commitment to personal service. My staff explained how they responded to more than 20,000 emailed questions and comments. These are a few of our favorites.

Im American-Moroccan. I grew up in Morocco and I'm Muslim. I read your article about Turkey and I find it very interesting. I hope that many people could read that and understand that we all want peace in this world. P.S: I will be reading your colon as much as I can. I will go to Ireland in August with a tour group. Where do I go to see the fairies? No, not ferries. Fairies. No, I'm not kidding. I'm reading your Ireland 2008 book, and you don't have them listed in the index. We will be in Paris and we will have two granchildren with us, ages 9 and 11 and are trying to find economical rooms. Four hotels referred to in your guidebooks are in French; Hotel du Champ de Mars, Hotel de Arma,Hotel de Turenne, and Hotel de la Paix. Is there a way to get the English guides? Rick, Have you ever done a tour on the Transatlantic rail? I am related to Oliver Cromwell and proad of it. I was wondering why you didn't mention him in the history section of the book??? also why did you leave out Huntingdon which id where there is a museum of Oliver Cromwell. Are you being paid by the royals to write this book. Because it seems that the history section of the book of England is about all of them. We enjoyed your book of Italy and that is why I BOUGHT your book on England which I am VERY disappointed in. Any way I am sure you don't care about a normal person complaining about how you wrote your book. The little people NEVER get heard. Thank you for your time. Sorry to have bothered you. On a crowded train to Sienna, my daughter and I entered a compartment where a young Italian couple were seated face to face and having a very animated conversation. They passionately looked into each other's eyes and jestured with there hands and spoke lovingly for over an hour. When they got off at their stop, I asked my daughter, who is fluent in Italian, what they were talking about, expecting her to say it was a conversation of young lovers. "Mostly, they were talking about eggplants and tomatoes" she said. Hi, is there a reason why you almost never give us shows that tell us about the night life in all of those countries you go too? I never see you show the beautiful white girls and women, just men and old people. Please see if you can do that since some of us are more interested in the people over there then just mountains, lakes, and boring scenery. my friend and i are going to england in july to the cotswolds... Is there a certain way i should eat there so i dont't look like an idiot haha. like i am right handed but should i use fork in left knife in right.. and eat with fork in left?.. i remember in the video rick was at a B&B. and did his tea with milk and cream first before tea.. lol. where can I buy the small smoke hood to carry on for protection against crash fire? I have a child in the Air Force that is overseas and has been there for 4 years. She has been all through Europe (and Asia) X times over. Your info is pretty decent ie. like in Paris... but she has vast knowledge that you have no clue of. As a teacher I purchased your Book in truth a paper back, Which largely stated about you self. We Don't care about you Sir It is not at all as represented. The Title is misleading Deceptive . The Paper back is a piece of junk. You Sir ARE NOT An unusually Gifted any thing Your Europe is you labeled Europe through the back door fails also . As to your travels with back it lacks relevancy. send me my money back include all postage and handling, and I'll send you your worthless paper back. What a fraud.

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Poetically Charged Guidebooks

We just enjoyed our annual meeting with our publisher, Avalon Travel. They flew to Seattle this time, and twenty of us sat around our conference room table for most of the day getting up-to-date on our guidebook work. I'm thankful to have a publisher I've been friends with for 15 years with a staff that works well and closely with mine. We're all enthusiastic about the mission of our teaching. And when we get together, either in Seattle or in Berkeley, we break from the huddle ready to make our guidebooks better and more efficiently than ever. We know Europe, and Avalon knows publishing. The two most quotable quotes of the day from our publisher: "Our sales are up, but that's to a great degree because Europe guidebook sales were down the most in the economic crisis last year." "How you've grown without being aware of what others are doing is truly remarkable." We used to brag, "Don't be fooled by overweight guidebooks" � celebrating that our books were light and easy to pack. Now most of our editions have put on weight and come in at 600 to 900 pages. We asked if this was a concern. Our publisher replied, "No. As long as your books are lean, crystal clear, and poetically charged, more is more." (Though he did admit that our page count � combined with our priority to keep the books portable � is "pressing the limits of modern printing technology"). While everything used to hinge on annual updates, now we update with nearly every printing whether it's a "new edition" or not � so the actual new edition is less important. We are "constantly updated." This means that some of our biannuals (the lesser-selling half of our books, which are undated and come out in "new editions" only every two years) are actually updated more often than every other year � just without a new cover. Not having a date on the cover is a plus for bookstores because they don't need to clear the shelves each 12 months. So with "constantly updated," we get the best of both worlds: shelf space and updated content. The biannuals are selling as well as they would if they had dates on the cover, it's more efficient for the retailers, and we sneak in our updates between new editions when we reprint the book. New printing technology makes it easy to make small but efficient print runs, enabling us to publish shorter and much less expensive guidebook excerpts we call "Snapshots" (for example, Norway, Stockholm, and Denmark, which are derived from our bigger Scandinavia book). This allows readers to buy just the destinations they want. It also takes the pressure off us to address the market demand for these regions, and it lets us test-market destinations to see where a full-fledged guidebook would be justified. Of our twenty-some Snapshot titles, Barcelona is a top seller. That indicates that, if we were to publish another full-fledged guidebook, it should be Barcelona. Traditionally, my publisher is always pushing for more new titles. But now he's satisfied that we've covered Europe pretty well. The one thing we're missing is "pocket guides." Our competition is selling lots of these smaller trim, full-color, distilled versions of standard guidebooks. Until now, we've given them a free ride. In 2011, we will get into that game. Our sales are pretty good. We're in the top tier (Frommer, Fodor's, DK, Lonely Planet, Rick Steves � in no particular order), and the top tier leaves everyone else in the dust. Out of every 100 books we sell, 82 are sold in the USA, 9 in Canada, 5 in Europe, and 4 everywhere else. Everyone's excited about electronic books, iPhone apps, and digital publishing � but it's still only 3% of our total sales revenue. Both my publisher and I are encouraging our staffs to keep our eyes on the prize: printed-on-paper guidebooks. With our phrase books, we took on Berlitz and won (outselling them in bookstores). With our journal, we took on Moleskine and lost. We designed a cool journal in two sizes, but it just doesn't sell. I think it's overpriced, and encouraged my publisher to go wild in reconsidering their pricing. Stay tuned. The big stress in the book business is how to adapt royalties and author payments to electronic books. Amazon and Apple are jockeying to lock up the electronic sales. Map sales are going to hell in a handbag � hit much harder than guidebooks by Internet alternatives (Google Maps and GPS). The American Booksellers Convention is not the vibrant thing it used to be. The thirtieth anniversary of my first edition of Europe Through the Back Door is this May. We'll have a little party. ...

Door Number Three for Haiti

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."...

"Friend Me" � Bulgarian Style

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

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Rick Steves Drinking Game

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 ...

Where's Haiti?

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!...

Europe Invades Seattle

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. ...

Facilitating the Travel Dreams of Those Who Can�"t

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. ...

Earning Democracy in Iran

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

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A Hundred Suggested New Year's Travel Resolutions

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. ...

Shirelles Fight Fear

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....

A Christmas Greeting from Rick

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 ...