Interview with Cameron Hewitt
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| Cameron Hewitt explores Croatia's Plitvice National Park. |
Cameron Hewitt has been leading tours for Europe Through the Back Door for five years, and specializes in Eastern Europe. He is also the co-author of the guidebook, Rick Steves' Eastern Europe. When he's not exploring Croatia, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Poland, Slovakia, and Slovenia, he works as a guidebook editor at ETBD's headquarters in Edmonds, Wash.
How is guidebook research different from guiding?
It stimulates different parts of the brain. Research is an independent, intellectual, left-brained process. You have to take in a lot of information and manage it. And it can be very demanding physically; you must cover an incredible amount of ground in a short amount of time. Tour guiding is more social, but also intellectual in that you must be a teacher. But by definition guiding is more relaxing because you don't want to totally wipe out your tour members with a crazy pace. Research tends to be more abstract and theoretical. You have to ask yourself, "How will this information be useful to a customer in the future?" So it's helpful for me to observe my tour members using the book I researched and see how they are using the information.
What is your favorite country in Eastern Europe?
I've always said Slovenia, but recently that's being challenged by Poland. I've spent a lot of time in Poland lately, and I suppose part of my affinity for the country stems from my Polish heritage. Poles tend to be shy when you first meet them, but the better you get to know them the more outgoing they become. They have a wonderful sense of humility, gentleness, and strength of character. I was in Kraków during the Pope's death, and I really saw that side of the Poles' nature during that special time in their history. Although I'm not Catholic, witnessing the people in Kraków mourn their Pope gave me a great respect for their patriotism, and the Catholic faith in general.
The countries on the Eastern Europe tour are actually considered Central Europe by Europeans. So why don't you call it the Best of Central Europe in 18 Days tour?
I don't think Americans would understand it. They'd say, "Central Europe…Does that mean Germany? France?" It's actually a marketing decision. Americans think this way because any country east of the "iron curtain" was considered Eastern Europe. Fifteen years later, many of these countries — like the ones on our tour — have really progressed to Western standards. But even though they're fully "European" these days, many Americans still lump them together. But in reality, Belarus, the Ukraine, and European Russia are technically Eastern Europe. The really exciting thing about taking this tour is that when you visit Slovakia, for example, you can finally put this place on your mental map.
What are times during this tour when you observe tour members' ideas change about this part of the world?
There's a town in Croatia called Otočac that's about 100 percent Croats. Before the recent war, it was more like 50 percent Serbs and 50 percent Croats. During the tour, we stop in this town on the way to the coast. On the bus ride we drive through neighborhoods where homes were destroyed during the war. You can tell the tour members are a bit unnerved, but then we stop for a break to get ice cream and walk about the town. By the time the tour members get back on the bus, they're more at ease and are able to understand the effects of the war. But they realize the country is putting itself back together. That's what really differentiates our tours from other tour companies. We're not trying to give people a "packaged experience." We want to expose them to different parts of the cultural and historical landscape. In Eastern Europe, there's a large Gypsy contingent who suffer from deep prejudice from white Europeans. While the tour is in Slovakia, we meet people who do outreach to the Gypsy community so tour members can gain a more balanced understanding of the situation.
It's also really interesting to watch how people react during border crossings. There's a fascinating sociology behind the whole experience. Americans tend to become very nervous. There's this Cold War perception of border guards goose-stepping their way up and down aisles to check passports. All you have to be is respectful and cooperative. Politeness and friendliness is the easiest way to ensure a swift border crossing. So once we cross that first border, you witness this collective sigh of relief and people realize it's not that big of a deal.
Visiting Auschwitz also makes a huge impact on tour members' perspective of the world. As a tour guide, I think it's important to encourage everyone to be tolerant of how each individual person handles the horrors of this notorious concentration camp. Some people are quiet, some joke, some cry – everyone deals with it differently. After the visit, I usually put some soothing music on the bus and let people process what they've just experienced.
How is Eastern Europe changing now that it's being welcomed into the European Union?
When Eastern Europe joined the EU, Warsaw became more like Brussels than Moscow. It marks the true end of the cold war. Some of the positive changes are that it forces these countries' economies to get with the big picture. It's been good for human rights; countries that are not yet in the EU, but want to be — like Croatia and Serbia — now feel compelled to extradite war criminals. But many Eastern Europeans have had their doubts. They're nervous about losing their ethnic identity and don't want to become indentured servants to Western Europe. A week before joining the EU, Poles were terrified of what would happen to their country. But most of them have come around.
What kind of travelers take the Eastern Europe tour?
People who are experienced and savvy travelers that have an intellectual inquisitiveness about the world. They aren't just interested in good food, museums, or seeing natural wonders of Europe (although the tour does have all that). They also want to understand the history and politics of the region, and view the social changes after the cold war. They're interested in learning how the so-called "evil empire" has changed. Because this part of Europe was our enemy, American children didn't learn about this part of the world in world history class. You wouldn't learn about Mátyás Corvinus (the last Hungarian king), or other notable figures. There was an inaccessibility to the area, so it was deemed not worth learning about. But in only 15 years, we have been able to witness this diverse, beautiful part of Europe flourish.
For lots more tips on Eastern Europe, check out Rick Steves' guidebook to the region — or join us on one of our free-spirited Eastern Europe tours!