Interview with Roy Nicholls

Roy Nicholls
Roy Nicholls likes the "human touch" of Rick Steves' tour program.

Roy Nicholls has been guiding for Rick Steves' tour program longer than any other guide. For 20 years, Roy and Rick have been exploring Britain together to bring tour members its lovely "back doors."

How did you get involved in guiding for Rick Steves' tours?

It's a long story. I met Rick in 1981. I was managing a youth hostel in the south of England, and he came in with one of his first tours. I think there were 8-10 people in his group. They stayed with us at the hostel, and we stayed friends over the years. In 1988, he asked me if I would like to do a tour with him, and I said yes. It was the first tour Rick did in Britain, and we took 20 tour members around in a minibus. We did the same tour again in 1990, and after that we've been doing it every year since.

How many tours for Rick?

I lead five or six per year.

What tours do you lead with Rick Steves?

From 1994-99 I lead Ireland tours, but because I was spending so much time away from home I decided to cut back and just do the Britain tours.

Do you lead tours with any other guiding companies?

My wife, Jody (who was a tour member on one of Roy's tours in the early days) and I own our own tour company called Brit Tours. They're generally private tours, and tend to be smaller groups. Sometimes we'll just lead one person. For example, a businessman might want a private guide while he's in Britain. Occasionally I do larger tours, but it depends what they want more than anything else.

Explain what a typical Rick Steves tour member is like.

I wouldn't say there is necessarily a typical one, but I guess there are a few shared traits. For one thing they're very enthusiastic, but they're not always natural travelers. Often they're just at the beginning of getting the travel bug. There are a lot of first timers to Europe on the Britain tours, and they tend to be a slightly older group. They are different from the other tour groups in that they're more discerning. They want a little more, and want something more real, less predictable.

Where do you travel, when you're not guiding?

I do a lot of traveling in Britain. In the last few years I've been to Tunisia and France. I'm going to try and get to New Zealand in the next few years. And I've always wanted to go to India.

What is your favorite country in Europe?

I do love France. I'm likely to make jokes about France just like any other Brit, but there's a romance about it. I particularly like the south of France — the Dordogne region especially.

Where do you live?

In a little market town called Blandford Forum. It's medieval, and such a lovely town of about 8,000 people. It's in the county of Dorset which is one of the most beautiful counties in England.

Anything else we should know about you?

My wife is American and I have two sons. One is going to university, and another will go in a couple more years. What I like about Rick's tours is that they have a human touch. They're more like a family. There's a small company touch about it.