Here you can browse through my blog posts prior to February 2022. Currently I'm sharing my travel experiences, candid opinions, and what's on my mind solely on my Facebook page. — Rick

Your Help Needed: Name Another New Book!

 

Thanks a lot for all the creative assistance you gave me yesterday. It was so fun reading through all your ideas about what to call my new art book. We’re mulling over the list now, and I’ll be sure to let you know what our final choice is.

In fact, you were so helpful that I’m hoping to tap into your collective creativity again. Can you help me come up with a title for another new book of mine? This one showcases 100 articles about my favorite slices of Europe. It’s designed to give travel dreamers a fun-to-read overview of Europe’s most exciting experiences and sights.

I need a title with no more than six words, and maybe (or maybe not) a subtitle. Here are a few that we’re considering…but I’m hoping for something catchier:

Rick Steves’ For the Love of Europe
Rick Steves’ Europe: 100 Favorite Encounters
Dancing with Europa: 100 Best Experiences
For the Love of Europe: 100 Intimate Rendezvous with European Travel Thrills
For the Love of Europe: Musings on 45 Years of Travel
Loving Europe: 100 Favorite Encounters
European Pie: 100 Unforgettable Slices
Rick Steves: Favorite European Experiences
Rick Steves: 100 European Experiences
Rick Steves: 100 Great Days in Europe
Rick Steves: Dispatches from Europa
For the Love of Europe: 100 Favorite Articles/Experiences/Encounters/Slices

Possible subtitles:
A Collection of Rick’s Favorite Experiences in Europe
Eye-opening Experiences from Over 45 Years of Travel
Eye-opening Stories from 3,000 Days Traveling in Europe

Thanks for your help!

Your Help Needed: Name My New Art Book

 

I’m very excited about a new book I’m working on, featuring my favorite 100 works of European art. I like the cover my publisher is proposing, and everything’s looking really good. There’s just one problem: I don’t know what to call it. Can you help?

The book showcases 100 masterpieces across 100 two-page spreads, and describes each in a way that helps travelers appreciate and enjoy that work of art. I need a title with no more than six words, and maybe (or maybe not) a subtitle. Here are a few that we’re considering…but I’m hoping for something catchier:

European Art: The Top 100
Europe’s Greatest Art: 100 Masterpieces You’ll See AFTER You Die
100 Masterpieces: Europe’s Best Art
Europe’s Best Art: The Heavenly Hundred

What do you think?

 

“Reality Touring” with Nation Travels

Nation Travels

Honolulu or Havana? The world is full of travel opportunities that are more than enjoyable — they can be transformational. By getting out of our comfort zone, we realize that different people find different truths to be self-evident and God-given. We gain an understanding of the other 96 percent of humanity — and in many ways, we can learn a lot about our own country by viewing it from afar.

My tour company has been taking Americans on the road for more than 40 years now. From Lisbon to Istanbul, and from St. Petersburg to Palermo, we offer tours across Europe. I love each of our itineraries, and I frequently travel along with our tour groups — but I also regularly travel beyond Europe. And when I do, I like to enlist the help of what I call “reality tour” companies — organizations that offer educational trips for thoughtful travelers. You can find a list of some of my favorites here.

Recently, I found out about another great option for Americans who want to get an education on the road: Nation Travels. This organization, which is run by The Nation Magazine, takes small groups of progressives to parts of the world whose governments are at odds with our own, with the hope that citizen-to-citizen contact will lead to more productive engagement. At each destination, they introduce travelers to a network of interesting locals, including academics, journalists, activists, and artists — and 100% of their proceeds fund The Nation’s journalism. Plus, their itineraries cover some of my favorite destinations, including India, Iran, and Cuba. Check them out — and keep on travelin’!

A Chance to Give Back to a Classic Back Door: Gimmelwald

I always say, “If heaven isn’t what it’s cracked up to be, send me back to Gimmelwald.”

Thirty-five years ago, as a young tour guide, I brought my groups to a remote and impossibly idyllic village high in the Swiss Alps — and I’ve been going back ever since. Gimmelwald is a classic “Back Door”: an off-the-beaten-path place where travelers can get away from soulless resorts and big-time tourism. This is a place where the air feels different — where the only noises are bees, bugs, and birds perusing alpine flowers, paddling water spilling from a hose into the hollowed-out log that keeps the cows watered, and gnome-like men sucking gnome-like pipes while chopping firewood.

I am filled with great memories of this intoxicating place, and I know many of you are, too. And now we all have a chance to give something back. The villagers are working together to save the last public building in Gimmelwald, and they need our help. You can find out more here — and you can pitch in here. (If you do, please let me know in the comments below or on Facebook. It would fill me with joy to see Rick Steves travelers come together to support a special place we all love. Thank you!)

In These Times of Change, Let’s Celebrate the Trusty Rail Pass

In 2019, European rail passes are undergoing the most sweeping changes in a generation. Gone are “Select” passes, where you can mix and match countries as you like to suit your itinerary. Now, it’s all of Europe, or just one country.

This time of change has me nostalgic for the glory days of rail passes. In my backpacker days, there were just two choices of Eurailpass: one month or two months, covering most of Western Europe, with a second-class option available only to people under 26.

Over the years, as rail passes became a must-have accessory for any trip, customization was in. The flexipass — valid only a certain number of days in a one- or two-month period — revolutionized the rail pass game. The Europass included just five core countries, rather than automatically including all of Europe; later, the Eurail Select pass let you choose exactly which countries you wanted. So, instead of paying for 30 straight days in 17 countries, you could save money by buying a pass for only five days (within a two-month period) in just France, Benelux, Germany, and Denmark. Gradually, even more spin-offs arrived: two- and three-country passes that seemed designed to suit any conceivable trip (and, frankly, some that were pretty inconceivable).

During their heyday, rail passes were a way of life for travelers in Europe. Savvy backpackers were rail policy wonks, and knew every trick in the book for stretching a pass. They knew that if you took a night train, it’d count only one flexi-day — the day of arrival — allowing you to sneak in some “free” onward travel the next day. (Now this has been flipped, counting the day of departure.) They knew that if you were going from Munich on a Germany rail pass, it’d take you as far as Salzburg — the first station over the Austrian border — but no farther. But if you were going from Munich to Venice on a pass that included only Germany and Italy, but not Austria, you’d have to pay separately for that Austrian segment. And yet somehow, it all worked — and provided travelers with fond memories of mastering the system.

Around this time, selling rail passes was a big part of my company’s mission. Travelers who did their homework could save plenty — but there were so many options, it was hard to know where to begin. We published an annual 64-page guide to European rail passes, along with an extensive rail website. We even produced a VHS tape about how to choose your rail pass, which we’d snail-mail to potential customers. And several experts on my staff — including our Rail Department Manager and train guru, Laura Terrenzio — advised travelers on their rail pass choices full-time.

With the arrival of budget airlines, things began to change. Premium, high-speed trains (like AVE in Spain and TGV in France) started requiring travelers to book ahead and pay a supplement. The loss of the ability to hop on pretty much any train, anytime, no questions asked, made the arithmetic required to choose the right rail pass even more complex. For the right traveler (and the right trip), a rail pass could still be a good choice…but it wasn’t an easy choice.

As of last week, Eurail has gone back to basics. Gone are the unwieldy combination tickets and the staggering array of à la carte passes. Now you can either get a single-country pass, or a Global Pass covering 31 countries. (I don’t think Europe even had 31 countries back when I bought my first rail pass.) While there’s been some loss of customization, I appreciate how the new approach is simplifying what had become a confusing selection process.

There are other changes, too. But a few things haven’t changed. There’s still a special magic to taking trains around Europe. We’re still selling rail passes, and helping travelers figure out which pass is best for their trip. And Laura Terrenzio is still the most knowledgeable person I know (and probably in the whole country) when it comes to rail passes. Anytime you visit the Rail section of our website, you can be confident Laura has everything up-to-date, like always.

What are your favorite memories of traveling with a rail pass?