At Rick Steves’ Europe, we believe if more people travel, our world becomes a better and safer place. To help empower Americans who don’t have passports to experience our world, we promised to pay the $135 passport fee for our two favorite “how travel will change my life” entries in my Rick Steves, Pay for My Passport! challenge. Today (on Bastille Day in France), we announce the winners. My staff picked these eight entries. My job was to select the best two. I can’t. So… EVERYBODY GETS A FREE PASSPORT!!! Happy travels and thanks to all eight of you for your bold and determined spirit. I hope your travel dreams come true.
The eight best entries are:
Jennifer Fox: “As a kid who grew up under the poverty line, your TV show provided me a type of escapism and education that my family — no matter how much they wanted to — could not provide. Now I am an educator, serving children from diverse family backgrounds, and I’d love to see not only the wider world they come from, but the one I remember from my childhood from your show.”
Cathie Morgan: “I want to take my daughter to see the world and experience other cultures firsthand. I want her to learn empathy, acceptance, and activism to change the world for the better.”
Deb Franklin: “I have MS and dream of the day that I can travel to Europe, (even though) many obstacles are in the way for me, but sooner or later I hope I will get there. I’m hoping it will be sooner; later would be a difficult challenge. I’m hoping my husband and I can make it while I am still mobile and the EU still exists. My dream is to do a road trip through France and Italy.”
Maegan Gabrielle Holman: “I’m a single mother of two. My dream is to travel around the world with my kids and for us to experience different cultures and traditions. I want us to see all of our beautiful countries around the world. I’ve watched Rick Steves’ Europe on TV for years and I can’t get enough. Unfortunately, since I am a single mother, I don’t have a lot of money to travel. I’ve never been out of the States. I want my children to grow up and say, ‘My mom always took us on the greatest adventures and we saw the most beautiful countries.’ My children deserve the best life and that’s what I’m going to give them. Thank you, Rick!”
Jenny Witt: “Hi Rick!! I am an avid traveler, but my fiancé… he doesn’t even have a passport! We will be married in December and I would love to give my future husband the irreplaceable gift of international travel!”
Wendy Herbold Back: “In 1989 when I met my husband, we both had a love of Greek mythology and dreamed of visiting Greece someday. We started a meager savings account of $200 to save for our trip. Well, life happened, kids/unemployment/college/and so on, and our Greece account turned into a college fund for our oldest child. Still have that dream of someday visiting Europe and touring the ancient ruins.”
Amy Walters: “For a few years now I’ve been telling my husband that we should get each other passports for our anniversary. Even if we don’t have the money to travel, it would be a smidge closer to achieving the great dream of traveling abroad. Unfortunately, things seem to always come up, as things do in life. It doesn’t stop me from fantasizing, though. I’ll always be that odd kid in her bedroom watching PBS on a little garage-sale TV and dreaming of all the places I’d like to see.”
Tonia Craig: “I grew up in a super-small community of people who are all pretty much the same. I know there’s so much to see and learn about the world and I decided last year that I shouldn’t let being alone hold me back. I have my house up for sale and I hope to be traveling as much as possible before I have grandkids. I want them to look up to me and say they’re proud of all their Gam Gam saw and did one day!!”
A wonderful thing you’re doing. even in this day and age, we (especially Americans) need to learn more about other cultures and appreciate them for what and who they are. One of the best ways of doing this is travel.
I was born and raised in France, came to the U.S. at age 13; was fortunate to have grown up speaking French, Polish, and Russian. Then, I learned English. From 1969 onwards, I worked for 2 major airlines (one domestic and the other a foreign carrier), and I was able to visit many places …. some now no longer what they used to be. What a wonderful 70 years I’ve had. As Mr. Steves says: keep on traveling. And, respect everyone’s ethnicity. Always make sure to know how to say “hello”, “Thank you”, etc. in the language of who are addressing (Xie, xie, for example, in a Chinese restaurant).
Rick Steves changes lives. thanks to him, again.
Thanks, Rick, for giving these folks the opportunity! As a student I spent a summer traveling Europe, even venturing for several weeks behind the Iron Curtain, trips which opened me up to how others live. Working in an Afro-American community in Alabama for ten years — while not an overseas trip — added to life. Later trips to Israel/Palestine kept enlarging perspectives.
Rick your generosity and thoughtfulness never ceases to amaze me. Everything you teach us enlightens our minds and hearts. If we can travel we do and if we can’t then we enjoy the journey through you, thanks for all your hard work!
I love your show, but most of all, your generous nature.
Looks like it was a difficult choice, Rick. But these eight are definite winners, and deservedly so.
I hope that, some day, at least some of them (hopefully all) have the opportunity to use the passports you generously paid for and see what this world has to offer, and that the threat of terrorism doesn’t hinder their dreams.
So very sad about what happened to France on Bastille Day.
Rick,
Thanks to your generosity these folks are one step closer to living their dream.
Grazie,
Jeff