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Posted on by Rick Steves

Smithsonian Travels Through the Back Door

As a travel writer, I measure profit by how many people’s trips I impact. By that standard, May 4th is one of the most exciting days in my 30-year-long career. Today, Smithsonian Presents Travels with Rick Steves, a special issue of Smithsonian magazine, hits newsstands all over the USA.

The magazine is 104 pages devoted entirely to my favorite places. For me, this is the travel-writing equivalent of giving birth to a child. While I’m a proud papa about my contribution (the writing), the “mother” of this collaboration — if I may call Smithsonian that — is why this baby is so darn beautiful. I’ve never seen my writing mixed with such beautiful art, and then so expertly laid out.

The experience was humbling. I learned years ago that life is too short to work with people who aren’t really talented and committed. And, just as important, life is too short to work with people you don’t enjoy. In other words, collaborating with talented and fun people brings this workaholic great joy. My (talented and fun) staff and I can be pretty self-assured. We cook up some great TV, radio, guidebooks, tours, and newspaper articles. But we’ve never produced a magazine. And in short order, we gained great respect for the talent of the people in Washington, DC, who make Smithsonian magazine.

I had my creative tensions with the Smithsonian staff over the course of the project. Now that it’s done, every little tug-of-war I won, I like, and every little tug-of-war they won…I like, too. I called it “censoring” when they took out the more juvenile of my jokes. They politely explained to me that “it’s not censoring, but editing.” Now that the project is finished, I’m glad some of my goofy phrases didn’t make the cut.

It’s human nature to enjoy photos you took, and to favor them at layout time. But I learned quickly to trust the Smithsonian photo editor’s choices. Only a handful of my shots made the cut. And yet — wow! Seeing my writing without my own photos, I was actually thankful.

Smithsonian Presents Travels with Rick Steves is on the newsstands from now through early August, or you can order it online. You can also see plenty of additional content related to the top 20 destinations featured in this issue at www.smithsonian.com/ricksteves.

This is the first of a three-month series of thrice-a-week blog entries that I’m writing to celebrate our collaboration with Smithsonian. Half of my entries will be my best effort to give a fun and tangy dimension to destinations featured in the magazine, and the other half will give a pithy immediacy to the new corners of Europe I’m currently researching.

Thanks for traveling with me and Smithsonian.

Comments

26 Replies to “Smithsonian Travels Through the Back Door”

  1. Rick, not sure if you’ll get this but I wanted to wish you a happy birthday on May 10. We celebrated our 40th birthdays in Italy a few years ago! I was Andy’s first girlfriend! LOL Have a great day Rick! Kathy E.

  2. Some nice recommendations, some of which have small scale rural charm which can be ruined by excessive tourism. Nothing recommended for Spain, Netherlands, Norway, Sweden, and Finland?

  4. Rick….Congratulations on the GREAT work you do! You deserve the recognition. However, I must say that it saddens me somewhat when I see some of these ‘gems’ revealed to the world. As the Don Henley sang in the Eagles song “The Last Resort”…. you call someplace paradise, kiss it goodbye.

  5. Felicidades! I stumbled across the magazine a couple of days ago and bought it. It is stunning and beautiful. I’m really looking forward to reading through everything. I hope this collaboration can continue for a long time.

  6. To work with Smithsonian is quite an honor. Congratulations! Don’t ever stop. I love your work!

  7. I’m enjoying the magazine very much, and I hope you continue to print them in the future. Thank you!

  8. Congratulations on the collaboration. But I can’t believe you included Blackpool. Good that you’re calling these “Top Destinations” rather than “Back Doors” – I’m glad I’ve been to Hallstatt and Bruges, which were already too popular.

  10. Just when we think you’ve done it all travel-wise, you come up with something new! Congratulations on your collaboration with the Smithsonian. I can’t wait to get my own copy!

  11. Other articles reveal many places for your bucket list which are not in Europe: Taj Mahal; Luxor, Egypt; Grand Canyon; NYC; Great Wall of China; Mauritius; Sydney; Mumbai; Cape Town; Galapagus Islands, Machu Piccu and the list goes on.

  13. Congrats, Rick. We’ve been following your career for decades and have reaped a lot of terrific advice along the way. We just got back from Europe and probably missed you in Venice by a day (you were trying to get out and we were trying to get in!) Little bumps in the road like a volcano in Iceland just give us something to talk about when we return home, right? I know that over the years you have inspired a whole group of people who probably wouldn’t have packed a light suitcase and went off to discover Europe. You deserve the success!

  15. Just checked out the link for the Smithsonian website for your edition of the magazine — it is fabulous! Really well-done.

  16. Fantastic to see Rick receive all this wonderful recognition. We’re taking our third Rick Steves tour in September. The places we have visited are magical. They are hide-away places with unique kinds of experiences. You aren’t just a tourist, but you become a temporay citizen of the country you visit. I’d never travel any other way.

  19. Great article!! But what about Berlin? I took a tour there a couple of years ago and your guide, Lee Evan, really made it come alive. Berlin is a great town, filled with history and really cool people. It hardly ever felt touristy and we felt like we were in the middle of everything that has happened for the last 300 years. Cinque Terre is ridiculously filled with tourists, but Its nice to see you in Tallinn. I hope to tour there next.

  20. My favorite guidebook writer has teamed up with my favorite magazine. The zen of this is wonderful.

  21. I bought the magazine and have literally read it cover to cover. There is no other travel writer working now who gets the ins and out of European travel like you, Rick. I especially enjoyed the articles on Italy. I was there two years ago. I used your guide book and referred to it as, “the RS Bible.” I will never travel in Europe again without the latest version! Congrats! And happy birthday!

  22. I just bought the magazine last night, and have already read most of it. Thanks, Rick, for another opus. I’m leaving in September for a year-long experience of world travel. I plan to use this mag as a focus for the trip.

  23. I absolutely and totally and all the other superlatives applicable love your blog and the premier issue of Travels with Rick Steves. I grabbed it as soon as I saw it on the magazine rack in one of the stores I was in while in Waco, Texas. Keep up the blog and the political comments. And you’re so right–the artwork in the magazine is a wonderful experience with your travel writings. Thanks.

  24. Bought it as soon as I saw it. Was thrilled when I saw Bruges was one of the 20 top cities…I have just returned from visiting there. It’s a beautiful magazine. Thanks, Rick, for making it happen!

  25. Behold our group on page 9. Had six friends accompany us on our annual trip to Italy. First trip out of US for all. Amazingly, we are in the foreground of the picture. Couldn't believe it. We are leaving the end of this month, wife and I, and will spend most of the two weeks in Taormina, Sicilia, my favorite. Have planned Matera and Orvieto and return via Naples. We have taking the Spanish Stair, Pantheon, Trevi and Piazza Navona walk a thousand times. Never knew for sure how to go but got there following the flow.

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