I just wrote a prologue for the upcoming tenth anniversary edition of my Postcards from Europe book. I’m thankful my publisher wants to bring it out again and is including 16 pages of color photos. It was interesting to give some thought to how the world has changed for travelers since 1999. Here’s what I wrote:
This book was originally written before the events of 9/11 made our country more fearful and more isolated. Since that time, I find the role of a travel writer has become much like the role of the medieval jester. The jester had a valuable function: to go out, learn what’s really going on, bring it back into the court, and tell the king. The king didn’t kill him. The king needed the information.
In this security-conscious age, I see a fear being used against us in a way that, ironically, is bad for our national security. Lately I’ve traveled to places (such as Bosnia and Iran) where people worry about my safety. The term “travel safe” is creeping into our lexicon as a standard “bon voyage.” I don’t want to be afraid and I don’t want people to bid me farewell by telling me to “travel safe.” For me, the flip side of fear is understanding. I gain understanding through travel.
Recognizing that travel helps us overcome fear, I will always promote the value of travel in the hopes that our nation can more constructively engage the other 96 percent of humanity. Life is more meaningful, fulfilling, and flat-out fun when you celebrate rather than fear the diversity on this planet.
Before bringing out a tenth anniversary edition of this book, I reread it to consider its timeliness. It became clear to me that while the world has changed since I wrote Postcards from Europein 1999, the value of travel has not. In fact, considering the ongoing impact of 9/11 on all of us, I believe gaining a broader perspective through travel is more important than ever.
If the lessons and stories in this book — travel experiences from the days before ATMs, euros, cell phones, and taking off your shoes at airport security lines — weren’t still vivid and applicable, I wouldn’t bother with a new edition. It’s clear to me that they are. And now that my college-aged children are backpacking on their own through Europe, it’s affirming to see the positive impact their travels have had on their young lives.
Squinting at the jam-packed postcards I mailed home on my early “Europe through the Gutter” trips, I realize that even as a teenager, I was bursting with a desire to bring home the lessons learned from my travels. Those postcards morphed into journals, then guidebooks, then public television and radio shows. With the amplification brought by digital-age technology and my staff of 80, my travel writing is reaching a wider audience than ever. My hope is that the 12 million Americans who venture to Europe annually can learn from my experience and travel smarter.
So, like that medieval jester, I’m working more enthusiastically than ever to bring that broader perspective home. We made a TV special on traditional European Christmas celebrations to inspire a simpler, more thoughtful holiday season here. We produced a public television special on Iran to help humanize that country. I’m a busy spokesman for advocating a more pragmatic drug policy that, like Europe’s, treats drug abuse as a medical rather than criminal problem, and focuses on harm reduction instead of imprisonment. My weekly radio program is aired by over a hundred stations, bringing thought-provoking snippets of our world to countless people who don’t have passports. I still step out of the train station like a hound dog, looking for a cabbie to rip me off so I can learn that scam and take the lessons home to share. And I am continuously inspired by people I meet — people with nowhere near the freedom, affluence, and opportunity I’m blessed with as an American — who wouldn’t trade passports. They don’t have the American dream. They have their own dream.
Europe is the wading pool for world exploration. Splash around with my favorite friends, encounters, and experiences collected in this book — distilled and woven into a fantasy trip covering what I think is the most exciting introductory loop through Europe. Then, it’s my hope that you’ll be confident and inspired to push off into the deep end for some adventures that bring your life as much joy and meaning as my travels have brought me.
How’s business?
Rick, I can’t wait until this book comes out! I’m also really excited about you comming to Austin in November! You will most assuringly see me and my girlfriend there at your talk on travel as a political act. It’s right after her birthday so its like a late birthday gift. Thanks for all the thought sparking ideas in your blogs and see you soon.
. . . and I thank you every day for what you do! Postcards from Europe is one of my favorite books and I look forward to the new edition.
Rick I have the same question as Dicarter.. with China being told not to lend any more money to US banks and our country in a financial and fuel crisis I am feeling guilty about making any plans for a trip to Europe. Little mom and pops around town and closing down left and right ,,,I’m wondering like Dicarter if this panic and fear much less the actual belt tightening is trickling over into luxury businesses like yours.
Rick, I met you in Santa Clara CA several months back and you autographed my copy of Postcards. You said it was the loss-leader among your books, but I don’t care, I’m glad you did it. And now I have an autographed copy, so it will be even more valuable someday!
I with my husband recently had the opportunity to visit Europe twice. It was so much fun! I benefited greatly by your books Rick! Thank you. I must comment on the blog. It is a shame we are now more isolated because of 9/11. I too wish more could have the benefits of travel and mind opening experences. We as a nation are so fortunate and somewhat spoiled. I do for sure want us to stay on guard though. I do still want to extra lines and security at the airports. I do not mind waiting longer if that will keep us more safe. We have a responcibility to our children to do all we can to preserve and protect as well as educate. I wish it was just a little less expensive to travel. Thank you so much for helping us with our travel experiences even before we go. God bless you Rick and your staff and family.
Rick, “travel safe” is a term of endearment. I say that to my adult kids when they head out the door, even if they are only driving into town 30 miles away. That said, in today’s environment of immediate (and as dramatically presented as possible) news, the world does seem like a more dangerous place. That hasn’t stopped us–we still travel as much as possible. I’ll leave Iran to you, though. I get claustrophobic just looking at the Iranian women in pictures.
Thanks, Rick, for your “Traveler’s Manifesto”: to experience the incredible cultural diversity on this planet, in the hopes of fostering peace and tolerance among all peoples. I would be a different person today had I not traveled extensively in Europe, including the Soviet Union and other Communist countries in Eastern Europe.
Well written. Travel sure does open our eyes to the world.
I agree with you Bonnie Jean…with one qualification. It “can” open your eyes….”, if you are willing to “see”. My poor redneck brother thinks he is a world traveller. He has travelled, but always comes back with stories of the ignorant people he meets and how America sure is “top of the heap”. I gave up long ago trying to help him see he was projecting his own attitude onto others. Comparing is okay, if it doesn’t include too much judgement. Kind of hard to enjoy anything if one is always keeping a critical eye out.