I’ve been in San Francisco for a couple of days — giving talks, enjoying a bit of the Bay Area, and meeting with travel publishers and travel editors. Today was filled with philosophy about the role of a travel writer and tour guide. I’m not sure exactly what we were talking about, but it stirred my thoughts nicely.
I spent breakfast talking with Spud Hilton (travel editor of the San Francisco Chronicle). One of only about a dozen journalists in the USA still earning their income as a full-time travel editor, Spud gave me an update on the state of newspapers in our economy.
As we lamented the cost to society of traditional journalism morphing into blogs and amateur Internet postings, Spud compared “citizen journalism” to “citizen dentistry” or getting a “citizen plumber” — do we really want to dispense with the professionals in trying to understand our world through news reporting?
Spud also talked about the challenges of getting good articles for his travel section. He likes a travel story that gives a place a personality profile, written by a writer who shares his experiences there in a way that tells more about the place than the writer.
I lamented how I can do a month of really productive guidebook work and come up with almost nothing of any value for newspaper articles. Then I can go out for two days without my guidebook chores and stir up plenty of great anecdotal material for newspaper and magazine writing.
Spud said one reason he likes to run my articles in the Chronicle is that people in the Bay Area already feel like they know me. This is helpful because he figures they get up and running with me more quickly, and that enables me to establish myself in a place with fewer words. And fewer words is a plus when you have limited newspaper space.
Conventional thinking is that people go to the travel section of a newspaper to learn about good deals. Spud believes you can find countless deals online these days, and for a paper to offer something unique it needs to run finely crafted articles that take you there. We were talking about my new Travel as a Political Act book, and found that we were both dealing with the same notion that there are two fundamentally different ways to travel — the old “tourist versus traveler” thing — and that one is not necessarily right or wrong. My passion has been to inspire people to both have fun and have that broadening experience.
Spud, who landed his position in part because he’s an expert in (and a fan of) the cruise industry, also sees two kinds of travel: what he terms “discovery travel” and “leisure travel.” We agreed that these are not mutually exclusive. You can go to Mazatlán and have the leisure on the beach (with a plastic wristband giving you unlimited margaritas and a stretch of Pacific beach cleared of locals)…and then head a couple blocks inland to eat real Mexican food with locals. Then I had lunch with my publisher, and the fun conversation continued. My publisher is a futurist/visionary/travel publishing wonk — a wonderful man to collaborate with if you want your guidebooks to succeed. In analyzing the ebb and flow of various guidebook series, he was into the notion that some guidebooks are into aggregation while others are into curation (as if designed by a “curator”).
Aggregation publishers build their guidebooks by pooling all the data in a giant content bank, and then ladle out various configurations as if buying modular furniture: Would you like an L-shaped sofa? How about a guidebook to clubs and shopping in capital cities? Other guidebooks are a result of “curation” — designing, organizing, and interpreting information that works together holistically, like a body works together. Knowing what a traveler needs and what they’ve learned or experienced so far, a “curation” guidebook intuits what is helpful as the trip unfolds.
I told my publisher that I experimented this summer with letting my staff dedicate days to hotel updates, freeing up time for me to “live the books” and have the experiences in order to better shape and design this end of the information. I was thinking this might be the most valuable use of my time. He said, “Yes…curation.” (Perhaps the word is just made up…but I like it much better than aggregation.)
Then, this afternoon, I talked on the phone with my tour operations department and grappled with the challenge of guides who keep their groups very happy by aggregating the travel experiences on a tour, but aren’t curators in bringing everything together to give a big context and maximize meaning and learning by weaving together what the various local guides have shared and taught.
Whether its through newspaper articles, guidebooks, or tour experiences, we are scrambling to make the travel experience as rich and meaningful as possible.
Rick…..your books and DVDs have helped me experience travel as well as tourism……..I never paid much attention to art per se and from your books and DVDs have vivited many musuems and sights like the AF House……I always become a temporary local and drink in the expereince …..sometimes I am mistaken as a local by the locals ……and I am able to travel 10 countires in a month no problem with the langauge and culture and city layout changes….I can only do this using your books to prepare and execute the trip..thx for the help….
Four Rick Steves’ tours led by four exceptional curators. It’s the reason I struggle between having a solo traveling experience (with your guidebooks, of course) and taking another tour with your guides. Keep up the good work!
I find this curatorial aspect of the travel writer’s craft quite compelling. As you rightly observe, Steve, there is a skill to being able to give the big picture, so setting a community in context, as well as being to dish out the facts. This equates, surely, to the work of the museum curator. But we should be alert to the fact that we all develop our own narratives about the places we visit, come to know and then describe in our writing. My Krakow, my Berlin, my Verona are surely very different places from the Krakow, Berlin and Verona that you know Steve. The curatorial trade is perforce one that imposes order, and in so doing invites a particular interpretation of the world. Nicky Gardner editor / hidden europe Berlin, Germany http://www.hiddeneurope.co.uk
Good introspection, sir, and indicative that you don’t rest on your significant accomplishments and become complacent about what is clearly your passion, information transmission. I really admire your dedication and the very high quality of all you do regarding an industry that so easily dupes and disappoints.
I think we will always need great travel writers. For most of us who have other occupations, there is only so much we can study and also take in on a two week vacation. It think the travel writer fills in the blanks for us and makes us aware of the big picture so we dont get bogged down with little stuff. I wish my occupation could have something to do with travel, but that field has become so limited with the internet.
Hi, I went on the Berlin/Prague/Vienna tour in June of 2009. Nygil was our wonderful curator. The sights we were seeing were all put together in the bigger context of the area’s history, customes, culture, and language. For me, I cannot travel any other way. Jonna
Rick, let us walk down to the “citizen dentist” for a root canal in his backyard/office. Ouch, no thanks. I’ll make an appointment at the office of the tooth care professional with skill and experience I trust. I make the same choice for travel, thankfully certain every fine guide on your tours (seventeen and counting, never the same guide twice!) will provide max value for cost and happily tie the complete tour expierence together. Your books do the same for my many days of traveling on my own, and I thank you again for helping make all those great travel memories. Larry from springfield keeps traveling on…
Rick or any well-traveled birders out there, I was watching Normandy video and towards the end Rick is speaking from a small sheltered abbey courtyard on the top of Mont St Michel. I was shocked when the camera focused in on what appeared to be a HUMMINGBIRD. If so (was definitely NOT a bee-eater) it must have been blown off-course from the Americas. I was so excited to see this hardy little critter who should just NOT be off the coast of France!? Anyone care to speculate? Eleonore Santa Rosa Ca
I think it boils down to the fact that there are people who like tours and those who don’t. Nuanced definitions of tours (aggregate, curate) really aren’t part of my decision making process. Let’s face it. If you are on a tour, you are with others 24/7. You get on the bus. You get off the bus (boat, train, plane.) I’m curious by nature but after two or three churches and museums and cemetaries, I’ve had it. In a perfect world, I would wander just like some of Rick’s guides do on their own holidays. They walk, they observe, they listen, they sit, they shop, they chat. As for weaving everything together in a tapestry of understanding for clients, I’m not certain Rick wants to pay the wages it would take to accomplish that objective. Those talents work for the UN or the CIA or major corporations and universities in my experience. Just give me a bright, personable, energetic, reasonably knowledgeable, highly communicative, resourceful person who also knows how to treat a sprained ankle or prescribe for the runs and I’ll be happy almost anywhere. But I’d rather be on my own. Bill
I have a mini-travel blog – totally amateur…but it really just reflects my love of travel and my need to write about this joyful experience. We subscribe to one daily newspaper and always buy one weekend paper, and love the travel articles. But young people don’t! So I am concerned too about this. We need people who really focus on issues (professionals), not just to write about travel, but to get to the bottom of MANY issues. Thanks for a thought-provoking article.
Rick- And your point is?
I would also like to say that I lament the loss of traditional journalism, but I’m not sure I’ve ever seen it. A professional journalist may disagree with me, but the “news” is us, and we all experience it. Many times, the amateur blogs and citizen news give me a more human, or perhaps even more accurate, perspective.
Good stuff Rick. Unfortunately, I found out you were in SF the day of so it was too late for me to get down and see you. I got some feedback from some people who were there. Thanks for sharing! I am sure you are going to do something in the next week on the Berlin Wall. I wrote an article on that this week. It’s amazing how little we know as Americans about all that happened or what this actually meant to people.
Bretagne,Ferienhaus in der Bretagne,Ferienhäuser Bretagne,Morbihan,Finistere,Cotesd’Armor, Ferienhaus Bretange
I would like to admit, after reading this post, that I often read or re-read your guidebooks for entertainment and enrichment, not because I am necessarily planning a trip. I read them before bed so I fall asleep with pleasant thoughts of places far away and in short bits during business travel or while waiting my turn in line. I’ve been blessed to travel to Europe five times. I am in my early 30’s and like to think I will have many more visits. All of those visits made me want to see more of my own country (US) so I am currently dividing my time between “visiting” places in my own country, state & city. I appreciate that you have stayed focused enough to maintain the quality of your product. But sometimes my sister (main travel buddy) & I both wish there was a RS guidebook for that whatever location we’re researching! What would Rick do at a particular nat’l park or in a visit to San Francisco? I managed to negotiate 6 countries several different times basically by using your books. I’ve used your books to do everything from drive the Cotswolds to get a taxi in Rome. I knew that I could count on your timetables/itineraries. I can’t say enough good things about the structure of your books. Knowing approx how long a self guided walk might take or how to loop together two or three sites in a morning was invaluable for this independent traveler. I might look at several guidebooks before my trip but your “curation” style is why there is only ONE in my purse when I’m in Europe.