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
I’m preparing for my spring research trip, as I do every year at this time, and I can hardly wait to get back on the guidebook-research trail. This season, I’ll be working on guidebooks in Ireland, Scotland, Italy, France, Germany, and even getting started on a new guidebook to Sicily. This little video clip lets you join me for a few minutes as I research in Lake Como.
You can shop online for all of my guidebooks.
I’ve been hard at work updating my “Travel as a Political Act” book, and I’d love some help. Can you recommend any travel organizations that focus on helping thoughtful Americans get a political education on the road?
Ever since I traveled on three trips to Central America with the Center for Global Education (CFGE) at Augsburg College back in the 20th century, I’ve recommended their program for what I call “reality travel.” They were expert at taking groups to troubled regions with top-notch teachers, and connecting their travelers with the various players in confusing and complicated situations. On my CFGE tours, we’d visit with the United Nations peacekeeping mission, the local military’s PR office, professors in local colleges, farm workers’ unions, and church groups. One day we’d meet with Socialists in the morning and the US Ambassador in the afternoon. The next day we’d meet with the pro-business, right-wing political party (supported by the USA) in the morning and “The Mothers of the Disappeared” (women whose sons were killed by right-wing death squads) in the afternoon. These experiences contributed mightily to my political awareness.
For years, I’ve recommended the CFGE for travelers inspired to visit places like Iran, Palestine, Cuba, and Central America. But now they are providing travel education only to their students, and I need other “educational tour” companies to recommend.
Today more than ever, the world’s challenges deserve a firsthand look. And I’m sure there are plenty of opportunities to enjoy the education provided by “reality travel.” If you can recommend an organization that provides in-depth educational tour experiences like the ones I’m describing, I’d love to hear about it. Thank you!
Think of 60,000 people. Fill a stadium with them and their dreams and aspirations. Because our president canceled that many visas, those lives — which were structured around a trip to America — just had their travel dreams scuttled. And that’s just incoming travelers. Many outgoing travel plans have also been halted.
We’re not just talking about vacations. These are academic visits, business trips, and people seeking a better life for their families…tens of thousands of lost opportunities — in education, in commerce, and in understanding.
Why? They claim it’s for “safety.” As a traveler — who has, again and again, experienced the power of people-to-people connection — I believe that, ironically, this action will make us less safe. Understanding and sharing between the USA and seven countries where understanding and sharing is particularly vital, just took a huge hit.
I fear we’ve entered a backward world. Actions “for safety” will make us less safe. Actions “for jobs” will bring fewer jobs. At Rick Steves’ Europe, the value of our mantra to “Keep on travelin’” is growing by the day.
I’ve always enjoyed “director’s cuts” of favorite movies or documentaries because you feel like you’re sitting casually with the host, director, and producer of the show as they reminisce and kibitz on “behind the camera” insights. And I’ve always wanted to record one so our viewers could get to know our producer/director Simon Griffith. If you enjoy our TV show and are interested in both how we make our shows and what it was like filming our Holy Land special in Israel and Palestine, here’s a chance to join me and Simon in a fun, candid, and intimate peek at our production process. As you watch this, you’ll better understand why I feel so thankful to be able to collaborate with an artist like Simon Griffith.
(You can watch Rick Steves’ The Holy Land with the normal audio anytime at ricksteves.com/holy-land.)
This spring, my Istanbul-based tour guides planned an educational tour to Iran and extended an open invitation to our tour guides and staff. A half-dozen people in my office — eager to learn more about an often-misunderstood land — signed up and booked their plane tickets to Tehran. But now, in response to the USA denying entry to Iranians, Iran has (quite reasonably) decided to keep out Americans. Of course, a few cancelled vacations are just the beginning: Many, many people around the world are already suffering far greater hardships because of this weekend’s events.
As someone who loves how effectively travel can foster international understanding and peace, it’s clear to me that, by overreacting to a trumped-up fear of outsiders, our new president’s actions will actually make us less safe.
I traveled to Iran a few years ago to produce a documentary for public television. I was struck by the wonderful, kind-hearted, open-minded people that I met there. Getting to know the Iranians was the highlight of my trip. And I believe that the show we produced did more to contribute to peace than anything I’ve ever done.
It’s clear to me that thoughtful travel can be a force for peace — and, yes, national security. When we travel to troubled lands and get to know people who are supposed to be our enemies, we humanize them. By meeting each other face to face, we make it tougher for forces in their land to demonize us with their propaganda, and tougher for our government to demonize them with ours.
I’ve seen a lot of walls in my travels. They are monuments to failure, and they’re never good. Whether separating East Berlin from West Berlin, Protestants from Catholics in Northern Ireland, or Israelis from Palestinians in the Holy Land, walls are an instrument of misunderstanding and hate. I know this because in each case, I’ve actually met the people on both sides of those walls, heard their perspectives firsthand, and gained both understanding and empathy.
On Friday, President Trump built his first wall — made not of concrete and barbed wire, but of a dangerous and half-baked executive order. And now, Americans who want peace and who love the world will be the ones paying the price.
I don’t care whether you voted for Trump, or whether you identify as a Republican or a Democrat. We can respectfully agree to disagree on most issues. But if you’re a traveler who has a curiosity about this world, banning people from seven predominantly Muslim countries from entering the USA is bad news. You want to talk about safety? For the last eight years, we’ve remained extremely safe from external terrorist violence…without ever closing our borders to an entire faith or nationality.
Meanwhile, I can imagine no more successful recruitment tool for ISIS than Trump’s new ban. Just like new subscriptions to The Nation magazine are booming and the ACLU is getting more donations in three days than they normally do in an entire year, the appeal and allure of ISIS is also spiking.
Right now, I’m trying to figure out how I can make a difference in this fight. I’ll share more thoughts soon. In the meantime, I invite you to meet a few Iranians, through my public television special. As you see these faces, keep in mind: These are the people our president has decided are too dangerous to meet in person — the people who our president risks radicalizing at the same time he risks radicalizing our own country.