I was recently interviewed by Chuck Robinson, who runs the delightful Village Books independent bookstore in Bellingham, Washington (an hour up the road from my hometown). I thought you may find our conversation interesting.
Q: You’ve been traveling in Europe for more than thirty years. What are you most excited about seeing each time you go back?
A: I spend four months a year in Europe with a pretty scattered itinerary, ranging from the deep south to the far north. My goal: to update books, scout TV scripts (a happy byproduct of guidebook research), and produce our TV shows (about 7 a year, 6 days per show). I’m most excited each year to enjoy — to personally experience — new Continent-wide trends. This year, I enjoyed walking the harborfronts of former industrial wastelands that are now people-friendly parks, and grazing through Industrial Age glass-and-steel market halls that are now trendy food courts.
Q: There have been amazing changes, both social and technological, all over the world, including in some remote parts of Europe. What do you find has not changed, or has changed the least?
A: When you’ve traveled annually to the same place for 40 years as I have, you can’t help but think back and marvel at how things have changed. What strikes me most about what has not changed is the cultural diversity within Europe. As borders have fallen, fast food and hotel chains have proliferated and permeated everything, and everyone is looking at the same little screens. And yet, somehow, the unique cultural passions survive. Basque men still gather in their gastronomic cooking clubs to chop their mushrooms in a place where wives are not permitted. A new generation of Greeks are clicking their worry beads. The French still consider lunch a sacred break in their work day. And Finns still prefer an office with a sauna on the rooftop.
Q: We know it’s a little bit like asking which of your two children you love best, but is there a place in Europe that consistently tugs you back?
A: I’ve been working on my guidebooks all over Europe since the first edition of my first book (Europe Through the Back Door) in 1980. And over that time, for some reason, I have many, many more friends in Italy. I can research my guidebook (which has been out and selling great for 20 years) to Denmark or Spain or Vienna, and it’s all pretty businesslike. But when I go to Italy, it’s like old home week — I’ve got friends everywhere I turn. Part of that, I’m sure, is Italy’s expertise in cronyism (I bring them a lot of business). But I love the social scene in Italy, where it’s routine to hang out with the chef long after the dessert plates are swapped out for the firewater beakers. That’s one of many reasons why Italy is my favorite corner of Europe.
Q: What do you think is the biggest mistake most people make in planning a trip to Europe?
A: People focus on saving money while forgetting that their time is an equally valuable and limited resource. If ever time was money, it’s when you’re trying to get the most out of traveling abroad. Hop in a taxi — even if it costs you and your travel partner $5 more than two bus tickets. You’ll save 20 minutes. That’s a great budget tip. But the most important tip — if I may plug the notion of buying a guidebook — is that people try to save money by economizing on information. Guidebooks are $20 tools for $4,000 experiences. A guidebook justifies its expense (assuming it’s any good and you use it) on the ride into your first hotel from the airport.
Q: Is there a place in the world, where you’ve never been, that you really long to see?
A: I long to see the South Pacific in a dreamy, idyllic way. I’d also like to motorcycle across the Sahara, ride the Trans-Siberian Railway, go to “the new Thailands” of Southeast Asia (Vietnam, Cambodia, Laos, and Burma), and relive the dreamy afternoons I enjoyed at “Pie and Chai” in Katmandu. Oh…and bodysurfing in Sri Lanka. But I can only get away for four months a year. And I spend that doing the work I love — in Europe.
Q: Ask yourself a question you’ve never been asked, but wish you had (and answer it, please).
A: Your name is a brand now, but it’s not a very good name for a travel writer. Why?
My dad wanted to name me “Robert Louis Steves,” but my mom nixed that. My dad was originally Romstad, but his birth father was a pretty rough, heavy-drinking, Norwegian ski jumper whom my grandmother eventually divorced. She changed my dad’s name to his step-father’s name — Steves. Consequently, I’m a Norwegian travel writer who would have liked to be named Rick Romstad, but who is forever Rick Steves. I’ll live with it.
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I’ll be at a Village Books event at Bellingham High School on Nov. 19 for presentations on budget travel in Europe & my new public television special, “The Holy Land: Israelis and Palestinians Today.” Call the bookstore at 1-800-392-BOOK for more information.