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

Honky-Tonk Cowbell for Christmas?

I finally found my niche. At our staff Christmas party, the band needed a little percussion support for “Honky-Tonk Woman.” Always one to help out when needed, I picked up the cowbell and did me best. The party was going strong enough so that the damage done was negligible. It’s my hope that there’s a little honky-tonk togetherness in all of your holiday parties this year. And I’m thankful this season for a staff that knows how to dance!

You can also watch this clip on YouTube.

Civil War Sites, Scandinavian Cuisine, and Royal Wedding Fever: New Radio Interviews This Week

Over the next few days (this Wednesday through Friday), I’ll be recording a big batch of interviews for my weekly radio show, Travel with Rick Steves. You can participate as a caller (find out how on our website), or just listen in to the live web stream. The Web stream will appear on this page once we start recording on Wednesday morning.

Here are some of the guests I’ll be chatting with:

Filmmaker Ken Burns on visiting Civil War sites (and on his landmark documentary about the conflict)

Celebrity librarian Nancy Pearl on the best “armchair travel” reads

Screenwriter Andrew Davies on Jane Austen’s England (and on the Austen-inspired adaptations he’s penned, including Bridget Jones’ Diary and the 1995 BBC production of Pride and Prejudice ‘ yes, it’s the one with Colin Firth in the wet shirt)

London-based tour guide Britt Lonsdale on the “wedding fever” surrounding William and Kate’s approaching nuptials

Celebrity chef Andreas Viestad on exploring the new Scandinavian cuisine

Adventurer Richard Bangs on rafting the whitewater on Ethiopia’s Blue Nile

My son, Andy Steves, on weekend student getaways

You can see the complete list of guests here, along with details for being a caller (it’s easy).

I hope you’ll join me on the air!

Scenes from the Great American Pledge Drive


At the Pittsburg TV station, where Mr. Rogers was produced, a castle was in the hall — a dusty painted cardboard bit of public television history.

I’m on a six-cities-in-six-days public television pledge tour (LA, Chicago, Pittsburgh, Washington DC, Tampa, Seattle), and having a great trip. It’s that season when public television has to beg people to help pay for it (since there is no advertising). While this pledge business annoys viewers and is lot of work for stations and me, it’s the only way to keep a non-commercial alternative to all the other stations on the air. (In Europe, they just levy a small tax on anyone with a TV in order to have a media source that’s not advertiser-driven.) No station likes to interrupt programming with this, but it’s the only way anyone’s found to coax viewers into helping support it.

While traveling the USA during March and December pledge seasons is a major chore and investment of time for me, it gives my work very good exposure and over the last 15 years, I’ve come to enjoy it. Here are a few behind-the-scenes insights into the great American pledge drive:

Just like local stations reflect their demographics with their choice of programming, a station’s pledge style mirrors its neighborhood. New York is the only place to put make-up on my hands as well as my face ‘ just so everything matches. LA is hyper-produced, complete with movie-announcer voices for the “roll-ins.” Texas stations are proud of their BBQ dinners for volunteers. Only Chicago raffles off a free Europe tour. Florida is the only place where I’m met at the airport by a big, white gangster limo. In some cities, you make sure to heed the local ethnicities. In others, you pay homage to the beloved local sports team. (Show a lack of respect for college basketball in North Carolina…and you’re pledge toast.)

While some stations have beautiful talent and painstakingly produced breaks, others just let it rip with a well-worn station manager on camera with me, no make-up artist fussing with hair and powder for “shine” between breaks, and no teleprompter. After all these years, I see no correlation between money-raising success and carefully planned production. And I see a near-perfect correlation (with some notable exceptions) between good-looking talent and airiness. While I’m generally working with great talent, I’m often impressed by how mindless many of the best-looking on-camera co-hosts can be. It seems embarrassing…but then I wonder if the audience even notices.

I love working with people who can speak from the heart with eloquence (most commonly the frumpy-looking co-hosts). No matter how carefully written the teleprompter copy is, if a good talker who understands the mission and value of public television is set loose without reading the message, that’s the best.

Traditionally, stations periodically run a nice clip of related images without a voice track, to give viewers time to call in (dubbed “music to pledge by”). But luckily, I have my own film-production crew, so we can produce little one-minute “roll-ins” showcasing the most important gifts we offer people supporting public television. These give the hosts a break while constructively filling up otherwise wasted air, and allow us to highlight enticing give-aways.

Watching at home, most viewers don’t realize that the hosts peering into the camera are actually looking at words or images (projected onto a transparent sheet of glass). Rather than a teleprompter scrolling by on the camera, I always want what’s called a “line feed” into the camera ‘ so I can look straight at the camera and see exactly what people are seeing at home. That way I can hold up gifts and see if the lights are causing a glare or if the 800 number is blocking the view. Anything shrink-wrapped (like a DVD set) will glare, so I’m careful to take that off for better show-‘n-tell. With a line feed, when the director cuts away momentarily to a still shot showing the gifts, I can mess with my hair or glance at my notes. I learned my pledge pitch tricks by watching televangelist Benny Hinn, who’s notoriously effective in getting people to give money to his ministry. I’d swear he’s looking into his own eyes (via a line feed into his camera) as he asks for your soul and a little money.

When I drop by, my reputation precedes me. Somehow the word got out that I like bananas and orange juice, which are often waiting for me in the green room. Public television stations’ budgets are so tight that green rooms generally have a very old, clunky TV. Green rooms are really important for on-camera talent to rest and gather their thoughts. While I’ve never said this before, I hate mindless chat in green rooms. I want to watch the show that’s airing and get something intelligent loaded up to say during the upcoming intermission. One of my pet peeves is make-up artists who seem to just inhabit the green room as if it’s their place to hang out and chat on the phone. (Some stations employ a make-up artist. Others just let a multi-tasking pledge producer slap on some powder. Others don’t even bother.)

By the way, “PBS” is generally a misnomer. It’s “public television,” and PBS is just the biggest provider of content. My series is not a PBS show, but an APT (American Public Television) show.

Each season, there’s generally a blockbuster pledge special ‘ often some lifestyle guru, or a new version of an old music extravaganza (Three Tenors, Riverdance, and so on). While attention-grabbing, these aren’t particularly representative of what public television is about. The stations wish their core programming would resonate with viewers during pledge time, but it rarely does. Many stations have no choice but to “hold their nose” as they take the money generated by a blockbuster show that’s not core public television programming.

My show is a happy exception ‘ a regular line-up program that also works well during pledge time. This season, with a fresh and hard hit on “mission” (explaining why public television is worth supporting), and with the debut of a dozen new shows, my programs are among the top moneymakers for the system. Part of our pledge success is because when I pitch, I really believe in the value of an alternative to commercial TV, and that sincerity comes across.

(I was just watching a commercial news station sharing a segment with an “industry expert” on dropping the “junk food tax.” He was claiming orange juice is no healthier than Coca-Cola, and that schools might as well sell junk food in vending machines because the kids will get it across the street anyway. The cute anchorwoman kept lobbing him softball lines and nodding in agreement. This was clearly programming in tune with advertiser needs that very few viewers would find problematic. And this just stoked my passion for having a non-commercial alternative on the dial.)

Our show also works well because it comes with logical gifts that relate to the program and have a high perceived value. Stations try to keep a multiplier of ten to one. That means the gifts they offer at any level should cost them around a tenth of the money they are raising (for example, a DVD gift for a $60 contribution should cost the station $6). That’s a challenge. I need to make some money providing the gifts, the station needs a huge mark-up, and viewers need a good value, too. Some stations are more aggressive at “merchandizing” to motor giving than others. But others are concerned that they are creating a public that is addicted to ever-more-generous gift packages, and will forget that they are supporting community broadcasting with a donation…not buying books or DVDs.

It’s fun to evolve in my fundraising partnership with public television. They needed a half-hour event to fill the gaps left by the many 90-minute specials, so the next show can start on the top of the hour. So last year, I produced a half-hour European Insights special. It was the most widely aired and repeated show of 2010.

I used to visit 30 stations annually, which meant I spent a month each year on the road. Now I’ve cut that in half, spend only two weeks traveling for pledge, and produce two “virtual” pledge specials a year that are generic (with spaces left open for local call letters and phone numbers) and available to the entire system. This way, literally hundreds of stations can run our special. This month I’m producing two specials ‘ a two-hour Spain program called Viva España and a new half-hour show called Europe with Abandon ‘ which will feed in late February.

Small stations really appreciate an in-person visit, and when I come by, they are careful to produce a travel special that is “evergreen” ‘ with no reference to the date, season, weather, and so on. This way it can be rerun several times.

On this trip, I’ve enjoyed reminding people that because times are tough, we need to have strong public media. Since the complicated challenges confronting our nation are unprecedented, we need media that peddles understanding rather than fear, and that smartens us up rather than dumbs us down. And I’ve enjoyed the pledge-host exhilaration of making a strong pitch, turning around, and seeing the phone banks light up, becoming inundated with calls. Then I look at the excited producer pulling his hands apart, indicating “stretch,” and the break lasts a few extra minutes more than planned as membership grows. I’ve visited public television stations in well over half our states in the last decade, and I am inspired by the idealism, talent, and commitment of their hardscrabble staffs. And I’m thankful that we have a place on the dial where shows like mine ‘ that respect your intelligence, assume an attention span, and are not shaped by advertiser needs ‘ can thrive.

If you understand that and are a supporting member of your local public television station, congratulations ‘ and thanks a lot.

Stoking Family Fun with Armchair Travel

I just received an email that resonates with me. Many people my age (mid-fifties) have parents who, while once avid travelers, are now winding down their lives in retirement homes and assisted-living communities. My parents and their friends now “travel” via travel shows on TV. This story illustrates how travel can still invigorate minds and bodies that don’t otherwise get out that much:

Dear Rick,

As I get ready to order a guidebook and the newest set of your TV shows, I want to share a personal story.

It all started about two Father’s Days ago, when I was pondering what to get for my Dad. My Dad was living in an assisted-living home after the passing of my Mom. He lived so close, but I could feel us losing connection. Since my Dad was now mostly bound to a wheelchair, we were both at a bit of a loss about what to “do.”

Then came an idea that changed our lives. My Dad, whose parents were born in Europe, had never been to Europe. As it turns out, he had never really thought much about Europe, as his immigrant parents wanted to start new lives and leave memories of the old country behind. I, too, had never been, and was starting to realize it was something I wanted to discover…and maybe we could discover it together. So I bought your complete set of Rick Steves’ Europe DVDs, wrapped it up, and presented it to Dad as his gift. In my card, I wrote, “With this gift, we will travel to Europe together. Every Wednesday night at 7 p.m., I will come to your home and we will watch two shows together. We’ll start with Austria, since that is where you parents were born, and we will just keep on traveling throughout the year. When we are in Austria and Germany, we’ll drink some beer; in Italy, we’ll enjoy some wine; and maybe when we are in England, we’ll get out Mom’s teacups.”

And so it continued all throughout the year. I made up a schedule and emailed it out to all of our immediate family ‘ the ones close by were welcome to join us, and often they did. Wednesday became an evening we all looked forward to. Lively discussions started as we watched the shows with our Rick Steves maps on our laps, thinking out where we had been and where we would go next. Dad made up a little notebook of our plans, and at dinner on Wednesdays, the other residents would ask him where he was off to, often leading to lively discussions of travels that would spread throughout the dining room.

About halfway through the series, I decided that I would turn my dreams into reality, and booked a month-long trip to Europe with my daughter. After that, our viewing became even more exciting, as together we discussed and debated all the places my daughter and I would go. I remember the night that Dad and I re-watched the Tuscany shows to choose which hill towns to visit. Watching the travels skills shows reassured him that my daughter and I would be safe as we traveled. When I sent back postcards, and showed Dad our photos, he was excited to see that I had actually visited the places we had “been” to together.

When my Dad heard my sister, who lived in Calgary, was planning on spending three summers in Europe doing her masters, he bought her a complete DVD set. He couldn’t imagine how she could possibly travel without them! My sister tells me that much of their telephone calls are richly filled with discussions on places to visit. Without our virtual travel, Dad would have been out of the loop. Instead, he has become an active participant.

My Dad and I, along with other family members, are continuing our Wednesday-night visits. His home is once again a place for our family to gather. And tomorrow it’s time for the European Christmas show, perhaps with a pot of mulled wine bubbling on the stove.

Thank you so much, and feel free to use our story to inspire other families to buy their parents or grandparents a gift that can really enrich the times that they have together.

All the best,

Joanna and Steve, Burnaby, British Columbia, Canada

Haiku for You as the Sun Sets Early

To fill little gaps in our weekly hour-long radio program, we share haiku poems submitted by our traveling listeners. Here are a few that we thought were appropriate for the season.

Dana Ivey from New York City paints this landscape:

Stark and white beauty

Fairyland snow on bare trees

Central Park New York

Rick Preston of Miramonte, California, describes the scene hiking in Utah’s back country in this double haiku:

Sun on cottonwood

Reflections of leaf and sky

The smell of river

Moving through canyon

Winter light beckons me on

Don’t know when to stop

Gretchen Williams of Mercer Island, Washington, commemorates surviving her first winter in Europe with this poem:

Moving to Munich

Our coldest winter ever

Then beautiful spring!

While Lisa Treder of Edmonds, Washington, has a more practical concern:

The sun is shining,

But I still feel a bit chilled.

I hate my jacket.

Wintertime can inspire you to look for the poetry outside your own window. Marianne Disney of Bend, Oregon, sent us this haiku she wrote about the view from Pilot Butte:

bowl made of mountains

rose edge, blue basin, cloud rise

filled with light and snow

But for some others, it can inspire a wish to visit a warmer climate. Tom Besson splits his time between Nelson, New Zealand, and Hillsboro, Oregon. He had this poetic observation from the veranda while having breakfast in Ubud, Bali:

Four dragonflies dance

Droning on their vine-like perch

Sixteen wings sing songs

Danielle Sapino of Warren, Ohio, sent us a batch of haiku she wrote on the beach in Kailua, Hawaii. Here are two of our favorites:

All the grains of sand

a stage for the sunbathers

and waves to crash on

it’s times like these i

wish i had my camera

but i got haiku

And Mark Erickson of Portland, Oregon, shares a different memory from a trip south of the border:

We met in A.A.

I took her to Mexico

SHE never came back.