I had the opportunity to hear Rick Steves (yes, the famous travel guidebook author who has created an entire travel empire) speak last night at an event hosted by the Seattle World Affairs Council– and it was fantastic. The speech stemmed from his book “Travel as a Political Act“, which I haven’t read yet, but now feel like I should :).
Here are my takeaways:
1. He’s a REALLY GREAT speaker.
If you have the chance to hear him talk, do it. He was fun, human, engaging, and not afraid to just be himself.
2. He’s not worried at all about the guidebook business declining.
His sales are back at par with 2019 and e-book share has been steady at 10% for ~10years (!), which I found to be fairly fascinating.
3. Unless you have dietary restrictions for health reasons, he recommends you give up your dietary “preferences” and just eat the food where you travel.
It was interesting to hear him just come out and say that… and I was definitely curious how many people that may have rubbed the wrong way (including the woman who’d asked the question about how accommodating Europe was to dietary restrictions).
4. Do what the locals do
Drink Ouzo in Greece, drink tea in England, drink whiskey in Scotland, eat escargot in France, drink wine in Burgundy and beer in Prague (not the reverse!), etc. This doesn’t mean you need to do those things at home… really, are you going to sit on your porch and sip ouzo at home while it’s snowing out?! I don’t think so. But somehow it just works and feels right when you’re on a Greek Island watching the sun set into the Mediterranean. These are experiences you have when you travel– and in doing so, you will feel more like you’re part of the rhythm of life in the culture you’re in. PS: he makes everyone on his French bus tours try escargot at least once :).
5. He strongly believes in the importance of meeting people and talking with people wherever you travel to (which I fully agree with!)
During Q&A, someone asked how he kept in touch with all the people he meets. Honest answer: he doesn’t. “Staying in touch” is not a required outcome of meeting people. You can talk to someone for 5 minutes, gain and give from that interaction, absorb it…and continue on. You COULD choose to invest in maintaining that relationship– and that’s up to you– but it’s not an expectation or a requirement. Just meet, talk, enjoy, and learn in the moment.
6. Take advantage of opportunities that pop up even if they derail what you thought you were going to do that day.
Whatever invitation you might get will undoubtedly be more memorable and meaningful than wherever you were walking to have dinner that night. Rick Steve’s example was a monk in Rome offering to take him for limoncello. Who wouldn’t love the experience of getting tipsy with a monk!?! 🙂 Two of mine have been being invited to the home of a random 1950s Croatian Olympian I met on a Croatian Island, and, accepting lunch with an Ecuadorian ice cream store owner who I struck up a conversation with in the process of deciphering that the word for “strawberry” in Ecuador is “frutilla” (!!!) …not “fresa” as it is in many other Spanish speaking countries. And for my kids, an example was stopping to play a ball and pin game in the park in France when invited by all the locals…instead of looking from afar for 2 seconds and rushing off to the Eiffel Tower. I wholeheartedly agree with Rick Steves here.
I’ve also found that these fortuitous connections happen even more easily when traveling with kids. People are incredibly open and inviting to kids– allow kids to follow those invitations! Don’t rush them off. You will all learn and remember those experiences. And yes, the kids may end up going to bed later because a non-profit jump rope team was skipping around a praça in Porto filming promotional videos and they invite your children to skip rope with them– but it’s worth it. Slow down. Jump. Run. Talk. Be curious and take advantage of invitations.
7. While he talks about all of these “tours” he does, he’s clearrrrrly more into researching the books and going on the tours than he is about some of the angles of his business.
To be fair, if you have 100 people working for you, it’s totally legit to not have a handle on all aspects of your business :). I was curious about how/why the age limit of the family trips was set at 8yrs old…and when he was taking selfies with people at the end, I asked him about that. He seemed a bit confused by the question — and then gave an answer about how “they must have decided that age because blablaa” …and “that I could call and talk with someone and see if there were trips that might be suitable for kids”. It was clear as day that he isn’t the one making decisions about the details of the trips… or even the demographic of the trips. And maybe this shouldn’t have been surprising, but regardless, I was a bit surprised that he didn’t have more personal ownership in that answer.
8. He thinks the government should have a tax to offset carbon for air travelers.
Since the government won’t, he thinks to be a responsible tourist (or tourism company), you should do that $30 per person carbon offset…
9. If you go to Turkey, know how to play bat gammon :).
Playing games with the locals is a great way to actually meet and engage with them. Figure out what the locals will be playing and try to learn the rules before you go.
10. He believes the US government should leverage more soft power around the world.
For one troop deployed abroad for a year, he quoted something like 500 wells could be built in villages in Africa. Women could spend more time with their children because they wouldn’t be walking three hours to get water– and a lot more people would “like America” and think well of us (pun intended). That’s soft power. And he thinks the US government could strike a better balance between hard and soft power.
And a bonus…
11. Remember that not everyone’s dream is the American Dream.
There may be a “Norwegian dream”, a “Kenyan dream”, a “Yemini dream”, etc– don’t assume that “the American dream” is what everyone should want. Learn other people’s/cultures’ dreams– and be conscious of the American-centric lens through which you might sometimes unintentionally see the world.
