32. The Rick Steves Philosophy of Travel

An image from Rick Steves’ Iceland

One of the things we’re not doing when we’re buried in our screens is soaking in the world around us. Sometimes that’s intentional—a way of hiding from an often ugly and overwhelming reality. Sometimes it’s to fight off the horror of boredom. But the more we live inside our screens, the less we’re outside in our communities or exploring new kinds of cultures that exist all around us. And this brings us to Rick Steves—today’s Herodotus in chinos, insisting that “out there” remains not just more interesting than the echo chamber of our screens but that engaging with it is vital for us as people, and that, in fact, the very act of travel is an act of transformative politics. In an era of walls and fears of “the other,” he continues a crusade for curiosity. His call is simple: put down the phone, go out there, and meet the world.

For decades, Steves has been bringing his mission to the homes of Americans through his public access show Rick Steves’ Europe, his radio show Travel with Rick Steves, his travel guides, and his lectures. He has a new edition of his book Travel as a Political Act out now, and he’s currently touring the country with his live orchestral series A Symphonic Journey with Rick Steves, which you can see at the Holland Center on February 15th and 16th. Tickets are available now.

Then, later in the show, we’re diving into the history of the travelogue by going all the way back to The Innocents Abroad author Mark Twain in a conversation with Matt Seybold, Professor of American Literature and Scholar-in-Residence at the Center for Mark Twain Studies. You can learn more about the Center for Mark Twain Studies here.

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