Rick Steves On the His Life and Travels
New Book: "On the Hippie Trail"
New York Times Sunday Magazine published a long interview with my favorite travel guide/author Rick Steves, on the occasion of his upcoming book On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer. Lulu Garcia-Navarro probes the birth of his career as a tour guide and travel writer as well as different perspectives on traveling. In 1978, Rick Steves and his friend Gene Openshaw set out on a bus trip from Istanbul to Kathmandu along what was called the “Hippie Trail.” His journey would make him a travel writer known for his down-to-earth style and wide interest which made him one of the most popular travel writers around. His books are approachable and yet serious and open-minded. In the interview for the Times he says:
Culture shock is a constructive thing. It’s the growing pains of a broadening perspective. To me, there are two kinds of travel: There’s escape travel, and there’s reality travel. I want to go home a little bit different, a little less afraid, a little more thankful, a little better citizen of the planet.
Actually, he talks about three types of travelers:
You can travel as a tourist, a traveler or a pilgrim.
When Lulu asks him to explain, he says:
Most travelers I know, they’re proud to be known as a traveler as opposed to a tourist: “I’m more thoughtful — I’m not just here to shop and get a selfie. I’m here to immerse myself in the culture and learn.” That is a traveler, to become a temporary local. A traveler learns about the world, but I think a pilgrim learns about themselves, and you learn about yourself by leaving your home and looking at it from a distance. You learn about yourself, I think, by trying to get close to God in your travels. I mean, for me the greatest church is walking on a ridge high in the Alps. The last thing a Lutheran’s going to do is raise their arms to the heavens, but I feel like doing that when I’m on top of an Alp!
I’m looking forward to reading Rick Steves’s new book, and to compare notes with my experience from my 1974 journey from Stockholm to New Delhi which I write about in my new book A Swede on the Hippie Trail (1974).
