Richard "Rick" Steves is an American author and television personality focusing on European
travel. He is the host of the American Public Television series Rick Steves' Europe, has
a public radio travel show, Travel with Rick Steves, and has authored various location-specific
travel guides.
Career Steves started his career by teaching travel
classes through The Experimental College, a student-run program of non-credit classes
at his alma mater, the University of Washington, and working as a tour guide in the summer.
At the time he also worked as a piano teacher. In 1979, based on his travel classes, he wrote
the first edition of Europe Through the Back Door, a general guide on how to travel in
Europe. Steves self-published the first edition of his travel skills book ETBD in 1980. Unlike
most guidebook entrepreneurs, he opened a storefront business. Initially this was both
a travel center and a piano teaching studio. He held travel classes and slide show presentations,
did travel consulting, organized a few group tours per year, and updated his books. He
did not provide ticket booking or other standard travel agency services. He incorporated his
business as "Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door." The store was in Steves's hometown
of Edmonds, Washington, north of Seattle. The company's headquarters are still in Edmonds.
During the 1980s, his business grew slowly but steadily. He brought out more guidebooks,
which were published by the alternative publisher John Muir Press under the label "2 to 22 Days
in ..." His group tours competed more on sincerity, small group size, and service than
on price. He sold railpasses and travel gear in his store and eventually by mail order,
ran a trip consulting service, and held slideshows and lectures. Gene Openshaw, a childhood friend
of Steves, wrote most of the history and art material in his books. Dave Hoerlein, an architect
by training, drew maps for the guidebooks and became a popular tour guide.
In 1991 the company had approximately five employees. That year Steves began producing
TV shows about European destinations. These shows were produced with his own funding and
given to public television stations for free. The TV shows made him a nationwide figure,
and his tour, guidebook, and merchandise businesses boomed. An important factor in his company's
success was the information exchange possible between the various parts of the business.
The tour business benefited from the yearly guidebook updating and his trip consulting
businesses, and vice versa. The company is privately held by Steves.
Current activities
Steves advocates independent travel. His books and media deal with travel mainly in Europe
and are directed at an American audience. As host, writer, and producer of the popular
and long running Oregon Public Broadcasting television series Rick Steves' Europe, and
through his travel books, he encourages Americans to become what he calls "temporary locals."
He encourages his readers and viewers to visit not just major cities but also cozy villages
away from popular tourist routes. Steves's television series, guidebooks, radio shows,
mobile applications, and his company's European escorted bus tours attract fans known as "Rickniks".
Steves's relationship with public television began in 1991 with his first series, Travels
in Europe with Rick Steves. Since then he has become one of public television's top
pledge drive hosts, raising millions of dollars annually for stations across the U.S. He writes
and co-produces his television programs through his own production company, Back Door Productions.
Since self-publishing his first book in 1980 Steves has written country guidebooks, city
and regional guides, phrase books, and co-authored Europe 101: History and Art for Travelers.
His guidebook to Italy is the bestselling international guidebook in the U.S. In 1999,
he started writing in a new genre of travel writing with his anecdotal Postcards from
Europe, recounting his favorite moments from his many years of travel. Steves's books are
published by Avalon Travel Publishing, a member of the Perseus Books Group. In 2009, Steves
published the book Travel as a Political Act, a guide on traveling more thoughtfully.
In addition to his guidebooks and television shows Steves has expanded into radio, newspaper
and mobile applications. In 2005 Steves launched a weekly public radio program, Travel with
Rick Steves. Focusing on world travel, although with a heavy emphasis on Europe and North
America, each program has a guest travel expert for interviews, followed by call-ins with
questions and comments. In 2006 Steves became a syndicated newspaper columnist with his
Tribune Media Services column. In 2010 he launched the mobile application Rick Steves'
Audio Europe, a library of audio content organized into geographic-specific playlists for the
iPhone and Android. Political and civic advocacy
Steves supports the decriminalization of marijuana among responsible adult users in the USA.
According to Steves:
Like most of Europe, I believe marijuana is a soft drug, not a hard drug. Like alcohol
and tobacco, there is no reason why it shouldn't be taxed and regulated. Crime should only
enter the equation if it is abused to the point where innocent people are harmed.
Steves is currently on the Advisory Board of the National Organization for the Reform
of Marijuana Laws. He co-sponsored New Approach Washington, the initiative to legalize, tax,
and regulate marijuana in Washington State. Steves hosted an ACLU-sponsored educational
program broadcast, Marijuana: It's Time for a Conversation.
Steves also supports solutions to homelessness. In 2005 he constructed a 24-unit apartment
complex in Lynnwood, Washington, to serve as transitional housing for homeless mothers
and their children. Trinity Way is administrated by the local YWCA. Members of the Edmonds
Noontime Rotary Club help maintain the buildings and grounds, providing everything from furniture
to flowers. The club also raised $30,000 to build a play structure for the children there.
Steves also raises funds for the hunger advocacy group Bread for the World.
A supporter of the arts, Steves gave US$1 million in 2011 to the Edmonds Center for
the Arts and Cascade Symphony Orchestra. Steves is an Honorary Council member of NARAL
Pro-Choice Washington. As a lifelong traveler, Steves avows that
terrorism is something Americans should get used to, a natural outgrowth of the United
States' position in the global community and how it is militarily advanced. In an interview
with the Seattle Times, Steves said:
I think we're 300 million people and if we lose a few hundred people a year to terrorists,
that doesn't change who we are and it shouldn't change the fabric of our society. Frankly
I think we should get used to losing—as long as we're taking the stance in the world
of being the military superpower, you're going to have people nipping at you. And if it's
hundreds or thousands—we lose 15,000 people a year to have the right to bear arms and
most people think that's a good deal, year after year. We spend 15,000 people for the
right to bear arms. What do we spend to be as aggressive and heavy weight on this planet?
We're always going to have terrorism."
In Travel as a Political Act Steves writes that displaying the American flag on car antennas
"creates a fearful, schizophrenic dynamic that may stoke today's terrorism and tomorrow's
international conflicts." Personal life
Steves is an active Lutheran and has written and hosted educational videos on subjects
such as Martin Luther and the European Reformation. Steves supports Liberation theology.
Steves was married to Anne Steves until 2010, when they divorced. They are the parents of
two grown children. Steves spends about a third of every year
in Europe researching guidebooks and filming TV shows. His home and his Back Door Production
headquarters are in Edmonds, Washington. References
External links Official website
Rick Steves at the Internet Movie Database Transitions Abroad interview with Clay Hubbs
Rolf Potts interview Transitions Abroad columns written by Steves
Interview: Rick Steves on Guided Tours Interview: Rick Steves on Baby Boomer Travel
Trends Steves on KUOW radio program Speakers Forum
The Rick Steves Guide to terrorism in the world
Can we fight terrorism constructively? NARAL Pro-Choice Washington Letter