The Rick Steves guide to life
April 26, 2024
Travel mogul. Philanthropist. Legal weed champion. The real Rick Steves is so much more complex than who you see on TV. In the center of…
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Featured Videos
Rick Steves Travel Talks: Travel as a Political Act
Library Speakers Consortium: European Travel Tips and Tools
Villanova University: Be a Citizen of the World
Wake County Libraries: An Evening with Rick Steves
Skyline Seattle: Travel as a Spiritual Act
Rick Steves’ Europe: A Symphonic Journey
The Value of Travel | Rick Steves | TEDxRainier
Speech Topics
Join guidebook author and public television host Rick Steves as he shares the latest in smart European travel. In this entertaining, information-packed lecture made vivid with photos from his travels, Rick teaches audiences how to make the most out of every mile, minute, and dollar to plan trips that are low on stress and high on fun. Attendees learn how to travel smoothly and affordably by creating an efficient itinerary, eating and sleeping well, avoiding crowds, packing smartly, and more.
Guidebook author and public television host Rick Steves believes there’s more to travel than good food and fun in the sun. By venturing out of their comfort zones, American travelers can gain an empathy for the other 96 percent of humanity and a better understanding of the interconnectedness of today’s world. In this provocative slideshow lecture, Rick draws from lessons learned while exploring Europe, Central America, Asia, and the Middle East to illustrate how, when Americans “travel as a political act,” they come home with the greatest of all souvenirs: a broader perspective.
In this insightful slideshow lecture, guidebook author and public television host Rick Steves shares how a lifetime of travels has mixed with his faith, shaped his politics, and broadened his perspective. Drawing from lessons learned while exploring Europe, Central America, Asia, and the Middle East, he demonstrates how travel expands our worldview and challenges truths we have been raised to think are self-evident and God-given. Exploring the concept of “travel as a spiritual act,” Rick reflects on how the road can serve as church, how his social activism has grown from his travels, and how travel can be a transformative experience for all Americans.
Just as travel broadens one’s perspective, so can music. In this unique concert, Rick teams up with your orchestra on a musical tour that touches down in seven different European countries, combining Europe’s stirring Romantic-era anthems, beautiful high-definition cinematography, and Rick’s insights into European history. Rick introduces each anthem and teaches its historical and cultural significance. Then, the orchestra plays while scenic video footage from the Rick Steves Europe TV series accompanies the music, and all involved enjoy a bon musical voyage.
Rick can tailor a talk to address almost anything relating to European travel. He is happy to work with organizers to create presentations that will best fit specific events and audiences.
Biography
Rick Steves is a popular public television host, a best-selling guidebook author, and a passionate speaker who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. For over two months each year, Rick hits and misses his way across Europe, bringing home the hits and teaching in hopes that others can learn from his experiences to enjoy smoother, smarter, and more impactful trips. He taught his first travel class at his college campus in the mid-1970s—and now, more than 40 years later, he continues to teach audiences around the country the skills needed to get the most out of their upcoming travels.
Widely considered America’s leading authority on European travel, Rick has traversed the country speaking at major lecture series, corporate events, and globally minded universities to share the transformative power of travel and the skills needed to access it. Smart travel begins with the fundamentals, and Rick alleviates travelers’ anxieties by teaching them how to plan an itinerary, pack light and right, stay safe abroad, select excellent places to eat and sleep, and connect meaningfully with local people. Most of all, Rick draws on stories from a lifetime of travel—from thin-air thrills tight-roping on alpine ridges, to fierce backgammon battles with playful Turks, to marveling with teary-eyed Germans at the blessing of democracy atop their new parliament building in Berlin. Rick understands what we can learn about our home by leaving it, and he makes it his teaching mission “to equip and inspire Americans to venture beyond Orlando.”
When he’s not on stage, Rick produces a best-selling series of guidebooks, hosts public television and radio shows that air across the nation, and works closely with advocacy groups and organizations whose missions fit his own, ranging from Bread for the World to NORML to his local YWCA.
Rick is the founder and owner of Rick Steves’ Europe (RSE), a travel business with more than 100 full-time employees. RSE operates a successful small-group tour program which brings more than 30,000 people to Europe annually. Each year, Rick contributes over a million dollars to a portfolio of climate-smart nonprofits, essentially paying a self-imposed carbon tax.
Rick spends about three months a year in Europe researching guidebooks, fine-tuning his tour program, filming his TV show, and making new discoveries for travelers. To recharge, he plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade mountains, and spends time with his son Andy and daughter Jackie. He lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington, where his office window overlooks his old junior high school.
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