Rick Steves

[chiqui]

I thought this was interesting.

Rick Steves supports decriminalizing marijuana

I love watching him -- so soothing and authoritative -- even though I have the feeling his onscreen persona is a lot different from his offscreen one. His agency is actually pretty close to here (Edmonds, WA) though I haven't visited it yet. His guidebooks are good.

[Deleted]

Go Rick! Hee hee. You know, his show is one of my favorites to watch stoned. I also have always felt he himself was a bit of a pothead, despite his claims to the contrary.


Really I still cannot believe we have yet to decriminalize pot. It's 2006 people. Isn't it about time? Everyone I know and I mean everyone (except for my 65 year old father. Yet.) smokes at least on occasion. Much better than alcohol IMO.

[snarkdaisy]

I traveled around Europe with his books.
Amazing.

[sleepy]

His travel gear is great -- really sturdy stuff. Plus, who can't snicker when they hear about "Europe through the Back Door" and his Back Door Bag?

[marywebgirl]

We left our Rick Steves Italy book in a gelateria in the Cinque Terre. We didn't realize until we got to next town, so my husband ran the entire way back to the previous town, but it was gone. We felt like we lost a limb without it!

[ownlife]

His Switzerland book was extremely helpful when I was there last summer. The forums on his website are good reads.

[marilynvanderbur]

Hey, I work just a few blocks from Mr. Steves' headquarters. If I ever have an RS sighting, you Greecies will be the first to know!

[bossyboots]

Ricky-boy (as we came to affectionately call him) toured Italy with us in 2004. His guidebooks are great, the restaurant recommendations were all wonderful (and exactly as described) and -- as if he weren't cool enough -- his politics are quite left of centre. I should look for the link (it may even be on his site) but he had published an essay on his thoughts about how travel makes the world smaller and that if we all made the effort to step outside of our own little world and experience life as another global citizen does, then maybe there wouldn't be as many wars. You should have seen the responses on the message boards about that! Lots of "I'll never use my Rick Steves backpack again because you are not a true American" etc. etc.

Travellers who are less mainstream tend to pooh-pooh Ricky-boy as MOR and boring because he caters to the average person -- he's not into Lifestyles of the Rich and Famous but he's also not totally about roughing it, either. Though he does have plenty of budget travel ideas.

Edited to clarify that we didn't actually travel with Rick himself, just his Italy 2004 guidebook! But it *felt* like he was travelling with us if you KWIM.

[slanderous]

Yeah, I have a soft spot for Rick Steves, whom I imagine used to be a backpacking hippie who parlayed his love of travel into a business. He seems so good-natured and good-hearted that I like him a lot despite (or maybe because!) of his doofiness. And he has good politics too, as already mentioned -- I think his hope that travel will make us into global citizens is such an open and humble approach to the world, and I really appreciate that.

[atpeacewithme]

Oh, I love Rick! I can't believe he has his own thread - it's like seeing my kooky uncle up here. Rick writes the.best. travel books in the industry! :-)