Interview With Rick Steves, Author of On the Hippie Trail and Travel as a Political Act

In this episode, Craig and Olivia sit down with legendary travel writer and TV host Rick Steves to celebrate the 50th episode of the Libro.fm Podcast. Rick shares insights from his newest book, On the Hippie Trail, a travel memoir drawn from journals he kept as a 23-year-old backpacking from Istanbul to India in the late 1970s. They discuss the importance of journaling and how travel shaped Rick’s lifelong commitment to teaching, storytelling, and political awareness.He also talks about his other book, Travel as a Political Act, and how travel can challenge ethnocentrism, spark empathy, and inspire deeper civic engagement.

Read the full transcript:

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About Rick Steves: Rick Steves, America's most respected authority on European travel, empowers Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. In 1976, he started his business, Rick Steves' Europe, headquartered in Edmonds, Washington, near Seattle. There he produces a best-selling guidebook series, a popular public television show, a weekly public radio show, a syndicated travel column, and free travel information available through his travel center and ricksteves.com. Rick Steves' Europe also runs a successful small-group tour program taking 30,000 travelers to Europe annually.

Get Rick’s Books:

• On the Hippie Trail
• Travel as a Political Act