I share the same traveling passion but don't have the time he does yet, selfie

[theking]

..sticks are a big no no for me too and YES, STEP OUTSIDE OF THE RICE BOWL AND OPEN YOUR MIND AND WIDEN YOUR VIEW  :

Rick Steves beat cancer. His next challenge: Teaching Americans to embrace culture shock.
Even the "Rick Steves' Europe" host uses AI on the road — but he draws the line at taking travel advice from influencers and their selfie sticks

Travel with purpose
Steves says he tells his team in Edmonds, Wash., that their mission is to “equip and inspire Americans to venture beyond Orlando.”

He’s not knocking theme park trips and beach vacations — just encouraging people to “raise the bar and travel in a way that’s transformation al,” and makes them “better citizens of the planet.”

For him, travel is about getting out of your comfort zone, not checking off destinations from a bucket list.

“Don’t tell me how educated you are. Tell me how much you’ve traveled,” Steves says. “How many preconceptions have you challenged? How many times has your ethnocentrism been humbled? Culture shock is something not to avoid, but to embrace.”

That mentality feels especially relevant right now, he says. “We live in a time in our country when we are afraid, and there are powerful forces that capitalize on that fear. They want us to build walls.”

Steves believes travel opens the door to the opposite, pushing people to engage with different cultures.

“It's so clear to me as a traveler that if you want to be safe … if you want to have a good world for your children, you can't wall yourself out from the other 96% of humanity,” he says. “You've got to get out there and get to know what you might think is the enemy. Bridges make us safe, not walls. That's not political. That's just common sense.”

Steves encourages his guides to talk about politics and religion, not avoid them.

“It’d be a shame for somebody to go to Europe and not take home any understanding of the lessons people have learned from the hard knocks of history,” Steves says.

That approach shapes the kind of travelers his tours attract — people willing to step outside their comfort zones and connect with others.

“We’ve had people fall in love, get married and come back for their honeymoon,” he smiles.