Audiobook Review: Travel as a Political Act by Rick Steves

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Anyone who is familiar with PBS will have seen Rick Steves at one point or another. Most famously you will see him on a PBS Pledge Drives promoting his series on travelling to Europe, Rick Steves’ Europe. Usually during these drives they will play two to three episodes with a short engagement between to interview Rick about his travels. I’ve seen these shows over the last few years sparingly, but with the advent of the current pandemic I found myself looking for material to fill my time. A consequence of the situation has been the lack of travelling that I am usually accustomed to whether for work or vacation. In the last two years alone my wife and I have visited England, Scotland, Ireland, Wales, Hawaii, Italy, Switzerland, Germany, France, and the Netherlands. While this year was expected to be a down year in our travels, we most likely would have gone to Hawaii at a minimum. To fill this current void, we started watching Rick’s show as they are all available on YouTube. While we have finished almost every episode, it was becoming a bit saddening that we were reaching the end and wouldn’t have more to watch. In search of more material from Rick, I started following him on social media and found that he has a wide variety of material from radio shows, blog posts and of course his travel books which you will see in most book stores. It was following him on social media that led to me exploring the book this review is about, Travel as a Political Act. Considering the two to three hours I spend walking each day, this felt like something that would do perfectly as an audiobook and it was available on iBooks.

I want to begin with what this audiobook meant to me and then I’ll cover a few items I took away from it outside of the major theme, which is as the title implies that you travel as a political act. My hope is that anyone who travels, especially outside the United States, learn at least one new thing about the world we live in. I am not talking about who lived in a historical building or why a battle was fought from a long forgotten war, but a tangible item that you can experience today and potentially give you a richer understanding of the place you call home. For myself, that example is public transportation and specifically trains. I do have a love of trains and we do have an expansive train system here in the United States. What we don’t have is an expansive passenger train system. In my travels to Europe over the last few years, I’ve noticed that you can get almost anywhere by train. Whether it’s between major cities or out to a small mountain town, you most likely can get there by train or at least in close proximity. In most cases, the trains run quite often so there is likely a chance you won’t be stranded if you are on a day trip in a remote location. There are some reasonable routes here in the northeast of the United States, but there are many locations out west that could benefit from having a system of rail to alleviate traffic and rely less on fossil fuels. For those of us living in the Los Angeles region, trains to San Francisco or Las Vegas would be a welcome site to sitting in traffic or even navigating our busy airports. Now, when I speak about Europe and what I learned, I advocate for us to expand our passenger rail here in the United States.

With the heart of the book in mind and with his soft tones and yet enthusiastic voice, Rick let’s you know is that he is first and foremost and educator. He is also unapologetic about his viewpoints and feels they are important to be shared with all. He works to show all aspects of the world he travels to include the good and the bad. He notes that no one has the perfect answer to how we solve the worlds ills. Everyone approaches issues from varying directions and some work and some don’t. He will often note that the socialism we see in Europe may work well there due to the social contract the people share with their government, but not as effective in the United States based on our own relationship with ours. He honestly states that while he loves much of what European countries have to offer, he would not base his business there. While Europe may provide many safety nets, the freedom of how to run his business is more important and allows him to provide a richer experience to his audience. The lesson learned here is that while European citizens have a more comfortable living with many social safety nets they may not achieve as high a goal, though they are as capitalist as we are in the United States. On this side of the Atlantic, while out freedoms allow us to spread our wings and achieve great heights, we have the potential of falling quite far if we are not careful. This is the type of viewpoint that Rick is trying to achieve.

At the end of listening to this book, I took away three major themes. First was the socialism I mention above and Rick uses the often cited examples from the Scandinavian country of Denmark. Due to the size of the country, its probably fair to say that implementing services provided by the government would receive less resistance from it’s citizens. Especially if those citizens feel they are all trying to achieve similar goals. Compared to the United States nearly 330 million people, Denmark’s six million people may not have the disparity in viewpoints as we do here. And while Denmark may receive free health care and subsidized public transportation, their taxes are higher and they expect something in the return. This is most likely due to their stronger adherence to the social contract. Denmark, and all other countries included, would also have to comply to any rules set by the larger governing body of the European Union. While the United States itself does have numerous social programs, many are under constant pressure due to cost, higher taxes and limitations on perceived freedoms.

The second major theme was drugs. Europe in general has a much different approach to drugs than the United States. While some countries do have anti-drug laws in the books, in many cases they are lightly and if it all enforced. While the United States takes the stiffer enforcement approach to drugs, many European countries have treated drugs more like a health issue. While Rick himself does not condone the use of drugs, he does see the value in the approach that Europe takes. Cheaper than incarceration and most likely to produce rampant crime, we in the United States can probably learn some really valuable lessons. Rick himself has advocated for major changes in the United States and spends quite a bit of time in this book describing his own efforts to decriminalize marijuana in his home state of Washington. After successes there and in the state of Colorado, there are roughly 14 states that now have legal marijuana and that number is expected to grow. The results have shown that crime and use does not necessarily grow and the windfall is increased tax revenue for the state coffers.

Third and finally was his travel and portrayal of the Holy Land and the Middle East. This is a region that is mostly misunderstood by Americans and significantly due to political representations and the media. In the Holy Land, Rick travels to Israel and visits both sides of what can only be described as a conflict, even when weapons are not necessarily always applied. Whether it is building walls, destroying settlements or suicide bombings, the region is fraught with circumstances that prevent either side from attempting to compromise. Rick provides a history of the land starting from ancient times to the modern state of Israel with its segregated areas of Palestinians in the West Bank and Gaza. It’s an important lesson in understanding why things are the way they are today and that the solutions that are presented to solving them are not so easily achievable. The animosity and distrust on the part of both parties since the end of World War II are deep and will take more time to heal before any actionable solutions can be attained.

A final note, this book was first published in 2009, I listened to the third edition which was released in 2018. This current version provided broader context of the political climate after the election of Donald Trump as president of the United States and the broader rise of populism throughout the world. Rick’s view is that this is not a positive as most populist movements tend to falter at some point. He is still quite optimistic about the future and sees travel as a way to bridge the gap between cultures and societies.

I would recommend this book to anyone who plans on travelling. While I enjoyed listening to Rick on my walks describe his travels, I might suggest actually getting the physical copy. It has pictures throughout that provide a rich context to those travels. After listening to the book, I did feel a broader sense of making sure that I take the time to examine my surroundings even more than I do now when I travel. In then end, to use a bit of Rickism here, people should try to break out of their comfort zone but also have a convivial experience.

For more information on Rick Steves I suggest visiting his website at www.ricksteves.com. There you will find a breadth of information on Rick and the products and services he provides.