Product Description

Product Details

• Amazon Sales Rank: #7631 in Books
• Published on: 2009-05-04
• Original language: English
• Number of items: 1
• Binding: Paperback
• 224 pages

Features

• ISBN13: 9781568584355
• Condition: NEW
• Notes: Brand New from Publisher. No Remainder Mark.
• Click here to view our Condition Guide and Shipping Prices

About the Author

Customer Reviews

Good Travel Perspectives -
Steves believes travel should bring us together, and ever since his first overseas trip (age 14) he's spent a third of his life overseas; for the last 30 years he has taught people how to navigate the logistics of travel, mostly in Europe.

While unapologetically proud to be an American he also enjoys learning by observing other societies, and sees travel as a way to make the U.s. even stronger. Fear of terrorism is an irrational barrier to travel, per Steves, and he cites the numerous recent years of total safety as proof. Travel has also taught him that we don't have a monopoly on bravery or grit.

Anyone can learn that half the people on this planet are trying to live on $2/day, and a billion on less than $1 - but traveling to the developing world and coming face-to-face with these "statistics" makes the problem more real.

The bulk of the book then summarizes his recent travels around the European area. The former Yugoslavia shows the psychological and physical damage left from a tragic war, the European Union is molding a free-trade zone while maintaining its cultural diversity, Denmark shows contemporary socialism and a society rated the most content in the world, Turkey and Morocco offer a moderate side of Islam within fast developing nations, Netherlands and Switzerland offer a different approach to drug policies, and Iran demonstrates how fear and fundamentalism can lead a nation to trade democracy for theocracy.

Take a (Guilt) Trip With Rick Steves
Rick Steves is at it again. He used to tell people to travel "close to the ground," spending less money by staying in hostels and mingling with locals on free museum days. Now, realizing that his aging readership demands ensuite bathrooms and has more money than time, he's adjusted his guidebooks accordingly. He even runs a booming tour business, even though you just know he has no respect for people who take package tours. His heart is in the guidebooks that encourage you to travel on your own, the Rick Steves way.

And that is what he advocates in Travel as a Political Act - travel the Rick Steves way. Early in the book, he reveals that as a young tour guide, he tried to shake up his tour members by not making hotel arrangements until the last minute. Sometimes he waited too long to make reservations and there were no rooms left, so the group had to camp out. He wanted to teach them what it felt like to be homeless. While acknowledging that this was not a good practice for a tour guide, he still has a spark of that teaching-people-a-lesson attitude. In his own words, he is "evangelical about travel."

How do you make travel a political act? This is where it gets a bit vague. Get out of the bus (or cruise ship or car or RV) and talk with people. Observe how people live. Get out of your comfort zone and explore the parts of town that are less touristy. Learn how what our government does affects people around the world. Or how it doesn't affect them. When you come back home, vote thoughtfully. Talk politics with people who disagree with you. Bring up touchy subjects like poverty and drug policies. Teach people a lesson.

Travel as a Political Act is a short book (around 200 pages) with lots of photographs. Rick recycles some stories from his guidebooks, blog, and TV shows ("...zees cheese. It smells like zee feet of angels."), and mixes serious with upbeat. He is less reticent these days about talking religion. He's never been reticent about talking politics.

It's a fun read all the same. I read it on the plane going to Europe, but I'm afraid I acted like a typical tourist once I got there. Stayed at a chain hotel, shopped, looked at the sights. Had a great time. I'm probably no better than the cruise ship tourists that he mocks. I didn't change the world. Maybe next time.

Insightful provacative and wonderful
For those who want the American way of travel with a five star hotel and predictable food, this book will not appeal to you. For those like my family who love learning about other cultures and respecting different ways of living, its a wonderful book.

Yes, the author has written the most personal book he has ever written where he shares his views on America and how and why some countries do not like the government. And having seen way to many 'ugly Americans' when traveling, I am glad he was so honest. And if the book helps just a handful of Americans who will travel, to stop and think before they speak when abroad, then this is a reason for 5 stars.

Much of the book deals with how to travel well as an informed traveler. We love staying away from tourist areas and always seek out quiet visits to local book stores, small eateries off the beaten path where the locals eat, small hotels or bed and breakfast style places. And we love visiting old cemeteries to do headstone rubbings.