Are you tired of hearing about Rick Steves? Sorry. This post is about how we got to see Rick Steves speak for 2 hours at the L.A. Times Travel Show.

Here’s what I love about Rick Steves:

• He’s smart.
• He’s opinionated.
• He’s not afraid to say what he REALLY thinks (even if it offends potential customers) {which actually makes good business sense}

Love it.

I’ve listened to a couple years of archives of his weekly podcasts (until tragedy struck), so I’m familiar with a lot of his talking points.

But that sure doesn’t compare to seeing him in person. In front of several hundred people. Getting his ranting all worked up and in a fever pitch.

Brilliance.

The main thrust of his talk was his lifelong theory of travel : that which is outlined in his book Rick Steves’ Europe Through the Back Door 2010: The Travel Skills Handbook (and earlier versions. I found an edition from 1993 or something at the $1 bookstore).

I won’t re-outline his theories. Needless to say I agree with them and try to implement his point of view in our travels.

However ….

Please enjoy some of my favorite Rick Steves quotes from that afternoon:

• “You need to know what feudalism is to understand European castles.”
• “Art should be fun. If it’s not fun you don’t know enough about it.”
• When traveling throughout Europe on one trip “start mild and go more exotic. And when I say ‘mild,’ you know I mean ….. England.”
• “Leave places most hazardous to your health til the end. Why get diarrhea early?”
• “Museums can ruin a good museum.”

Rick Steves is talking from … well over 30 years worth of European (and worldwide) vacations. He has been writing guidebooks for Americans and planning tours for travelers for who-knows-how-long.

One of the fun little stops in his talk was his brief on packing light. Rick Steves will go to Europe for 3 months and take nothing but what will fit in a carry on.

Yikes!

So, he showed an image of everything that he takes as part of his slideshow.

Andrew, the DiBiases and I almost laughed out loud.

Right there. Plain as day.

Rick Steves’ pink and purple shirts.

Does he really not own anything else?

I’ve always wondered why he wears the same fuschia color in almost all his TV shows. And now we know. That’s all he takes.

Why those colors and not … say …. Green or blue or black or brown, he didn’t say.

But the best part of Rick Steves is when he gets going on something he feels really passionate about ….

… like the consumerism of travel

It’s difficult to find the small, out of the way places because nobody makes money on those places. So no one advertises them. Because the whole point of the travel industry is to make money off the tourists, right?

Rick Steves really railed into the travel expo – the mindless consumers wandering from booth to booth, looking for someone to tell them where to spend their money.

He basically just told several hundred people to go home after his talk and not back out to the travel show floor.

He also feels very very passionate about travel as a political act (he just published a book on it). … about coming home from your vacation with an expanded world view. About not expecting the postal worker in small town France to speak English. About not freaking out about terrorism in every corner of the world aimed right at you.

Rick Steves is SO interesting.

He’s the best.