Rick Steves' travel as a political act

223 Pages·2018·34.299 MB·English

by  Steves, Rick

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Credits:
Europe Through the Back Door Lead Editor: Cameron Hewitt
ETBD Managing Editor:Risa Laib
ETBD Proofreader: Lauren Mills
Nation Proofreader:Jeff Georgeson
Interior Design and Layout:Rhonda Pelikan
Graphics:Rhonda Pelikan, Barb Geisler, Laura VanDeventer
Photography: Rick Steves, Cameron Hewitt, Dominic Bonuccelli,
Abdi Sami, Steve Smith, Anthony P. Lilly, Bill Adams
Copyright © 2009 by Rick Steves
Published by Nation Books, A Member of the Perseus Books Group
116 East 16th Street, 8th Floor
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A CIP catalog record for this book is available from the Library of Congress.
LCCN: 2009922566
ISBN-13: 978-1-56858-435-5
10 9 8 7 6 5 4 3 2 1
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Contents
Introduction .................................................................................................iv
1 How to Travel as a Political Act ................................................................2
2 Lessons from the Former Yugoslavia: After the War .........................24
3 Europe Unites: Successes and Struggles ..............................................46
4 Resurrection in El Salvador ....................................................................84
5 Denmark: Highly Taxed and Highly Content ........................................112
6 Turkey and Morocco: Sampling Secular Islam ....................................126
7 Europe: Not “Hard on Drugs” or “Soft on Drugs”…
but Smart on Drugs .................................................................................148
8 Mission: Understand Iran .......................................................................160
9 Homecoming ............................................................................................194
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Introduction
O
n a visit to Turkey, I met a dervish. Dervishes—who are sort of like Mus-
lim monks—follow Rumi, a mystic poet and philosopher of divine love. (I
like to think Rumi and St. Francis would hit it off well.) Th ey’re called “whirling
dervishes” because they spin in a circle as they pray. Th e dervish allowed me to
observe his ritual on the condition that I understood what it meant to him.
Th e dervish led me to his fl at rooftop—a peaceful oasis in the noisy city of
Konya—where he prayed fi ve times a day. With the sun heavy and red on the hori-
zon, he explained, “When we pray, we keep one foot in our community, anchored
in our home. Th e other foot steps around and around like this, acknowledging the
beautiful variety of God’s creation…touching all corners of this great world. I raise
one hand up to acknowledge the love of God, and the other hand goes down like
the spout of a teapot. As I spin around, my hand above receives the love from our
Creator, and my hand below showers it onto all of his creation.”
As the dervish whirled and whirled, he settled into a meditative
trance. And so did I. Watching his robe billow out and his head
tilt over, I saw a conduit of love acknowledging the
greatness of God. Th is man was so
diff erent from me, yet actually very
much the same. Th is chance interac-
tion left me with a renewed appreciation
of the rich diversity of humanity…as well as its
fundamental oneness.
Experiences like this one can be any trip’s
most treasured souvenir. When we return
home, we can put what we’ve learned—
our newly acquired broader perspec-
tive—to work as citizens of a great
nation confronted with unprec-
edented challenges. And when
we do that, we make travel a
political act.
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Introduction v
I enjoyed my most powerful travel experience ever on my fi rst trip overseas. I
was a 14-year-old with my parents, visiting relatives in Norway. We were in
Oslo’s vast Frogner Park—which, then as now, is fi lled with Gustav Vigeland’s
great stony statues of humans of all ages, shapes, and sizes.
Immersed in this grand, chiseled celebration of family and humanity, I
gained a new insight into my little world. I noticed how much my parents
were loving me. Th eir world revolved around me. Th ey would do anything
to make me happy and help me enjoy a fulfi lling life. At great expense to
their meager family budget, they were making it possible for me to travel.
Th en I remember looking out over that park. It was speckled—like a Monet
painting—with countless other parents…all lavishing love on their children.
Right there, my 14-year-old egocentric worldview took a huge hit. I thought,
“Wow, those parents love their kids as much as my parents love me. Th is
planet is home to billions of equally lovable children of God.” I’ve carried that
understanding with me in my travels ever since.
On the same trip, I sat on the carpet with Norwegian cousins watching
the Apollo moon landing. As Neil Armstrong took that fi rst step on the
moon, my relatives heard his famous sentence translated into Norwegian:
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vi TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT
“Ett lite skritt for et menneske, ett stort skritt menneskeheten.” Sharing the
excitement of everyone in that room, I realized that while this was an
American triumph, it was also a human one—one giant leap for mankind
indeed—and the entire planet was celebrating.
As an idealistic young adult, I struggled with what I’d do with my one
life. I wanted to work hard at something worthwhile and contribute to society.
I wondered if it was really noble to teach wealthy Americans to travel. As
a child, my earliest image of “travel” was of rich Americans on fancy white
cruise ships in the Caribbean, throwing coins off the deck so they could pho-
tograph what they called the “little dark kids” jumping in after them. Th ey’d
take these photos home as souvenirs of their relative affl uence. Th at was not
the kind of travel I wanted to promote.
Even today, remnants of that notion of travel persist. I believe that for
many Americans, traveling still means seeing if you can eat fi ve meals a day
and still snorkel when you get into port. When I
say that at a cruise convention, people fi dget ner-
vously. But I’m not condemning cruise vacations.
I’m simply saying I don’t consider that activity
“travel.” It’s hedonism. (And I don’t say that in a
judgmental way, either. I’ve got no problem with
hedonism…after all, I’m a Lutheran.) Rather
than accentuate the diff erence between “us”
and “them,” I believe travel should bring us
together. If I’m evangelical about the value of
travel, it’s the thoughtful and challenging kind
of travel—less caloric perhaps…but certainly
much more broadening.
And so, since that fi rst trip back in 1969,
I’ve spent a third of my life overseas, living
out of a backpack, talking to people who
see things diff erently than me. It makes
me a little bit of an odd duck.
For the last 30 years, I’ve taught
people how to travel. I focus mostly
on the logistics: fi nding the right hotel, avoiding
long lines, sampling local delicacies, and catching
the train on time. But that’s not why we travel.
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Introduction vii
We travel to have enlightening experiences, to meet inspirational people, to
be stimulated, to learn, and to grow.
Travel has taught me the fun in having my cultural furniture rearranged
and my ethnocentric self-assuredness walloped. It has humbled me, enriched
my life, and tuned me in to a rapidly changing world. And for that, I am
thankful. In this book, I’ll share what has made my travels most rewarding,
and how they have helped shape my worldview and inspired my activism.
As a travel teacher, I’ve been fortunate to draw from a variety of rich
overseas experiences. And, since just after 9/11, I’ve been giving a lecture
I call “Travel as a Political Act.” I enjoy fl ying all over the USA, giving this
talk to peacenik environmentalists in Boulder, high-society ladies’ clubs in
Charlotte, homemakers in Toledo, Members of Congress and their aides on
Capitol Hill, and at universities across the country.
With this book, I fl esh out the message of that talk and trace the roots
of my ideas to the actual personal travel experiences from which they origi-
nated. While I draw from trips all over the globe, my professional focus
is Europe, so most of my anecdotes are set in Europe. Europe is not that
exotic, but it’s on par with us in development, confi dence, and impact on the
developing world. Consequently, Europe provides an instructive parallel-
yet-diff erent world from which to view the accomplishments of our society
and the challenges we face.
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viii TRAVEL AS A POLITICAL ACT
I enjoy bettering myself by observing others. And I appreciate con-
structive criticism from caring friends. In that same spirit, I enjoy learning
about my society by observing other societies and challenging myself (and
my neighbors) to be broad-minded when it comes to international issues.
Holding our country to a high standard and searching for ways to better live
up to its lofty ideals is not “America-bashing.” It’s good citizenship.
I’m unapologetically proud to be an American. Th e United States has
made me who I am. I spend plenty of time in other countries, but the hap-
piest day of any trip is the day I come home. I’d never live abroad, and I’d
certainly not have as much fun running my business overseas as I do here at
home. America is a great and innovative nation that the world understandably
looks to for leadership. But other nations have some pretty good ideas, too.
By learning from our travels and bringing these ideas home, we can make our
nation even stronger. As a nation of immigrants whose very origin is based
on the power of diversity (“out of many, one”), this should come naturally to
us...and be celebrated.
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Introduction ix
Th is book isn’t a preachy political treatise. (At least, I hope it isn’t.)
Since I’m a travel writer at heart, this book is heavy on travel tales and
people-to-people connections. My premise is that thoughtful travel comes
with powerful lessons. With this book, I hope to inspire others to travel
more purposefully.
I’ll draw conclusions throughout...not always confi dent that I’m right.
My goal is not to be “right” all the time, but to learn with an open mind, to
consider new solutions to old problems, to come home and look more hon-
estly into the mirror, and to become involved in helping our society confront
its challenges more wisely.
By the nature of this book, you’ll get a lot of my opinions. My opinions
are shaped by who I am. Along with being a traveler, I’m a historian, Chris-
tian, husband, parent, carnivore, musician, capitalist, minimalist, member of
NORML, and a workaholic. I’ve picked up my progressive politics (and my
favorite ways to relax) largely from the people I’ve met overseas. And I seem to
end up teaching everything I love: history, music, travel...and now, politics.
Your opinions will diff er from mine because we draw from diff erent life
experiences. As a writer, I’ll try not to abuse my bully pulpit. Still, rather than
take the edge off of my opinions, I’ll share them with the knowledge that
good people will respectfully disagree with each other. I’ve always marveled
at how passionate I am when my Dad and I disagree on some political issue.
He’s my fl esh and blood. Often his political assessment of something will
exasperate me. I love him—but how can he possibly believe these things?
While I don’t necessarily want him to change his mind, I want him to
understand my perspective. Sharing it with him consumes me. In writing
this book, I’ve discovered a similar passion. I want to share what I’ve learned
with my fellow Americans...because I consider us all part of one big family.
And I assume that you’re reading this book for the same reason that I wrote
it: because we both care.
In the following chapter, I lay out the framework—the fundamental
skills—that have helped me open up my perspective. Th en we’ll travel
together to seven very diff erent destinations. By the time we return home,
I hope that—as on any good trip—we’ll have a richer understanding of
our world.
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