Rick Steves says travel can bridge America's divides
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Travel author and TV personality Rick Steves speaks on stage at The Paramount Theatre on Dec. 3, 2014 in Austin, Texas. Photo: Rick Kern/WireImage
European travel guru Rick Steves is coming to the Phoenix Travel & Adventure Show this weekend with a singular goal: Convince Americans to embrace culture shock and venture beyond Orlando.
Why it matters: Steves has spent decades encouraging Americans to explore the world with humility and curiosity and he told us the key to mending our fractured country may lie in international exploration.
Zoom in: Ahead of his keynote speeches on Saturday, Steves, who lives in Edmonds, Washington, talked to Axios Phoenix about the mind-opening power of travel.
This interview has been condensed and edited for clarity.
Americans are both polarized and polarizing. How does travel help us better understand the world?
I believe strongly that if everybody traveled before they could vote, we would not be in the pickle we're in right now, because we'd celebrate the world as a beautiful place, and we would also know the world is a very human place.
- The solution, if you really want to make America great, is not to withdraw from the world and build walls so we can be wealthier and we can be safer. It's better to contribute to a world that is more equitable and stable.
Are Europeans still welcoming to American tourists even though international relations are strained?
Nobody, none of our tour members and none of our tour guides, have reported that they're receiving bad welcomes because of who's our president and how the United States has turned its back on Europe and betrayed all sorts of friendships that have been carefully nurtured over 80 years.
- The only silver lining I can see with what we're going through right now politically is that in the last 10 years, Americans have become more interesting. So if you go over there, be ready to answer questions.
You encourage an intentional and curious approach to international travel. Do you bring the same sentiment to domestic tourism?
America is more diverse than a lot of people realize. It's fascinating to get out and go to a different region and celebrate a different outlook and a different culture.
- There are walls in this world, and walls are never good. There are physical walls like in Belfast or in Israel and Palestine. And there are metaphorical walls, like in the United States between red and blue America.
- It's really important — and I'm talking to myself and all my privileged West Coast elite friends — to get out there and talk to people on the other side of this wall and understand that there's a lot of goodness on both sides of the wall.