Meeting Rick Steves
How someone else's hero can become one of yours, too
Meeting my Heroes is an occasional essay series from Matt Carmichael.
Sometimes it’s unclear why someone is a hero. Why, for instance, would a shark from IKEA suddenly develop a fascination for a guy who writes European travel books? I mean, yes, Rick wrote a guide to Sweden and mentioned IKEA in it. That, it seems, was enough. And thus began Blahaj’s obession with Rick Steves.
Blahaj joined our family in January 2023 after a period of intense lobbying from Jane. And that fall, after discovering the IKEA/Sweden reference Blahaj started sleeping with Rick Steves’ books. He read to me at bedtime. And demanded that I feed Rick. Threats were made. And it’s a good idea to take threats seriously when they come from an obsessed apex predator.
I knew Rick Steves from the first time I visited Europe, traveling with my sister and brother-in-law who lived in Italy at the time. We used his books to help us navigate and it all went well, except for that one hotel…
So when Rick was announced as a speaker at the Travel & Leisure show, we picked up some tickets as a birthday present to the shark. Blahaj and I emailed Rick in advance to let him know to expect an unusual fan.
The whole family went to the convention center to hear Rick, as we had done the previous year for someone you’ll meet in a later post. We got their early, staked out the book signing area and got our seats. Rick came out beforehand but we failed to jump fast enough to go introduce him to his fan.
Rick showed us highlights from his European travel and outlined his philosophy of exploration. He also talked a lot about the tripod of his business model. He speaks. He writes books and produces TV shows. And he runs his own travel business, which he informed us is where all the money is. He also seems to be a genuinely good human. I also respect his “no checked bags” approach and that he has his own line of bags that meet his specifications.
Normally at this event speakers go to a book signing table after their talks, so we pre-bought one of his books so we hop in the front of the line.
Rick, however handles things differently. During his talk he said that he’d stand in the back of the speaker area and turn in a circle signing anything people handed him until he ran out of people or got dizzy. He doesn’t personalize or take questions and definitely no posed photos. Undaunted, Blahaj took our fresh copy of Rick’s guide to Rome. Rick did just as he said, and Blahaj orbited Rick, getting the book signed and posing for a photo as Rick twirled in the background. Later, we got another selfie with cardboard Rick who was easier to pose with. And we got a delayed but very kind note back from Rick’s staff after the event.
I’ve written a book. Singular. I’ve done a fair amount of public speaking professionally: about that book; about demographics; about cities and urban planning; about consumer trends; and, about the future of things. I’ve given talks to audiences large and small; coast to coast and now internationally as well. I’ve done plenty of media interviews. I’ve been on MarketPlace and On Point with Tom Ashbrook and the Brian Leher Show. All of that might seem odd for an introvert, but there’s a weird irony that introverts are often more comfortable in front of 500 people than five. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯
I’ve always done that as part of my job starting back at in my first tour at Ad Age, when I was on TV talking about Super Bowl ads. Thus I have a ton of respect for people who manage to speak and write full time. You’ll meet some more of those folks later.
So I share in Blahah’s admiration for Rick Steves and was glad that our shark friend inspired us to go meet him.
