Rick Steves surprise this morning

[audreyh1]

So we are walking along the Balcón de Europa in Nerja, Spain (on the Mediterranean coast), enjoying the lovely weather and awesome views, and we turn a corner, and Rick Steves is standing there looking right at us!

I hesitated half a step, and I could tell he was waiting to see whether we recognized him (I thought I was hallucinating there for a moment!). So we went up and chatted with him. He was with a local guide - reviewing sites I suppose, because he already covers Nerja in his books and shows. He asked us a lot of questions: about where we were from, where we were staying, how we were planning to spend our time in Nerja, etc. We chatted about the gorgeous weather this May in Spain, how hot our south Texas weather gets versus the southern Spain weather. Quite a few things!

It's mostly British and European tourists in Nerja. Nobody around us was paying any attention at all.

It was so great to be able to thank Rick Steves personally for all the work he has done over the decades and that has really helped us. He graciously deferred to his guide and said he would be useless without the help of the local guides. He was super gracious in general. Banner day!

 

[REWahoo]

Cool!

 

[MichaelB]

Cool!

+1 !

 

[Koogie]

That is a cool story.

He was on Buffalo WNED every Saturday when I was growing up.
After the cooking shows but before This Old House.

 

[MBAustin]

How interesting! We loved Nerja when we visited in 1997. We had the most amazing paella (and sangria) at an outdoor restaurant on the beach - I think the name was Aja. They built fires on the beach and cooked the paella right there. Really awesome.

 

[Red Badger]

Cool meet up. I'm on the patio surfing and have an ear tuned to Rick on the tube in Wales.

 

[Midpack]

Cool!

+3.

 

[audreyh1]

The crazy thing is that despite grayish hair, and a graying beard, Rick Steves doesn’t look any older! At least not to us. Same face, so recognizable to us that we immediately felt like we knew him. I know some of the shows we’ve watched for research have got to be 20+ years old!

He was wearing a faded npr t-shirt, and other than perhaps the beard was not particularly incognito. I’m sure if he hadn’t been facing us and nearby we would have completely missed him.

 

[Denverite]

The crazy thing is that despite grayish hair, and a graying beard, Rick Steves doesn’t look any older! At least not to us. Same face, so recognizable to us that we immediately felt like we knew him. I know some of the shows we’ve watched for research have got to be 20+ years old!

He was wearing a faded npr t-shirt, and other than perhaps the beard was not particularly incognito. I’m sure if he hadn’t been facing us and nearby we would have completely missed him.

Very cool you bumped into Rick. His programs are always useful to view prior to visiting a given area. I watched his London program prior to my 2016 trip and he had some excellent tips.

By the way, I just checked his Wikipedia page. Rick is now 63 years old.

 

[audreyh1]

How interesting! We loved Nerja when we visited in 1997. We had the most amazing paella (and sangria) at an outdoor restaurant on the beach - I think the name was Aja. They built fires on the beach and cooked the paella right there. Really awesome.

Yes, we already visited the Chiringuito de Aya. We are staying nearby that Burriana beach. The scenery from the cliffs looking out over the calm Mediterranean and headlands meeting the water reminds us of Hawaii!

 

[RunningBum]

That's neat. I think he's a bit of a goof ball, but his travel style matches mine for the most part, so his travel guides are the ones I usually use. Nice to know he was personable and approachable, and it sounds like he's still willing to learn from his audience, which would continue to make his guides very useful.

 

[audreyh1]

Ha - I guess DH matches him in age then!

Well he looked very healthy. Maybe even slightly trimmer than in the past on TV.

 

[audreyh1]

That's neat. I think he's a bit of a goof ball, but his travel style matches mine for the most part, so his travel guides are the ones I usually use. Nice to know he was personable and approachable, and it sounds like he's still willing to learn from his audience, which would continue to make his guides very useful.

Yeah, he was definitely taking advantage of the encounter to get glean intelligence. I was impressed.

Much of what he covers in his books in terms of sights and transportation is extremely helpful to us.

 

[Chuckanut]

He's quite a guy. A very sharp and successful business man who employees over 100 people. IMHO, he remains grounded in what most of us consider good values. He had purchased an apartment building and let it be used rent free by women who needed shelter. A few years ago he gave it to the YWCA.

https://www.sunnyskyz.com/positive-...ment-Complex-To-House-Homeless-Women-and-Kids

Steves bought the complex in 2005, and since then and has worked with the YWCA to place low-income single mothers in the building. His project evolved until he eventually owned the complex.
"Imagine the joy of knowing that I could provide a simple two-bedroom apartment for a mom and her kids as she fought to get her life back on track," he said.
The building, Trinity Place, was at nearly full capacity from 2005 to 2016.
This year, Steves took his housing project one step further and gave the 24-unit apartment complex to the YWCA.

 

[Dawg52]

He does seem like a genuine type. Glad to hear he is as he appears on tv.

 

[UnrealizedPotential]

Rick Steves produces excellent shows. I didn't know how hard he works and how many hours he puts in to do what he does. It looks so easy. But it's not easy at all.

 

[powerplay]

What a great surprise along your travels!

 

[gerntz]

Love his shows & books but have never taken one/any of his tours. Seem 25%+ overpriced. Anyone done any? Comments?

 

[Scrapr]

Love his shows & books but have never taken one/any of his tours. Seem 25%+ overpriced. Anyone done any? Comments?

not done any. But it seems as if the crowd he attracts is not a full on DIY. The groups do the lodging and transportation and roll in the local guides. If on your own you have to find that. On our next trip we will hire local guides and probably take a look at his advice there.

What is good about Rick (may I call him Rick?) is that his info is out there for anyone to use. He has built a business on the books & advice as well as the tours. Last year Mrs & I called RS office for consulting on our first European vacation. Very helpful in answering a lot of questions for a reasonable cost

I don't think we are ready to pay the do it for you surcharge yet

 

[hesperus]

That's cool. I enjoy Rick's shows, although I wish he would venture out of europe now and then. Europe is just so, well... predictable and well trammelled. There are many other continents that are far less so and (to me) much more adventurous. I'd like to see a rick steves in tibet, or chile, or patagonia... The accommodations (and risk) may not be up to his standards, however

 

[Moemg]

I love his books so meeting him would be great .

 

[YVRRocketSurgery]

Running into Rick Steves in Europe is one of my goals!

We've visited his offices in Edmunds on the way down to Seattle a couple of times to attend some of his travel chats (as well as one in Vancouver). It's not like you can really get to know someone after a 5 minute chat but he does really seem friendly and genuine the few interactions we've had with him.

I was listening to one of his podcasts a while back and although he gets a lot requests to expand his books outside of Europe, it's not really a consideration. Europe is his niche. However, he'll obviously travel to other parts of the world can chat about those travels.

 

[audreyh1]

He does seem like a genuine type. Glad to hear he is as he appears on tv.

He’s actually quite a bit more soft-spoken and tranquil than he appears on TV.

 

[nwsteve]

We have taken seven-eight of Rick's tours but it has been over 10 years ago. We never had a mediocre or bad guide. We started doing more independent travel (thanks Rick for the primer) and found we appreciated VRBO options and more "upscale" hotels which had larger beds and elevators that could handle more than one guest with luggage at a time ;-). While the hotels included on his tours are always clean, and have good access to sights, sometimes the limited amenities became just too LBYM for us, not to mention the prices being more like the full service properties. YMMV

 

[gerntz]

That's cool. I enjoy Rick's shows, although I wish he would venture out of europe now and then. Europe is just so, well... predictable and well trammelled. There are many other continents that are far less so and (to me) much more adventurous. I'd like to see a rick steves in tibet, or chile, or patagonia... The accommodations (and risk) may not be up to his standards, however

He has. Did an Iran show & Turkey which is Asia Minor. Think I recall him doing Morocco too.