Rick Steves

Rick Steves is a popular public television host, a bestselling guidebook author, and an outspoken activist who encourages Americans to broaden their perspectives through travel. Above all else, Steves considers himself a teacher. He taught his first travel class at his college campus in the mid-1970s — and now, more than 40 years later, he still measures his success not by dollars earned, but by trips impacted.

Widely considered America's leading authority on European travel, Steves produces a bestselling series of guidebooks and is the author of "Travel as a Political Act". He is dedicated to providing all Americans with access to travel information. A longtime supporter of public broadcasting, Steves produces and hosts public television and radio shows that air across the nation.

Steves is the founder and owner of Rick Steves' Europe (RSE), a travel business with more than 100 full-time employees. RSE operates a successful small-group tour program which brings more than 30,000 people to Europe annually. The company contributes annually to a portfolio of climate-smart nonprofits, essentially paying a self-imposed carbon tax. Rick supports and works closely with many advocacy groups and organizations whose missions fit his own, including Bread for the World.

He has been a member of NORML since 2003 and has been instrumental in the legalization of marijuana in states across the country. He has also provided $9 million in funding to build two neighborhood centers in his community and donated a 24-unit apartment building for homeless women and their children to his local YWCA.

Steves spends about four months a year in Europe, researching guidebooks, fine-tuning his tour program, filming his TV show, and making new discoveries for travelers. To recharge, he plays piano, relaxes at his family cabin in the Cascade mountains, and spends time with his son Andy and daughter Jackie. He lives and works in his hometown of Edmonds, Washington, where his office window overlooks his old junior high school.