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Miss traveling in Europe? Major tour-company founder and CEO Rick Steves absolutely does. This week — after more than a year and a half working from home in the Pacific Northwest due to the COVID-19 pandemic — Steves has now officially returned to Europe in order to prep for the 2022 launch of his Rick Steves’ Europe itineraries. Coordinating this restart of guided vacations across multiple countries are Steves’ approximately 100 employees, headquartered in Edmonds, Washington, whose jobs and health insurance coverage he committed to protect during the global travel crisis — a rare management decision that rallied applause from his staff, while other corporations laid off workers en masse. Steves, whose company is privately held, also completely refunded 24,000 trip payments to pre-paid customers for 2020, insisting that they deserved their cash, not credits. “If they wanted to leave their money with us for a later tour,” says Steves, “we said no, take your money back. We’re friends. We’ll get this together later.” (See Rick Steves on Coronavirus, Business Ethics and His New Book and What You Need to Know as Europe Reopens.)
He's baaack! Rick Steves this week at Porta All'Arco in Volterra, Italy.
At present, on-the-go Steves — best-selling author, TV and radio personality, guidebook guru, activist, teacher and speaker — is working with local guides on their turf, polishing details, direction and delivery of his The Heart of Italy in 9 Days tour, which includes sightseeing in Rome, Volterra and Florence, plus sojourns to gorgeous Riviera and Tuscany scenery. “This is one of our most popular itineraries,” explains Steves. “I’m using it as a training tour for our new guides. It’s an investment in what we hope will be a big 2022.”
The 2022 trips will kick off in February, heralding such stellar spots as Barcelona, Madrid, London, Paris and Sicily. Here is a full list of 2022 dates and destinations. For answers to pandemic and other logistical questions about the 2022 tours, go to Tours FAQ, Covid-19 and Health Safety Pledge. This key-to-read information will likely continue to be updated, as developments in Europe evolve.
Amid this energetic work pace, Steves took time out to share his thoughts with Forbes.
Now that you have been in Italy for a few days, what are your impressions?
Steves: “I feel like we are in the vanguard of a return to normalcy for those of us in the tourist trade. Sure, individual travelers have been coming back for a while. But today, under the Arch of Constantine, our local Roman guide breathed a sigh of relief when she finished our tour, saying with a sweet crackle of emotion, ‘I’m a bit rusty, as this was my first time leading a tour group since 2019. I am so happy.’”
“In Italy, the lines at the pharmacies are down the block as workers are now required to either submit proof of vaccination or a recent negative COVID test. There’s a sense that the world is ever smaller for anyone refusing to get on board the vaccination train. Entry to any sightseeing attraction is easy for an American visitor: just flash your CDC card. Freeway rest stop markets have handy touch-free checkouts. And I could actually enjoy the Sistine Chapel without rubbing up against strangers.”
Ceiling of the Sistine Chapel in Vatican City, Rome.
“My big concern was how the small mom and pop businesses — tour companies, hotels, restaurants — are managing. Thanks to government help, it seems they are by and large surviving the pandemic. Paola at Trattoria der Pallaro gave me a hug, saying, ‘This place has been my love for sixty years, and now, thank God, tourists are coming back.’ Marco at I Colori del Vino Enoteca is still spinning his vinyl records and serving biscotti with his Vin Santo, a dessert wine. And in the Vatican Museum standing before Raphael’s transcendent Transfiguration, our guide Francesca — speaking through her face mask — reminded us that art is only art when people are here to appreciate it.”
“Changes? The ancient sights of Rome didn’t waste the time they spent shut down. The Roman Forum has some wonderful new ways to show off the antiquities. Surprises? How much I needed to be back in Europe, sitting all alone under a full moon under 500-year-old facades after thoroughly enjoying a nice full-bodied red wine.”
What have you missed most about Europe during this travel pause?
Steves: “I’ve missed the white noise of joyful crowds eating under the stars, merchants singing their sales pitches in the vegetable markets and romantics jostling to toss their coin into the floodlit Trevi Fountain.”
Rome's Trevi Fountain, where, according to myth popularized in the 1954 film "Three Coins in the ... [+]
