Renowned travel writer and guidebook publisher Rick Steves packed the house at Dominican University in San Rafael, CA, with his two-hour talk on On the Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer*. The event sold out weeks in advance, a testament to Steves’ enduring appeal.
When my writer friend Marcy and I arrived on March 15, 2025, the campus was so crowded that security had to open an overflow parking lot. We barely managed to find the last two seats—separated by an aisle—on the top balcony of Angelico Hall.
Steves took the audience back to 1977, when he and his travel companion, Gene Openshaw, journeyed along the legendary Hippie Trail. At 23, Steves was a piano teacher with a backpack, a curiosity for the world, and an uncanny ability to land in adventure.
Iran was already heating up politically, making this one of the last years before the route became nearly impassable. Today, few would dare to cross Afghanistan and Pakistan.
The two friends encountered a cast of unforgettable characters. One Iranian bus driver, fed up with the stench of his passengers, abruptly stopped the vehicle and declared: “No bath, no Tehran!“
In Steves’ memory, the bleakest place along the journey was the Iran-Afghanistan border—a desolate, tense landscape. The now-infamous film Midnight Express, a harrowing true story of an American imprisoned in Turkey, had yet to be released, but the risks were very real.
Though Steves built his career guiding travelers through Europe, his philosophy of travel extends beyond comfortable sightseeing.
“We want to inspire people to get out of their comfort zones,” he told the audience. “We want them to go beyond Orlando.”
Yet, after hearing his tales of lost vaccination cards, bouts of illness, and encounters with Iranian cocaine dealers, he didn’t exactly romanticize roughing it in the Middle East. Clearly, when Steves encourages exploration, he has Europe in mind.
Still, he spoke directly to those of us who travel to learn.
“You need to know what an aqueduct is if you’re going to the south of France,” he quipped.
Steves’ talk was part of the Leadership Lecture Series, hosted by Dominican University and Book Passage. It was a night of nostalgia, wisdom, and a reminder that the best journeys happen when we dare to step beyond the familiar.
*Disclosure: I am an affiliate of Bookshop.org and will earn a commission if you click through and purchase. I chose Bookshop.org to connect readers with independent booksellers worldwide.
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