Richard "Rick" Steves (born May 10, 1955) is an American travel writer, author, activist and television personality. He is perhaps most-known as the host of the PBS travel documentary series Rick Steves' Europe (2000−present). Steves also has a public radio travel show called Travel with Rick Steves (2005−present) and has authored numerous travel guides.Steves started his career by teaching travel classes through The Experimental College, a student-run program of non-credit classes at his alma mater, the University of Washington, and working as a tour guide in the summer. At the time, he also worked as a piano teacher (his father had owned a piano store). In 1979, based on his travel classes, he wrote the first edition of Europe Through the Back Door (ETBD), a general guide on how to travel in Europe. Steves self-published the first edition of his travel skills book ETBD in 1980. Unlike most guidebook entrepreneurs, he opened a storefront business. Initially, this was both a travel center and a piano teaching studio. He held travel classes and slide show presentations, did travel consulting, organized a few group tours per year, and updated his books. He did not provide ticket booking or other standard travel agency services. He incorporated his business as "Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door." The store was in Steves's hometown of Edmonds, Washington, north of Seattle. The company's headquarters are still in Edmonds. Steves' first television show, Travels in Europe with Rick Steves, debuted on public television in April 1991 and ended production in 1998. His second show, Rick Steves' Europe, debuted in September 2000, and has produced episodes through 2016, though because he does not produce a season every year, this accounts for nine seasons. Wikipedia
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