[ephemeral]

Smithsonian presents Travels with Rick Steves (Summer 2010)
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Overview: Smithsonian magazine will team up with best-selling travel author, television host, syndicated columnist and radio personality Rick Steves to create a special magazine focused on cultural travel. Entitled Smithsonian Presents: Travels with Rick Steves, the magazine will be written by Steves and edited by the staff of Smithsonian magazine. It will be distributed on newsstands and through other channels beginning May 2010, and will also be available in a digital format.

The editorial of this special issue will combine Smithsonian magazine's esteemed journalistic credentials and focus on cultural sites and destinations with Steves' personal experiences and stories to create a unique product for travel and history enthusiasts. The core of this special issue will focus on Steves' favorite 20 things to see and do in Europe, a collection of cultural destinations and experiences that will draw from Steves' extensive travel background throughout Europe. The issue will also include service features, practical tips and advice from Steves.
Genre: Non-Fiction, Travel, Rick Steves, Magazine

As a travel writer, I measure profit by how many people’s trips I impact. By that standard, May 4th is one of the most exciting days in my 30-year-long career. Today, Smithsonian Presents Travels with Rick Steves, a special issue of Smithsonian magazine, hits newsstands all over the USA.

The magazine is 104 pages devoted entirely to my favorite places. For me, this is the travel-writing equivalent of giving birth to a child. While I’m a proud papa about my contribution (the writing), the “mother” of this collaboration — if I may call Smithsonian that — is why this baby is so darn beautiful. I’ve never seen my writing mixed with such beautiful art, and then so expertly laid out.

The experience was humbling. I learned years ago that life is too short to work with people who aren’t really talented and committed. And, just as important, life is too short to work with people you don’t enjoy. In other words, collaborating with talented and fun people brings this workaholic great joy. My (talented and fun) staff and I can be pretty self-assured. We cook up some great TV, radio, guidebooks, tours, and newspaper articles. But we’ve never produced a magazine. And in short order, we gained great respect for the talent of the people in Washington, DC, who make Smithsonian magazine.

I had my creative tensions with the Smithsonian staff over the course of the project. Now that it’s done, every little tug-of-war I won, I like, and every little tug-of-war they won…I like, too. I called it “censoring” when they took out the more juvenile of my jokes. They politely explained to me that “it’s not censoring, but editing.” Now that the project is finished, I’m glad some of my goofy phrases didn’t make the cut.

It’s human nature to enjoy photos you took, and to favor them at layout time. But I learned quickly to trust the Smithsonian photo editor’s choices. Only a handful of my shots made the cut. And yet — wow! Seeing my writing without my own photos, I was actually thankful.

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