About the Event

Rick joins Samantha Brown, host of PBS’s Samantha Brown’s Places to Love, for a wide-ranging conversation. He’ll reflect on his career and longstanding connection to public media, share tips on some of the world’s best destinations to visit and explore, and answer travel questions from a few event guests. 

More about Rick Steves

Rick Steves, America's most respected authority on European travel, empowers Americans to have European trips that are fun, affordable, and culturally broadening. In 1976, he started his business, Rick Steves' Europe. Rick produces a best-selling guidebook series, a popular public television show, a weekly public radio show, a syndicated travel column, and free travel information available through his travel center and ricksteves.com. Rick Steves' Europe also runs a successful small-group tour program taking 30,000 travelers to Europe annually.

More about On The Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer

Stow away with Rick Steves for a glimpse into the unforgettable moments, misadventures, and memories of his 1978 journey on the legendary Hippie Trail. In the 1970s, the ultimate trip for any backpacker was the storied “Hippie Trail” from Istanbul to Kathmandu. A 23-year-old Rick Steves made the trek, and like a travel writer in training, he documented everything along the way: jumping off a moving train, making friends in Tehran, getting lost in Lahore, getting high for the first time in Herat, battling leeches in Pokhara, and much more. The experience ignited his love of travel and forever broadened his perspective on the world.

This book contains edited selections from Rick’s journal and travel photos with a 45-years-later preface and postscript reflecting on how the journey through Turkey, Iran, Afghanistan, Pakistan, India, and Nepal changed his life. You know Rick Steves. Now discover the adventure of a lifetime that made him the travel writer he is today.

Important note: Any of Rick Steves soft cover books ordered after September 25 are not guaranteed delivery before the event on October 8. Books ordered after September 25 will arrive before December 24.

BEYOND THE PAGE 
with Rick Steves.

Thursday, October 8, 2026
5:00 PM
 

$75 for Admission   

Includes a Zoom link to join the live 60-minute Zoom Webinar event on October 8 and a signed copy of his softcover book, On The Hippie Trail: Istanbul to Kathmandu and the Making of a Travel Writer, mailed to the ticket purchaser’s address.

For more information, contact Membership at membership@pbsreno.org or 775.600.0555