How do Swiss taxpayers feel about subsidizing cheesemaking? Why do the Scottish Highland games include an odd sport called hill racing? And what can a spleen sandwich reveal about Italian culture?
Have you ever wondered what it would be like to be paid for discovering the answers to questions like these?
Cameron Hewitt has been Rick Steves’ right-hand person for more than two decades, and has spent five years, over the course of his life, traveling in Europe.
Hewitt took advantage the Covid-induced slow-down in tourism to write a book, The Temporary European: Lessons and Confessions of a Professional Traveler, which Steves calls “vivid, funny, perceptive, intimate, and charged with a love of travel and a deep sense of humanity.”
Join travel writer Laurie McAndish King as Cameron explains what was it like to return to Europe while we’re learning to live with Covid.
He tells us how the local tour guides are faring and which parts of his job he enjoys most. Cameron reads from his story about professional snooping that begins, “I’ve been in your hotel room,” and reveals that Germans fold their pajamas.
Then he offers suggestions for learning from clichés and stereotypes, as well as the ways food can provide insight into culture.
Cameron also tells us about the dramatic afternoon when he learned what the phrase “Making hay while the sun shines” means, and five different correct pronunciations for the word “grüezi.”
You are invited to subscribe to the Lowell Thomas Award-winning podcast travel show, Journeys of Discovery with Tom Wilmer, featured on the NPR Podcast Directory, iHeartRadio, Apple Podcast
