By the late 1980s, Rick was becoming known — at least in the Pacific Northwest — as an authority on European travel. But television was the farthest thing from his mind. But eventually, he was approached by a few small production companies with proposals to make a Rick Steves TV series about traveling in Europe. He chose to work with a Portland, Oregon-based company called Small World Productions to make a three-part, 90-minute pilot, filmed on location in Europe. Rick sent them his class lectur

Today is Rick’s 70th birthday! And while he doesn’t believe birthdays are a big deal (“age only matters if you’re cheese,” he always says), we at Rick Steves’ Europe can’t help but celebrate. For over 50 years, Rick’s been empowering Americans to travel through his television shows, guidebooks, tours, and more — celebrating cultures, broadening our perspectives, and creating life-changing travel memories for us all. Appropriately, Rick’s spending today doing what he loves most: He’s over in Euro