By Pat Johnson

TV personality Rick Steves guided Morning Forum visitors on a trip to Europe “through the back door.”

Rick Steves, author and TV host, traveled to Los Altos Feb. 21 to guide the members of Morning Forum on a “Europe Through the Back Door” adventure.

Steves began traveling to Europe as a child, visiting piano factories with his father, a piano importer. By the time he reached age 18, Steves joked, “I realized I didn’t need my parents.” He continues to travel extensively and has accumulated a wealth of information.

In 1976, he started a business called Europe Through the Back Door, which has grown from a couple of minivans to 160 bus tours that escort more than 4,000 Americans annually. In the beginning, members of his groups signed waivers stating that they would sleep in the bus if no accommodation could be found. Fortunately, the condition was never invoked.

He published his first travel book in 1980, following it with city guides, phrase books, DVDs and planning maps. PBS airs his popular “Rick Steves’ Europe.”

Steves advocates traveling as a “temporary local” - meet the people, go to small restaurants with handwritten menus, accept and embrace the differences, don’t be judgmental and read the history of the countries you will visit.

The formation of the European Union is causing dramatic changes, according to Steves. EU members cannot have deficits, must assess taxes and must maintain financial discipline, thus resulting in funds being used for regional improvements. Tunnels are being blasted through Norway’s mountains, he said, and trips that once took 2 hours are down to 45 minutes thanks to new superhighways and bridges.

Europeans are not anti-American, Steves said, explaining that they like us as individuals but do not sympathize with our government’s policies on global warming, AIDS and third world debt. Steves said he is humbled to travel and find that foreigners do not envy us and would not trade passports. His ultimate hope, he said, is that travel will destroy ethnocentricity.

For more information, visit www.ricksteves.com.

Morning Forum is a members-only lecture series held at the United Methodist Church of Los Altos. To get on a waiting list for membership, write to: Morning Forum, P.O. Box 274, Los Altos 94023-0274.