Andy Steves Talks Travel at Umbra
Andy Steves, son of well-known travel writer Rick Steves, gave a travel workshop at the Umbra Institute Thursday evening. Drawing on his lifetime of travel experience, Steves provided students with tips on how to travel around Italy and the rest of Europe on a student budget. Along with logistical suggestions about budget airlines and inexpensive lodging, he emphasized the importance of traveling with cultural awareness, interacting with locals, and planning a balanced itinerary that leaves room for spontaneity.
Steves developed the workshop after studying abroad in Rome in 2008.
“By the time I was 20, I’d been to Europe 21 times,” Steves admitted. “But when I studied abroad, it was a different experience entirely. My dad writes a great travel book, but when you’re only spending two-to-three days in Paris, 600 pages of suggestions won’t do you much good. There was a lack of information geared towards the student abroad.”
After graduating from Notre Dame in 2010, Steves created Weekend Student Adventures, a travel organization that, as the name suggests, offers weekend-long trips to well-known European cities. The packages balance sight-seeing, interactions with locals, and free time for independent exploration.
At the conclusion of the workshop, Umbra students crowded around Steves, sharing Ryanair travel woes and asking about everything from Parisian bike tours to spelunking in Budapest.
If you missed the workshop, stop by Marco and Addy’s office to pick up a WSA Almost All You Need To Know While Abroad Pocketbook.