Business is great. Happy travels, raterpillar!

Those of us who’ve had the privilege of traveling to Europe have learned that there are pivotal moments in history when good and caring people must stand up against a rising tide of anger and fear before it can lead to fascism. In today’s America, this is one of those moments. For years, I've supported @Sojourners, a Christian social justice organization, because they take my values into the political arena in a way that's true to my faith — emphasizing not power and nationalism, but God's call to justice. That’s why I’m excited to challenge our traveling community to join me in supporting Sojourners. Starting today, I'll match every donation at https://t.co/5V10FD7edE, dollar for dollar, up to $50,000 total. Imagine: Together, we can empower Sojourners with $100,000 to fuel their urgent work defending democracy. I see Sojourners not as a charity, but as a service that puts love to work for justice. Your support will help them: • Continue their truth-telling journalism that cuts through lies and misinformation • Fight harmful policies through advocacy in Washington, D.C. • Lead community organizing efforts that create lasting change • Equip clergy and congregations to build what Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. described as the “Beloved Community,” where all are welcomed and valued • Protect voting rights and ensure every American has equal access to the polls Please join me at t.co/5V10FD7edE — and remember, I’ll match every dollar up to $50,000, doubling your impact when our country needs it most. Keep on travelin' — and keep on fighting for justice!

Nearly ten percent of humanity (roughly 800 million people in 2025) struggles to live on less than $3 a day. It’s important for Americans to appreciate that reality — as well as the growing gap between the extremely poor and the extremely privileged — because, as illustrated by the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)’s track record in recent years, our nation has the power to change it. If, like me, you are an American who embraces the universal moral tenet referred to by Christians as “love thy neighbor,” I hope that each time you vote, you remember that the outcome of an election can, especially for privileged Americans, have a far greater impact on those struggling with poverty both at home and south of the border than it will ever have on you. ___ This is the first entry of a 16-part series sharing what I learned about smart development aid while filming my 2020 public television special “Hunger & Hope: Lessons from Ethiopia and Guatemala,” which is streaming free and ad-free on the @PBS app and at t.co/SyqWEnDynF. I’m sharing these posts in response to President Trump’s argument — which he has used to justify dismantling USAID — that leading the fight against extreme poverty on our planet doesn’t advance an “America First” agenda. Earlier this year, the Trump State Department announced that nearly 5,800 USAID contracts worth $54 billion were being eliminated (representing a 92% reduction of what had already been awarded to the agency) because “they were not aligned with the administration's priorities.” The DOGE initiative then eliminated about $8 billion more in foreign aid, and now, the White House is fighting to withhold about $5 billion more in foreign aid funding — all in the name of making our country stronger and safer. However, after traveling to Ethiopia and Guatemala and hearing from many experts in the field, it’s clear to me that an extremely practical way to make our world a more stable and peaceful place is to invest in modern development aid, in concert with the family of nations. Even if you don’t believe in the ethic of “love thy neighbor,” it’s important to remember that the core goal of USAID is to use soft power (foreign aid) to complement our nation’s hard power (the U.S. military) in a shared effort to make America safer. t.co/SbqC6KmZmb

Nelly, please carefully read this again: t.co/xOowp0Azjo

England's hottest summer on record has produced a bumper crop of unusually sweet apples — which, in turn, have bumped up the alcohol content of scrumpy (hard cider) from its typical 6-8% ABV to as high as 10.5% ABV. As a result, scrumpy is now classified as “wine,” meaning it’s taxed at a higher rate...and too expensive for producers to sell to pubs. Take a trip to Roger Wilkins’ cider farm with me in this clip from “Rick Steves’ Europe” — and ponder yet another example of an industry impacted by climate change. t.co/JNtmrjY8Ai

Watch Now — My Summer Vacation Trip Report: Venice, the Dolomites, and the Cinque Terre More than 5,000 travelers joined me live on Monday Night Travel this week as I shared photos, stories, and lessons learned from two weeks in Italy with my favorite travel partner, Shelley. We were surrounded by Italian beauty: Venice, the city they call “La Serenissima” (“The Most Serene”); the dramatic Dolomites; and my beloved Cinque Terre. Purely a vacation, this was a trip of experiences: hiking with friends for six days high in Italy’s Alps, exploring the Venetian Lagoon, pounding pesto and sipping wine on Italy’s Riviera, and capping it all off on Lake Como, where I was named “Ambassador to the World” by the mayor of Varenna. BYO Italian wine and catch up on all the fun in this recording: t.co/6xMftWzl7M

Do you know that good feeling you get, after you’ve shared a deep yet relaxing conversation that goes places you didn’t expect to go and connects you with memories and experiences that had fallen out of your world, but shouldn’t have? Phoebe Judge had me on her podcast @thisisloveshow, and she did just that. If you’d like to share a sunset on a Greek isle while sipping a third glass of ouzo with me as I dissect my story — morphing from a piano teacher to a travel writer, sorting through the ways an attitude change can be the best budget travel tip, making the most out of bad hotel rooms back when they were all that I could afford, and innovating a way to dock two tubes of toothpaste to refill the tiny travel-size one — her interview is designed for you. Check it out at https://t.co/UoBnGeXtsK, or search for “This is Love” wherever you enjoy podcasts.