On the hippie trail (Avalon, Feb.) is a portrait of the venerable travel writer as a young man in 1978, when he and his friend Gene Openshaw ventured overland from Istanbul to Kathmandu.

How did this book come about?

I had a whole library of journals in a box for 40 years. When Covid hit, I started looking through things. Some of my staff read a few pages, and we realized there's some good stuff in here. I didn't write it for anybody else; I don't know what motivated me. When other kids were out drinking late at night, I was back at the hotel or youth hostel or in the train station hunched over my journal. At that time, I was a piano teacher. I fully expected to be a piano teacher all my life.

What did you learn about your younger self?

This was an anthropological dig into a 23-year-old that I'd forgotten existed -- a fun-loving, non-workaholic, kind of curious backpacker. Each page was unguarded. It was rough, it was maybe overly candid, but it was vivid. I wish I'd had a broader worldview back then and was more aware of the injustice and ethics and political dynamics of the world, but honestly, I miss my younger self. I traveled in a way I want to travel now. I didn't take stupid risks, but when serendipity presented itself, I always said yes. I don't feel as bold as I was then. I'd be more afraid of picking up some bug, afraid of hurting myself and not having a doctor nearby. I still travel in an experiential way, but I do it with the help of a local guide. Back then, the last thing in my mind would be to hire a local guide. I had no money. I was just winging it.

Is that kind of experience possible today?

Everybody can find their own hippie trail in 2025. You could bicycle around Cuba. You could do a Che Guevara trip around South America. You could go to all the baseball stadiums in the United States during one season. It's not going to be skinning a goat with a bunch of Afghans while you're sucking on a hookah, but you have to get out of your comfort zone. When people think culture shock, they typically think, "Oh, a good tour guide or a good travel writer will help me avoid it." I think just the opposite. A good travel writer will curate culture shock and see it as one of the blessings of a trip. You could go golfing in Cancun and come home not changed a bit, or you could walk six blocks inland from all the resorts on the beach and talk to some real people and go home changed. It's a lost opportunity for a traveler not to get that.

After your formative experiences in Asia, how did you become known as an expert on Europe?

I had a book called Europe Through the Back Door and a book called Asia Through the Back Door, and I realized I couldn't do a good job on both Europe and Asia. For every destination in Europe, I endeavor to visit every place in person with every edition, the very old-fashioned way of doing a guidebook. I've got a great team; I've got technology beyond my wildest dreams to help us in our work. I believe in the value of a guidebook and I believe in the responsibility. If you've got your name on the cover and you're asking people to buy it and base their trip on it, it better be dang good.