Travel with Rick Steves · Saturday, July 25, 2026
Erik Weiner reflects on his long train journey, noting that the experience reinforced the etymological connection between 'travel' and 'tread.' He felt he 'earned' his arrival in Portland after the journey, a sensation he contrasts with the often unearned arrivals experienced after flying.
“And I also felt that I had traveled somewhere that I had traversed the land between Washington D.C. and Portland, Oregon and had that sense that I had somehow earned the arrival. We have all these unearned arrivals on airplanes.”
“You know, the root word for travel comes from the same word, to travel, to tread. That's the way it has been through most of history.”