How do Swiss taxpayers feel about subsidizing cheesemaking? Why do the Scottish Highland games include an odd sport called hill racing? And what can a spleen sandwich reveal about Italian culture?

Cameron Hewitt, Rick Steves’ right-hand person for more than two decades, talks about these and other revelations in his new book, The Temporary European: Lessons and Confessions of a Professional Traveler, which Steves calls “vivid, funny, perceptive, intimate, and charged with a love of travel and a deep sense of humanity.”

Cameron reads to us from his story about professional snooping that begins, “I’ve been in your hotel room,” and reveals that Germans fold their pajamas. Then he offers suggestions for learning from clichés and stereotypes, as well as the ways food can provide insight into culture, and more.