I have tickets to a speaking engagement today and just wondered how interesting it is, or other thoughts. It’s 3 hours long.
Yikes! We have tickets today, also, and may have to slip out early if that is the case. The December calendar stacks up! We are big Rick Steves fans.
We met him and heard him speak 5 or 6 years ago and the time flew by.
Where does he speak? I’ve just discovered Rick Steves (where have I been all these years?) and am devouring his youtube videos trying to decide where to travel this summer…
Never met him but I listen to his podcast every Friday, really like him as a person and I would expect this to be a good experience!
I have seen him speak and it was great. Funny and informative, I’m sure there’ll be time for questions after.
Not an RS fan - at all. He had a great idea in the beginning and opened budget/moderate self-travel to many clueless Americans. I find his ideas of what is good, bad, indifferent are frequently at odds with my personal experiences. Full disclosure - I do find his “Highlights at a Glance” useful if I know nothing about my destination.
Do be aware that material in his books is often out of date - even with the 2019 editions. Museums change hours, hotels become worn, restaurants close and change quality, suggested routes for exploring galleries are impossible because of changes in visitor traffic control measures, etc. I would check any of his recommendations with current travelers’ experiences on boards like Tripadvisor. He claims to have updates, but these are not always timely.
In September, I chatted with a US couple while we were all visiting Gibraltar. They had moved out of their RS recommended hotel. His description vs their experience was 180 degrees different. I have a friend who visited an area of Malmo, Sweden based on RS write-ups a few years back. Learned the hard way that the area had changed and was now avoided even by locals due to violent crime. She had her teen-age daughter along and was very scared - they are urban dwellers in a major US city and recognized what they had walked into.
Gosh - I sound harsh! I do hope you enjoy the talk! Just pushed one of my hot buttons. Obviously, many people like RS - which is just fine!
I’ve heard him speak at a travel show. His talk was funny but some information was very basic for those who’ve traveled a lot.
I’ve always found his recommendations for places to stay to be right on. We went to England and Scotland this summer. We stayed at several Rick Steves recommended B & B’s and loved each one. One proud owner said that we stayed in the Rick Steves room. I don’t know if he personally inspects each one, but this one he did. I know he stayed at the place he recommended in Ronda, Spain. It’s in his TV program and it was perfect.
I don’t usually use his guidebooks to decide what to see. I’ve done that homework myself. I know what I want to see. That’s why I’m going. Rick’s recommendations tend to be the beaten path, rather than the ‘back door’. I use several guidebooks for planning along with just basic knowledge. DK Eyewitness guides are also nice with great photos.
I’m not a RS fan either, but then, I’m not his demographic. His books are generally for the less experienced, suburban American traveler who hasn’t read a lot about the places she or he are planning to go to. If that’s you, you will like RS.
If you’ve traveled (on your own, not with a group or on a cruise), have done your own research, aren’t intimidated by urban places, and feel reasonably comfortable in places not shaped by European cultures, then you’ll likely find RS a bit… well… limited.
I get most of my real information from the Tripadvisor forums by asking lots of questions of “destination experts,” who are often people who live in the areas in question. But this year I’ve enjoyed watching some of Rick’s shorter videos of regions I’m thinking of traveling in (Right now, France) comparing/contrasting landscpes of Alsace, Burgundy, and the Dordogne just to get inspiration and see which look most appealing to me. I get a chuckle out of his gosh-darn-nice personality. But I can’t imagine I’d plan a whole trip using his info.
I’ve always been an independant traveler. Back in my teens, traveling with my parents to Europe many summers (way before the internet) we would often not have ANY advance hotel reservations. We’d wander around a city neighborhood and find the kind of small hotels and family pensiones that Europeans tended to stay in (often with a shared bathroom in the hallway!) Sometimes we’d show up at a B&B (where you really are in a family home) listed on a bulletin board in a train station. I remember walking around Vienna with a little boy and his grandmother on her errands. She was the owner of the home we stayed in and made us part of the family for several days. My parents (from the deep South) were far from hippie-types (this was in the seventies) so, looking back, I’m now a little in awe and gratitude that they showed me this way of traveling in my formative years!
^^^^ Fond similar memories!!
Traveling as a young adult backpacker with girlfriend, I remember meeting up with a B&B owner waiting for clients at the Heidelberg train station. She proudly escorted us to “the cheapest B&B in Heidelberg” - and it was perfectly fine! I also remember the night I spent alone at a B&B in Luxembourg that I realized had a number of “hourly” clients. My door was locked and bolted and I pulled furniture in front of it. I never told my parents about that adventure.
I was so sad my kids were not interested in self-directed backpacking adventures abroad. I would have happily subsidized, but that wasn’t to their tastes or interests.
I had to google Rick Steves. Based on his TV show, I find it hard to believe that he could be interesting for 3 hours.
My friends ran into him in Switzerland this summer. They were able to have a nice chat with him. They were in the middle of their around the world trip so had a lot to talk about.
I went to a RS presentation sponsored by our local library. I think it lasted about 1 to 1 1/2 hours. Entertaining. Most of the shared information can be found in his travel books, but he did throw in some funny side stories, based on his experiences. I don’t think I would have enjoyed much more than that however. It was also very very crowded.
In general, I do appreciate the RS approach to travel. We tend to use RS books as an introduction before traveling, but rely heavily on both the TripAdvisor and RS forums for more relevant & updated information. I also think the popularity of the books and series, have unfortunately, resulted in too much attention to the few spots he, or his researchers, highlight. Cinque Terra is one example.
I enjoy the self-guided APP tours as a way to lead you through highlights of a city, but dislike their attempt to be funny, (leaning toward corny). My family hates them.
We’ve only stayed in two recommended RS B&B’s. Both were fine, and in good areas of town. The owner of one, however, was simply business. It was definitely not a warm and fuzzy experience. We have also found most of his recommendations tend to be on the pricier side. Our best experiences have usually been found with our own research. However, we do rely on the general areas of town that are typically recommended.
He’s local and I see him out walking every so often. One of my sibs took a class from him when he was just starting out some 35+ years ago. We went to one presentation on our first couple trip to Europe 33 years ago. I found the typed and xeroxed handouts a few years back. As a matter of fact, I was in the ETTBD place yesterday afternoon to pick up a couple of maps for our trip this week.
Much has changed since our first trip - we don’t stop in at the TI for a last-minute room and we carry a suitcase for starters.
Yeah, he does tours, but he’s done a lot to encourage independent travelers. That said, we look at his books, but we also use other guides, TA, online research, and so on. These days, guidebooks are out of date as soon as they’re printed, so we take all of them with a grain of salt and research online for current info. Some people take his word as gospel (which is really annoying) he’s not the only person who knows Europe, and there are a lot of places he doesn’t and won’t go to where we’ve enjoyed ourselves immensely.
I laugh sometimes at the RS forums, but they can and do help for info on lodging, etc. Our upcoming trip ends in Paris and there’s been a continuous thread on the transport strike, started and updated by someone who lives there. Without some of the info, we could have had issues getting the train into Paris.
He makes a lot of money and gives a lot back to the local community.
I love what RS has done to empower the average American traveler, who may never have gone to Europe 30 years ago. But I agree with @katliamom that he now appeals to a certain demographic. Even those planning their first trip to Europe have access to the Internet and can figure out what they want to do without a guide. But people like my parents, 20 years ago, really benefited from Rick Steves’ guidance. They did one of his trips and it was the highlight of their llives.
We are reasonably savvy travelers who do a lot of our own research/arrangements for trips (last one included Barcelona, a rental canal boat in Canal Du Midi for a week and then a week in Paris). We still really like the RS books and shows /youtubes and hotel recommendations. We think his info is a great resource. RS was actually the first place I heard of canal boat options (in Ireland book).
IMO, Rick Steves is to travel what Suze Orman and David Ramsey are to personal finance. He’s a good starter for those who haven’t traveled before. Many then get the travel bug and venture off the beaten path down the road a bit. I think he tries hard to be respectful of other cultures. I give him credit for how he runs his business. From all accounts I’ve heard, he’s a genuinely nice and interesting guy.
@Massmomm I’ve also watched occasionally RS’s programs, mainly to get ideas. But his hotels and his “city walks” tend to be mobbed by Americans clutching their books. Kind of like in the 80s in Asia, all these people traveled with their Tony Wheeler (as the early Lonely Planet books were known.) Every generation has its books (anyone here old enough to have traveled with “Europe on $5 a day”?) – these days, the somewhat older generation of Americans has their Rick Steves.
YES! My mom lived by Europe on $5 a Day! And, by golly, we did 
Cheese and bread for lunch, anyone?