There was an article in the Seattle Times today about his pro-marijuana stance:

Rick Steves is a NORML guy

Kinda funny... my mom is a huge fan of him and regularly goes to his lectures in nearby Edmonds.

Edit: Blah, I'm late on this topic. That's what I get for waiting all day. :-P

I actually listen to his weekly radio shows onliine because I have found out that I can learn something interesting about the travel trade from his shows.

So what does everyone think of the ever-perky Samantha Brown and her travel shows???

You know what? I don't like this guy either. And I think this thread is very funny. The title is so succinct - it's great! :)

OMG, she is hideous :mad:

You all will be wanting to avoid tomorrow's Seattle St. Patrick's Day parade, where Rick is the Grand Marshal.

I like Samantha Brown. She's goofy and silly. If I had to travel around someplace I didn't know, I'd rather travel with Samantha than Rick Steves (though he seems harmless enough).

Why does Rick Steves sound like an adolescent, with his voice constantly on the verge of breaking?

Why is he such a wuss?

And a brown-noser?

And who said he had a sense of adventure? Sure, if by adventure you mean visiting all the typical, overdone tourist attractions.

I, too, hate Rick Steves.

I sometimes look at his website to get useful info from other travelers (like FT).

But he had an article about himself when he & a bud traveled Europe after HS graduation in '73.

He had very long hair & reminded me of a cross between Sean Penn's "Fast Times At Ridgemont High" character & Tiny Tim (of Tiptoe Through The Tulips fame).

Not a pretty sight.

Yeah, but he's flying in First Class - and not worrying about whether the 'upgrade' cleared because his company bought the ticket.

Portions of the post that previously appeared in this space have been deleted. I would provide you with a reason why, but doing so would likely be against the TOS.

In case you weren't around then, that description fits 50+% of the college age group in in 1973. :D Only members of radical fringe groups, the College Young Republican club, and the Army had hair shorter than 6 inches. :D

As for Rick, I owe him a lot. Without his books and TV shows there are trips I never would have attempted. You may not like his writing style, but I have never found a mistake or been misled or disappointed following the recommendations in his books. His book says "this hotel is old and worn and musty, but it has a great location and is 1/10 the price of the Hilton next door." Guess what? I stay there, and find out the hotel is old and worn and musty, but it has a great location and is 1/10 the price of the Hilton next door. If you have a problem with that, you just have problems.

When I use an award ticket, the biggest expense in a trip to Europe is hotels. Even with a bit of expensive train travel. Cutting 20 to 40 E per day off hotel cost makes 6 day trip into a 10 day trip. In Rick Steves books I find a clean safe hole in the wall that I could never find on my own. All that he rates as his favorites for atmosphere and price agree with my preference for atmosphere and price. I know what to expect going in, as Ricks descriptions are accurate.

I understand lots of FTers will stay in only a Hilton or Four Seasons and would die of embarassment if seen in one of the $40 rooms in one of Ricks books. I think thats great--that means one less person competing with me for a reservation in the affordable place. :D

I do not understand the amount of hatred expressed in this thread toward Rick. :confused: This thread was started before there was a Budget Travel Forum. In FT Forums there is a Luxury Hotels Forum and a Budget Travel Forum. Read whichever one floats your boat, but don't hate the fans of the other one.

Rick Steves was absolutely vital to me when I was first considering going to Europe. I absolutely devoured his Europe Through the Back Door book and the associated guide books. It really helped to give me the confidence to head out on my own and see Europe.

Fast forward six years. I find some of his ideas out dated. Like his advice on airfares "Don't even try to figure this out for yourself, find a good travel agent" or hotels "This excellent double is only 60 pounds a night", when one can book the Hilton for $66/night on Priceline. That being said, I may travel with my 3-6 year old guidebook, but spend an hour or so at Border's skimming the new guide. :)

If someone I knew was planning their first trip to Europe, however, I would recommend his guide books without reservation.

I think the last poster kind of nailed it. I consider myself to be sort of a 'new breed' of budget traveler. My wife and I want to travel, but we're young (mid-20s) and we don't have a lot of disposable income. And we're kind of, well, snobby. We don't want to stay in those threadbare doubles.

So we don't. But we still do things pretty cheaply. I spend hours finding the best deals on airfare, hotels, cars, etc. We stayed at Marriotts, Westins, Hiltons, etc, but only because I know where we want to go and where I want to stay when I get there and I'm constantly looking for the right price--when I find it, I nab it.

Thanks to the internet and sites like this one, you can do it. Hell, I rented a Cadillac STS in San Diego for what some people where paying for a Ford 500 just by finding the right deal. My coworkers think we have all this money...we don't, we're just smart with it. We're going to stay in $300 a night hotels, but we're not going to pay that.

And so Rick Steves and his advice just doesn't work for us because it's not neccessary anymore. We get all wrapped up in the travel world, but we have to remember that MOST other people view this as completly foreign. I have friends who literally decide they are going somewhere, go on expedia, and whatever pops up they book. That's it. And then they say they can't afford to stay in nice places or travel at certain times.

Sure, there are some places, times, hotels, etc. that just aren't EVER accessible. But for the most part, if you use all the resources available to you, you can travel on a budget and still do it first class.

This thread is hilarious!
 

ATC, if you're still here, you're a trip, thanks for the laughs! ^

True story: when my mother and sister were vacationing in Italy a couple of years ago, they actually had the fortune to meet Mr. Steves. They had one of his books with them, and they told him that they had to start calling the book "The Walter Cronkite Book" because they got tired of referring to it as "The Rick Steves Book". He looked at the book, and his only comment was that they should purchase the most recent edition.

Dork extraordinaire..