Kindle

The one you already own? The Kindle Fire has web browsing, but it is difficult, and is obviously still in Beta, if you willit doesn't perform as well as iPads or most smart phones. I would not buy it for that purpose or expect it to really perform well. It also has a much shorter battery life than the iPad because of the color screen. Also, I know many people can use their (regular, non-Fire) kindle devices for guidebooks, but the formatting gets all screwy and is hard to navigate in my opinion. If you don't know for sure you are comfortable using it like that, don't buy a kindle thinking it will save space. If may just add frustration. If you're already accustomed to reading e-books and want to take reading material for plane rides and such, go for it. I personally (as a Fire owner) would not buy a Kindle specifically for travel and doubt I would even consider taking it along on my next trip, but that's me. I know a lot of people love them for traveling.

I love my iPad! It has gps, I can chech my email & Facebook, listen to RS audio tours, and I can download books. It's going to be a great tool during my travels this May.

I love my kindle for reading books and travel but for guidebooks it's not as intuitive as flipping through one. I would not buy one just for travel. It's just another device. A small wifi/data enabled device - provided you have a plan you can use data cheaply on internationally - is better for travel than just about anything else.

I bought my Kindle just for travel, and I would do it again. I think it's great. I like to have multiple books with me to read on the plane and in the evening. I also like to have at least one guidebook and sometimes two or three. The Kindle saves so much weight and space. Granted, reading guidebooks on a Kindle is not the greatest, but if you're a little patient, it works fine. The thing I like about the Kindle that I would not like about an iPad (though everything else about the iPad would be great) is that it is so easy on the eyes. I do not like to read with a backlit screen for any length of time. I have the Kindle app on my iPhone, and it's very handy, but it hurts my eyes after a while (half hour to hour of reading). I would not travel without my Kindle again. I also discovered I like it for home too. Other than guidebooks that I use at home, cookbooks and that sort of thing, I buy all my new books on the Kindle now.

I took my Kindle on my last trip and I really loved it. I had books to read along with Rick Steves's Italy book and Barron's English to Italian, and Italian to English dictionaries on it. My only regret is that I bought the version that requires wifi, recommended because I have wifi at home. I had NO idea it would be so hard to find wifi while traveling! If I had it to do over again I would spring the extra bucks for the 3g version.

Mike - My Wife and I each have Kindles and take them us when we travel. I was told that 3G Kindle download will not work in Europe. I'm not sure if this is true or not. We always make sure we have downloaded enough ebooks.

I have a nook tablet and asked for it as a gift knowing I would be soon traveling to Europe.. I used it down in florida and it was great for reading as well as surfing the web for places to go which is basically what I need it for.. Its compact and light great tablet.. I think any kind of tablet is great to take .. I just wanted one I could read as well as use to surf

I bought the Kindle Fire for travel to Europe and it worked pretty good. If you have trouble with mail, go to security settings and set to "almost always" it was a good $200.00 spent - didn't have to pack a big computer or worry about expensive loss.
Thanks Bill

I bought all of Rick's guidebooks that I will need for an upcoming trip in paperback before I got my Kindle Touch. It seemed like it might be helpful to go ahead and spend the extra bucks to have them on my Kindle, so I bought one of his Snapshot e-books to test the idea and I've decided that Kindle wasn't the way to go. The primary problem I saw was in reading and navigating on the maps on the Kindle. Looking at the same maps on my iPhone Kindle app I was able to zoom in several levels to see the fine details but the Kindle doesn't have the same zooming capability--it's either one size or a slightly larger size. So, I'm keeping my printed guidebooks, downloading Rick's audio tours and PDF maps onto my iPhone and reserving my Kindle for general reading material.

I don't own a kindle, but I do have a Nook Simple touch. I LOVE IT. really easy to use, and extremely lightweight. No 3G, but that can't be used on Europe anyway. I just make sure I have a bunch of book downloaded before I leave for holiday. If you are in the market to purchase, I'd recommend you check out Nook products as well. Nice thing about Nook is FREE FRIDAYS...they offer a free book each week (not always something to my liking, but there have been plenty of easy reads) You can check books out from your library on Nook ( just a loan, you can't keep it forever, so plan ahead) My Nook simple was $99. and has lots of great features.

Ken, I agree with what you said about guidebooks on a Kindle. However, my way around that is do my pre trip planning using the guidebooks from the library and photocopying any maps I think I might need.

I have both a Kindle E-ink (B&W) reader and a Kindle Fire. It depends on what you're planning to use them for... I've been reading, and have therefore since memorized, RSs books for a few decades now - his book layout, chapter layout, how he does his maps, etc. It's easy for me to navigate his guidebooks on my Kindle because I know the book's layout soooo well (I don't have to physically thumb through the book to find a particular chapter). I also know how to use my Kindle - how to bookmark, highlight, etc., so it's easier to find just the snippet of info I'm looking for (Paris sights' operating hours, or Florence's restaurants in the so-and-so district, for instance). It works so much better than other devices in the sun because of the E-ink..soooo much better. Lurve me some Kindle screen! The light weight and tiny size is a super bonus, too. I never needed to use wi-fi overseas because I loaded my Kindle with everything I might possibly want to read before I left home. But, you can find wi-fi if you decided to go on the spur of the moment to Croatia and needed to purchase a guidebook on-the-go. You might not find wi-fi when you want it, though...Bring your adapter...but you won't need it. It'll stay charged for a couple of months - sweet! (cont.)

(cont.) The Kindle Fire is heavier, more expensive, very hard to read in the sun (on the train, bus, church steps), but is easier to read because of the color ink - you can skim through the book faster. And ditto Ken: you can't pinch-and-expand the maps any larger than on the B&W Kindle - they only enlarge a smidgen - but the contrast is better, since the RS guidebooks are in color now. And while I'm here - learn how to 'work' the maps (and the 'jump to' sections) of your RS guidebook - it's a bit tricky...but the payoff is definitely worth it! The bad news - My Kindle Fire is quite glitchy. It works great...when it works :-( IF you have/buy a Kindle AND you have another device - cell phone, iTouch, etc., you can use the Kindle app and read your guidebook there. I brought my Kindle B&W with me to Europe, but I also brought my iTouch for email, and to read the guidebooks while out-and-about - it was soooo much better for the maps - I could pinch-and-expand them to my little heart's desire! And the fact that it was in color was a big bonus. AND I could watch videos on it before touring sites (RS' Pompeii) AND listen to his (and others - shhhh!) audio guides if I wanted. It's hard to put an iPad in your pocket for that. If only you could fold those things...;-) (Yes, I know there's a tablet out there that does fold!) Note - if you 'sample' for free a RS guidebook on your Kindle or with a Kindle app, you can't expand the maps At All! So don't be alarmed...Also, many of the other 'tricks' won't work - you'll only have the first chapter, so if there's a 'jump' to something else (ex: click here for more info on How To Buy Train Tickets), that info is probably in a subsequent chapter and you can't access it with a free sample. (cont.)

(cont.) I strongly Do Not Recommend trying to use a Kindle B&W for email or internet browsing!!! I can't say that strongly enough!!! It's laborious at best, and I don't even know if the new ones allow for it, since there's no keyboard. And have I said that my Fire is glitchy?!? The email has always been a bit annoying (in a minor way), but sometimes it's glitchy (have I said that?) and doesn't work at all, or the browser wants to shut down...grrrrrr. The iTouch is too small (also a good thing), the iPad is too big (also a good thing) and heavy (no USB - yet, no Flash player, etc), the other tablets have their pros and cons...the 'best' hasn't come along yet for me. How do you want to use your device while you're traveling?