Do you tear up your Rick Steves books?

Looking at one of his books right now, it looks like it would be really easy to just bend the spine where you want to separate it and then use a hobby knife to cut it all the way through. Looks like there would be enough room to spiral bind it, but I would just probably leave the remaining binding and it would likely stay together for as long as you would need it.

No problem having Kinko's take off the binding and putting a spiral binding on the pages you need. There
is plenty of room on the inside margin. We've done that on our last two trips for the sections we needed, and as a bonus, the smaller sections fit nicely in a jacket pocket. Have them put a clear plastic cover on the front and back pages for greater sturdiness.

I don't tear them up, and I don't highlight or write in them. When I'm done, unless they're especially worn, I drop them at the local library. Helps keep their collection more up to date.

I ripped my last book up, it was a Europe one, I seperated the countries out I wanted, and just wrapped an elastic around them, and threw them out as I went. I wish I had the time to rebind them, but I wouldn't spend much money on it, cause frankly the elastic worked, and I was just going to throw them out anyways.

I never tear up any books or highlight them.
If I need to carry information with me I either find that on the internet and print it out (you can print on both sides of the sheets so you ca save space) or make copies of the parts I need, then I throw them away when I am done with that particular area.
I like keeping my books in mint condition.

I take the parts I intend to use and discard the rest. I also discard the used parts as I go. I usually put the parts I take in ziplock bags with a paper clip. I usually fold where I need to cut, then use one blade of a pair of scissors on a cutting board to seperate them.

By the time you come back the book will be out of date and you will have to buy a new one anyway.

Somewhere along the line, taking an electronic version would be a good alternative, then buy the latest update before your next trip.

My experience is this: I have cut travel guides apart many times. I use a single edge razor blade (or box cutter).

I like having only the pages I need while I travel. I wont spend the money to bind them because the appearance wont matter.

Once I get home, I re-assemble the book, place it on my travel shelf and hardly ever look at it again. Next month I will be reading another guide and planning another trip.

David, if you read them later the expense of binding them will be beneficial to you.

I used Duct Tape to bind the sections that I wanted to take with me and it worked very well. I used covers from two different books, as I got discounts at a couple of places we stayed "upon presentation of the book". The final product was lighter in weight than any one book and held together for the entire trip (4 weeks)

Hi David,

We do the same thing every trip. We cut off the binding and have it spiral bound.

Paul

No. I use my book when I get home for my memories, and I might use it for a future trip. They get some updates, but the books are good for years as far as I am concerned. (you can get the updates off this site)

If you plan to NEVER go back to the country for which you bought the book, then tear away if you want.

IMO, I never tear up books. If you want to save space, make photo copies of the pages you want to take with you instead of ripping up a perfectly good book!

I guess I was brainwashed by school librarians early in by life, because I can't tear up or write in books. Even in college I found it difficult to highlight in my textbooks.

I would never tear up one of Rick's books. Actually, I only refer to them occasionally when I start to plan, but I have found that there is so much more information on the web, that I don't use his books very long. Also, I go to so many towns that are not in his books, that I have had to develop my own methods of finding accommodations. Then, when I do go to a town he lists, I generally use my own room finding techniques anyway.

It would be sacrilege to even have that thought -- being married to a nationally, recognized librarian. And especially a Rick Steves' book.

Actually we make a half size notebook with reduced text size and in order. As the trip progresses we discard the prepared papers. Have thought about converting to a Palm pilot or one of book readers. But so far the notebook is much easier to set up and not dependent on batteries.

I can't bear to tear up books either. I buy a tiny spiral bound notebook and write in all the information I need, including confirmation #, phone #, directions, etc. It's my Bible. I used to tear out the pages as I went, but now I save them because it helps me label my pictures when I get back. Sometimes I'll take a guidebook with me if I have room and it's not too heavy.

Rick's guide books are our Bible for amazing vacations that we relive daily. I just wish he would write one for the USA. :):):):) I do high light my books and write in them such information as the rates for hotels, etc. but being an educator I can't bring myself to cut up a book. What is helpful to us is that we create our own daily itinerary complete with phone numbers and addresses. To these I like to photocopy Rick's maps, museum guides, walks, directions, etc before hand and add them to our daily agenda along with the page number in the event of additional questions. I always make two copies of the itinerary, one to cut apart for daily use in a fanny pack and another as a back up to be left in our suitcase plus ones to leave behind with family members. They enjoy knowing what we are doing each day.

Later if I have recommendations for family and friends, I can refer back to the book to help them.

Therefore, David you may just want to photocopy the portions of the book that you will use and place it in a lightweight binder. Then you can pull out what you want for the day. I always do our agenda front and back to save a bit on bulk.

Keep traveling.

i pulled back the cover so that the binding part was exposed a little and then proceeded to tear out every single page, but in sections of about 10-20 pages. i did as many at a time as i could without ripping the pages. then i tossed the cities i didn't need (20%) of the book, separated every remaining page and took it up to kinkos. i had them put a black binder cover on the front and back and they bound it with coil. they did a good job, but there was about 10 pages where they punched wrong and it fell out of the book because the punch was too near the end.

the guy told me to go with the spiral because i would be able to open the book cover to cover easily. i'm thinking maybe the comb would have been better? i think the guy told me the comb could get further in on the page than the spiral could. also, with the spiral/coil, when the book is closed the middle of the section sticks out further on the right side than the beginning or end. and of course they cut the covers to fit the page only. this bugs me.

all in all though - i'm happy with it. will make it much much easier to tear out pages and cities as i go. don't plan to take the book in my daypack, just the city i'm in.

btw - it cost less than $6.00 to get it rebound with black covers at kinkos

The thought of tearing a book up horrifies me. If I don't want to bring it, I bring photocopies.

I tore up the travel book in 1984 when I travelled and I tore up the book this summer too. Then I used good old fashioned duct tape to bind the portions together. Worked like a charm!

We do tear ours up and leave them behind in our rooms when we move on. Our last trip and one of our best was to Spain and Portugal; you can see pictures and details at our blog http://gadtravel.blogspot.com/

I can't quite imagine tearing apart a travel guide either. In part, because how am I to know exactly which sections to take and which ones to leave home?

We never plan out the entire itinerary in every single detail ahead of time and do make some decisions while abroad. When I originally scanned through the pages about Tuscany I didn't think Volterra would be on our to-do list but we did eventually had a wonderful day there while we didn't make it to Castle Brolio which was on my original must-see list.

Even if I know exactly that there are some places described in the book I won't be able to visit I sometimes still read about them while in the country because I realize then how history and geography might link those to the places I do visit. For instance, we could have ripped out the pages about Venice in the Italy book as we knew for a fact that there was no way we'd be able to see the place. But it was interesting to read some of those pages after seeing Florence to put this experience into perspective.

The only time we tore pages out of one of Rick's books was on our trip last September/October to Germany. A fellow Oregonian who was staying in the same place we were in Rothenburg had left his Rick Steves Germany/Austria book in a beer garden late the night before and had to leave early the next morning. They were headed to Hamburg, and we were off to Salzburg and gladly gave them the pages they needed to complete their trip!

On a recent flight home from Paris I was seated next to a lady who tore each page from her novel as she finished that page. Finally, I couldn't stand it anymore and asked what was the deal. She had been back-packing for 2 weeks and got into the habit of "lightening her load". So it seems that travel books are not the only victims! It was "Anna Karenina" and at that point was a mere quarter of an inch thick.

I know that to many people, ripping, folding, bending or otherwise mutilating a book is a horrible thing, BUT,sometimes you have to do it.
I finally broke down and reduced my RS to 3 chapters and bound it with scotch tape, and stuck it in a ziploc after carrying it around for 2 weeks. The remaining 3 weeks my load was much lighter.
The scotch tape was okay, but not great. I would try duct tape next time.
For me, buying a new RS each trip is part of the excitement.

I plan to tear mine. I'll staple sections together, punch a hole in the corner & use a single ring to keep it all together. I'm using a 2007 Paris book that I bought thinking I'd go last yr. I went to Amsterdam instead, so now feel I should use it. I ordered the 2008 from the library so I can review important sections for changes. Hope I'm not being penny wise, pound foolish.

I am firmly in the camp that does not tear the books up. Why? I suppose deep down I know there is a Librarian watching me, but from a practical standpoint, my itinerary changes on a whim, and I want info. I even carry other guides (usually a Lonely Planet or Lets Go) to cover where Rick does not (Which is a lot) Even beyond that, on return, they are great for sparking a memory, future reference, I even enjoy just reading guides! So for me, a few more ounces are bearable. However, while I am cheap, I always buy updated guides.

I'm overly fond of hardbound books. I still have our family bible from before the civil war, enyclopedia sets my parents bought when I was a child, and all of my college books. I have also rescued way too many books from the trash.

I don't have the same affinity for anything in paper back. I'll give as many old paperbacks to charity as I can get rid of. Travel information gets old more quickly than you would imagine. Even traveling with the current version, I check the updates on this site before traveling.

I like the duct tape idea as a cheap and effective way to "rebind" the parts you want to take. I still think it's a good idea to keep it in a ziplock. If your daypack gets wet in the rain, it won't ruin the book.

Yowza! I had no idea this question would elicit such a response.

FWIW, I am a bookophile. As I sit here typing this, there are probably 200 books within 10 feet of me - some on shelves, some in boxes, some stacked up in piles on the desk and the floor. I still have books from college and probably even high school....and that was a long time ago. Downstairs I have hundreds (thousands?) more. I do not get rid of books.

That said, I'm also fairly obsessed with the stuff I pack along on foreign trips. I'm a serious gear-head, and I try to cast a very critical eye towards anything I bring along, looking for ways to lighten my load. For our upcoming trip in September & October, we'll be visiting Portugal, Spain and Morocco, before spending a few days in Paris before we fly home. So I've got 4 books to bring along (Rick's Portugal book, his Spain book, and his Paris book, plus the Rough GUide book on Morocco, which Rick really doesn't cover beyond day trips to the coast). But in all cases, we're only going to parts of the places that are covered in the books, and I'm estimating that we could save half the weight and bulk if we rip and rebind 'em.

So I think I'll go to the local Kinkos and have them slice the binding off, I'll remove the pages covering the places we know we're not going, and I'll have them drill the holes and spiral bind them. In addition to the weight/bulk savings, we've get the benfit of being able to fold back the cover and/or make the book lay flat.

Yeah, it'll cost a few Euros, but I figure the benefits are worth that. Next year we can always buy the next edition of the books.

Thanks again for all the advice.

At a certain point, I get tired of sitting in cafes chock full of people all reading the same guidebook.

I will photocopy numbers that I'll need to confirm reservations and such, but after that, what I can't memorize I don't deserve to see. An intact book will be given to someone deserving, right before I leave.

I am very picky about my books, i can't stand t have the spine broken, or to have pages dog-eared. Anyone who borrows my books knows to take care of them.

Therefore I couldnt possibly tear up ricks books. I can see the sense of it, but I like to keep everything in good condition because I love to reread by books. It will be the same with my guide books, especially as my parents will be borrowing them when I get back.

I guess I am going to chirp back in.. I want to specify that while I have no problem ripping up the RS guide book, I do not as a rule ever get rid of or destroy my real books, and yes, I have hundreds, book shelves line serveral of our rooms,,LOL , and boxes more even ... I love my books, but sorry folks a RS guide book is just a tool to me..
I also like other guide books, I mean I sincerely hope people read and use more then one guide book , RS if good, but he does miss stuff and ignore stuff. Fair enough, can't be everything to everyone , everytime.
I also as a rule buy year old guide books, way cheaper and the main info never changes,, location and background info, etc.. I always check for hours of operation on websites before I go anyways, and year old rates don't concern me, I get the idea of the admission and just assume it has gone up a bit .

We copy or cut out key pages and dispose of them as we use that section. The remaining book carcass then is like a salmon after it has swum upstream and spawned- its mission is complete. When we get home, we burn the guidebook remains due to post vacation depression syndrome.

I paper clip the sections of my RS books that I need/don't need and rip out the chapters from Rick's other applicable-for-that-trip books, cover the books with contact paper and take them to Staples to be bound. After I return from vacation I have everything rebound so I can use the current books to plan next year's trip until the latest editions are available.

just make copies of the pages you need.

I always tkae the entire book.I like having the whole book when I return and on more then one occasion ive given travel info from the book to people I met.

I don't tear them apart. I love looking at the rest of it. We take the whole book, cause we might change our minds & go someplace else. I do use a highlighter to mark it up.