Electronic vs paper Rick Steves handbook

I had the electronic version of his uk book for my trip this last September and I liked it. I am also an avid reader when I vacation so it helped to not have to lug another book. I kept my iPad at the hotel room but always had my iPhone with me. So if I was out and needed the book, I would just pull it up on my phone. Worked pretty well.

Another trick I like-I saved a lot of things as pictures on my phone and iPad. For example, at home, I would mapquest directions (from the train station to the hotel for example) and take a picture of each part part of the route.

the obvious downside I'd that people are much more likely to steal your iPhone than your paperback, if I had my phone out, I just kept s firm grip on it. And I put it back in the inner zipper compartment of my purse. No problems.

I hope I can help , but please keep in mind that all responses are somewhat subjective . I am a fan of the print version . I pack very lightly ( 15 pound hand grip , 10 to 12 pound backpack ) . I am pretty much in agreement with Kristen with one slight difference , traveling about Europe , it's like here ; Everyone is plugged in to a phone wherever you turn . If you behave carelessly , someone might try to snatch your phone or pad , there are poor and desperate people all over ( less in Europe , than at home ) . I wouldn't be too concerned about that aspect of phone or pad use . I carry a smart phone and a seven inch tablet . I keep the phone with me , the tablet stays in my bag at the hotel for use in the evening . Out and about during the day , I am more comfortable flipping pages . In the hotel , at the end of the day , the tablet provides reading material , looking up information that enhances what I experienced during the day , and a variety of other things . For me , flipping through a book is reflexive , but since my recent trip , I wouldn't travel without a pocket computer in the future . Think about it and do what you are comfortable with .

On our last trip I had two RS guides on a Kindle. Advantage: weight. Disadvantages: harder to retrieve specific items, much harder to use maps. I bookmarked a lot of things in advance as we moved through the trip, unbookmarking them after we'd seen or done them to simplify future searching. I guess I'd use the Kindle again because of the weight saving, but it wasn't as convenient as I'd hoped. (I also had a couple of novels on it.) I kept it in an inside vest pocket most of the time, I'm sure it was less tempting than a smartphone or iPad would be to a thief. I can't imagine using a smartphone to read anything beyond a short e-mail or such, but I guess people get used to it.

I recently started using eguidebooks rather than taking hard copies. I also buy guidebooks while traveling (through iBooks app) in case I need more info, especially for places not covered in the RS books.

I don't have too much experience with ebooks but I got RS's London and Paris guides on my Nook for my upcoming trip this spring. I think the advantage of not carrying a lot of weight pays off for me personally. I just went and highlighted things ahead of time to make it easier. Also, for some reason cant get over tearing apart a book. However, as I believe was mentioned, the maps are not as good on the ebooks. Take the pros/cons and weigh which you think is best.

Welcome Deb T,

So far on my travles, i have brought the hardcopies with me. they do take up some space, but i send each one back home, along with souvenirs that ive accumulated, when im done with it.

i may try the e version this trip.

happy trails.

In the home I grew up in, tearing a book would have been close to blasphemy- but if we are only going to be in one or two cities or regions, I tear those pages out and take just that part. Have started leaving the guidebook behond once we are moving on, if we take the entire book. If we return, we'll need an updated guidebook.
This forum enabled me to travel light- I leave my paperbacks behind too, and found quite a number of RS recommended hotels have 'leave one, take one" book corners. I would rather have the ability to pass the book(usually in a larger font than my phone) to a traveling companion rather than my phone.
Bear in mind often the restaurant descriptions are pages away from the notated map.

Why would anyone rip a book apart? Do you folks not have scanners and printers to copy pages of your book? If you are carrying an i-pad, just take photos of the pages you want.

I am taking a 4 week trip which will involve about 2/3 of Rick's Italy 2014 book. Do you know how much paper/weight that would be to scan all those pages and carry them? Printer paper is much heavier and larger than the book pages. I doubt I will be back to Italy any time soon (too many other places to see in this world) and when/if I go back I will want his latest book so there is no loss in tearing the pages out of the one I have. I may scan some of the maps as they would be sturdier for carrying for a couple of days.

When I took a 5-country trip a few years ago, I tore up eight or nine guidebooks and consolidated the relevant sections down to less than the weight of a single book. Scanning like 200 pages one or two pages at a time would have been a total pain in the butt. I don't think I had a flatbed scanner at the time anyway.

I too had an aversion to damaging books growing up, but that was a good tip that I picked up from Rick.

Sorry about that then. The OP was asking about her i-pad though.

I, too, grew up with an aversion to damaging a book. I made myself rip up the Italy one for my Heart of Italy trip last year and it was wonderful! The only thing I should have done was to rip out the index as well. It was hard to find things otherwise in the pages for the bigger cities. Since the books have a sewn binding it is easy to get the tearing process started, altho I know some will take the whole book to someplace like Kinkos and have them slice the binding off. Sometimes people will have Kinkos then spiral bind the pages they want to take, but just using a medium clip worked for me.

One of our RS meet-up regulars is a librarian and he gave us a lesson in deconstructing and then reconstructing the books. Very interesting!

I was wondering if Rick (or his publisher) had any plans to put his book on an ebook platform other than Kindle. I love Kindle for novel reading, but i find it's a terrible platform for reference books and or textbooks. With these kinds of books you do want to make notes. You need to be able to organize them. To organize your bookmarks. And, you want some interactivity. What if the ebook could link back to the website for the updates? What if the ebook had a feature that allowed you to provide instant feedback on a place. You find out that there will be a rally at the Brandenburg Gate tomorrow, on one click--with a connection--you can add that comment. Of course, it would be one more thing for Rick's team to monitor, but it could be really helpful.

I actually did email Rick's team to ask about ebook plans.

Pam