I'm planning my first trip outside the U.S. for this coming fall and have become a big fan of the Rick Steves travel philosophy. My wife wanted the comfort and security of a "big bus" tour for our first experience (so we signed on to one of those before Rick's books were recommended by a friend), but I plan to supplement their itinerary with RS info during our "leisure time" and we've booked one independent travel night in London and two in Paris. I've purchased and read Rick's "Travel Skills" and "Best of Europe 2010", but there are several places we are going that are not covered in either of these two books. Given the fact that we'll be spending only one night each in York, Glasgow, Windermere, Cardiff, Brussels, Amsterdam & Wurzberg, 2 nights each in Edinburgh, Plymouth, Prague, Budapest, Vienna, Venice, Rome, Florence & Lucerne, 4 nights in Paris and 6 nights in London, my question is: Which RS guidebook(s) would be most helpful to supplement the info in "Best of" for this itinerary (to minimize redundant info. and maximize our "free" time explorations -- typically afternoons)?
Posted by
Keizer, Oregon, USA
588 posts
I would check books out the library or find used books and take notes. You are not going to be in any place long enough to enjoy and experience through ETBD. I would buy a London book and maybe a Paris but again buy used.
You picked the wrong big bus tour.Sorry.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Wow,, that tour sounds exhausting,, and very fast paced,, wear runners.. LOL
I would carefully look at tour info and figure out a few things,, first... which sites in each place do you really want to see.. then does tour actually visit those sites,, or just "see" them ( meaning they drive by and point them out) . If you find that a site you have always dreamt of seeing is not actaully visited then figure out if you can fit it in the free time allowed,, make sure its open and pre plan transport options to get there.( Even RS tours don't include alot of obvious things,, like on the one tour I did ,, the Musee Orsay was not included nor was going up the Eiffel Tour,, but, we did get alot more free time ,often a whole extra day in each stop) This can be a bit tough if you don't get the hotel list from tour,, some do and some don't tell you ,, and they of course all reserve the right to change the hotels,, but familiarizing yourself with the metro, tube , buses etc in each place is still a good way of getting ready.
Frankly,, the places where you only have one night,, well, I don't think you'll have alot of free time to fill, so I would focus on Paris, and London . I also think reading the books you do have will help alot in giving you a few ideas of main sites in each city,, so that if you do have enough time you can be sure to see anything not covered in tour.
Read lots of travel forums.. this one is great,, but there are others to check out too,, tripadvisor.com has busy and helpful forums.. I go to Europe fairly often ,, and still learn something every single time I come on the boards... there is so much to learn and see.
Have fun ,, and try and use some of those "free" afternoons to do NOTHING but sit at a cafe and people watch,, it may end up being one of your best memories!
Posted by
Freedonia
15072 posts
As a former "big bus" tour director, let me start by saying Rick Steves sells tours. In some cases, "big bus" tours are his competition and he's not going to say anything nice about them. (Listen to the way he hard sells his tours. He's trying to convince people who are thinking of a big bus tour to take one of his. He's not preaching to his fans.)
Rick spent a couple of years leading big bus tours. That was over 30 years ago!!!! (The industry has changed.)
First, there are tour guides and tour directors. Technically, the person leading your tour from city to city is a tour director. The person leading you through a museum or half day sightseeing in a city is a tour guide. Rick calls his tour directors "guides" so he can lump everyone together.
Tour directors love passengers who have done their homework. Why? Because you know what you want to see and we can point you in the right direction. We won't have to babysit you during free time.
The rest of his article on Bus Tour Self Defense has many errors as well with a few good tips thrown in.
Why don't you PM me which tour and tour company you're going on. I'll look it over and let you know where you'll have free time and then which guidebooks to get. If there are optionals, I'll look at them as well and let you know if they are worth it, or if you can do things better yourself.
I will say this....from just what you wrote of your itinerary, you won' have much free time outside of London and Paris. Any other free time you have will be short. If I can, I'll try to give you some suggestions on how to maximize your time.
BTW--on a couple of occasions I had passengers break away from the group and "do their own thing." In most cases they paid to do things that were included on the tour but they missed by "breaking away." Be selective on this. Talk to your guide. He/she is not out to cheat or hurt you. They want you to enjoy your vacation.
Posted by
Frankfurt, Germany
8947 posts
Great post Frank! Your offer of time and assistance is to be commended.
Posted by
Bloomington, IL, USA
9363 posts
Having taken a couple of "big bus" tours in recent years, I agree wholeheartedly with Frank - things are not the way they are often painted by RS fans and other sources. On both of my tours everything was included - all meals, all excursions, all transportation and transfers and housing. There were no "extras" that they were trying to sell. The tours I took were with two different companies on two different continents, but both were run the same way - tour director who traveled with us, and local guides in each city we visited. We had little free time on my China tour, but quite a bit on the Costa Rica one. In all honesty, we would not have made much use of free time in China, since it was difficult to get around on our own, anyway. Your tour does sound extremely fast-paced - your main free time will be on the bus or waiting in airports. And if it's like the ones I have taken, the company will provide you with a lot of guidebook-type info in advance and along the way.
Posted by
Washington, DC
180 posts
I've taken both Rick Steves tours and the other company big bus tours.
One of the big bus tours I took I booked separate individual excursions instead of buying them through the big bus tours "extra" excursion tours. I actually got more and a cheaper price then my tourmates who bought a separate extra excursion with the tour company.
Another big bus tour I did some of the excursions - mainly the ones that included a meal because it was a great time to socialize with the other tour members.
If you know of extra excursions that you have to pay extra money for - compare with other companies that offer similar excursions and see if it offers more or cheaper.
Posted by
victoria, Canada
11507 posts
Nancy, I can't comment on the Costa Rican tour you took, but the one to China sounds typical,, meaning , yes, most everything is going to be included . China is considered a bit more difficult for independent travel, the language is of course one issue, complicated by the fact the script is different so even using a dictionary would be useless. Many Europeon big bus tours( especially the more moderately priced ones) do not include everything,, and offer quite a few "extras". My MIL took a Globus that had constantly offered evenings out at an extra cost( local meals and folk shows etc) and my nephew took a Contiki tour where he spent almost as much on extra food ( not their meals, on his own) and extra excursions( theirs) as he did on the actual tour( which "seemed" so cheap at first) My MiL also found many of their hotels were not as central as she thought they would be ( for instance in Venice they actaully stayed on the mainland) so finding meals and doing excursions on her own were not quite as easy as she had hoped.
There are however many tour companies,, and they do all offer different things,, some are definately better then others,, but one should also be mindful that sometimes if the price seems to good to be true.....
Posted by
OP
Orange, CA, USA
4 posts
Thanks for all the advice, folks. You've given me some ideas on what to do next for planning.
Posted by
Los Angeles, CA, USA
1449 posts
RS is giving more a philosophy than an ironclad guide; on his shows and in his books he encourages people to find their own back-doors. The problem you face is the immense number of places you're visiting. To find back-doors you first have to know what is out there; a back door might be a local glass artisan who shows you his craft and from whom you buy a custom piece as opposed to the mass-produced items in the larger shops most people are seeing; but first you have to know that glass is a specialty, and where to find local shops. So my suggestion is to first divide the towns between you and your wife and each do research on them. You don't need RS books to do this, although his books do a great job of summarizing info for the traveler. For each place put together a list of the top attractions that interest you & hours they are open. Then on your tour, given your energy level and time available, you can find out what the "big bus" tour offers as an excursion and compare it to what you can do on your own. Pick what sounds best.