Have we replaced Lonely Planet Thorntree forum?

MariaF, interesting observation. I thought the opposite was occurring. I always considered RSE to be the focal point for middle-aged, savvy and frugal travelers (non-partying 30-70 yr olds). So, backpacks, yes, hitchhiking, no. I was thinking that the trend was towards more upscale travelers now participating. By that I mean questions about higher-end hotels, resort locations, 4-star restaurants, etc. Maybe the curve is just flattening. It will be interesting to see what others think.

My first thought, if what you say is true, that there could be some tinkering of forum titles to provide more separation in topics.

Lonely Planet/Thorntree is so much broader in geographic coverage than this forum - the countries featured are all over the world, whereas this forum is pretty narrow. I don't think there is that much overlap frankly. I'm not this forum's demographic but enjoy reading the threads nonetheless, and contribute where I can. I would definitely say Lonely Planet folks tend to appear as less risk averse (you can say more adventurous) and younger. Many people here poo-poo Lonely Planet; I happen to like it and use it as one of my sources for all kinds of trips outside Europe.

I think perhaps some non-traditional posters end up here only because Google pulls up this forum in search and there is a "Beyond Europe" section. I don't know how people from say, India/Far East, find this forum though - I would not expect this forum to rise to the top of search results in their countries, but I may be totally wrong on that!

@Stan, I would agree that 'most' are as you described, but since December, I have started to see more that are clearly under 30, extended back pack type questions, or certainly a number not starting their travels from North America and still needing budget advice. Not a lot, but more than I recall. And I can't figure out how they found this forum....

@Agnes. I agree, and I don't always fit the usual here either - both as a Canadian, and a global traveler. I also like LP guides and are often my preferred, though I review RS guides for Europe as well. I may buy RS guide, but then fill in with post its from other guides. Depends where I am and what I am doing, as often I head to places he doesn't bother to cover. LP is happy to cover those places.
It does seem that Thorntree's audience also expanded to those more mature but young at heart - and still more adventurous....but as you can't ask questions there anymore, I just noticed some interesting and definitely different questions.

I don’t see much overlap between the average poster here and those on Thorntree. There are so many blogs and vlogs on YouTube these days plus comments/chat, so that many younger posters don’t need to ask as many questions on traditional forums such as this.

The other issue is that many Thorntree posters weren’t American. Few people in the U.K. have heard of RS.

Maria, I belong to Thorn Tree, and the forums have been read-only for most of the past year. :O( Because they cover so many global destinations beyond Europe, I don't think a lot of that audience has migrated here, especially the backpacker/hostel/adventure travel/extreme sports groups. I get a sense that a lot of the intrepid young folks are using FB groups for specific destinations, travel styles or groups, such as women's groups. There are some websites like indiamike.com and nomadicmatt.com that see some action as well.

For sure, some of the TT folks probably have found us but my hunch is that it's fewer than more of the young folks on shoestring budgets, who have a jones for Central/South America, Indian Subcontinent, Thailand or parts of Asia (all very popular) and/or are OK with a bunk in a shared hostel dorm.

Stan, can you change that age group to 30 - 70+? Just saying :)

OK MariaF, I see what your saying.

Carol, I meant to say "30s-70s", but thats no excuse 🙂.

I like LP too, especially if there is no RSE guide, and often supplement RSE guidebooks with LP for the extra details.

Lol - 71 is the new 41. And we’ve all probably aged more than a year in the past 12 months, but hopefully those who make it thru the pandemic will have the energy and interest to keep venturing.

So is 41 the new 19?

Carol, you beat me to it!

Although our household is interested in expanding the high end of the range, we have some 20-something relatives who think we're on to a good thing and are interested. And we've had a number (not a large number, though) of tour mates on RS tours who were in their 20s.

And two of the RS tours we've taken in the last few years had folks who were 80+, and did just fine. My "buddy" at 81 did the whole Cinque Terre trail, or at least, all of it that was open.

But on the whole, the depiction is pretty accurate.

I've also thought that the teens that took the RS Family trips, have now become the young adults who take the standard RS trips...so we might also be drawing from that pool.
Yes, it was the Austria question that finally had me post this question; though I have been thinking it for a number of weeks.

definitely hasn't replaced it imho

i loved TT , found lots of great information for all parts of the world but more focused on diy trips
i really miss it

RS is very good if you want to know about tours and some really good information about Europe

I here because i love travel and can find some useful information and news here but not my travel style so the majority is wasted on me

travellingwithtroy, I hear you. And your style doesn't just apply to trips outside of the U.S but inside as well. I miss being able to help with some of those.

I've not heard that Thorn Tree is history. More likely it's just on temporary COVID hiatus. I guess we'll see?

I have honestly never used Lonely Planet. I know I am a newer and younger traveler, but I do enjoy the discussions in this group. I discovered RS a couple months ago through Prime video and kind of fell in love. Eventually started researching and it landed me here. Although I am a budget traveler, I hope to one day be stable enough to take a lux vacation and forums like these help me set goals. Prior to this forum I mostly participated in Facebook groups. A few years ago I realized there is a Facebook group for literally everything.