How trusting are you with advice by others?

The advice on this forum forms part of my research. I add the ideas to my options, but I also filter them through my own lens (knowing what I like and what my husband likes and what our travel style is). For instance, people might tell me to visit a winery without realizing that I don't drink wine (can't stand the stuff). I appreciate the intention and the advice, but, obviously, I don't incorporate that idea, because it doesn't work for me.

The same goes for Rick's books and for other travel guides, though. Rick's travel style is different from my travel style. For instance, he is much more extroverted and likes to ride in the "regular" section of a train in order to meet locals. I am introverted. I prefer to ride in the first class section (if the cost difference isn't enormous), in order to be a little more comfortable and have a guaranteed seat.

This forum is my "go to," though, and I've received, and followed, some excellent advice here.

Rick has staked out his territory well in the world of travel guidebooks. It's a fairly narrow approach based largely on his personal experiences and sensibilities and on input from individuals who share his philosophy of travel. He's a business - so it should not be surprising that he sells his own travel ideas aggressively and exclusively.

I think it's a little naive to trust/depend entirely on any one person or on any specific guidebook when it comes to travel decisions, but I think a LOT of people do just that. IMHO it's good to read widely and to look at lots of reviews and personal opinions on travel and booking sites. Then evaluate the input, consider thoughtfully the individuals who supplied it, and make some choices. The only person you can really trust with your travel experiences is yourself.

We research our own restaurants and hotels. If we’re hedging between a couple different hotels and one was recommended by RS, we tend to go with it. Where I look at advice from others are the places people recommend seeing, especially if they are off the beaten path. From those postings I’ll do my own research and determine if a location is something we’d be interested in. Surprisingly, a number of places we choose to see and places we saw in movies or on television. I spend a lot of time looking up filming locations and bookmarking them on Google maps with a note as to what drew me to that place.

Allan,

I use this Forum as a tool when planning my trip. We have our own opinions and do other research, but I like reading what others have to say. Some folks on this forum have actually been in the location we are heading to and their input is good to read and know about. To me, no different than a guide book, a hotel the book recommends does not always fit for me but on this forum, I often get the "deeper details" of the place. Those are my thoughts...

As others have said, this forum is a tool. But like other tools, the more specific the question, the better the advice. Answers to the "what's the most authentic" or "the best" questions are almost useless since the response is so subjective.

There are two main points that come to mind, but I will stick to one. I do not believe the issue is so much trust, at least on this forum; in that I do not believe any on here are being dishonest or overstating advice...sometimes some incorrect information, or maybe dated, but not overtly dishonest.

But specifically to your point and the quote posted, I think it is more a case of knowing more about the person giving the advice. Not only do they have a wide or varied experience of what they are talking about, but what is their style? where do their tastes lie? How do they travel?

I think you could develop this with someone who posts frequently, but to the point of the quote, a travel professional like Rick has to stand by their record, if they recommend flops over and over, their out of business. One of my sources for restaurants and things to do are local or even well known blogs; I can go through their history, get a sense of their style, and figure out if they fit me. Random Tripadvisor reviews? useless, and want to talk about dishonest, plenty there.

But being a successful travel professional is not a guarantee. For example, I find little use or value in articles and recommendations from Conde Nast or Travel and Leisure, not that they are bad, just the places they eat and stay, and even travel to are just not me, I don't relate. Michelin stars mean nothing to me (well, maybe "avoid these places") just not the way I eat, and I travel mainly for the food. I do have to hand it to Rick, I like his travel style, and many of his recommendations have been hits, with few misses...so trust, yeah.

I've been on the forum since 2008, when I planned my first trip to Italy. Lots and lots of advice, ideas, recommendations, suggestions over the years have been invaluable. And I always do a lot of research on my own.

Sure, there's a lot I've looked into and nixed (some people have a much more expansive view of "budget" than I do) and a lot more that I've read and ignored. I've taken advice and regretted it, only a handful of times that I can think of in 25 trips or more. Over the years I've learned to trust some posters because they have great knowledge of a city or an area, some because their tastes or styles of travel are aligned with mine.

I don't put a lot of stock in guidebooks without doing research as well. I've found RS guides are very useful for the first-timer with lots of detailed instructions. The self-guided tours are good to excellent, both for city walks and for individual sights. Recently I've been using Lonely Planet guides and I find them more useful for eats and drinks recs. They also cover a lot more territory than RS, which tends to be specific to places the RS tours go to and ignores huge swaths of countries. I like DK Eye Witness guides for ideas and a general overview or feel for a place but I don't use them for detailed planning. OTOH their city guides are great for using on the ground - except they are heavy.

Rick puts that quote into all his books, and there is truth to that. He's a businessman and his reputation is most important, also his people have been to a place more than once and see patterns. But you still have to decide if your taste syncs up with his. He's the leading travel brand at the moment but that doesn't mean his style is for everyone.

I used to travel for a living and I would just gather as many guidebooks as I could and read through them. After a while you get a sense of what their travel philosophy. As someone noted above, they don't care for the recommendations in CN Traveler or T&L and that's fine. I would just toggle back and forth between Rick and Fodors and Frommers and make my own judgements of what would work for me. Now you have to factor in Tripadvisor (which is also a business and has its own axes to grind), Lonely Planet and of course RS.

I’ve been lurking/using this forum for about 12 years and have received some really great advice during that time. We’re heading out on a tour mid-April to mid-May. Some of its on our own, one is a traditional RS tour and one is MY Way, so there is a little more personal research. The tour hotel on the first leg was sold out, so I used the reviews by several frequent posters to make my decision. I had researched various hotels on different forums and really didn’t have a clear choice, so I went with one that had good reviews on the forum. I also found city/experience tours courtesy of another posters that never hit the first few pages of Google. I could go on about the posters who’ve helped with transportation questions and ones I wish I had followed for their expertise on a particular destination. I respect the RS organization and other guidebooks, but you don’t realize how generalized they are until your specific issue has no answer, like exiting an Athens metro stop and having no idea which way to turn to find the hotel.

I had to read through narrative the link you provided 3 times to find the 2 sentences you put into the blockquote.
( Its part of the 5th paragraph under Traveler Reviews )

I find it quite out of context.

Taken as a whole, the commentary makes many references to other sources. No where do I see anything that he suggests HIS guide books are THE only useful resource.

Doing one's own research is good advice. Knowing who is giving the advice is key. Are they talking about their area of expertise, i.e., Dr Fauci on medical stuff or Matt Damon on crypto-currency.

It isn't really about trust for me, it's about deciding if the advice makes sense for me. One of the things I like about this forum is that it is small and many of the people share Rick's travel philosophy, which I do for the most part. I feel like I "know" some of the frequent posters and whether or not their travel style is similar to mine. That helps me evaluate how good the advice is, again -- for me. Sometimes I take the advice and sometimes I don't. But I generally always consider it, and sometimes it spurs me to do more research. Sometimes the poster will point out something I didn't know, or he/she may make a suggestion I hadn't thought of. I find this forum very helpful.

Less frequently, I post on Trip Advisor, mainly if I'm traveling outside of Europe. I'm far less comfortable with the responses there, because I don't know much about the people who are responding. It's just too big, and I don't look at it regularly.

As for Rick... If he has a guide book for where I am going, I will read it. I think his opinions are generally very good and I consider them. But I sure don't agree with him on everything. I do trust him in the sense that I believe he gives his honest opinion without regard to how much money he will make.

If someone else can benefit from my experience, that's great ... if not, that's okay also ... I don't expect everyone/anyone to take whatever I say as the way it should be done ... I would like to think someone has benefited from my experiences (whether it saved them some time or money ... or prevented them from making the same mistake I did). As for taking other's advice (including Rick's), I always take it under advisement and research it myself ... most of the time it doesn't fit my travel style or plans ... but several times it gave me a lead to something I didn't consider or even know about.

As with others, I tend to use guidebooks and comments from fellow travelers as a research tool. I also pay attention to what the reviewers actually say. If a review gushes about something I really do not care about, then I consider that review less important than one that hits my priorities. Rick's books are good advice to the extent that his priorities and values match mine in a certain situation.

As a parallel, I like Yelp reviews of restaurants and think I can separate the wheat from the chaff effectively.

I remember fondly a yelp review of a breakfast place in San Diego where the reviewer complained about everything, including the unexpected 45 minute wait to get in. Another reviewer responded 'the entire queue is on the sidewalk in front of the restaurant, you can see it before you even park your car, how can you find the wait unexpected?' I think I could discount the rest of that review.

I haven't travelled Europe for too long (20 years LOL) - so not used RS guidebooks recently. However I have the library's supply of his Balkans and Central Europe guides at the moment. I also have the Lonely Planet guides for the countries I'm interested in.

RS Europe 101 book is the best intro to western culture that I've ever read and I still recommend it to people who don't know the art
and history of Europe

I find Frommers / Fodors too fusty for my (I'm 60) . I've grown up with LP and they've grown up with me too.

RS is pretty obsessed with walking and central lodgings - I'm good with that. But he's also obsessed with ensuites and aircon and lifts - I don't care that much for those features. On the other hand LP does a lot of self-catering and hostels - I only do hostels with private rooms (which seem fairly rare in the areas I'm looking in). I don't' cook when travelling. I also don't do remote hikes which LP is big on.

Once you've used a guide book series for a while you can take the bits you like.

I too winced at the comment about guidebooks having the best reviews. In fact in all guide books I don't read the restaurants section or the hotels. I use the guidebooks for getting an overview of the area and also for itineraries and back ground info on transport - which I verify online of course. Think about it you are a small European hotel that can guarantee being booked out for 6 months if RS features you - are you really not going to roll out the red carpet for the reviewer? And yes I know they claim to be anonymous but really? Also does every guidebook writer stay in every hotel, eat in evey restarautn - try every activity every time they update the book. And even if they do and the books is last year's edition - it was researched the year before - its already 2 years out of date.

Plus since the pandemic - I don't know about Europe - but from a NZ point of view I can assure you that zero of the recommendations for restaurants or hotels from pre March 2020 have any relevance now. I doubt Europe is any different

How many guidebooks does Rick publish? How many cities and towns are in each of these guidebooks? How many hotels or restaurants are listed for each city or town? How many of these places are actually visited by his editors each year? Slept in or had a meal? Perhaps 1 or 2 in each main city?

Guidebooks have to be the least up-to-date or accurate source for hotels and restaurants, and we aren't even talking about the publishing lag.

Say what you want about Trip Advisor/Google/Yelp, etc, but if you actually look at what people write and use some common sense filters for those reviews, they are pretty accurate. Are there fake ones? Of course, but I bet 99% of them are accurate and true. Just that some people are more high-maintenance than I am. I do not care that there was a stain on the rug, nor that there was a bit of dust on the window sill from a window that actually opens.
You can get a general feel for a place from reviews that are actually up to date and recent. A guidebook can never, ever give you that.

It's important to keep in mind the difference between advice and information.

For example, "X Museum is closed on Mondays" or "There's a direct shuttle every 15 minutes from the airport to H Hotel" would be information. "You shouldn't rent a car to see Y Country" is advice. The former, here, is very helpful most of the time while the latter is not - unless you absolutely know that the person posting the advice has the same priorities as you.

In particular I find the advice here about how many days certain cities or regions are "worth" completely useless for me. But in many other instances the posts have made me aware of important realities that are different in some European country from what I might expect. And that's valuable indeed.

Generally it’s not about trust, to me not trusting a source means I think they are lying/incorrect/misguided. That’s not generally my experience on this forum or with most guidebooks. Instead it’s more about philosophy and preferences. Does this person/source look for the same things I do? Will their recommendation apply to me?

A person who visited a city once can say they recommend X restaurant, and that means they had a good experience there. Great. Should I take that recommendation? Depends. Do other reviewers like that place, or perhaps did our forum poster happen to hit it on a rare good day? Does this place seem like something I’d like? Price, food style, location, atmosphere all would factor in.

RS books are a bit more reliable because he’s right that they check places over time and have a wide base of comparison. But there’s still a matter of style. I love the logistical and sight advice in these books, the hotels are also helpful if I am staying in hotels, but the restaurants are often not to my taste. When I try one it’s usually good but the atmosphere and style are different than my preference. So I know that going in. Other books or online sources are more relevant to me for restaurants but not for the other things. So I use many sources and try to be aware of which ones are better for what aspect.

A recommendation can make me look into a place, it helps narrow down the options, but I’m not going there based solely on a recommendation from anyone - Rick Steves books, any other book, this forum, friends. Recommendations are a starting point for more research, not the final decision.

I think the first few trips are the hardest for anyone to plan until they know how they travel together and what they most enjoy and which resources ended up aligning with their style-or which source to use for which part of a trip. I use multiple sources for each trip depending on what I'm researching. In guidebooks I like Insight Guides and Michelin (if available) for learning history and culture and more obscure places that might interest us. I like Lonely Planet for more active things like hikes. Rick Steves' for basic logistics like which trains to use and how to get between places and ways to save money on activities-and sometimes on where NOT to go. Rough Guides is very similar to LP but a bit snarkier, so it's a good counterpoint.

I definitely concur with those above who do not use guidebook restaurant and hotel recommendations- for the same reasons.
That said, I usually still skim through them in more than one guidebook series and it's very interesting to see if the same places turn up in more than one and if the recommendation is different. (I find Rough Guides' bluntness refreshing compared to some others.)

I feel if a restaurant is in multiple books that it's extra likely to be overrun with tourists and is particularly skippable (except maybe for ice cream/gelato. )

I'm starting to consider a new trip again, finally. I am feeling that with Covid changes I'm going to need to rely much more on blogs, youtube, this forum (which has been one of my best resources- thank you all) and city/country/specific attraction websites to get accurate up to date information.

I never asked for hotel recommends - but I'm sure I've asked about best locations in cities to stay.

I have used a recommendation for a driver on the Amalfi Coast. I'm sure I've taken recommendations for the odd museum that is not as well known, and probably the odd restaurant recommend (that one is tricky because I usually only eat when hunger strikes, I generally don't plan ahead.). I'm sure I've taken a few ice cream/gelato recommends.

I read the forum posts because it's interesting to know how others approach travel. To prepare for a trip, however, I consult multiple guidebooks, histories, literature, and the internet. It's that research that has permitted us to experience and explore many sites that are not in the mass tourism realm.

Allan, you inspire such interesting threads!

I haven't used a book for restaurants or hotels since the internet became a better resource. To build on Ms Jo's post, while I'm not a poster on TA, what is particularly valuable to me about that one are candid photos, especially of hotel rooms, taken by guests. They're usually much more accurate than what is posted on the websites of the accommodations themselves. You know, the shots taken with artificial lighting and wide lenses, at the most attractive angle, to make them look brighter and bigger than they really are?

Guests may also include shots of areas that could be a problem for some travelers, such as steep, narrow stairs with no railings, or special quirks of some foreign accommodations, such as the slot for your room card which actives the lights. Visual aids can be wonderful things, especially so for some "how to" stuff. Sometimes a picture is more descriptive than the written word?

IMHO, forums have been a hugely valuable resource compared to the days that all we had to work with were the one-sided recommendations/viewpoints in the guidebooks! To be able to ask questions of other travelers, gather a variety of advice, clarify what isn't making sense in a book or even on an attraction's website, see via someone's photos, and be among others who are learning too... So no, while I don't trust or use everything I've read or been advised to, a combination of online and printed resources have raised the trust bar significantly since the pre-internet days.

I still can't believe that LP closed their Thorn Tree forums. :O(

REVIEWS ONLINE: What are the odds that people who have a good experience will make a post as compared to those pissed off? Then there is this 35 room hotel I know of that has had more reviews in one year than the 200 room hotel next door. Doesn't make sense unless there is an incentive program. That distorts things too. Then there is the "Its the BEST hotel in Prague" post; it's mindless. How do you know? Did you stay in all of the others?

FORUM ADVICE: For entertainment purposes only.

GUIDE BOOKS: Dated and probably biased.

I had to chuckle at Jame E's post. Are we to assume that any advice you give should be taken only as entertainment? I hope not, since you seem to have a great deal of knowledge about Budapest.

I have a beautiful photo in my office that is proof I have taken advice on this forum. Simon recommended a short list of highlights to see in the Loire Valley of France and one was the fortress at Angers. I switched around some days in my itinerary to stay in Angers, and it was a wonderful experience! When I look at that canvas photo, it is with gratitude.

I don’t remember all of the specific help now, but I do know that forum participants have influenced our itinerary activities over the years for Spain, Italy, Austria, etc. Someone suggested adding Mittenwald, Germany to our Germany/Austria trip several years ago. As we were taking a hike in the surrounding wooded area, we came across a tiny chapel in a field. What a special moment! This tiny chapel had been my random internet photo during the last three months as a winter scene for my work computer screensaver, and I had no idea where it existed!

When I created a new yearly itinerary, I usually would thoroughly read that country’s RS guide book for ideas in the region. But, after the first year, I don’t use it for hotels; I use Booking.com reviews. And I think I would actually avoid restaurants he recommends because we’re not coming to Europe to eat with a bunch of tourists. ; ). (B&B hosts in small towns have wonderful restaurant recommendations!)

The category where I would say “don’t bother giving me advice” is to reduce the number of hotels and stay in one place longer. To that, I stay true to my own preferred travel style. It’s helped now for me to just mention locations when asking for advice and not my planned number of nights because I don’t want to waste your time trying to work out “less places/more nights per”, and I really do value our forum responses! Thanks!

Carol now retired

I use all the sources I mentioned above. I just know, or belive that I know, the limitations of each. As for the forum for entertainment purposes only; yes for information on the entertainment of travel; but never for the legalities or risks of travel. Even then it is sometimes impossible to filter out the truth or actual knowledge, from the spewing of presumed, but uninformed, wisdom on a subject.

It took me a lot of time learning which sources had which biases. I was quite the obsessive before my first trip! Knowledge sponge!

The thing I still like about ye olde guidebooks is they're physically sharable. I do not travel with them, though! Too heavy! It's probably too obvious in 2022 that web sources and forums aren't unbiased either-and so many blogs are ad-filled fluff these days. Still, pictures!

This forum has such a great group of very knowledgeable people that seem to honestly want to be helpful and I really value that. I'm quirky in my own way and still less experienced but I'm grateful to the many perspectives and experiences here even when they may not align with how I travel.

I use online hotel reviews the same-for the pictures and to see if there's a pattern of complaint or consistent change in satisfaction. Some complaints are eye-rollingly ridiculous but it does help to see the types of things that are complaints.

My husband will follow specific links to web resources if I send them, but he doesn't like trip researching. Having a guidebook just sitting there makes him more likely to pick it up and check out the basics of a place. He's fine with my doing all the research, but I want him to at least have a chance to see or understand more of what we're doing. I doubt I'll be buying any new ones right now though. Too many covid changes and disruptions to be reliable.

It strikes me that much of it comes down to my own level of experience - in addition to my own preferences. As a new traveler, I may well have known what I liked or didn’t like; but information on the “how to’s” or on what else is out there in the big world that I hadn’t heard of or simple practical tips I had to learn and am still learning come from somewhere besides my own brain. And we all learn from some source, whether it is other travelers, guidebooks, tv, history books, the internet, or a forum. So at some level, I have to trust someone.

And I HAVE to pick a place to stay - which means that on some level I have to trust some source. For me, it’s a combination. I do look at reviews and pictures (from 2 or 3 sources) but balance them to my priorities.
Food? Not too concerned.
Where to go? How to manage when I get there? I am still learning and hope to continue to do so.

I am also a pretty obsessive reader of this forum and when a place piques my interest, I can go back looking at posts from a decade ago. I also read All Topics and tend to read all replies. That means I have a pretty good sense of whether or not your style and interests matches my style and interests, which tells me how much I can “trust” what you say for me (or if it’s a thread I know I should just skip right over. Lol).

What does get me is when someone answers “Oh, I loved ….. and you will, too!” I mean, I love quirky, odd hotels, especially with history, and will put up with other inconveniences to stay. But I would be silly to assume that because I do, all of you would, too. On the other hand, if I liked a place, it would be good for me to be able to say why, so anyone reading my review/answer could see if it matches their style/desire.

But I think trusting myself has come with travel experience. And new travelers don’t have that, so they have to trust someone/something. And then build on that experience.

I've been traveling to Europe since I went to the University of Innsbruck the Summer of 1970. i read what's said, but most often make my own decisions about where to stay and what to eat. Another issue is that we all have our own style of travel. We used to rent a car and drive as fast and far as we could in 19 days. Now, we stay in one place a minimum of 4 days and get in touch with the community. We travel slower and come away with more knowledge of fewer places.

In certain countries, you can stay in the cheapest accommodations because they'll always be very clean and decent. But get in big cities and that may not be the case. I stayed in Venice one time where the charged extra for hot water, and lamps had 10 watt light bulbs. Every country's different. I get more out of reading online than guidebooks, however.

We like to eat the local food, but we recently found Berlin to have American fast foods and Vietnamese restaurants. You've got to work hard to find German food. Dresden was all German, however. the KFC was the busiest restaurant in town with 50 people in line at all times. Oh, well we all have to roll with the times and the situations we're faced with.

If I'm asking for recommendations, I know free advice is worth the price. You just have to use your judgment. I try to ask very specific questions, not the unanswerable " what's the best ______?", or the open-ended "where should I go?" questions. What I appreciate about RS guidebooks is that the criteria he uses to judge hotels & restaurants are spelled out, and pretty much match mine.

I've been on a couple of RS tours where I noted the tour leaders use their free time to check out other hotels, sights and restaurants for feedback to HQ for future alternatives. And they would ask tour members where they had gone to eat on their own and get their suggestions. A couple of B&B owners who are in the books have told me that someone from RS comes by once a year or so, to Look things over, check rates, and see if anything has changed. So yeah, I think that's good basis for recommendations. Its just not as timely as hearing from someone who was just there.

"Trust, but verify."

You have to vet any information or recommendations given because everyone has a different scale of "best", "great" "perfect", etc.

RS has his own travel style and I am positive for him the places he recommends are "great", but not everyone has his travel style. Besides, everything "depends". For example, RS believes he has to stay in a hotel in the center of everything. That "depends", If a city has a very good metro, I might stay 15-20 minutes away from the center for a nicer hotel and possibly a quieter location. I rarely recommend hotels or restaurants. I think the forum here is fantastic for logistics to help folks make traveling easier, less painful and to save a traveler from wasting time.

I think the most advice I have followed was from Bavaria Ben’s former website. From it I got the specific place to stay in Bacharach ( Irmgard Orth’s - staying my fifrh time since 2011 this summer ! ) and from his site I first heard of Gengenbach ( third visit coming up ). On this site years ago ( and twice this month ) I recommened a farm apartment outside Salzburg. At least one family has stayed there and had a great time.

I read reviews of places to stay and eat. Sometimes I follow them.

Recommendations from friends are the best if you are going to the same places

But I think trusting myself has come with travel experience. And new
travelers don’t have that, so they have to trust someone/something.
And then build on that experience.

I think back to my first trip which was a Mediterranean cruise and then a week in Rome in 2014. I had just discovered that RS was more than just the guy on TV but it took 4 more years before I knew he did tours and had this forum. His Rome guide was invaluable for a newbie; more for the practical information than the hotels and restaurants. However it was because of recommendations in this guide that I chose my hotel and also my tours with Through Eternity Tours. The tours were the best I've experienced anywhere in Europe, the hotel was OK. Thinking back on it, it is the type of hotel RS covets; simple, good location and personable host.

Thanks, Allan.

As I was reading this, I realized I ought to give RnR a shout out. Newer forum members may recognize his expertise in the Netherlands and not know how much expert info he shared on Rome from his website (Ron in Rome) when he lived there. His advice/information made a huge difference to my Rome trip (a few years ago now - ha!). That was a source I trusted, mixed with info from other sources, for a first visit and it paid off. :) And that means I would listen with respect to any other information he provides. Knowing your source is good. :)

Travelmom, I'm with you! "Ron in Rome" was a terrific web resource. While it's great that he still pops into the forums now and again, I sure do miss that website/blog. He is also an extremely nice man.

Thinking about it, I really hope people vet the advice I give. A few months ago I highly recommended a hotel in Venice and one of you took the advice and booked it. As soon as I heard I got a bit nervous; what if they don't like it, I'll feel terrible if it ruins the trip. On the other hand, I stand by my recommendation and when I give one, I do try and explain why I liked it.

Hey, the advice is basically free, and costs only the time to post a request, and to read responses. Rick’s making a case for why advice through his sources is worthwhile. Advice from this forum, take it or leave it, but much of it is well i tended, and worth taking into consideration.

There are those, including Threadwear above, who say, “Trust, but verify.” When researching a special trip, that seems reasonable.

I think you have to know how to research, including looking at pictures and understand that everyone has their own perception of "good" and "bad" and that some reviewers may have been paid or have been offered something in exchange for the review. Reading a few reviews on one website it not sufficient for me. For example on AirBNB i will use google translate to read foreign reviews and I usually read 20+ before it even makes my "maybe" list. I am very methodical and I document everything.

Trust then verify...I always start with a suggestion, that gets researched and if it ticks enough boxes I then go to price and availability, which is matched against other researched suggestions. My suggestions come from Vlogs, Blogs, travel forums and guide books. I have used Ricks suggested lodging a few times that come with a RS discount and have not once been disappointed, but even those suggestions go through my process.

I take the advice very seriously... people gave their time to help me and the only thing they get in return is a good outcome for me (unless they're just tooting their own horns and even then, who cares about a little horn tooting if it's helpful?).

There are other boards about a lot of other topics where the sole purpose seems to be netting newbies and filleting them for sport. It boggles the imagination how people seem to have hours a day to post-hop, dressing people down, but I find the overall tenor here to be in line with the guidelines which I summarize as : "If you're not here to politely ask for help or to kindly help, this isn't the place for you."

As a previous poster said, while I take thoughtful advice very seriously, it's often a last check-in after a lot of research, or a jumping-off point to a lot more research. (I do wish posters, on all the boards I've joined in general, would assume that the OP did some research and isn't a moron... since you wouldn't know the content of their research, you can still give the same advice, minus acid or condescension.)

I don't think one has to book the exact hotel/restaurant/itinerary mentioned in order to have taken the advice. Someone talks about a hotel being in a great neighborhood and then you end up finding something else in that neighborhood. A lot of posters explain exactly why they enjoyed one place over another, which helps you realize you would also love it, or that the reasons the other posters love it don't apply to you at all. Sometimes, people affirm your plans in a way that reduces anxiety and therefore increases the enjoyment of the trip and the anticipation. That alone is worth its weight in gold, if you ask me.

Someone told me which side of the train to choose when I selected seats if I wanted a great view. There's no way I would have come across that without a real, caring person pointing it out.

Marcia is spot on. Advice or information.

I resemble the remark by a previous poster who mentioned when interested in something they can go back years on this site reading comments.

For me RS and I have very different interests so I read his guidebooks and watch his past shows to get his perspective knowing my husband and I don't necessarily want to see museums and churches. We want to be active outdoors and eat in good places. RS is one stop in research as are these forums. I have private messaged a few people from these forums to gather more information and find that invaluable.

Our first trip to Europe we paid for one of the ETBD advisors and that was time and money well spent. I have been using her advice ever since but I did not use one of her hotel ideas.

I take the advice very seriously... people gave their time to help me
and the only thing they get in return is a good outcome for me

That's a good outcome, plus maybe you'll write a Trip report so we can live vicariously through you. I think I'll start a new post.