Rick is in Rome now

My husband and I ran into him at our hotel in 2007... in Rome, of all places (at the Hotel Oceania). He saw we were carrying his book and was very gracious in having a conversation with him. The next night we were having dinner, and about halfway through who should walk in and be seated a few tables away but Rick himself. On our way out he waved hello and we asked him to kindly stop following us. :)

We saw him in Italy and my husband thanked him for the quality of the guidebooks. He asked us a lot of questions about which hotels we had stayed in, whether our service had been good, what rates we had paid. He was definitely in research mode! Made us laugh that after all these years he's still quality controlling his product.

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We saw him in Ljubljana, Slovenia in May 2009 while we were on the Best of the Adriatic tour. He was in a restaurant mid-afternoon with his film crew. It looked like they were finishing up so we waited outside and got a picture with him and his crew!

Is his schedule posted somewhere? I'm heading to Italy in a couple days and curious to know the liklihood of a Rickers sighting.

I'm going to guess he doesn't publish his schedule. After all, the guy has work to do. He can't spend all day talking to fans/Rickniks.

I saw Rick at the New York Times Travel Show last month, he said he was going to The Cinque Terre in May, I asked when as I too will be there in May he said he didn't know exactly. He is also doing one of his own tours, he registered under a pseudonym so even the company and tour guide don't know.

@ Sam, As someone else mentioned, he probably won't post a detailed schedule as he has work to do. Although I'm sure he appreciates his fans and enjoys chatting with them, but numerous interruptions (especially when filming) would be a problem. I also suspect that his schedule isn't "written in stone". I've noticed in the past that if the weather changes or some other "complication" occurs, he changes the schedule to suit the circumstances. His non-specific schedule for April and May, is Guidebook research and filming in Italy and Turkey. Cheers!

I've actually run into him 4 times in Italy. Of course I don't travel THAT often (I wish), but I was on an extended trip in Italy a few years back and it seems he and I had similar destinations in mind. The funny part is that when I first ran into him, I had no idea who he was..someone else I was traveling with recognized him. After that, bumping into him almost became a common trend. Sure enough, after that I started using his guidebooks and his recommended destinations, and haven't come across him traveling since...

We've been close a few times. Just missed him in Firenze at the Hotel Cellai in 2002. Just missed him at Albergo Bernini in Siena in 2004, although we did get the room that Simon had stayed in the night before. And he was scheduled to come to the Hostal (Hotel) Triana a week later in Madrid in 2009 when we were there. Sooner or later we'll spot Rick "Where's Waldo" Steves. But we did see Madonna and George Clooney though. Not as good as Rick, but still ok.

The first RS blog entry in Rome is up now: http://www.ricksteves.com/blog/

Michael - Sounds like you're having a bromance with Rick?

Crash - I'm a big Rick Steves fan, but I beg to differ - I would much rather bump into George Clooney! YUM! ;)

I'm with you Gretchen! :-)

"Michael - Sounds like you're having a bromance with Rick? " No, not really. Not that there's anything wrong with that!