Rick Steves' at New York Times Travel Show

Lisa, Thanks for posting the link to your Blog. I also really enjoy Rick's lectures. It never fails to amaze me that he can talk for 2-3 hours without a single note, and yet keep the lecture in a logical order. He mentioned on his Blog that he signed up for one of his own tours later this year, but of course there wasn't a hint of which tour it would be. As he registered with a pseudonym, the other tour members won't "learn the truth" until they show up for the introductory meeting on the first day of the tour. He has taken one of his own tours at least once before (Greece, as I recall).

Wonder if he paid the single's supplement or if he will have a roomie? ;-)

Thanks Lisa, that's interesting. Not sure how you can "get 30 miles from the next tourist" in Venice though ;) The "temporary local" part is overrated I think, I don't believe one can "be" a European from just being there for a couple of weeks. In fact, there's lots of fun to be had in knowing that you're different from a born European and trying to understand each other, especially if there's a language barrier. They may be just as curious about you as you are about them. I like Rick's consistent message all these years which is to go out and "meet" cultures that are different from your own, and not to be afraid of what's different or might be strange to your own eyes. That's the joy of traveling.

Rick was speaking in the ideal, and of travel in general. I didn't want to editorialize on his talk, just give my impression of what he was saying. I doubt if one can get 30 meters from another tourist in Venice. What he is advocating for is to get Americans to try not to see the world just as a tourist, make attempts to get to know the locals a bit, not just your travel mates or people in the travel industry. Experience, don't just observe. I didn't mean to infer he was saying to try to fool anyone, which I'm sure a European can tell an American at 100 meters (and a Canadian because of the flag they wear to make sure no one thinks they are American). All good points he made.