Does anyone know of other "similar" forums to RS? I say "similar" because nothing will compare to you fine folks.
Especially anything based in Europe? Language does not matter in the 21st century.
Just curious Rick, not going anyplace (unless you have other ideas for me).
Language does not matter in the 21st century.
Yes it does. If you have a potty mouth we're going to report it. (LOL)
Again? ...............
I think this is pretty much it these days.
I've posted on the Fodors forum since the last century and made many friends there, but I find it pretty useless these days. Read a bit but almost never post.
I really enjoy the community of Destination Experts for Vienna/Austria on Trip Advisor's forum. We have a good rhythm and the expertise level is very high.
Trip Advisor. Has destination experts, up to date information from travelers and answers from those who actually live at your destinations. Invaluable information.
I think you would be surprised at how many Rick Steves forum members participate on TA on a regular basis.
I find Trip Advisor forums useful, particularly the Destination Expert advice. As I travel outside Europe more than inside Europe, it is my main go to when I need current details.
They sort their forums by destination and another by theme....like air, budget, honeymoon, solo travel.
Yup, I'm not a big fan of TA. The discussions can be as inane as the RS forum, so there is no greater value in that regard.
As for the destination "experts," not all live in the destination, and not all, despite their title, are experts. Even if they do "live" there, a great number are not products of that culture, just transplants, that use the title to justify their perspective. Also, the perspective of a resident isn't always consistent with the best for a tourist.
Anyway, despite those criticisms, it is a decent tool. I will say, however, that the RS forum is more of a family than TA, and families tend to do a better job of looking out for each other.
Mister E, just let me add that you are on a short leash and will be reported at the most minor infraction. I am now the self-proclaimed hall monitor, which BTW earned me a gold star in 4th grade.
Wowser! I guess because I am a transplant and not raised in the German culture, my information is worthless. That is seriously one of the dumbest posts I have seen. Next you will tell us because Lee did not grow up riding the German trains, that he knows nothing about train culture.
Pay attention Mr. E', because you have set yourself up as an Eastern European expert, especially for certain cities and countries, but with those comments you just made, no one should pay any attention to your advice.
Going back to the Camino now. This forum has become a place for people to toot their own special little horns.
I am now the self-proclaimed hall monitor, which BTW earned me a gold star in 4th grade.
Safety patrol captain in the 6th grade! That really dates me!
Overall I would say that this forum provides very good information. Sometimes you have to dig for it, I have and continue to learn a lot.
Ms Jo, I apologize for giving you the wrong impression. Everyone's perspective is valid. If people think I am portraying myself as an expert on anything, my bad, I need to correct that as I don't want that responsibility or have that knowledge. I can get you on the right tram, thats about it.
I was just pushing back a little on the "resident" value without any context. I live in a US tourist city and my advice on that city would be worthless. I know some newbies in the city that would be great for advice. I've read your posts and they have been excellent help for many. Part due to your long experience there i am certain, part because of you intuition as to what benefits tourists.
Maybe that's an advantage of RS, we don't have experts so everyone enjoys a little more freedom to express opinions. Of course, that could be a detriment as well as you know less about the validity of the of the opinions.
Again, my apologies if I came across wrong. And I will fix any misperception of my competence.
Nothing wrong with your posting. I rarely use the other forums because they are always trying to sell you something IMHO. Here you get the information and make up your own mind.
It's a tribute to the RSE staff and especially the Webmaster, for keeping this forum as a useful tool and a fun, safe place for people to communicate, without the seemingly heavy hand of control. Two other non-travel forums I participate in, have folded this year, as they degenerated into politics and name-calling and inside jokes among the regulars.
But I'd like to know too, if there are Europe-based travel forums of a similar nature.
In my early years of solo travel, 2005-2015, I frequented fodors a lot and found it very helpful and mostly convivial. But once I started combining solo travel with RS tours I started checking out this source. I just recently came out of the background to ask questions. I think frommers used to have a forum as well. No idea about Lonely Planet, that could be an interesting panel!
Stan, that was the question, is there a European equivelent ?
No idea about Lonely Planet, that could be an interesting panel!
Lonely Planet used to have Thorntree, which was decent but it sadly bit the dust a few years back.
Does anyone remember the AOL travel message boards? I was an avid participant of those back in the 90's - in fact, I was a monitor on the England board.
Mister E, I'm just joking around while remembering my glory days as a hall monitor, bathroom monitor, and crossing guard. I used to report my fellow students all of the time, which gave me a feeling of power. It was intoxicating! A little Mussolini. And the teachers loved me.
It does surprise me a bit that there is no European version of RS.
Mardee, yes. I'm a moderator on a sports board but have never expelled anyone. I just send a message to calm down.
I read and post on both RS and TA whenever I plan a trip in Europe. There are more people and threads in TA. RS has fewer threads in any particular forum (e.g. I compare respective forums on Portugal which is my current interest).
Somebody in RS asked me why I posted the same question in both TA and RS. I find I get more replies in TA. There is more turnover of threads in TA. You can compare the number of new threads in TA with RS. I like that TA allows me to focus on sub-groups (e.g Porto, Lisbon, Lagos etc). There are more posters of different nationalities. There are lots of Americans, but you will get questions and input from much more people from the rest of the world in TA. The perspective is different.
The RS website is pretty slick and the articles on the different countries are very well done. But if you want a review or recommendation on a particular hotel in RS, you may get a couple of responses which are generally not too informative. On TA, you can read hundreds of reviews on the same hotel, organized by ratings, date, time of year and language (nationality), with photos, pricing and map of nearby attractions.
The only downside is that you have to tune out all the advertising on TA which has really increased over the years. RS sells only his tours, books and stuff in a low-key way.
More info is always better.
Mister E, I was seconding your request for an answer to that question.
Stan, I knew. Thanks
Okay, this thread went off course, but thats okay. Makes me think.
I was going to try and make a comparison between RS and TA, but that might light some fires, so I will just stick to my impression of RS and let you guys think about TA.
Here we have 30 to 50 regulars (maybe twice that) who travel a lot and post a lot. Within that group I suspect every country in Europe other than Moldova, Belarus and N. Macedonia are well traveled and well representex with opinoins.
Read a few of their posts and you get some sort of idea of their bias when traveling. With that you can put their answers in at least a little context. It also has created a sort of family of travelers. Experts? Probalby not. If you want expert I think the best source is a guide book or two or three. They are generlly written by numerous contributors and then vetted and editied ot be somewhat factual.
What you get here are the experiences of people you know, know through their continued contributions. Like I said earlier, it sort of a family approach. Are some snarky at times? Sure, me included. Intentional? Yes, at times, me included. But that makes up a small percentage of what is going on.
It reads more like a encyclopedia of travel journals. Pick through it and see what speaks to you then go elsewere if you want the expert facts. Doesnt change the experiences of the family.
I think this is only possible because of the limited size of the forum. I like it. Its warm, its comfortable and it is helpful.
What I like about the RS Forum is the "All Topics" option. I can browse whatever has been posted - Trip Reports about an amazing Egyptian tour, what to do in Strasbourg, another rave review about Gaetano - it's all there. To my knowledge. there's nothing comparable on Trip Advisor.
In a 24 hour period, there may be about 5-10 active threads in the RS Portugal forum. In the same 24 hour period, there are about 60 active threads in the TA portugal forum. There is so much more activity in TA that an "All Topics" function makes no sense in TA. I only check out All Topics because nothing is going on in the particular RS forum I am interested in.
TA has forums for more countries. Albania, Andorra, Belarus, Bosnia, Crimea and that is just A, B, and C. I guess it is because RS doesn't sell tours or guidebooks for those countries.
As Mr É noted, the smaller RS forum does create a more intimate atmosphere which is more conversational, IMO. It may explain why the threads and posts here are much longer (a la PhD) than in TA. Both forums have their own cast of individuals with their quirks and biases. Some TA destination experts (DE) love to regurgitate or repeat their encyclopedic knowledge on some topics. In the TA Spain forum, the DE make a point of scolding every poster who fails to say please and thank you in their post.
I would assume there are travel forums in Europe, but I have neither the skill nor the inclination to search in different languages e.g Portuguese, Dutch, Swedish, Polish, etc. A google search in English already gives me gobs of info that I rarely go beyond the first page of the search. TA and RS are great starting points. From there, it starts to get pretty repetitive.
Years ago there was the SlowTrav site.
It is now SlowEurope, and run by a lovely English lady called Pauline.
The people there are really nice too!
Lots of info about European travel.
@S J: thanks for posting about Slow Europe. I used to read trip reports there back in the day. I will give it another look.
LP Thorn Tree was a great resource for low budget backpack travel, but s previously mentioned bit the dust.
So there must be travel books for sale in Europe the equivalent of RS, Fodors, Lonely Planet etc, right? Is there one big one or each country has their own publisher and publish their own books? The scale of sales makes a difference to what is available. I used to see many different language versions of Baedekers back in the day.
Some years ago a German was sitting next to me on Amtrak reading a guide to Maine and was focusing on where to get the “best” pancakes. So yes there is very much a RS kind of world in other languages.
There is a wall of travel books and guides in the large bookstores in Germany.
For those who put down TA, it is available in many languages, not just English. I am not talking about just a translation of the English language forums. Yes, people from other countries use it.
Here is a link to the forums on the (French) Guide Routard site:
https://www.routard.com/forums/tag/carnet-de-voyage
I have no idea if they are any good or how active they are !
Ms.Jo, I had no idea TA was available in other languages as a separate format. Not that I can read them, but I just really like that idea.
