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To Rick Steves, Please comment on the current state of travel and the refugee crisis in Europe?

For the reason of safety and travel.

This issue is being completely ignored.

To the posters who have way too much money to ignore everything that discomforts them , save your diatribe.

Rick started as a budget traveler, does anyone remember that?

Posted by
8293 posts

Your point escapes me. Are you wanting to launch a discussion? And if so, what is the subject to be discussed?

Posted by
23178 posts

Huh??? Is this a rant or is there a question somewhere???

Posted by
11507 posts

This issue has not been ignored at all it is discussed frequently. Travellers who have actually been in europe recently often contributing.

You sound angry. Probably best to stay home .

My duaghter ( aged19) will be off in 2 months to enjoy three months backpacking around , with my blessing. She will not have a lot of money either! Three months from now ,we will be joining her to meet up for her birthday.

We will be visiting Greece, as well as many other countries that have accepted refugees.

My german sister in law says she feels safe , and she lives there, but its up to you to decide if you wish to look upon cup half full or half empty.

Life goes on.

Be careful driving to work tomorrow , car accidents take lives .

Posted by
4637 posts

I can answer your only question which I can see. Yes, I remember that Rick started as a budget traveler.
The issue of the current state of travel and the refugee crisis is not being completely ignored, the opposite is true. But this theme is politically quite charged and the thread usually ends up deleted by WM.

Posted by
4637 posts

Nancy is absolutely right. This topic is not completely ignored and certainly not on this forum. But search for this topic will not show much. Significant amount of these topics was deleted.

Posted by
12040 posts

This forum is populated by plenty of people who actually live in Europe, are fluent in the local language, and have a great "eyes-on" current events in their countries. Most of them have reported that although the refugee crisis is straining national budgets and patience, it has been all but invisible in most people's daily life. Why would you ignore what they say and instead look to someone who:
a) Doesn't live in Europe
b) Speaks only English fluently
c) Has shown little grasp or interest in the specifics of contemporary European politics, beyond vague platitudes (sorry, Rickniks, it's true).

Rick Steves is a great source of information, but he's a general dabbler, not a specific expert.

Posted by
2261 posts

Welcome to the Travel Forum, Timothy!

From the many discussions that have taken place here, I think that (some) of the general consensus here is as follows, three points in no particular order:

  1. Note injury/death/relative danger statistics in your home city or country, and compare those to the part of Europe you wish to travel to.

  2. For most/many areas that have taken in refugees, you as a tourist will notice little or no change.

  3. By practicing smart travel and "situational awareness" (that's a big one) you have an excellent shot at enjoying your travel unscathed by any refugee or effects of the crisis itself.

"This issue is being completely ignored."

This is simply not true; far from it. As Ilja correctly points out, several threads have been deleted or reduced, since politics and all the rest of this huge topic are not what this Forum is about. Check the blog post linked above for more of a free for all of commentary and views.

"To the posters who have way too much money to ignore everything that discomforts them , save your diatribe."

Welcome to the Travel Forum, Timothy!

"Rick started as a budget traveler, does anyone remember that?"

Yes, I remember, and I appreciate the story of how he got onto European travel.

Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got to get back to managing all my money.

Posted by
11507 posts

Ps there are many other travel forums where the issue is frequently discussed.

Posted by
32171 posts

Timothy,

As others have mentioned, I'm not exactly clear on the purpose of this thread as there doesn't appear to be a clear question. Again as mentioned, this topic has been widely debated on this forum and in many cases the comments go far off topic and the threads are deleted by the Webmaster (therefore there's little point in getting into another spirited discussion in this thread).

One point to mention is that Rick doesn't check the forum often (if ever, AFAIK), so it's not likely you'll get a reply. He has commented on his Blog, which you can read here.....

http://blog.ricksteves.com/blog/2015/10/

Scroll down to the entry "Thoughts on the Refugee Situation in Europe".

Posted by
32519 posts

Timothy,

welcome back. I remember your question about Amsterdam hostels back in September. I guess you haven't been reading along in the Forums since your question?

Have you noticed that all the people answering and discussing questions here are unpaid fellow travelers who have more or less experience in visiting Europe, and who volunteer their knowledge or lack of it here to help each other? Occasionally a staffer pops in but as far as we know Rick Steves - to whom you addressed your post/rant - never stops in here.

You can use the Contact Us buttons at the bottom of the page to send your message to staffers who can be asked to forward your communication to the leader - Rick Steves.

But then your last sentence isn't sound like it was aimed at Rick Steves, but about him.

Could you elaborate, please?

Posted by
14481 posts

One can choose to ignore this topic as immaterial to one's travel plans with the opinion ...so what and not respond to the issue. ..It makes no difference to me how RS travels...his style, his choice, his freedom. I travel mainly budget with a splurge here and there thrown in..depending. My accommodations are hostels, small hotels, Pensionen; in Germany for a single 40 to 45 Euro., no need to have AC, elevator, WiFi, English programming CNN or the like, Of course, I am concerned about safety, was putting together plans for 15 day trip, a 21 day trip, scraped those Plans A and B. The choice is now is a one month trip in the summer, the details of which I'm working on currently. I have confidence in my abilities, especially in Germany, to get out of a situation, detect it, smell it so to speak, and ditch it. As long as refugees aren't to jump me in the street to relieve me of my valuables , such as in SF, that's one situation I need not be too concerned about...safety wise.

Posted by
924 posts

While the original post doesn't particularly conform to certain aspects of our Community Guidelines, I'm leaving this one up due to the quality of the responses that dispel the notions presented as I'm guessing Timothy isn't the only one that may feel this way. Thank you to those who linked to Rick's public responses to the issue. This is also a reminder to keep it respectful from here forward.

Thank you,

RS Webmaster