Trip in the Wayback Machine to Rick Steves' early website

Super cool! Thank you!!!

Fun! Laughing that they had a special forum for "Hedonism".

Looking at early posts - first thing that jumps out at me (other than how ugly everything was back then)...

OMG, they exposed every users' email address, and they are STILL exposed on the wayback version!

That explains all the spam...

Wow, super cool! I remember the early days of the internet, your right, it was so amazing!

David, I noticed that, too - in fact, I found my old email address in there. Luckily it was an AOL account that has been dead and buried for 18 years. :)

What a hoot-thanks!

And yes I remember the ugliness of those early webpages. Back in the day, I was a member of an X-Files fan club and the design is still burned into my brain. Not to mention the user unfriendliness.

And yes, I did use Cyber cafes from the 2001 until about 2008 in Europe. I still remember the French keyboards.

Edited to note the use of travelers checks was still in vogue in 1999.

Traveler's Checks
Carry your money in traveler's checks. Yes, in ten years ATMs and credit cards will have driven traveler's checks into extinction. But, for now, smart travelers still use traveler's checks. These checks function almost like cash but are replaceable if lost or stolen. Before you buy your checks, choose the best company, currency, and mix of denominations.

Thanks for this attempt to lighten a heavy day.

Such fun to time travel back to when … thank you! And I second above posters note in appreciation of the lightness on a difficult day, thank you for the escape this has provided.

I was using cyber cafes on a Japan trip back in the day, things were slightly askew on the keyboard and if you accidentally pushed one little key, everything changed over to kanji! Had to ask for help with that one, but my emails to my wife ended up being my tour diary.

Those cyber cafes were sometimes hard to find and I would jump for joy when I tracked one down. Internet in most hotels back then was pretty hit or miss so the cyber cafes were the only way you could get online.

Thanks so much for trip into the before times. I just read the Cafeteria thread and most of the advice is still current!!!

It was a different demographic then I think, by and large.

Oh, I missed that one, Nigel -- I will have to check it out!

That’s certainly an interesting time-travel experience - or maybe that should be Travel Time Travel. Back then, Rick was asking the questions, for contributors to answer. “Threads” took months to acquire a couple dozen responses. There wasn’t any “score” showing how many responses people had made.

Under the Tourist Traps box, the London Dungeon and Neuschwanstein got a lot of mentions, mostly bad, but a few supportive as worthwhile. Now, 20 years later, they’re still drawing tons of visitors.

Demographics seem to have been a bit different then. Not so many people taking long trips - so many of us were still working m, with more limited vacation allowances. And traveling inexpensively was a given - questions about premium airplane seats and deluxe accommodations weren’t on the agenda.

Oh man. I can remember researching my first Europe trip (Italy 2000) at the public library using their internet because my internet was so slow, and reading Rick’s books on microfiche. How times have changed!

I think it would be interesting to hear Rick talk about how the business has changed since his early days. I'm glad he did not just stick to the original business model, but changed to adapt to his customer base.

I once owned a 1997 ed. ETBD book. No idea what happened to it. I do remember following Rick’s tips on packing and logistics, but disregarding his seemingly out-of-date financial advice. I had stopped using travelers checks well before then. It was irritating to waste precious vacation time in long bank lines and losing 10% on an exchange. In 1991, one could use Visa/MC at ATMs or inside banks to get local cash. Also, the Cirrus and Plus ATM neworks were growing rapidly and were widespread by '94/95. That made t. checks obsolete in my opinion.

I remember some of his earlier ('80s) books - 'Europe in 22 Days", etc. Yes, lots of good advice on couch surfing, travel buddies, and poaching food off cafeteria trays. So, the progress from post-college budget travel to a more adult engagement with places, mirrors what a lot of us have gone through as well. Other travel guide companies seem not to have changed their perspectives.

There are still a few cyber cafes in Paris.

Oh, those cyber cafes. I got busted once for trying to upload photos to my then-blog. You had to ask permission first and were limited to 2-3 photos. I didn't see the note and uploaded about 10-15. The owner came flying over and started yelling at me in Turkish.