Trip Reports- By Country/City; Where are they??? Does this site need this?

I agree Nancy. One of the most asked questions on this site is "Review My Itinerary." It would be helpful to hear about itineraries that worked and those that didn't work (too much distance between destinations, etc.) That info comes best from someone who has planned and made the trip.

...not to mention all the "What should I wear?" posts...

Sharon- I'm a few days away from a "review my itin." post (we're a month out now) and that's when I seriously went looking for others itin.'s/tips...nowhere. I found it sad that I can find a million trip reports for our one day at Disneyland Paris (other site), but none here even for Paris (except the 1pg. suggested 5-7 day itin. in RS book that even comes close to our needs). I know everyone can spend different amounts of time in museums/sites (I know my kids won't last the half day+ I spent at the Orsay on my solo trip; ex-art teacher), but it would be wonderful to see what others have done, with family, without, etc.!

Tom- I agree, and as we keep seeing over and over here, different countries/cities have different ways/expectations of dressing. Wouldn't it be nice to see that also in Trip Reports by Country/City? I could tell you what I wore, how it worked out, and what I saw the locals wearing...wouldn't that be nice to know all in one place?

You've read my mind, Nancy! I just sent the RS webmaster a similar request to add a "trip report" section. Perhaps this topic will also spur them on.

Maybe more people should send requests such as CL's; sort of a petition for a Trip Reports section :)

SHARE YOUR FEEDBACK in the Graffiti Wall section titled Rick Steves' Guidebooks is a good place to start. The feedback is organized by book title.

I just sent a note to the Webmaster as suggested. I have used the feedback form (by book) in the past, both to give updates to the book and to gather information. I like that I can just look at Paris restaurants for instance and see what people are saying, but the feedback section looks to be mainly an update section for the books (which is fine); changes, what restaurants RS should keep in/not. My problem is that there's nowhere to add an itinerary/trip report and how it went. I know someone here has done a trip recently with a family for a week/10 days in Paris. Wouldn't it be great for me to see what they did and what worked/didn't, and I could ask questions if needed. Just a thought...

I too have written to the webmaster. I am leaving for Europe in 6 weeks and it would have been wonderful to have those to look at.

Great suggestion, Nancy. Would love to have updated info trip reports by city/country. Currently, I try to capture info from the various sites and keep in Word Document, but trip report column would be specific and terrific. I, too, have contacted the webmaster.

Nancy,
Great point you make about adding to the site. Have you ever visited travelpod.com? It's a site for people to post their travel blogs and you can get a look at those who are currently traveling in europe or recently completed a trip and see their blog (narrowed down to a specific city/country of your choosing). While not 100% what you are looking for, as some them end up just being long rambles, I do find the occasional blog on there that opens me to a site or doing something I hadn't considered for our trip.

I agree! I am looking for Paris tips right now, as we leave in 3 weeks, so am scanning the helpline every night looking for anyones questions so I can just read answers (a lot of time you don't think of the Q until someone else asks it!).

Janna: Use the search box upper right corner to search for prior discussion topics: 90% of what is here can only be found that way. If you search on "paris" you can a large # of hits just from the Helpline, and also from other parts of this website.

I love your idea. Maybe it could be just single posts, without the discussion option. The people could post their "trip summary" under the appropriate destination and others could check it out. That way it wouldn't take up as much space.

All good thoughts! Michael, loved that TravelPod site. I could even search Rick Steves Historic Paris Walk and actually got a hit. Very nicely laid out with maps, etc. I'm such a RS's fan, I just wish we could capture info. from people using the books, tours, walks here.

Kent, I'd just say that the "search" function of this site could be improved. It's hard to sort by date and relevance compared to other sites and doesn't allow much narrowing by variables such as message board or author name. For that reason, I'm slow to advise people to just search on the topic they're interested in.

My impression is that the ETBD folks created the "Helpline" to divert a lot of us from the Graffitti Wall and they largely leave us on our own.

I think a "trip reports" section would be a great addition, but would be surprised if they saw the economic return for supporting it.

I think the idea is a good one. I know I've offered help to places I've been and have asked several questions for my upcoming trip (2 weeks - YIPPEE!!) and it would be nice to see how things worked or didn't for people. And I'm sure you're all excited to see how my trip to Dublin/Amsterdam goes =)

Thanks for the info on Travelpod - what a cool site! I joined too! Great - another place to hang out online!

I received my response from Webmaster also.

Doug- Couldn't agree more. I find the search function so impossible to use here that I don't usually bother anymore unless it's so important to me that I'm willing to wade through 1000 bits of info. just to find the answer to my question. And it's a shame the Graffiti wall gets used so little...lots of bits of info. here that never get posted there.