Dear Rick Steves'
I just returned from an amazing trip to Turkey. I loved your book on Istanbul, but based on my month in Turkey, and asking everyone about you, I feel you touched only the surface when you visited. I spoke to many people/proprietors during my visit and they acknowledged your "brief" visit with them. Among them the horse farm where you had tea and left. I had faith in you as a reliable source of true life travel info. Based on my travels which were extensive and included your "recommendations" when I learned that you had spent less than a few hours with them, I was disappointed, saddened, and ultimately crushed to know that you really didn't really spend any time visiting the places you claimed to recommend. So I call false advertising on you and am really very saddened, as I had put my faith in you based on all that I saw and read on your site.
Posted by
Corsicana, Texas, USA
354 posts
On page 4 of the Rick Steves' "Istanbul" guidebook, Rick explains the situation. Even though he had visited Istanbul many times as a traveler, he decided to let Lale and Tankut Aran (natives of Istanbul) actually write this particular guidebook. Rick then spent a whirlwind week checking out all of their recommendations. Since this arrangement is clearly explained at the beginning of the book, it is unlikely that Rick Steves is trying to deceive anyone.
Posted by
Seattle, USA
990 posts
The previous poster said it all: Rick can't be everywhere that his guidebooks cover, so he relies on a small team of assistants with specific expertise in the country in question. The Istanbul book in particular benefits from that local touch. But if you were disappointed by any of the guidebook's recommendations, you might want to leave a note on the website in the Guidebook Feedback area. Many of us check there to see what visitors have to say about their experiences, good and bad, with the guidebook recommendations.
Posted by
Danville, VT
12040 posts
And by the way, you're talking to members of the traveling public here, not Mr. Steves. I give the guy credit that at least his guidebooks receive real and thorough updates every year, which even for the relatively small number of locations his books cover, isn't an easy task. In contrast, I sometimes think Lonely Planet simply throws a new cover on their books every year without even proof-reading. For example, one of their 2010 books I have contains a note that a certain museum is scheduled to undergo construction... sometime in 2007!