I just signed up for my 2016 RS tour.
Does any one know if they still give out tour patches? Or have RS tour patches gone by the wayside?
EDIT: Monday April 4th. My patch came in the mail today with my RS confirmation letter. I can never wait quite long enough to ask a question.
The patches live on! The image on 2016's is il Duomo in Florence.
Yes! I think our goal should be to do one tour a year......our first was 2015 and now we have 2016 to add.
Question.....what does one do with the patches? Would I be the cool kid in school if I sewed it to my jean jacket? I guess I could make a shadowbox of each trip and include the patch in that....just was wondering what everyone else does with theirs?
Actually, could be an interesting post if you changed the name to: What do you do with your tour patches? LOL After we ignore the "I don't do anything with them because I'm too cool to have ever taken a Rick Steves Tour" posts, it would be good to know what people actually do with them. First, do you sew them on or iron them on? I have 6 or 7 and so far, they are collecting dust in a drawer.....but I wouldn't mind putting them on something like a backpack or ???? I'd like to know if people have good ideas.
Thanks for the update that one will be coming my way.
I just did what Rick suggested (in the welcome letter of some other notice or posting) and I have had them stiched onto my Rick Steves back pack.
In 2011 (and only in 2011) part of the tour welcome kit included a small lightweight pack pack. I have used it for my RS tours ever since. So for me it seemed liked the place to attach the patches.
In my various travels I have seen this done a couple of times by people I have run into. The shadowbox sounds like a good idea also.
I have 13 patches for 13 tours in 14 years and just received #14. I keep them together with all my RS tour collection and have debated just what to do with the individual patches. I prefer not to put them onto anything I would be wearing or carrying so I guess that limits me to make some kind of a mini-poster or wall hanging. Something to look forward to when we run out of RS tours we want to take.
If someone is an excellent quilter (I'm at Quilting 101 level!), I can imagine a beautiful quilt incorporating the patches with possibly some memorable fabrics or designs included - possibly a map of Europe with the patches or a curving path with the years & patches.
Jean, what a great idea! A friend buys fabric in every country she visits and makes a quilt every couple of years. I think she's done some tours, but I haven't seen patches on them.
Quilt, backpack....all lovely ideas! Keep them coming and I will keep coming up with tours we want to do! I can't imagine we will ever be left with a lack of tours, heck, I've got the next 4 or 5 planned out right now!
I made (paper) scrapbooks and glue the patches onto the paper with my photos and put them in my scrapbook. I love the patches!
I have two from one year and think about attaching one to my lightweight RS Backpack as (in part) a means of identification.
We took our only Rick Steves tour (Best of Paris) last year. One of the group members took a wonderful portrait of the three of us - wife, son and myself - and Rebecca, our fabulous tour guide. For Christmas, I framed an 8x10 copy of the photo along with the patch. It brings back our great memories of the tour every time we see it. I also scanned a copy of the patch and included it in a Shutterfly photo book of our trip.
I've not been on a RS tour but I have taken tours with another organization that gives patches to tour participants (I think I have about 10 or 11 of them). I have used them in scrapbooking because I like using 3-D embellishments in my scrapbooks. I also did a bell pull type wall hanging (long and narrow) with a couple of my patches and my collection of lapel pins from all over the world and it hangs on my bedroom door - I love it. On my tours I have seen fellow participants with them sewn on backpacks, jackets, vests, hats, etc. I saw several men wearing those bucket type 'fishing' hats with patches sewn around the crown.
Lovely idea @stoutfella! Mine are still in their tour package envelopes somewhere in the various stacks or boxes of paper and stuff scattered around the house. :)
Earrings? Not my thing, but they should work and hang nicely. I leave for my 5th RS Tour this weekend, weather forecast looks very good for Spain, I must say!
We make ours into Christmas ornaments and have a glass of wine when we decorate the tree and talk about the memories!
Love this question as I have actually been using them. Will be taking trips 9 and 10 this year. Anyway, I have made a picnic kit out of rip=stop nylon with a fold over top. It has a plastic expandable cutting board, sporks and a small table cloth, weighs ounces, I have sewn the patches on the exterior of the pouch. It's surprising how many you can get on the surface with a little serpentine design.
With the duplicate patches I am thinking about coasters??? By the way, picnics are big with the RS Tours.
I sew mine to my Rick Steves backpack. Since i use the backpack for walking and hiking locally it often sparks questions and conversations with other walker/hikers.
My wife has our four, including '16, on her small sling backpack, but is running out of space.
Bill in SoCal, headed to France in two weeks!
We sew ours onto our RS convertible backpacks, along with patches from the places we visit.
I have 11 of them sewn on my backpack. Particulaly when travelling on our own, I am asked: "Have you been on all those tours? Do you know Rick Steves, does he lead the tour? I recognize most of the places on those patches, but who's this Rick Steves guy you are talking about?" This gives me a chance to talk with people with whom I usually wouldn't.
