John Bryan

I loved Eyewitness on my recent Ireland trip....I used about 5 borrowed travel books from a friend who just got back. I took Eye... and enjoyed it. The innkeepers were the best sorce of info.<BR><BR>Re: Venice, I so enjoyed the Rick Steves pub crawl....it was great fun. You can find it and print it out from his web site.

Oaktown Traveler

I too enjoy the Eyewitness Travel guides. I have never taken the lovely and very heavy book with me on any of my travels. I have come up with some best uses if you want to have some fun:<BR>BEST USES FOR EYEWITNESS GUIDES <BR>1) Gifts, I give mine to my mom before we go. She has our itinery and she simply turns the pages and shares our trip with her friends and neighbors day by day.<BR>2) "Eye Candy" for spouse who are not travel addicts but need to get on board.<BR>I "invest" in the ETG for my husband. Its quick and effective.<BR>3) "Clift's Notes". I use the Fodors and Frommers as my basis and leave the ETG as the visual reference especially on long trips covering serveral stops.<BR>4) Food and Drink resource. A picture is worth a thousand words as far as this is concerned.<BR><BR>Feel free to add your own.

Rex

I know I already posted on this thread (early on), but the focus seems to have focused on CARRYing them along on a trip. I always take them. I own a ton of them, and I always function as the library for any group with which I am traveling. This concept might aplly to a "group" as small as a spouse and kids "accompanying the "principal planner" (might be the dad, might be the mom). The eyewitness ghuides are a big help on any trip to "bring up to speed" anyone who has not read or learned much (or even heard of) "the place we're going to go today".<BR><BR>I sometimes take a fodor's or Frommer's, but less often; that kind of info is usually brimming (and freshest) at a tourist office or other local source of info (airports often have very good "booths" for all kinds of info). The Nice/Cote d'Azur airport, for example is a "don't miss" place to collect tons of brochures, pamphlets and even outright books; much of it available in English or "poly-language".<BR><BR><BR>

Susan

I LOVE the Eyewitness Guides. I love the pictures, somehow it is easier for me to figure out what I want to see than with Frommers or Fodors, which has fewer pix. However, I also use Lonely Planet for the details.

Steve the Guide

Thank you very much !!! Ciao. Steve