Geez.

I've held my tongue as long as I could at all the Rick bashing. While I agree his tours are more expensive than doing it yourself, not everyone enjoys the research and planning. I have not taken an ETBD tour, but Rick's books and shows have taken me to many places I never knew existed (Varenna, Vernazza, he even mentioned Lucca on a progam and this was my home base for a week). He readily admits that his travel books are opinionated. Rick is not perfect, but he deserves a lot of credit for educating travellers.

So what's wrong with eating a McDonalds or a Burger King? You are in the culture of the country. In Rome you could not hardy get in the McDonalds at the Spanish steps. Let's get off the high horses folks. Everyone spends their money and time to suit themselve. Rick Steves has done a great job in openning up the world to travel. Without him, frommer, fodors,and the rest we might not have the resourses or the bug to travel.

Wow! for 3 years now this thread has ran. I gotta weigh in. I too have taken ETBD tours. I get so mad at people on this board that think unless you are compeletely independent and on your own, you're not a traveler. Bull! I wouldn'travel with any other company, and I may not take one of ETBD's tours again, but only 'cause I know where I want to go back to not because I was dissatisfied. Traveling alone is invigorating, but its also nice to have the company of people a tour offers and frankly its nice to have someone else sweat the details. ETBD tours include cities, but also wonderful small towns with locals I may not have met otherwise. Best of all they are small and never have I felt herded or had to follow somone's colorful umbrella to keep up.

In defense of Rick Steves, he is on the road 100+ days per year. You can't fault him for having a craving once in awhile. My question is, with all the problems that England has had with Mad Cow Disease, why would he want to eat at Burger King?