RICK RULES! I never use any book but his and follow them to the letter. I stay in his hotels and eat in his cafes. I follow TO THE LETTER his walks and sightseeing trips. He KNOWS ALL there is know and I do not need anything else. I love Rick and I love his books. My goal is to take one of his tours one of these days. Oh that would be like I done died and gone to heaven.........

FYI, my small college is doing a Europe Travel course this fall, and we're using Rick's guide as our main text, with some adaptations. These are college students, and of course are less affluent than Rick. Consequently, we have an element on sleeping on a shirt to press it, when irons are in short supply. How to spit shine a desert boot. Khakis, both day and night causal. Back pack, the perfect accessory. Neck extension at approaching tunnels. Fluency in hand and finger gestures, all languages. Eating standing up. Ditching the little woman and kiddies while going in search of adventure. Getting a good night's sleep with nuns and monks. Handling rain - looking for the tour guide umbrella of tour groups.

Well Jack56 isn't that special, but what does it have to do with learning a 2nd language for travels in Europe. <BR><BR>Is Quebec now a part of Canada, to be ocnsidered when calculating the French speakers in Europe?<BR><BR>I know they wanted to separate, but...<BR><BR>US

"Eleven Trips", it's not a matter of my not *thinking* that a person doesn't have to fluently speak a European language in order to have a wonderful time in Europe. I *know* that, from experience. <BR><BR>I'm not asserting, nor arguing with you, that speaking another language fluently does not enhance a trip. I'm sure it does. I'm sure it does, as you put it, "open doors you can't imagine." (While not fluent in it, I do speak German and loved conversing in German as best I could the two times I visited Germany and the one time I visited Austria & Switzerland.) <BR><BR>My point -- and, I believe, the point Steves might make -- is that one does not *have* to be fluent in a European lanugage in order to have a wonderful vacation in Europe.

I agree with Capo that it is not necessary to speak a 2nd (or 3rd) language to have a wonderful vacation in Europe.<BR><BR>This discussion began over Rick Steves. To my mind someone who has made his living off of traveling and giving travel advice to others for over 25 years, might have taken the time to learn more (or at least not brag about this lack... as Rick does).

Let me swin upstream: I arrive in NYC, I speaka no english, I gonna have a swell time. Who cares what Rick says - he speaks nothing, so he tells one and all they need to speak nothing. Come on, lets get serious on this so-called travel site - it really helps to try to speak some of the language - and you can do it if you give it a try - instead of accepting all those bland assurances that you can go to Paris, Rome, you name it, and do it all with sign language and grunts. Get serious!!! Anyone who travels and functions beyond the Stupid Tourist Level will tell you it really makes all the difference if you speak the language, even a little bit. It adds immeasurably to your trip. So, yes it may not be PC, but lets not just so easily accept the dumbing down of travel, especially by the lower class-meister doctoro rick-o. If Rick says you don't need the language, run, don't walk, and get some language training. Or else you're gonna be pointing our pizza slice and eating standing up. Ummm, me take that one, uh, eat here! Grazieolo, hombre.

Obviously all of you Rick Steve detractors have never read any of his books because otherwise you would know that he is quite emphatic about speaking some of the local languages, at least some useful phrases and includes some of these in all his books. If you took the time to really read them instead of sitting there thinking about your next wise ass remark and trying to outdo each other knocking him, you would know that. FYI - he makes it possible for some people, we're not all rich, to be able to travel to Europe. If I had not read his books or watched his show, I would have never discovered that I too could go to Europe and experience the wonders there, even on a budget.

Well, xxx:<BR><BR>Welcome to the world of publishing! Do you really really think that Rick Steves is responsible for the vocabulary/language hints in his book? HAH HAH HAH HAH HA !! <BR><BR>Rick Steves could publish a guidebook to Albania without knowing a word of Albanian (he could do the same for Germany, and I think he has). HE doesn't WRITE those parts of the book - WHAT are you thinking? He HIRES an ALBANIAN/GERMAN, whatever to do that for him, and it all gets incorporated into the books by the editors, and then it all gets sent to an indexer who indexes it....YIKES! Do you think he is sitting with a laptop turning out these books with his OWN knowledge? You ARE naive!!! Frighteningly so.<BR>And if indeed he preaches that you should try to speak the local language (I wouldn't know - I last looked at one of his books in 1998 and practically threw up), then he sure as hell doesn't practice what he preaches.<BR>

Well who the hell cares if you don't think he practices what he preaches, although I bet he speaks more languages than he admits to the public and probably you yyy. The point is, he advises in his books and show that it is best to speak some of the language of the country you are visiting. How many other guidebook authors do you think speak every language of every country they write about? I think the point he is trying to make is..... hello .... you don't HAVE to speak fluent Italian, you can learn a few basics, a few phrases and yes, you can still go to Italy, stay at budget hotels, eat picnic lunches, eat in family trattorias and yet stand next to a couple in St. Peters, or the Sistine Chapel, who are staying at the most expensive hotel in Rome, eating at the best restaurant and still experience the same experience they are. I am not naive, just very grateful that his books and show inspired me to see that it was possible for a person on a limited budget to enjoy the same "sights" as anyone. For that I am grateful to him. Hey, I bet the authors of Fodor's guidebooks don't look like someone out of GQ or Elle and I bet they don't speak fluent Italian, French, Spanish.............

I just looked at my Steves' Italy book and he notes, correctly, that while many Italians in larger towns and the tourist trade speak some English, one will also get more "smiles and results" by using at least Italian pleasantries. <BR><BR>Well said, xxxx.<BR><BR>yyy, since Steves' provoked such a strong response in your stomach, you might want to keep one of his books handy in case you ever swallow any poison.

Lord Almighty. Rick's a guy making a buck doing what none of us can do - travel full-time and make a living doing it. If he's helpful, fine, if not, don't buy his books, videos, etc. Whether people make their living sticking their head out the windows of trains, choking on pretzels in the White House, or making three million dollars a year sitting on the bench in an arena, stadium or ballfield - who cares. Wonder what would happen if all this brain power was put to doing something useful.

<BR><BR>Those who can, write and sell travel guides. <BR><BR>Those who can't, whine about those who can.

Bravo xxx!!!<BR><BR>US

Ah ha, we're back to platitudes once again! Bottomline, xxxx, Rick doesn't prepare one to think, only to skim the surface. It's the old "It's Tuesday, it must be Belgium" syndrone. Rick is always on the move, out of the nunnery before daylight, standing and eating (his schedule seems to have preemtped bathroom breaks!), sightseeing to the most remote crevasses of ruins and old buildings, and then back for some more finger pointing, grunts, munching on his feet.<BR><BR>Now when he does sit down, it's always with some group of locals who seem intimidated enough by the video to let Rick-o horn in, where he promptly starts announcing toasts and swinging around whatever local stuff he happens upon, usually by expropriating what the said locals were enjoying alone before he suddenly appeared.<BR><BR>And for this, he gets rich! Look, lets get a campaign started to clean him up - throw out that shirt and khakis, get some loafers from Saks, try a new do, switch to some glasses that make a fashion statement, and discard that damned slide rule. And oh, oh, oh, do away with that fanny pack and knap sack. Get a cellphone and couple it to your ear. It's the new age, Rick-o, do join up! It's time to upgrade your act to the civilized level.

The 50 most widely spoken languages in the world: http://www.infoplease.com/ipa/A0774735.html

RandR: <BR><BR>Mr. Steves, I grant, is no astrophysicist, and I must here confess that neither am I, though I have my moments when I can be persuaded. : - ) However, those who actually are astrophysicists have arguably gained recognition as ‘thinkers’, if only by their respective universities. Yet do such thinkers dismiss us hoi polloi’s clumsy, If this is Tuesday This Must Be Mars attempts to study their subject? I don’t know what Stephen Hawking really thinks, but I have heard him at least make comments to the effect that the more he himself learns about the universe (let alone Europe), the more he realizes how much he doesn’t know; he seems to recognize that compared to the ocean of knowledge and potential experiences out there, we’re all doomed to be ‘skimmers.’ In other words, RnR, it may be meaningless to speak of anyone having a truly ‘in-depth’ experience or knowledge, whether in astronomy or travel or anything else. <BR><BR>I’ve also heard about great thinkers whose access to ‘quality’ educational experiences wasn’t what they would have liked: for example, one of the world’s most outstanding statisticians was an impoverished, self-taught man from India with nothing more than an If This is Tuesday, This Must be Student’s t Test level of formal education. This tells me that even if Mr. Steves doesn’t, in your view, promote ‘quality’ experiences, this doesn’t rule out his books being useful thinking tools in the hands of the motivated. Even if some people, including me, find plenty of fault with him.

Sue, I must thank you for a different take on the issue of Rick-o, it was most interesting, and I enjoyed your thoughts. I would only say that my basic issue with Rick (and I have watched him on TV many times, usually when I've erred and I'm inflicting some much needed self punishment) is that he is soooooo dumb and pedestrian about travel. He reduces all of it to a damned formula! I don't care if he does sell books, or makes money, or that many find him useful. I see that image on the small screen, I hear that drone, those steps to travel, and I look for a bag. I just visualize travel as romantic, a wonder!! Rick and I are of two different schools. He takes all the wonder out of it, he invests none of it with elegance or style. It is just a dumbing down, the least common denominator approach to travel, and so formulaic. Can't you just see Rick's mom - she loves him to death, is amazed at all his success - but would love to get those clothes and burn them real quick, just like when he was a kid (like now) and wore the same thing to school every day. Frugality might have been necessary then, but all of you say he makes money now. Now he has no excuse. I see Rick, I think of travel in a green shiirt, rumpled khakis, and unshined desert boots. I refuse to travel that way, thus RS and I will never share the same road.

When we were going to do our 2nd trip to Europe I went to the bookstore for hours and scanned the multitudes of books on travel. There are those for the 5* group (want luxury, location, amenities, price is not questioned - this is a splurge or money is not aproblem. There are those for either unlimited time or concentrations on one location. There are also those for the extremely budget conscious who plan to pack back through Europe. There are beautiful books and museum books. Then there is Rick. We have used him twice, probably because it is middle of the road (hostel to 3*),opinionated ( he tells you why and you make the call) and provides basic outlines of potential venues to travel. If you want to do worldwind tour of Europe in 3 weeks, it is there, but if you want one week in a location you start with his must sees and add your own. There is information on rental cars, laundry, remembering to take crackers to the wine tasting in Beaune! You do the embelishment, use other books, this web site, etc. Example we are planning to go next year and are working in a game of golf in Normandie. He provides tools, web sites and the knowledge that you too can plan a trip.<BR><BR>We did Australia in 2000 without Rick and he was missed! Oh I dit it on my own with the internet but I missed some of his opinions on what we could have skipped since we were limited to 3 weeks.<BR>Research is the best friend of the traveler, Ricks books augment this not replace it.

&lt;&lt;remember to take crackers to the wine tasting in Beaune..&gt;&gt;<BR><BR>Can you enlighten us, Mary Ann?

Some of you think you are so clever and superior to Rick, let's see what you would come up with as a guide! <BR>He has turned his enthusiasm for travel into a whole industry and I say good for him!<BR>If you detractors can do better, go ahead, show us what you've got. So far in your posts I see nothing special.