StCirq--About the crackers in Beaune, the place Rick suggests is a wine tasting place (I forget the name) and he did not want anyone to go there and drink on an empty stomach. A good suggestion because there were about 15 wines to taste! I planned the trip to that area and followed Ricks suggestion for day trips which took us to areas we never would have gone to. Also he suggested a Castle (really a stately home as they call them in Britain) and it was outstanding.<BR><BR>Also StCirq, I know that you are familiar with the Perigord region of France. I find myself taking an Elderhostel trip there in September which will also include the Bordeaux area. Most things are planned for us but do you have a brief list of things not to be missed? Thanks

Our family has used the Rick Steve's guides for several trips...in conjunction with other guides. We take the parts we like from each. No one guide will be perfect for each traveler each time...so use what you can and ignore the rest. Common sense. One thing most people probably do not realize is that in Edmonds, WA where his office is, they have a wonderful little reading room where you can go in and relax and read many different travel guides written by many different people. All for use for free. That is a service that we appreciate. I think his best advice for almost any city is to wander around, get lost, and enjoy what you come upon.

Thanks for the explanation, Margo. Makes sense to me.<BR><BR>I have a file on Bordeaux I'd be glad to share with you if you want to me-mail me. And if you can tell me where "in the Bordeaux area" you'll be, I'll be happy to make some suggestions for things to be sure to see.

And I, RnR, must thank you for taking my response with such grace and good humour. I was much relieved, because this is one of those risky threads where I can only too easily crash through the undergrowth of others’sensibilities in the course of pursuing my point. No, you don’t have to tell me that my gift for literary metaphor is about as profound as my grasp of astrophysics. : - ) <BR><BR>It sounds like you are the kind of person that can whip up the travel equivalent of a gourmet dinner for 12 with a box of Kraft dinner, 3 artichokes, and a can of sardines. I’m afraid, however, that you have never seen me conduct a full frontal assault on a kitchen. True, I have graduated to doing variations on the travel equivalent of basic white sauce, but unlike you I still need the recipe, the formula, whatever, if I am to inflict minimal damage on my companion, who is foolish enough to trust me to make the arrangements. As for Mr. Steves’ financial success, this has no bearing on me, his reader: I have not yet managed to finance the lifestyle to which I would very much like to become accustomed. : - ) <BR>

Re: "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."<BR><BR>Ah, I see, RnR, your issue is that you're aghast at people who choose to be frugal, or travel on a budget, aren't you? Your logic, such as it is, is that when one has money, one has "no excuse" to be frugal. If one can afford to stay in a five star hotel and eat in Michelin-starred restaurants then, by God, one has "no excuse" for choosing to stay in a one-star hotel or eating in simple, inexpensive restaurants.

I feel like such an idiot - I spend hours at the library, pouring through every guidebook on the subject country (just did it two weeks ago for our trip to Portugal), and pulling from each vital bits of information. I scour the internet, and write to tourist bureaux for brochures and maps. I could save sooo much time if I just picked one book and followed it like a Bible!<BR><BR>I've never found one guidebook that did it all. Rick Steves' books lay out good itineraries, open for modification for each traveler. Michelin guides have lots of specific information on specific sites/sights, but you have to know where you're going first (they also lay out pretty good itineraries). Frommers, Fodors, Baedeker have good hotel and restaurant recos, and opening times of museums, etc. The hotels tend to be geared toward the average tourist, but nothing particularly unique. Let's Go guides are budget-oriented, so the hotels are pretty basic and the restaurants low-key. Lonely Planet had the only guidebook on Morocco that was really in-depth, but they have a 'tude that sort of turns me off.<BR><BR>If one guidebook does all of it for you, more power to you. If it doesn't, there's no sin in pulling from it what you need, and using others the same way.<BR><BR>I think Rick Steves has done an admirable job encouraging people to travel; letting them know that you don't have to multi-lingual nor exceptionally wealthy to travel to the places of your dreams. If eating at a cafeteria or buying picnic food means you can see Pompeii or hear a choir at Notre Dame, then I'm not sure I see the harm in that.

Elvira, I think most people here agree with you, but we’re coming at it from different angles, so it only appears like we’re talking about different things.<BR><BR>For instance, as you no doubt know, what is referred to as ‘the’ Bible consists of 66 books, not just one. As in religion, so in travel. That someone preferentially refers to a particular book or books might, I suppose, reflect insecurity and/oror fanatical zeal; then again, it might indicate only that, their personal preference. <BR>