We are planning a two week trip the first two weeks of September 200l. This will be our first organized tour to Europe. We have been there numerous times before on our own. <BR> <BR>I have always been impressed with Europe Through The Back Door's style for traveling. Have you been on any of his tours? What were your experiences? Any thoughts would be appreciated. We are getting ready to send in our deposit. Thanks.

Peg, I have always regarded Rick as my <BR>mentor and the inspiration for my passion for European independent travel. <BR>He is my hero ! But, I must admit I find <BR>his tours to be overpriced. It is a real <BR>paradox to me---the champion of value <BR>travel and the advocate of back-door <BR>destinations herds a bunch of people on <BR>a big bus and charges them too much. <BR>I have planned more than 50 customized <BR>itineraries to Europe and you can plan <BR>your own version of his tours for 70% <BR>of his pricing. I am afraid that my hero has gone " hollywood" on us. Given <BR>the strength of the dollar now you can do a nice itinerary for less.

I must say that to do an organized tour after travelling numerous times on your own can only be called masocistic! Tours are great as a first time trip to help you get orientated, etc. But I think as an experienced traveller, you will grow to resent the babysitting and tight schedules. RED FLAG here... I suggest you rethink the idea or book one of the "on your own" tours, where your hotels and some sightseeing is included. Just my thoughts! Hope it helps!

Peg, I'm sure you already have visited his website, but just in case........ <BR> <BR>www.ricksteves.com

Ha! We just had the same "hmm--this looks pretty good" experience at Steve's website and I emailed Bob the Navigator for his opinion before doing this search and seeing his response! What was appealing was that there seems to be a great deal of "on-your-own" time. At the quoted prices, I was wondering about the hotels and restaurants used. It looks like it is a bit early to book open-jawed flight plans which make the itinerary most do-able, whether we'd take the RS tour or get help from Bob or our local Fodor group to plan our own (which is where I'm leaning now). Our trip will be in May 2001, for about 20 days. Since it covers so much of Italy, I think we'll later be able to come back for longer vacations in places we know we want more of...

Peg, <BR>RS also offers "Bed & Breakfast" tours that follow the same itinerary as his full-blast tours, just without the group activities and about $300-400 less. I believe they still include the bus and hotel, just not all the group excursions to museums, etc. I've never been on any of his tours, so I can't offer any insight, except that I've found I can do just about any itinerary he offers for quite a bit less. I guess the question to ask is "is it worth paying $500-700 more to have someone else take care of the logistics of touring?" <BR>There are several other tour companies that follow his philosophy...take a look at UnTours www.untours.com <BR>Bon Voyage! <BR>Beavis