Thanks all! I hope I followed your advice. I can get too detail oriented sometimes. Especially reliving a great trip. I have read some reports that I loved and others I could barely look at. I just want to return all the help I got here.

I have to take one of my comments back. I did say that I didn’t want to hear about the onions in that little tasty dish. I finally found SharonG’s trip reports (I searched for them for several months). She went on and on about food. She could have written ten more pages and I think I would have been asking for more. I have not finished Part I, and I can’t stop laughing. Yes, humor is very important.

What I like best is specific tips that I might be able to use. Names of hotels and their websites. Train and bus information. Like that.

I never write and rarely read trip reports, since my feeling is everyone is looking for something so different from their travels. What I like to do best (sit around drinking wine in cafes) is most likely not of interest to anyone else -LOL.

I am an active poster here but mostly I reply to questions when I can help with the name of a hotel I liked alot, or logistics of transportation in a certain city or area, a special insider tip about local festivals or markets.

keb, another way to return the favor (in addition to a trip report) is to continue to read and post on Fodors even when you're not planning a trip.

I am admittedly a trip report freak. I love them all but am partial to those written about Germany, Austria and Switzerland - the places that I most enjoy visiting. Some may be a little long and at times boring with a bit too much detail but I can usually extract some tips and recommendations to assist me with my own trip planning. It's almost always a pleasure to ride along with the writer and enjoy a trip through someone else's excitement. I know trip reports might not be as enjoyable to some as they are to me but I also know there are other travelers out there who appreciate someone taking the time to share their adventures.

I especially enjoy photos, links, hotel and restaurant reviews, day trip recommendations, etc. I take a few notes as I am traveling (as I'm sure many of you do) to keep my thoughts in order as I put a report together later. And the older I get the more I forget so I really have to take notes. :-)

For those of you who might be vacationing in Germany, Austria or Switzerland this year and are considering writing a trip report - in addition to posting it to Fodors - I offer my webpages as a means of publishing your journal along with your pictures. Anyone interested need only to drop me a note ([email protected]). I think it's a great way to share your trip with friends, relatives and other travelers. All they have to do is click on a link to your pages... Ben http://www.bensbauernhof.com/tripreports.html

I don't know if anyone's mentioned it yet, but it would be nice if trip reports are not posted until they are completed. I think this is why they are sometimes segmented into different threads...which makes it impossible to follow.

Also, we should wait until they have finished posting their reports before commenting/asking questions. This interrupts the flow of the report and makes it difficult to follow as well.

I definitely agree with posting the report into paragraphs and giving as many details as possible without boring the reader. It helps to get all of your thoughts together regarding your report soon after your trip. I save my receipts too to help me remember what I've purchased and when.

Having written several reports, my feeling is that having comments and questions after each part is helpful to the writer and reader. (Of course, all parts should be posted on the original thread.)

Reading a solid 5 page report sometimes makes my eyes glaze and my mind wander. ((R))

I appreciate specific recommendations, and in my New Zealand report I used a numbers rating system to try to help others in their planning. ((F))

I really appreciate the comments and questions when I am writing a report. They encourage me to keep going. If I don't know anyone is enjoying reading the report, it is hard to justify continuing.

Posting as you go is also a way to extend the shelf life of the thread. I have posted reports all at once, and by the next day they are gone. The ones that attract the most interest are the ones that continue over several days.