bob_brown, your name is mentioned in today's New York Times. You made a good point, every recommendation posted on this forum should be rechecked.

Incognito, tell us more please....I am dying to know the details ;-)?

???

Bob Brown who writes for the Times or our bob_brown the Fodorite who may or may not write for the Times?

Bob Brown is mentioned and fodors.com too. So I think this is our Bob Brown
Check today's Tavel section and read "A smooth road can start online" on page 5.
"Travelers with a fair degree of forsight, like Bob brown of Athens, GA, have also found useful information on the message boards of various travel Websites. While planning a late-June road trip from Calgary, Alberta to Vancouver, British Columbia (and back), Mr. Brown followed the advice someone he met through the message boards of Fodors.com "

Then "It is a big help," Mr. Brown said. "But you have to get second and third opinions."

How cool is that ??
Go Bob Brown !

It is me, or to be more grammatical, I am the person quoted. The article is the result of a telephone interview I had one morning with Bob Tedeschi of the NY Times. We talked about a month ago before I went to Canada.

I tried to talk him into doing a similar article on using trains in Europe, and using the various web sites to check schedules, but I am not sure he is thinking that way.

By the way, I have not seen the article myself yet. I need to go look for it.

I posted a brief summary of the trip to Victoria on the Canadian forum.

I read the article. He left out the word Island -- Vancouver Island.
I did not go to the city of Vancouver!
And he somehow did not seem to think that making the ferry reservation and printing the boarding information via Internet was important.
Oh well. At least I got to see my name in print for the first time since I quit writing for publication.

I agree bob_brown about rechecking. You'll see someone posting who puts down a place who has been there only once. The greatest restaurants have off days, be-it food or staff but CONGRATULATIONS<, and keep on writing!

I agree wholeheartedly with the rechecking advice. It's sometimes overwhelming to plan a trip and I think you always need to remember that it's YOUR trip and not let someone talk you out of doing something you want to do based on their biased opinions. These forums are great, but they are certainly no substitute for your own good sense and intuition.

The other Jayne agrees Jayne!! I may do this in reverse order, but I search the WWW including travel sites looking for tips and then post questions about what I've learned on a couple of travel forums I trust--this one being at the top of my list.

Jane 1973, I'm amazed how we, Americans are lemmings, rather than finding our own special places we ask others. I like finding something new, unexpected, it makes our trip different .

just read the article. hooray, bob brown. i used your valuable info the first year i traveled to the southwest to get up the nerve to explore on my own. many other posts helped also.

mentioning fodors forums in the nyt will attract more travelers and more info for us all.

as one of my favorites says, "its a good thing".

Congrats, Bob. I have used your valuble advice a couple of times. You are one of my favorite fodorosters!

Leely2, thank you so much for finding this post. Since we just lost Bob, I thought I'd top it .

He was my friend and I will miss him.

kodi, I was just Leely in 2004, and although I didn't post to this particular thread, I did read it and it always stuck in my head: "Bob Brown was in the NYT and made some wry comments about the article." I wish I could find the article itself.

I am sorry Bob is gone but perhaps he's on an amazing, intergalactic trip right now.

Oh, Leely2, I love your thought about Bob's intergalactic travels. He was a charmer and a great resource.

Leely, I love your thought too. Cmcfong, you are so right. Bob was a great resource and a charmer.

A link to the article:

http://www.nytimes.com/2004/07/25/travel/25prac.html

This was so great to read and I had to smile. The article quoted Bob saying ", Mr. Brown followed the advice of someone he met through the message boards of Fodors.com and checked for A.T.M.'s affiliated with his home bank, so he could avoid service fees. " .
I smiled because it was me that he was talking about ! I had never read the article before but I sure do remember Bob and I talking about this subject.