Here are a few more answers to questions posted by readers of this blog:
Question: Have you thought about offering electronic versions of your books–perhaps as a value-added download from the site for those who purchase the paper copies?
Answer: My publisher (who’s very enthusiastic about these things) has produced a few prototype electronic versions of my books, and we are open to this. But I think the electronic guidebook needs to be cleverly designed beyond simply offering the same page layouts as the printed versions. I think the business model is yet to be developed.
Question: OK, Rick, we know how you pack, but how does your wife, Anne, pack? It would be nice to hear the female Steves version of packing light.
Answer: My wife travels with the same size bag I do (but the wheeled version). I’m traveling this week with a woman from my office (Heidi Sewell, a great Italian tour guide who speaks Italian so well locals think she’s from Bologna). Just today, as we transferred from Venice to Padua, I marveled at how mobile a good woman traveler can be. (I felt sexist to have doubted it.) Heidi (like all the women in my office…and at home) travels with a 9 by 22 by 14 inch wheeled bag. Whether going for two weeks or two months, you pack precisely the same.
Question: Do you always identify who you are when researching or do you go incognito?
Answer: I not only go incognito, I try to go stupid…as a gawky, tightwad, English-only tourist, in order to get a sense of how the clumsiest tourist will be received in a hotel or restaurant. Yesterday we dropped incognito into a recommended bar for a glass of wine and plate of fried vegetables — and were overcharged. That place will not be in the 2008 edition of my book. Most hotels and restaurants I recommend now know who I am. (I send many of them Christmas cards with my family photo each year — not to mention probably a third of their American business.) My best tool is talking to other people who have already eaten or slept there to learn if the recommendation is a good one. For restaurants, my standard operating procedure lately is to blitz known and unknown places from 8 to 10 p.m., and then drop into my favorite (which is often run by someone who by now is a friend) and just say, “Feed me — bring me a sampling of your most interesting dishes.” It’s always a great cap to a great day.
Question: Any interest on your part to relocate to Europe one day or buying property? Wouldn’t it be easier if you had a second home?
Answer: I once flirted with buying a little place in Civita di Bagnoregio, Italy’s ultimate hill town. It was a dreamy little home perched on the edge of a grand canyon with several floors of Etruscan cellars below. With each visit (on successive tours…so every three weeks, all summer), I’d get the real-estate agent and fantasize about owning it. Then, thankfully, someone else bought it. I believe there’s also a great chalet for sale in Gimmelwald (my favorite Swiss alpine village) for around $250,000 — what a dream to have a place there! But I don’t want a single place in Europe. I sleep in about 60 different hotels in about 60 wonderful towns and villages all over Europe each year. (And I already have one cabin — in the Cascades — that I only use a couple times a year.)
Thanks for taking the time to respond to all the questions and giving us some personal insight into our favorite international traveler and guide.
On my last trip I used Costco’s rolling carry on bag. It weighed too much for Lufthansa (8 kilos max) and I had to check it. Next month I’m using your original carry-on pack and I don’t plan to check it. Hopefully it will work for this 60 year! If it doesn’t work, I’ll buy your rolling carry on bag. My daughter will not use anything other than your ogiginal bag.
Question: Do you and your staff check your bag or do you stil carry it on?
Excellent insight on how you travel. This is a supplemental tour comment. A cool concept would be “Foodie” tours. Hit cheese factories. , Wineries , Sausage makers, Small organic farms , Truffel hunting, Oh and hit some small private cooking schools. BUT you’d have to apply the RS model to this type of tour, light and swift. Talk about complete European immersion. Someone throw me in the pool.
Fred in Atlanta
Hey Rick – I agree the Nikon D40 is great and its VERY light for a powerful DSLR. 2Gig card works great – and with the new Video Ipod you can also download picts from your CAM for extra storage (for those that dont bring their laptop!)
Cheers!
I went to Rick’s travel festival in Edmonds, WA. Rick said he does not check his suitcase through. Always carry on.
My concern is that because of the new carry on restrictions, some of Rick’s bags may be too big now. I have Rick’s wheeled suit case, and when I go to Berlin in November, I may be made to check it through.
We’ll see what happens.
Hi, Rick! Sounds like you’re enjoying your work and travels. Thanks for taking us along via this blog and answering questions. Ciao!
Rick,
Has Jackie ever been anywhere in Europe by self or still hasn’t been like, her brother Andy? Does she plan to do the same trip that you and Andy took with one of her friends when she graduates from high school.
Thank you.
Happy travels and keep safe!
I went to Berlin in February and it was no problem to carry on Ricks wheeled suit case.
To the person who had trouble with Lufthansa: I travel to Germany and Turkey frequently on business, enough that I have acquired Senator status on Lufthansa. I carry-on a svelte-looking 20″x9″x14″ wheeled TravelPro bag. For whatever reason, Lufthansa agents always want to argue with me over my bag, insisting that my bag won’t fit into the overhead bin (funny, the size was OK over the Atlantic) or that it is too heavy (despite that I’m even allowed much more weight with the FF status). About 50% of the time I win, the other 50% of the time, “zee rules is zee rules” (even when they are not). If you have a choice for trans-atlantic travel, I would recommend Air France, Delta, BA, Virgin, or U.S. Airways over Lufthansa. I’ve never had carry-on hassles from these other airlines. LH seats in coach are also much closer together – better hope the guy in front of you doesn’t want to recline!
As a college student who has used your book in Europe, I agree that Andy should have an added section in your books. I met him in Gimmewald and learned a lot from his knowledge. While your book is extremely helpful, it could be more complete for the 18-25 age group.
I am a woman and have packed light the Rick Steves way for too many trips to count. Trips have ranged from onw-week short juants to months long trips. I always only take 1 carry on bag. It is possible for a woman to pack light.
The problem I’ve seen with woman (and some have been my fellow trip takers) is the shoes. Why do some women need so many shoes for traveling?
Hi Rick and staff. Thank you so much for your writings and terrific info. I’m not getting any response from calling Albergo Barbara Rooms in Vernazza, Cinque Terra. My emails and Fax come back undeliverable. Any ideas on how to book their room or another of comp. value and view, even in Monterossa or Riomaggorie if you know of a nice,value,rm with a harbor view. We arrive there on June 2-6 Thank you, Olivia and Les
Michelle, obviously you have not been bitten by the “crazy for shoes bug” like a lot of us women.(count yourself lucky) The shoes thing is usually my problem, I just get bored with one pair. What I have done lately though is pack the minimum and as a souvenir I get to pick out a new pair while traveling.
When in Spain, have you ever been to Caceres, a UNESCO World Heritage town in Extremadura? The Moorish walls and watchtowers, and the Golden Age palaces of the old city, are amazing, as are some of the churches. And though accessible by car, train and bus, it is enough off the usual tourist beat to be free of the usual tourist crunch. Also in the area of Trujillo and Merida.
Regarding extra passport pages, on a recent trip to Italy and Sicily, my passport was never stamped, and hardly looked at – in a way, disappointing.
Rick, regarding packing. Your packing lists and tips are helpful except when it comes to my daughters (19 and 22). You know that disdainful look you get when you try share wisdom with your younger charges? Well I’m getting that in spades. And yet we plan to carry on for 3 flights where that restrictions on weight are scary! Has your daughter created a packing list that some of the younger crowd might pay more attention to? I’d appreciate any thoughts on that subject. Leaving for Europe in 21 days.
I took my 2 daughters (then 9 & 12) to London and Paris 2 summers ago. I used the RS backpack bag (I wanted a hand free for each girl in crowded areas) and they each had a wheeled version. We carried on to each of our 4 flights and never had any problems. I used the packing cubes as did my younger daughter, but my nearly-teenager found her own way to fit in what she needed.
Interestingly, after I packed 1 large cube for clothing and 1 smaller for toiletries I still had room for 1 small cube to be my laundry, 1st aid, and med kit. Those 2 cubes remain packed to this day and whenever I have to go on a business trip or another vacation, all I have to do is pack clothes. It seems like cheating because it only takes me about 15 minutes to pack!
Thanks for the excellent tips, Rick!
Rick,
Just ran across your blog (remember when we called them “SIGs”? Lots of catching up to do. Loved the question – and your answer – about Ann’s packing. Recall that when Paul Theroux visited with Jan Morris during his tour around the British coast, she told him that it is much easier for a woman to pack than a man (and she should know!) – just a couple of roll-up frocks. Now if I could just get my wife to agree…
Re: adding pages to passports: I have done this before with no problem, BUT it is my understanding the the new US passports cannot (will not?) have pages added to them. From what I am told, they cannot be modified at all. If you need to change any information, or add pages, a new passport must be issued.
Rick…need any help? I’d give my left arm for a job doing something to travel to Switzerland. If you aren’t needing someone got any suggestions ? Ruth Jones
how about giving up your right arm as well
Rick, Will be traveling around Europe this summer, by car would like to find out where I can get my passport stamped when crossing into different countries. Now that the Euro does not have border crossings. Thanks, Rob
How can I get Last Supper tickets if the offical website it out, without spending more than it takes to fly to Italy?