There have been lots of questions over the last month on this blog. Let me answer a few of them:
Question: Will you ever do any more TV shows like the Travel Skills Special, with more general information about travel?
Answer:I’d like to. The three-part Travel Skills series we did is getting old, my old aviator glasses are looking dorkier than ever, and we could do it in high definition with the new 9 by 16 widescreen format. Most important: Travel has changed, and the skills need updating. The challenge: It takes three weeks in Europe to make it. Stay tuned.
Question: Are you planning any TV shows on Istanbul? Have you thought about visiting and/or filming in Riga? Lithuania and Latvia? Finland? Iceland? Malta?
Answer:I plan to shoot a new show on Istanbul in April. I have a great script for Helsinki and Tallinn in Estonia (likely in three years). I need to learn more about Riga and Vilnius. I’d like to do a show on the Baltic capitals. I have no plans for Malta or Iceland.
Question: Is there a way for people to see your St. Peter video when it comes out? (Other than through the Lutheran Church?) Will you post it? YouTube it?
Answer:The video will be finished within a month and it will be posted on YouTube (as my Luther video is now) and available on DVD through the ELCA. (It’ll be sent to all 12,000 ELCA Lutheran churches.)
Question: How about a guidebook focusing on wine regions and Back Door wineries?
Answer:I don’t do special-interest guidebooks such as those. And I’m not enough of a wine enthusiast to do a good job on that one anyway.
Question: Will you ever write a Greece guidebook?
Answer:Greece is my obvious gap. And I’m afraid it will stay that way. I don’t want to do a book that I am not enthusiastic about and that I couldn’t follow through and make it deserve the high sales it might enjoy. As I learned on my recent trip, I like Greece…but it just isn’t my forte. So I’ll let others with a passion for Greece be the teachers.
Question: Would you consider making a tour for people with different physical abilities? For mature travelers who want to go at a slower pace?
Answer:We are talking about a slower, less physically demanding tour, but nothing is in the works.
Question: Will you offer a single supplement on your tours?
Answer:We already offer single supplements on a few of our tours. But on other tours, it would require more individual rooms, which would force us to abandon many of our small, characteristic hotels — which we are very reluctant to do. Much of how we shape and promote our tours is designed to attract a hardy, fun-to-travel-with, and low-maintenance crowd. We believe our “no grumps” policy makes for a better tour.
Question: Did you ever think of a 7-day trip to Athens (with day trips)? A week-long city tour of Istanbul?
Answer: I would not do such a tour for Athens, but a week-long Istanbul tour is something we are considering. I’ll be doing TV shows on both destinations this April. To make Athens work, I’ll need to side-trip to Delphi and the Isle of Hydra. My challenge with Istanbul is that it could easily fill two scripts. Istanbul is just bursting with fun experiences that will make great TV.
Rick – While I agree that marijuana is a very soft drug and can be used responsibly by adults, I do worry about its health effects. We have come a long way in the US, and the rest of the world seems to be following suit, in ridding the air of smoke in public places. Many have stopped smoking cigarettes and are now much healthier for it. It would seem a shame to condone or encourage the smoking of any substance. Perhaps “magic brownies” would be a better choice. Thanks for the great blog!
I am a 67 year old retired attorney who came of age in the 1960’s. Knowing that you will get a little flack on your MJ comments, I just wanted to get in early and say – go for it, your views are right on target and congress should get busy changing our drug laws. You also are right on target about mandatory travel for citizens of the USA – lets get a broader view of who we are and what people think about us.
Thanks, Rick! There’s a whole world out there for people to explore that extends beyond American soil. Happy travels!
Rick, you might be interested in going on line to the Nevada County California Union newspaper Grass Valley, Nevada City and reading the articles that were out last week on all the home invasion Roberies we have had here in this little cute rural town, because of the theft of medical marijuana. It is shocking, we live in a really nice neighborhood and one was right around the corner. Marijuana has not been a good thing for us. Judy
Judy, you would not have that problem if it were legal. When was the last time a home invasion was caused by people looking for alcohol? Prohibition makes no sense. I just do not feel that the government has any business regulating things that can be grown naturally, it is none of their business what I as an adult ingest into my body.
I’m so glad the website is back up. I was beginning to have withdrawal problems. Thanks for all the answers to all the questions and your forthright answers. I will always travel with you because of the fun loving no grumps policy. Your tours are the best! As a single traveler, I’ve met wonderful people who have turned into life long friends!
I highly agree with sending graduates to travel for a few months before they have to go to college. It’s a shame in order to get scholarships they can’t take a 1/2 year from studies. I think it makes for a better student/person. Learn about the world and enjoy the differences in our cultures.
Rick, I just watched a special on the New Acropolis Museum on satellite T.V., it appears they started moving objects from the Acropolis to the museum and it will be partially opended by the beginning of 2008 and fully operational by next fall. It looks incredible! glass floors etc. like no other museum in the world. It looks like Tshumni designed a world class museum….lets hope Britian gives back the “loot”
I agree w/ poster, Mark. We’re trying to improve air quality, why screw it up w/ more pollution from potsmokers??? And just 2 weeks ago a report was published that stated scientists have discovered that pot smoking does affect brain chemistry. But, with all that being said, I’m more concerned with the fact that the legal herb, Salvia Divinorum, is not regulated,and readily available to kids of any age. Wonder what Steve thinks of that?
I think that the amount of money spent by the US to enforce regulation against marijuana trafficking/possesion/etc is woefully out of line. I don’t have any specifics to quote or link to, however, I do watch ‘Cops’ on occasion, and I can see how much time and effort is directed towards this activity by law enforcement personnel. There are better ways to spend tax dollars, I’d imagine.
In your outdated defense of marijuana you stated “the role of our government is not to legislate morailty or determine what we put into our mind or bodies.” Have you ever sat down and skimmed a statute book in any state in this country? Much of what we as citizens have decided to do is legislate morality and what we put into our minds and bodies. And that’s a good thing.
Wow, Rick, I can’t believe you would use your “travel” website to promote the legalization of marijuana. Does your older child smoke pot? PS. I just lost a whole lot of respect for you.
Rick – These relate to your talk Saturday night. I think you are far too uncritical of the Europeans. In ’92 I was coming back from Russia and picked up a copy of ‘Paris Match’. I skimmed the stories on all the celebs and discovered, on the very last page, a picture of a concentration camp in Bosnia. “Never again” happened again in less than 50 years, and it was unimportant. It’s materialism, I think, that is so destructive. How many European lives would it have cost to take out the sniper nests above Mostar? Why did the Dutch troops in the U.N. let Srebrenica happen? Germans travel to Miami every weekend – to clothes shop. What a great use of our diminishing resources! I think your values are fundamentally sound – I respect you a great deal. But I think you should hold them as a standard for all world citizens. RE your stance on NORMAL and drugs. If any of us could do anything real about the idiotic drug war and imprisonment of blacks in our society, our lives wouldn’t be worth much, given the ruthlessness and greed on both sides of the drug war. Thanks very much.