GuideBooks on sale for $5
Please delete if this isn't allowed -- but my favorite travel guidebooks by Rick Steves are on Sale for $5 through 8/9 or while supplies last. Happy planning for 2021(hopefully).
https://store.ricksteves.com/shop/guidebooks
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I believe listing the price and including a direct link to his website are violations, but thanks for the info.
Well, I can't figure out how to delete the post. Maybe Admin will.
It's good info and doesn't compete with Tauck as they don't sell guide books. I'd leave it alone and let admin address it, if they so choose.
Awesome. I just went on the website and bought 4 guides. If Tauck sold guide books I'd buy them but they don't so this isn't really a conflict. I buy RS guides then go on Tauck tours.
YES Claudia!! We do the same. We take Tauck Tours (esp River Cruises) and we stay another week on our own & that's how we use the RS books. They are fantastic.
He definitely helps you have a more affordable tour on your own. We are contemplating his new 14 day Scotland tour starting in 2021. Would gladly do it with Tauck but they only have a week land tour.
While Tauck is MUCH higher end and we love that they carry luggage, etc. Our RS tours have been AMAZING. Just go in knowing that it is different, but still exceptional. Their guides and tours are just as good as Tauck, with daily specials and surprises. Just know you'll be dealing with your luggage and the hotels are more small, quaint, local. You will still have a great tour with RS. We learn a lot and see so much when we take his tours. We are hoping to book RS Sicily May 2021, we'd like to go with Tauck, but it's close to $7000 per person and RS will be about $3000 and the itinerary is very similar and the RS one is even longer. We've traveled with MANY companies over the years, Tauck is our favorite, but not always on our budget. We are never disappointed with RS.
I just ordered a bunch of them. The question is - how out of date will they be by the time we can travel again, and will I last long enough to used them all!
With the exception of Turkey and Iran, he travels to and writes solely about Europe. I wonder why he hasn't done a few more areas of the globe, e.g. Jordan & Egypt, Africa, South America. In his next lifetime? He probably tells why in the foreword to his books or his bio.
Alan - He's done a PBS show about Israel, as well.
Alan, he has videos on Egypt, Palestinian and Israel. But you're right he mostly focuses on Europe. The business started with him just giving seminars on how to travel Europe cheaply (Europe Through the Backdoor) while he was in the piano business. It grew from there. Better to do one thing well than trying to do too much.
I'm not a fan..... I do not like his hotel selection... and as an independent traveler, I like to stay in the city center... for safety reasons, his hotels are always far from the center.. and more the hostel type. But he does give good info.
Mil, it's funny you mentioned his hotel selections. Over on his forum people were griping that his hotel choices were getting too expensive. I too would rather pay a little more and stay in a location that's more in the center of the action and close to public transportation. Where he does well is which sights are worth seeing, when to see them, inexpensive dining options and how to get around.
I like to watch Rick Steves, I got the complete selection of DVDS when I donated to PBS onetime. I’ve only watched any on TV, not opened the pack
We went to a recommended cafe in Vienna Austria and it was not nice, but I do believe we found about the Hospital in the Rock via Steve and it was really a favorite place for me.
We would not want to be lugging our bags around ourselves with him and more importantly, if the hotels are not central, that’s a big problem. I believe you have to find a lot more meals with Rick. So really you cannot compare with Tauck.
I feel Tauck has now gone so high end regarding hotel quality, most of the time there is no time to enjoy any facilities like swimming pools. Again, it’s location of the hotel which is most important to us and feeling safe with the hotel staffers having your safety and property as a priority and of course cleanliness.
Mil - I can't speak for his hotel selections, because when we travel on our own, we look at Tauck and usually book Tauck hotels. BUT, if you take a RS tour, the hotels are HOTELS, not hostels, and you are in the heart of the city, they are local owned and quaint, but always a great breakfast and always easy to everything. We had GREAT hotels on our most recent Venice, Florence, Rome tour with RS. Tauck's are MUCH nicer, but also much more expensive. We certainly prefer Tauck, but it's not always in our budget. We do try and do one Tauck tour each year though.
FYI - I went to the Rick Steves website to look for guide books. I tried three different ones and for each one received the following message:
We're sorry, this product is temporarily out of stock. Please check back soon.
It appears the $5 sale has run them out of inventory.
Bummer Sam. I bet this was popular. They always have monthly sales but I've never seen one this big. Hoping they have a serious luggage sale. He's one of the few sellers of carryon sized 2 wheel bags. Most only offer spinners. If - and only if - you want to travel toting your own bag the 2 wheel versions are the easiest for navigating streets, public transportation, any uneven surface, etc. Like British I'm pretty happy to have Tauck do it for me but if on our own I'd like the flexibility of traveling that way.
Claudia -- We have the RS wheeled carry-on. They do go on sale often. We also LOVE the Eagle Creek Tarmac Carryon and they are 30% off right now. We have the CarryOn and the 26inch and love them both.
Terrilynn, the Eaglecreek's look good. I'm kind of interested in the RS Ravenna bag. I like that it's a hardside but has zippered pockets on the outside.
British I agree with you in regards to Tauck hotels, as a solo traveler it's very important for me to be in a central, safe area where I feel free to walk around and have access to places I want to visit.
The primary reason I wouldn't buy luggage like that is I feel it puts a target on my bag and on my back. If a cheap piece of luggage breaks, I can throw it away and buy a new one, at least twice, for the cost of a B&R. Just my opinion...
I’ve had expensive bags, I’ve had cheap bags, it makes no difference. I also think that if you have expensive looking bags, it attracts unwanted attention from people maybe wanting to explore their contents. Our most recently purchased luggage was quite expensive, we chose them for how light the weight of an empty bag was. We chose a medium blue color so that it stood out but also would not look so dirty as some of our bags have looked after just one trip. Hardly matters now, o don’t know ahem we will be likely to use them now, might as well put them to one side with our passports.
We mostly buy inexpensive to moderately priced bags. Have had two damaged to the point of repair. A Samsonite spinner on it's first use. One of the handles ripped off the bag. Repaired under warranty. Since then I make sure that grab handles are securely attached vs just riveted. When we needed lighter bags we bought a couple from Costco ($50 24" spinner) and on it's first journey, Air France handlers ripped a wheel off mine. They paid to repair. Other than that and some wear/tear on the corners the bags are still in pretty good shape. I also found a Travel Pro bag at Tuesday Morning that was super light and had features I liked. The only drawback to their bags is the pull handles are wider than many and its hard to get some of my carryon bags over it when they're together.