Customer Reviews

Rick Steves' Europe Through the Back Door 2006: The Travel Skills Handbook

5 star:		(9)
4 star:		(2)
3 star:		(1)
2 star:		(0)
1 star:		(0)

 

 

This book makes you want to go to Europe.Now.Just get on the plane and GO!
I wish I had read this eleven years ago on our first trip to Italy.Since that time I have travelled to Europe on business many times and I have to agree with Rick Steves that no one ever says " every time I go to Europe I pack more".
His travel philosopy addresses peoples fears and insecurities when they are travel..."I won't have a certain piece of clothing,object when I might want it...better take it just in case" or "a less expensive hotel may be dirty ,unsafe...I know this luxury hotel will bust the bank, but its worth it for piece of mind." That kind of thing.Rick Steeves describes clean,charming hotels and pensiones which are centrally located and much less expensive than "luxury" properties. his restaurants are not dives, but great trattorias,atmospheric ristorantes popular with the locals.He is wonderfully opinionated about what to see,when to go...like having a best friend who lives there. No guidebook( and I have read them all) combines such practical advice with a travel philosophy which is positively liberating.This is especially true for older travellers who do not want to backpack,hostel, and who thought they had to stay in the "best" places, and wear a different outfit everyday. Our next trip to Italy will be with one carry-on bag each, staying in Rick Steves suggested family run pensiones and hopping on and off trains between destinations. We feel 20 years younger(and we will be 20 pounds lighter,too)

When I first read the 2001 edition of this book, it made the trip of my dreams possible. Like many, I had thought about a planning a trip to Europe on my own, but it seemed a bit scary, foreign and incomprehensible. Bus tours were one alternative, but I didn't want the crass commercialism and quick pace of the "checklist tourism" that one usually gets on bus tours (German castle "check!", French wine "check!", picture with Leaning Tower of Pisa "check!", saw the Mona Lisa "check!", ok, vacation was good).

This book showed me that it is not only possible, but easy to put together a fun, safe and relatively inexpensive vacation on my own that would allow me to choose things I found most interesting and to experience the most remarkable aspect of travel: the people.

While it's validating to take your picture in front of the Eiffel Tower (to prove you've been there...), or see famous works of art... what does it really mean?

To me, travel is about experiencing something that's different from my everyday life. It's about drinking a stein of good German beer in a Munich brew-house while talking with a local about what their life is like; it's about dancing with a French woman at a small tango dance on the shore of the Seine... while tourist boats go by, thinking how happy I am to be here rather than on a tourist boat.

When you travel this way, you get to know how other people think. You may realize the same two things I did: that people in other countries are more like us than we realize, and at the same time, our way of doing things isn't the only way.

Reading this book will open up an understand of the world that would be difficult to get any other way. I highly recommend this as a graduation gift and for your own personal reading.

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I happen to disagree with the other reviewer. While Rick Steve draws many contrasts between his style of tourism (individuals becoming "temporary locals" in a foreign country), I never got the sense he was as critical of Americans as this other reviewer suggests. If this reviewer is one of those Americans who goes to Europe complaining that it's hard to find a McDonald's or that things are different from their home town ... he's missing a key point of travel: to go someplace different!

As a reader, and hopefully a new world traveller, you will find, though, that as you develop an awareness of alternatives through travel abroad, you may find things you like about the way people in other countries live, adding them to your life when you return home. This is the lasting reward that good travel will give you.

Absolutely fantastic book. It goes over everything associated with travel, like how to avoid getting sick, how to plan the best trip, and whether to fly or take the train. I first checked it out at my library but there was so much useful information I'm now buying one off amazon. It doesn't have pictures though just so you know. I highly recommend this reading this book before departure.

I used several of Rick Steves' books last summer on a month long trip to Europe. This was a great place to start my planning and the individual area books were perfect for each place. When we were stranded in Rome with no place to stay, Rick Steves' list came to the rescue. We just started calling all of his recommendations. The place we found was great and since we couldn't stay there all week, they helped us find something near by. We used his tour narrations when we visited places and felt very informed. I highly recommend any of his books.

This is a great book to start you out if you've never been to Europe. It starts out with general information on how to prepare for the trip and what to expect. I recommend reading this first, then getting another Rick Steves book that specifies your destination country (this book gives general info about the different countries but his other books are full of details on one specific destinations).
--Vicki Landes, author of "Europe For The Senses - A Photographic Journal"

We spent a few evenings looking at all the Europe Travel books on Europe. This one stood out as the very best. Practical travel, many details, updated every year. Read this first, then get the Rick Steves more local books for even more details. The very best way to see Europe- for the novice or the Experienced. Compared to the rest of the European Travel books- nothing compares.

Rick Steves' travel books never let us down. This book lists websites to get further information and to send for more brochures, however, we've found all the information we need in this book. He discusses each country and their cities. You get trip costs, sightseeing priorities and how long to stay to see the best areas, how to get around on public transportation and driving tips,and history. We used his travel books in the past and found them to never lead us off course. Steves' spends time in Europe researching all you could possibly want to know and can lead you around each country to get the most bang for your buck!

I learned so much from this book about travel and prepared myself well for my 11 country destination to Europe, like having two debit cards in case one gets eaten by the teller machine and it had allot of advice on travel. The only thing about it was that the info about the cost of passports was incorrect and not updated. Maybe an oversight but it still has allot of useful information for novice or expert alike.

Rick is the best ... I gave this book to my parents after I had used his Paris book. He'll never steer you wrong, and he has the best self-guided tours of anyone. I used to use the "eyewitness" books, which are pretty to look at, but there is nothing like Rick's. The last time I was in Paris, I ran into a couple of people who were using his book, and we struck up a great conversation, and at the end we all agreed that Rick's books are the best way to go. It'll be money well spent.

Book arrived in like-new condition, and most importantly, in time for my trip. Seller very responsive to questions.