Rick Steves' Smart Travel Tips to Europe

Note: This post is just a preview, full article is here.

Yes, another post about travel tips, but this time specifically to Europe. At the same NY Times travel show, I caught best-selling guidebook author Rick Steves (of "Europe through the Back Door") fame as he expounded on his travel philosophy and gave advice on smart travel in Europe. Below are ten of his tips to make your next trip to Europe more fun, authentic and affordable.

Smart Travel Tip #1: Get off the beaten path. Salzburg attracts thousands of tourists mainly because they have been successful in marketing themselves as Mozart's birthplace. Also, they have capitalized on people's nostalgia by conducting bus tours which visit places supposedly used in the filming of "The Sound of Music". If you like crowds, then by all means go there.

Smart Travel Tip #2: Go late in the day when all the tourists have left. Charming towns like Toledo and Bruges are inundated with day trippers who arrive in their motorcoaches before lunchtime, and leave town to go back to their suburban hotels by sundown. A better idea would be to arrive later in the afternoon and spend the night in town. More often than not, a town's character changes dramatically once most of the tourists have left.

Conversely, for a city like Venice - in the early morning it is the quiet, romantic place that most travellers imagine it to be. That is the perfect time to explore the streets and plazas - by mid-morning Venice becomes a certified tourist trap.

Smart Travel Tip #3: Find places with no promotional budget. Mr. Steves describes these places as those "who missed the modern boat" and can survive on their own merits, instead of relying on lavish advertisements and promotional materials. He cites as an example the Cinque Terre, five small Italian mountainside villages overlooking the Mediterranean - these towns have resisted development and have no modern buildings and no comfortable chain hotels. The charm lies in walking the trails which connect each village to its neighbors, tasting the local specialty dishes, and drinking the locally made wine.

Read the full article here.

Spend the Day, See the World

Ok, so I haven't been travelling lately (a situation that will be remedied soon, I promise), but the annual New York Times Travel Show was too enticing to pass up. With hundreds of exhibitor booths, travel seminars by industry heavyweights (including Arthur Frommer and Rick Steves), and of course the ever present slick brochures and useless giveaways, it is an event worth attending for the avid traveller.

I happened to attend a seminar by Arthur Frommer, the legendary author and travel expert, who talked about the "Ten Great Myths of Travel" that each traveller must know about. They are as follows: (Full article here)

1> You get what you pay for.

2> Comfort increases the more money you spend.

3> Someone at your destination can be relied on to explain accurately what you are seeing.

4> Travel prices are fixed in stone.

5> Stock up on foreign currency before you leave.

6> Taking a guided tour is the best way to see a place you've never been to.

7> Shore excursions should be bought in advance of boarding the cruise ship.

8> You save money by booking at the last minute.

9> The Bahamas and Florida are reliably warm in winter.

10> You should carry different gadgets, electronics, pillows, fanny packs and other things.

For more insight on these travel myths, you can view the longer version of the article here