Post by Owen on Mar 8, 2024 1:23:08 GMT
1 ~~~ Europe Through the Back Door at 40 ~ Rick Steves’ Europe ~~~ 27
www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/europe-through-the-back-door-at-40
www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles
www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen
www.ricksteves.com/europe
www.ricksteves.com/travel-forum
I self-published the first edition of my travel skills handbook, Europe Through the Back Door, in 1980.
Recently, the arrival of our 40th edition put me in a nostalgic mood.
As I flip through that original book, it's clear to me that many of the specifics about traveling in Europe have changed dramatically.
But at the same time, I'm struck by how good travel remains fundamentally the same.
In that first edition — back when I was a budding travel writer in my early 20s — I was preoccupied with certain topics that look nothing like my travels today.
Lengthy passages offer tips on hitchhiking, and on sleeping for free: in parks, on trains (or at train stations), and crashing on a distant friend-of-a-friend's couch.
I noted, "If I had the money, I would spend most of my European nights in hotels.
On a limited budget, I avoid hotels like the plague."
The backpacker on a serious budget rarely paid for a hotel bed or a restaurant meal…and arguably had a more fun and memorable experience than those who spent five times as much per day, and only slept in hotels and ate in restaurants.
www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles/europe-through-the-back-door-at-40
www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/read/articles
www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen
www.ricksteves.com/europe
www.ricksteves.com/travel-forum
I self-published the first edition of my travel skills handbook, Europe Through the Back Door, in 1980.
Recently, the arrival of our 40th edition put me in a nostalgic mood.
As I flip through that original book, it's clear to me that many of the specifics about traveling in Europe have changed dramatically.
But at the same time, I'm struck by how good travel remains fundamentally the same.
In that first edition — back when I was a budding travel writer in my early 20s — I was preoccupied with certain topics that look nothing like my travels today.
Lengthy passages offer tips on hitchhiking, and on sleeping for free: in parks, on trains (or at train stations), and crashing on a distant friend-of-a-friend's couch.
I noted, "If I had the money, I would spend most of my European nights in hotels.
On a limited budget, I avoid hotels like the plague."
The backpacker on a serious budget rarely paid for a hotel bed or a restaurant meal…and arguably had a more fun and memorable experience than those who spent five times as much per day, and only slept in hotels and ate in restaurants.