<story><title>Rick Steves Wants to Save the World, One Vacation at a Time</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/20/magazine/rick-steves-travel-world.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>cageface</author><text>I did a ton of traveling last year all over the world and the conclusion I reached was that the popular destinations are completely overwhelmed.&lt;p&gt;I guess it’s the combination of cheap flights and instagram but if you want to enjoy yourself then forget about Kyoto and Venice etc and look into some less popular and less well known places instead.&lt;p&gt;And do the rest of us a favor and don’t location tag if you do discover something great.</text></comment>
<story><title>Rick Steves Wants to Save the World, One Vacation at a Time</title><url>https://www.nytimes.com/interactive/2019/03/20/magazine/rick-steves-travel-world.html</url></story><parent_chain></parent_chain><comment><author>mturmon</author><text>I read his book &lt;i&gt;Europe through the back door&lt;/i&gt; before my second trip to Europe, around 1992.  What a refreshing book, especially in a category that was (and is) dominated by publications and institutions that are invested in making you want expensive and exclusive accommodations and attractions.&lt;p&gt;He has kind of a upright earnestness, combined with a sort of Germanic devotion to efficiency (&amp;quot;save money by sleeping on the train&amp;quot;; &amp;quot;plan a day&amp;#x27;s activity city-hopping by integrating a few key visits with the train schedule&amp;quot;, &amp;quot;roll your trousers when packing&amp;quot;), that some nerds would generally find appealing.&lt;p&gt;I&amp;#x27;ve returned to that book several times over the years when I feel like I need an attitude adjustment about how I travel, because it&amp;#x27;s easy to fall into the habit of just booking expensive accommodations.  The result can be one-dimensional.</text></comment>