Rick Steves - Is He A Gay?

We used to do this every year or so.

No, he’s straight.

Thanks for asking, tho.

Another, M.F.

And another.

I could go on but won't.

Well, it's his fault for seeming like such an obvious cross between "Gloryhole Suck-Pig" and "Canadian Businessman Who Buys Thai Ladyboys for Coin."

I never liked him because with him it’s all backpacks and hostels. Who the hell wants to spend their vacation talking to hostel hosts or worse having to coo over their children while they prepare dinner. And if you’re out past 10 pm, you have to knock on the door to be let in.

I need an anonymous hotel with a decent bar and a good sauna and preferably a lonely man or two.

It's disgraceful that he's been doing this for 40 years - and basically lives in Europe half the year filming his shows - and proudly claims to speak no foreign languages beyond the basic greetings.

THAT is a bigger disservice to American tourism in Europe than his obsession with hostels and washing your gunties in the sink. He encourages all those old bastards to traipse across Europe without even learning so much as a "grüezi mitenand!"

Have you seen the German episode where he gets a nude massage and at the end gets his ass whacked? It gave me nightmares for weeks. I canceled my PBS passport over that episode and sent them back every tote bag they ever gave me. That episode should have come with a warning.

R9 Now half of DataLounge is furiously googling that, to see if they can catch some gratuitous peen.

[quote] I canceled my PBS passport

Is that them there one of them vaccine passports with microchip them libruls at PBS and NPR wants us to have? I's never wanted to visit Mexico anyway or any other part of Europe.

[quote] I canceled my PBS passport over that episode and sent them back every tote bag they ever gave me

No you didn't. Why would you tell such an outlandish lie as that?

[R9], I'll be thinking of you as I try to remove the tomato in aspic I disgorged onto my laptop screen whilst reading your post. I knew a fuck hot sexy bear with a huge cock who sounded exactly like Rick Steves. He was later murdered and dismembered. It was grisly.

Difficult People had a storyline that PBS' reference to "Viewers Like You" was a sham - most of their donations secretly came from Larry the Cable Guy. I feel like the better storyline would be how many sweatshops they utilize to produce all those goddamned tote bags and newspaper-print umbrellas they give away. And who, exactly, staffs those sweatshops?

Also, how much did they pay Laura Linney to introduce Downton and Masterpiece Theatre?

Bitch liked to show off his out of shape body. This isn’t the ass whack episode but you get the picture. Watch at your own risk.

So he pays Turkish man-meat to scrub his steamy naked dad-bod with a brillo pad, and then goes off into the sunset smirking and looking for "more art."

We don't want him.

He’s pretty cool in person. My husband smoked a joint with him in Seattle at Hemp Fest.

Yes. He's hokey and his body isn't as hot as that of the average Datalounger but his series is a nice relaxing way to see Europe. I think he's an excellent travelogue host.

If you want hot daddy travel shows, Robson Green is your man.

I'll take Rick's son, Andy. Yum. He sounds just his dad and does the same travelling shtick.

R21 Andy is cute, and it's nice to see travel advice for the under-50 crowd, but does he have to kill the vibe by referring to himself as a "Digital Nomad?"

The dude has his parents' money and a job that requires travel. He's no more nomadic than a flight attendant or a drug mule.

Is he getting pegged in R15 ?

[quote] Is he getting pegged in [R15] ?

You can save yourself a $4,000 trip and go to the East Side Club on a Tuesday night and get the exact same experience, right down to the old guy blocking the entrance.

what’s with the towel dancing 🕺?

OMG! Of courssssse Rick Sssssteeeevveeeesssssssssss isssssssn't gay!

r1, r3, r4, r5 - do you realize, if the OP had not created a new thread, you would have bitched about him bumping old threads?

Would a gay travel host continue to wear the brushed polyester wash & wear shirts he sports in so many episodes?

During lockdown, his brand of weird cheerfulness kind of lifted me up (unlike Bourdain, that made me want to drink heavily & then kill myself), so I can't really knock the guy, but he's all about *selling* stuff. Selling this restaurant, this moderately priced hotel in Venice, etc. The locals he engages on his show are typically on his payroll. He's the bland, passive face of Big Business Travel. He's worth a shit ton of $$

So back to Bourdain; whatever his issues - and god knows he had many - I think he was genuinely interested in the people & places he visited and wanted to learn more about them beyond the best reasonably priced hotel in a trendy neighborhood. Some of his best episodes were engaging some earnest local who explained all the great things about their (otherwise scary) home. So it was kind of good mix of learning about other cultures through travel without encouraging that mass tourism that's ruined so many great cities.

I wish someone would create another travel show & aim to the anti-Rick Steves with some Bourdain (minus the mental health issues) mixed to keep things interesting.

I have worked with both Steves and Bourdain as a local fixer.

Steves is absolutely genuine, he loves money but he also loves the interaction. I spent some time with him in a Berlin Sauna, not creepy at all.

Bourdain was a brilliant performer, he could show up, totally out of it, but when he went ON, he would read his cards and play the part beautifully. When the camera was off he was nothing like his persona.

I guess it is nice to hear that Steves is a good guy. I always assumed he was a raging asshole with major anger issues off camera. I have know many men like him who seem absolutely lovely in a goofy way and then turn into a mass of raging toxicity in an instant.

R31, he was really sweet with his staff and during his off time. The genuine article and rich as fuck. He paid the sauna entry and the beer tab.

2010 2011 and 2013 and there was a poster who actually remembered and linked to those thread. Wow.

I like Rick! Been watching him since The Frugal Gourmet was on PBS. He has some good advice for those who have never traveled abroad before.

He’d be fun to smoke a bowl and lift a beer stein with.

Rick Steves' program is geared mainly for people to wouldn't necessarily feel they had the finances to travel to Europe. That's why he talks about staying in B&Bs and hostels at times. It all depends on where he's visiting. In some locations he'll stay in a nice hotel because the room rates in that city are not outlandishly high as they are in some cities. He obviously does not like the big huge hotels found in major cities, and for good reason. I like that he finds small, at times very up market hotels where the guests are treated much better than they would be at a huge Hilton.

Rick offers the Disneyland version of Europe, but he pretends it's authentic. You can be sure that if someone is putting a lock on a bridge in Paris, they're carrying a Rick Steves travel book too.

He might just be a sexless elf/troll, there’s always that.

Rick Steves is a tour company. His shows show enough of the local culture to make it interesting and enough of the "roughing it" bits to make travel on ones own scary. Obviously, the solution is to take a guided tour through Rick Steves, Inc. His prices are in the same range as Viking River Cruises.

I know lots of people that would have been afraid to travel without his books/shows. So in my opinion, he’s the Julia Child of travel, which is a good thing. Seems like an okay guy in my book, gay, straight, bi or try.

His guided tours seem really light weight. The day in Munich consists of walking down the main shopping street to Marienplatz. Seeing the Hofbräuhaus from the outside (lunches are not included), and then walking to the green market. That is it. Oddly, the description doesn't mention the mechanical clock in the Marienplatz. The rest of the day you are on your own. I am sure there is some direction given, but still, the guided tour that one has paid for is really something that could/should be the self-guided part.

See I like him. I get he is appealing to a particular type of person, but he can be a great help. He has free podcasts for some of the places you go. I found his Naples museum tour outstanding tbh.

That's very interesting R30; I wasn't implying Steve was a bad guy - and I appreciate his approach: making travel palatable for people who might otherwise feel overwhelmed by the idea of visiting Paris, for example, but are very respectful of the people & culture. But that's great that he's a genuinely good cute & generous with those that work with him.

That's a very interesting observation about Bourdain, though I guess it's not surprising he could easily turn it on/off, depending on the situation. What was he like when he was "off"?

Like all men, after he smokes a bowl I bet Rick would love a sloppy BJ

R13 was that one of those Canadian guys?

I think Steves is clearly more worldly than his onscreen persona, but he is gently trying to encourage the unwashed masses to get a fucking passport already and get out of your shell. See, the main part of Munich isn't too bad! You can pee inside and get water and EVERYTHING! All those white people! (Sarcasm, darlings.)

Bourdain was for people who already did that shit when they were kids and wanted to dig deeper and go past the obvious.

I'd probably land somewhere in the middle. I don't want to eat maggots or anything too esoteric, but I also generally try to avoid tourist spots and live like a resident for the time I am in a city.

[quote]I know lots of people that would have been afraid to travel without his books/shows.

Too true. I know many Americans who knocked around the Outback for a year before starting college, who own property and spend a month or two in Mexico every year, whose children went to college for a couple years or otherwise lived and studied or worked abroad, and who have a few passport stamps in their past. Yet as prosperous or middle class adults, the first thing they say to someone travelling is "Be careful!"

It's drummed into Americans that dreadful, random violence can befall American visitors to the more familiar parts of Europe, or San Miguel de Allende, or Cuzco, or Melbourne. Likewise, that these places are primitive and far behind the times.

I suppose Steve's speaks to some of that, but he also doesnt seem to mind these myths too much as dispelling them is his bread and butter (all those highly itanarized tours, and the umpteen versions of gear in which to hide your money.

R45: "I think Steves is clearly more worldly than his onscreen persona, but he is gently trying to encourage the unwashed masses ...."

No, he's not more worldly. He is what he shows. And that is a peddler of mediocre European tours marketed, Amazon-style, to the lazy.

His world begins and ends in Europe. And that's a small, boring world. Though it has an appeal to a certain demographic.

He's a pussyhound.

I love the bitch in one of the old threads who said he sounds like a queeny choreographer from 1930s Hollywood.

R30 is a complete load of bullshit. DL's incessant, omnipresent "I once hung out with him/her" and "I once shared a cigarette with her/him" troll.

You sound psychotic R30.

"I wish someone would create another travel show & aim to the anti-Rick Steves with some Bourdain (minus the mental health issues) mixed to keep things interesting."

Excuse me! Excuse me!

I would be the perfect host for this show.

“His world begins and ends in Europe. And that's a small, boring world. Though it has an appeal to a certain demographic.“r47

Yes !!! I just found my people. That is me!!!! Love Europe. Love the History. Cant give two fucks about the rest of the world. R47, you focus looking down on everyone from the wilds of Patagonia, satisfied in taking the road less travelled and I will toast you in Florence looking at the Duomo and feeling happy with my limited life.

I'm about to be shunned but the DL community, but I have to admit I own a Rick Steves backpack. It ripped after only two trips and they replaced it with a new one after I sent photos.

Sometimes the Devil is in the details, in one of the Italy books he gave the insight that if you are looking for a good and authentic gelato place always look at the banana gelato, if it looks yellow it’s been faked and treated to look that way, but if it looks greyish you’re getting the real thing. He gained my respect after that and that he knew what he was talking about.

I feel like a thread on the Gourmets (both Frugal and Galloping), would prove interesting. Never a better combination than a British closetcase and a PBS pedo.

I'm put off by the glass-eating Midwestern voice and inane chipperness with just a slight hint of scold, as if he's escorting a high school field trip. But wold you really want to see RIck Steves eating goalt eyeballs in a Mongolian yurt? I don't think he's the man for "adventure travel." Stick to Lonely Planet and Bourdain in some forsaken patch of earth for the hardship travel with deep insightful truths thing.

There's plenty to Europe to occupy one travel host for a lifetime, the problem is his focus never varies. It's the same show every fucking time, just substitute the slides from Budapest this time and change all of the capitalized place names in the script. Even when Steves gets focused on some specific theme or city, it's the same stuff. Europe is not boring, but RIck Steves can make everything he touches boring. His insights into serendipity and "off the beaten path" discoveries have all the freshness and insight (and none of the inadvertent humor) of a Middle America Miss Lavish from 'A Room with a View.'

It's nice I suppose that he likes weed and nude beaches, and that he's a pleasant, affable guy but that doesn't make him someone whose advice on travel I value. Look at him. Does he inspire confidence in his knowedge of good food? wine maybe? art history? urban history? architecture? the rise and fall of empires and political systems? choice of hotel rooms? someting? anything? fannypacks, and money belts maybe? For me no, but for people who haven't travelled a lot and who are a bit timid about it, who want to have the places presented to them in a seemless, orchestrated procession through Southern Germany or the Loire Valley Chateaux, he's fine and seems to have to have found his audience and a big one at that.

I don't fault PBS for giving him a place, but I fault them for giving him THE place, making him the Butterscotch Shit Brown leather jacketed Suze Orman of travel and, more importantly, fundraising for PBS.

Funny thing is he is a native Californian (Barstow, in fact) who moved to Seattle as a teen. He did the whole Hippie Trail through Asia as a twenty-something and is currently sharing his journal entries from his time in Afghanistan on his blog. He has a formula that works and we’ve all seen his show, so he must be doing something right. His show and books aren’t a bad jumping off point if you want to travel someplace in Europe you’ve never been before. He’ll teach you the basics and you can venture out from there. I used his app a little bit in Rome to get superficial overviews of what I was visiting, no complaints.

R42 I would rather not ruin the myth about Bourdain. Love and respect the performance.

Okay, so to answer OP's question, no, Rick Steves is not "a" gay. He is not "the" gay either. Matter of fact, he is not gay. He's straight.

And for others posting here, yes he has a schtick and yes, his programs are definitely rote these days, but he does something that works for thousands of travelers and many others who do not travel, but watch TV. He introduces Europe to Americans. We live a very large country, not a part of the world where a three hour train ride can take you to a country where language, law, tradition and currency is vastly different from where you started. The idea of that kind of travel can be daunting to the unitnitiated.

I've been to Europe several times, done the currency exchange, wandered markets, visited museums, etc... when I watch a Rick Steves program I see a guy who can really calm someone's nervousness about visiting a "foreign" country. Steves gives basic advice, encourages you to get off the main drag of a town, walk the back streets, eat somewhere that isn't in the tourist zone. What's so wrong with that and why be so dismissive?

There are plenty of other travel shows on PBS, none as popular as Rick, so he must be doing something right.

I haven't been oversees in five years, I miss traveling, really want to go back and if I have to do it by myself, I'd do it with a tour group... I'd have a guide book at the ready and enjoy, even if the trip is more superficial than I'd prefer.

I went to a luncheon where Steves, sold and signed his books afterward. He was very tall, good looking and self possessed. He signed my book.

Sizemeat.

R58, posting an anecdote about your perception of what Bourdain was "really" like in your opinion is hardly going to ruin the mystique. I'm guessing you would say something along the lines of he was temperamental, aloof, depressed, and didn't like to be the center of attention.

Jupes, R59:

One of the funniest things I've seen while traveling had to do with a Viking river cruise. My mother and I had done the Danube, with a rather long wait the final morning for the shuffle from Passau to the Munich Airport.

Two 40 something men with wedding rings arrived, and were seated nearby waiting as the rooms weren't all ready. The young man, probably Eastern European, who was assigned to welcome new guests took the one room reservation slip, asking them "But, what is the other room information, and where are your wives?" I believe they politely replied that it was them in that room. Presumably, the guy's supervisor was left spelling it for him.

I want to do a Viking river cruise.

R64, why? Unless you enjoy being surrounded by people who complain that they cannot get peanut butter and catsup. Not only do I loath Viking Tours groups; so, do the locals. We consistently get better service or perks once they discover we are not on a cruise. Also, you will get a unrealistic view of the towns. You are directed to restaurants and souvenir shops that either give a kickback to Viking or are actually, outright owned by Viking.

That's interesting R65; I've considered taking a Viking Cruise (or the Rick Steves "Europe Your Way" trips) just for the convenience of having someone else coordinate logistics to get you from here to there. Yes, you can do it yourself, but it's time consuming & some times confusing (I once belated realized that Glasgow had 2 train stations & I was at the wrong one). But I can see where locals would groan at the sight of a bunch of old Americans piling off of a Viking Cruise to invade their city

[quote] But I can see where locals would groan at the sight of a bunch of old Americans piling off of a Viking Cruise to invade their city

And other tourists. I was on a tour one time and we went to one of the castles in Germany. We got off the bus, bypassed the admission line and went straight in. The people waiting in line were very vocal about our group bypassing the line, but that’s what group sales will get you over individual admission.

R66, even though I bitched about Rick Steves' lightweight tours, I would go on one of his before Viking. There is a lot of free time for self directed touring. Viking Tours are fine. It is the people who take them that are the problem. They tend to be the sort of The Villages, FL type who have a very narrow existence, often centering around golf, ...golf, ....and more golf. The problem with a river cruise is that you *cannot* avoid these people.

I also suggest looking at some of the "the trouble with river cruises" videos on Youtube. There are a lot of downsides. The ships dock sideways, often as many as four deep; so, you may have to clamber over three ships to get off yours. The boats are docked next to each other. It is common to open your curtains and be looking right into the cabin of another ship. The ships travel at night, so don't expect to be able to enjoy the scenery between ports. There is a lot more. Do some research.

I sometimes watch his show on Sunday afternoons. It’s followed by the Lawrence Welk show, of all things.

I love Rick Steves travels. I know I’d never be able to experience that sort of stuff, so his videos are the next best thing, in my opinion. I also enjoy Bald and Bankrupt on YouTube. He’s an Englishman who goes into places you normally wouldn’t travel, like the former Soviet countries. He apparently was banned from Belarus after voicing support for the people of Belarus after the whole Lukashenko protests. Joanna Lumley’s travels through India and Michael Palin’s old travel shows are great, too.

R65 is repeating myths. We were never "steered" to any shops or restaurants on our Danube cruise. Far from boorish oafs, one day I tutored a woman on how to download Epub library books; she had a Nook, thinking she'd have to buy a Kindle for library stuff. The tour guides at the stops were consistently excellent. The food was not Michelin, but not Waffle Hut either. The Danube cruise features scenery (castles, etc) that are best viewed - and photographed - from the water. I'd like to try their Rhine cruise; another Danube passenger who'd done it told me they're very different experiences.

The souvenir shop experience ranged from terrific (Passau) to hostile (Bratislava).

Any specific questions, I'd be happy to respond as best I can r64 and R66.

R71, it sounds as if you have had one experience. I own a house in Germany, live there about three months a year, and travel frequently around Germany. As I wrote, the Viking Cruise itself isn't bad, it is the people who travel on them. As someone who has had hundreds of encounters with Viking Cruise tourists over the last 40 years, I assure you, you experience is the exception. Also, the fact that Viking actually owns souvenir shops and restaurants is a fact, not a matter of opinion.

I want to be you, R72. I'm not being stalkerish, but where in Germany is your house?

I repeat that we were never steered to a single shop or restaurant at any port. My fellow travelers may not have been top-notch intellectuals but weren't paunchy with fanny packs either. R72 seems to have bought into anti-American stereotypes as a fact.

Tell me , random question about another Travel Host , Rudy Maxa? He seems like he is abit more of a sophisticated Rick Steve’s, but of a snob, I totally thought he was Gay but he is Straight WTF?

R75 slightly hit on Rick Steves’ appeal. There are many middle class people who think European travel is for snobs. They’re intimidated because they don’t know enough about wine or cultural customs. Rick Steves helped to break down those barriers. He got middle class money flowing to the international travel industry.

Rick Steves sets my gaydar pinging and hair on fire.

He is as gay as a picnic basket. I don't care if he is married to a woman and has a son, there are many closeted men just like him. You all know it. Even BOTH his names are gay!

He's a couple of years than me. I went to Woodway High School and he went to Edmonds. We lived just a few blocks from each other. He is a typical liberal "Seattleite", is great to his employees and his family. His headquarters are in Edmonds. A great man.

I like some of Rick Steves’ shows, but I kind of get bored with all of the Church visits. I appreciate the art in some, but I’d rather see more secular stuff than some neighborhood Cathedral with fake relics.

His tours apparently are good value and step-up from the stereotypical rush through standard sights. His shows are basically designed to get people to go beyond the standard package tour and be able to navigate places somewhat on their own. Europe is pretty easy for the adventurous or well traveled but not to the average person who hasn't travelled many places.

As someone with a serious nerd/dork/geek fetish it was lust-at-first-sight with him.

[quote] some neighborhood Cathedral with fake relics.

What are you talking about? We really DO have the bones of the Magi who attended Jesus’ birth. They were ostracized in Persia but found a warm welcome in Germany and very quickly learned to get drunk in public. Unfortunately, their lives were shortened because they wore those thin linen robes and Deutschland is known for its bitter cold winters.

—Cologne Cathedral

Thanks to the DLer who posted the Robson Green video. Hubba-hubba...

R63, it is always weird how Europeans want so many personal details, copies of passports, etc. But I guess that's how know where the Jews are when they go to murder them.

Thank you all for reading me for filth re the Viking cruises.

I admit I was basing my initial interest on the 30 second commercial as seen before Downton Abbey. It looked LESS like an ocean cruise, thus my interest, but it sounds like some of the same intellectually lazy and or not particularly curious types would be aboard.

I hope there would be a chance for some kind of short river travel as I would like to explore either the Rhine or Danube a bit by river when/if I go.

R85 = loon

ps I blame Darlene Shiley for my confusion!

It was always a good week if Dame Darlene's glorious countenance appeared just prior to the start of Downton!

I was never tempted to get on one of Rick's buses but he has good practical tips. We've also stayed in several mid range hotels he uses and they were OK. On our last trip in Nov 2019 to Palermo, one of his groups arrived at our hotel and people at least on that tour looked well off, decked out in Tilley hats, safari vests and convertible pants (including the women) and Steves backpacks, humblebragging about their children's colleges and loudly asking for decaf. His tours are not cheap. You can do better on your own or by joining a Europe-based cultural or gastronomical tour, provided you speak the language. As someone noted, his itineraries are basic, fairly cliched and rushed in terms of cities visited.

What is it with English actors that they can host such interesting programs that are outside of what we think of as their area of "expertise"? Joanna Lumley's excursions were interesting and she was an excellent host; she was knowledgeable, curious, courteous. "Around the World with Michael Palin" and "Michael Palin's Pole to Pole" were so well done and a real surprise. He was low-key, accepted/overcame hurdles (yes, I know, with a staff to assist) and seemed to make friends with people everywhere and was rather humble..

Robson Green's program about swimming... I've yet to see it, but how interesting to spend time with an actor who is looking to unwind and swim... yes, there are reasons, but can any of us name an American actor who would do a similar program?

After Lumley posted her support for Trump I couldn't watch her anymore.

Rick is looking pretty swole and big lately.

R91 that’s how I am too. I have no use for Deplorables or anything they are trying to hawk.

[quote] ps I blame Darlene Shiley for my confusion!

I couldn’t agree more.

I don't see any proof Lumley supported Trump.

I see a few articles where she mentioned he was at a party she attended, but nothing more.

A fried of mine went on a couple of his trips and really liked them. If he's typical, he's a professional who is knowledgeable about things like art and music, so I'm assuming that Steves' tours probably include some interesting places, even if the itineraries are rather conventional. I've done lots of backpacker-type travel in quite a few places, so it doesn't really appeal to me, but I see the niche he seems to fill well. His shows are really more for independent travelers, but for an age/econ group that wants something a bit easier and more conventional than a backpacker.

In the late 80s, my mom and stepdad took me on a trip to Europe as a college graduation present and they relied heavily on his book, which I read too. (All I remember is his advice about having a sport coat with you in order to get snooty waiters to give you a seat at a "reserved" table.) They were anxious about language barriers, trains, and being looked down on as bumpkins. They didn't want a Baedeker with information about cathedrals.

I'm fascinated to find out here that he was able to make a career of this.

R73, Ahrenshoop on the Baltic Sea.

Thank you r20. I first saw Robson in a kind of cheesy love-triangle movie which was not my thing but he really struck me. He's got 'something' beyond being hot.

Reckless (1997) with Francesca Annis, R99? It was an ITV series of 6 parts, but he and Annis (and Daniela Nardini) were all good or good together.

R99, There is an episode of Wire in the Blood where he is totally nude while being tortured by a serial killer Transsexual. It shows a lot of skin for 1990s TV.

Well, he’s no Christopher Butchko. YouTube him.

R80- church was the reason that most art was created. Understanding the artist styles and the iconography is something that Rick breaks down to a understandable level. Hence all the religious references. But I agree that he could pull in a few local galleries to get a more local glimpse of the culture.

I am pretty sure Rick was a Lutheran and might attend the same church he did as a kid.

[quote]There is an episode of Wire in the Blood where he is totally nude

Robson loves being nude. He has shown ass in “Reckless” “Grantchester” and goes skinny dipping in one of his travel episodes.

R64 R66 There are better tour companies that are a bit more rigorous than Viking, and let you have your independence. I've taken trips with GoAhead Tours. They give you the option to add a flight to your travels, or you can book your own. I booked my own, because everyone else ended up flying cheapie coach seats back by the toilets. Their fee covers all hotels, ground transportation, and most meals. You're in a group of 10-20 with a dedicated guide, and usually ride from town to town on a dedicated bus. Over two weeks, you really get to know each other. In each town, you usually start with a walking tour (led by a local character), and then see the highlights as a group (Notre Dame, the Brandenburg Gate, etc.), and you're usually cut loose for your evenings. Every few nights, they have an optional dinner of local cuisine. These are always spectacular, and gut-bustingly good. Their add-on features are hit-or-miss. A tour of a winery in the country, or a hike through an Orangutan preserve, might be worth it. A walking tour of the locations from "The Sound of Music" film might not be worth it.

The groups skew older, but they're sweet people.

Look Travel is amazing and Rick Steves helps people do that, I am happy. It takes a lot for people to step out of their comfort zone and at least that is occurring, even in groups. Travel is the scariest , life affirming and wonderful thing a lot of us will ever do. Why knock someone for how it is done?

For everyone who looks down on the Middle American in a group standing out with the total American look there is always the snooty American just as obnoxious standing out by themselves, doing it their way. I try to blend in as much as possible l. I look at what people wear when I go to a city and then copy to a point with what I have.

BTW Rudy Maxa ? What do people think about him?

I did the Viking Danube tour from Budapest to Bucharest and it was exceptional.

Rudy Maxa, whom at least a couple posters have mentioned, is an odd case. He's probably much more of a Data Lounge antidote than Rick Steves.

Steves dresses to look like an American yokel with his comfortable walking shoes and his special travel clothes and money belts and funny packs, bad haircut, and two-for-one Pearl eyeglasses from that place at the mall, an intimidating Everyman for timid travelers. Maxa has a crisp button-down shirt and maybe a blazer, more a wine snob sort of travel expert, less likely to be washing up his socks and underwear in the hotel room sink every night.

Max though seems a bit stuck on the same places. "Today on our look at the Middle Ages/the Renaissance/Age of Enlightenment we're going to start in London or Ireland and then jump across to France and then to Amsterdam to see how this important period shaped the face of Europe." He's always skipping over a few important countries, Italy, say, as though it just followed suit with what Amsterdam did. His every program has weird omissions and inclusions, and weirdly weighted to conclusions that sound conclusive but were not well presented. I think if Maxa has had a tough editor or handler to make him shape his programs better, he could have been very good. It just always seems that his shows are pieced together from segments unused from something else. I want to like him more but he never quite gets the message and íts tone right. And his point of view, it's not well grounded.

Rudy Maxa, though, has his share of Data Lounge traits. He probably knows his way around a poached cod in tomato sauce with prunes.

I bought a Rick Steves travel guide for Provence. Never even looked at it. Had a marvelous time.

Does Rudy Maxa still have a show? I forgot all about him.

Would be surprised if he did, R112, but I'm out of the PBS orbit. Every one of his series (and they seemed to change names very often) appeared to be trying on some new format or new angle. "This is the thing that's going to make it work this time! The solution we didn't know we needed!"

Oy Vey! Not "a" gay OP. Whatever gave you such an idea?

Some friendly advice for you OP, and this IS coming from a good place. I only feel compelled to make mention of it, since none of the resident DL Grammarists have taken you to task herein. You need a bit of help with your titles.

Please kindly stop the unecessary use of articles, (it isn't cute) and kindly refrain from unnecessarily capitalising articles in your titles. Please do so only in the event that an article happens to be the first word of a title. Some conventions may allow for an aricle to be capitalised if it is the last word. That is an extremely rare event, or example. Generally, one ought not be capitalising [italic] indefinite [/italic] articles.

Some professional writing styles may vary as regards prepositions, conjunctions, and other types of words to be capitalised in a title, i.e. the number of letters, (usually four or five) however no style recommends whatever the fuck you're doing. Always remember: it's much easier to pick one style, and stick with it.

I ran into a foursome of 80 year-old Americans on a train in central Switzerland. Two married couples.

I asked them where they were headed. They flipped through their Rick Steves guidebook and said "Bern." That's the boring, gray, understated capital of Switzerland. Most Swiss cities are dull. I asked them why they're going to Bern, and what they planned to see. Again, they looked at the book, and showed me the list he recommended. I asked them where they had just come from, and again, they looked at the book. I told them I had just come from the beautiful Lauterbrunnen Valley (Switzerland's Yosemite), and they said "Oh, Rick says that place is overrated, so we skipped it." It's not overrated at all, grandma. But Bern and Zurich are dull as hell!

These fossils had no idea where they were, where they were going, or why they were in that country. They were just doing a Rick Steves paint-by-numbers vacation, and it was sad to see.

R114: I might say "Is he 'a' gay?" as a stylistic joke.

R116 I'm sorry mate, the joke goes over my head. Is it to mock or effect how an Asian born individual speaking English might sound?

OP asks if he's gay, then follows it with a string of negative characterizations.

Not good.

Not specifucally Asian, R114, but there are native speakers who talk awkwardly as well.

He’s kind of like if Ned Flanders was a real person

R118 Rick Steves being a gloryhole guzzler is maybe the fifth worst thing about his public persona. He might be a nice guy, but his company is awful and his branded luggage is flimsier than Chris Brown's latest apology to women.

I cannot listen to his voice. Cannot.Do.It. The queeniness. Oh, the humanity!!!!

He's not gay. He's a former hippie and classical piano player who enjoys weed. Nice guy. That's about it.

If I hap upon him at one of these hostels, does he prefer the top bunk or the bottom?

Total bottom, R124.

He looks like the Living Spoonful's John Sebastian and John Denver...and that guy from America. Def a hippy folksy looking dude.

I’m betting Miss Steves has been to more Bathhouses than the one is that clip. She is flaming.

You know that bitch has sucked more uncut euroPinga across more borders than anyone could ever do.

R128: I think you may be overestimating the attraction of "euroPinga" to a dumpy, older American dressed in brown clothes with a fannypack, a cheap nylon windbreaker, and a girly voice.

A lid for every pot, but...

Hi, this is Rick Steves. I am not gay but thank you for thinking of me. Dieter, pass the schnitzel and get me another excellent bierinbrau.

His liver must be shot to hell.

^^^^The germans will fuck a tree trunk so a dowdy American is just a appetizer.

I have a suspicion that a significant percentage of his viewers have never been to Europe and will never go. My eighty something parents have watched almost every episode. They enjoy his show tremendously. They have the money to go. I've given up after years of trying to get them to go. It's their personalities and how they were raised. They always say though that Rick's show makes them feel like they are there with him and that they learn so much. I watch with them and feel a little bit like I did get them to go and with me and it was a great trip.

Dana Carvey nailed Rick Steves..

R133 My mom is a faithful viewer (and she thinks he's queer as a butt-plug), but when I finally took her to Europe for her first trip, she realized "Hey, there's a whole world over here that that little nancy never mentions! What a waste!"

This brings up something I'd been meaning to discuss: is it possible for a guy (like RS, say) to identify as straight from whopping denial? In other words, they genuinely believe they are straight.