Rick Steves Best of Travels in Europe – British Isles

A total waste of money! Most of the video is of Rick Steves – Rick Steves going into pubs, Rick Steves having breakfast, Rick Steves at the tourist information booth, Rick Steves on the Thames, Rick Steves looking for tickets to the Edinburgh festival, etc. If you want a DVD of Rick Steves, this is for you.
This is the kind of video your uncle Charlie could have made (and he would have done a better job).

What do see in London? Some quick exteriors of St. Paul’s, the Tower of London, and Parliament along with some interior museum shots. The cruise on the Thames highlights (you guessed it) – Rick Steves. Steves misses many London highlights and somehow manages to make London appear dull. Steves spends an inordinate amount of time on the obvious – how to operate your camera, how to exchange money, how to find the tourist center, etc, etc.

What a wasted effort! I found small of interest here and it is painful to watch as it is 90% filler material. A very sad offering that reflects poorly on Rick Steves and Questar. I will not buy another product in this series.
Rating: 1 / 5

Please, note that this is an intro CD.

There is no way Steves could have crammed everything from three simple-to-navigate English-speaking countries into one DVD. So, expectations should be lowered a bit.

Besides, at the bargain price of $9.99 or less NEW, can you really complain that much?

If you’re wanting a more “professional” souvenir video, there are plenty available for $29.99 or whatever. Otherwise, I personally happen to like Steves’ “man on the street” approach.

For people who don’t “get it” when seeing one of his TV shows, or a DVD or DVD compilation, for Steves, foreign vacations are about seeing **people** and not just seeing **sights.** Would-be American tourists who don’t appreciate this would be advised to yes, indeed, consider another video.

Likewise, for people who expect a travel video to somehow **substitute** for a book.

Trust me, especially for the price, every one of Steves’ multi-country DVD compilations deserves a five-star rating.
Rating: 5 / 5

I have several of Rick Steves travel videos/book-I buy them to prep for my vacations and I find them very helpful. Apparently some reviewers prefer the ancient-fashion, scenes and voice-overs routine-this is not that! Rick Steves prefers a personable appraoch which obviously serves two purposes; first of all it engages the viewer on a casual level (as a fellow traveler)which allows us to join in the adventure. Secondly, he role-models the proper etiquette/manners all travelers should demonstrate as they mingle with citizens of other countries.He does this while he points out key/traditional sites to visit as well as places off the beaten path you might prefer to venture to as well. Remember, vacations are restricted to a time-frame, you cannot possibly do everything and see everything so, with that in mind follow Rick Steves no-nonsense approach of sticking to the basics while customizing your vacation by “thinking ahead.” Another feature I’ve learned to appreciate is the small tid-bits Rick Steves peppers through out his shows like,”how to pack/what to take.” Point being-you’re on vacation-not moving in! Rick Steves focus is to help you streamline your holidays so that your memories will be more than just one-huge-blur! As a traveler, I trust Rick Steves because he himself is a traveler and has been since his youth-it’s his life, not a pastime, as it is with so many other would-be-traveler-writers.Raise your travel dreams to their upright and locked positions……………………………….
Rating: 5 / 5