Italy Travel Seminar


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Europe » Italy
June 20th 2011
Published: January 17th 2011
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January 16, 2011

Attending a Rick Steves Travel Seminar

Travelers who live in the general Puget Sound area are very lucky in that they are within driving distance to Rick Steves' travel store in Edmonds, Washington. The travel center has nearly every resource you need for setting up your trip, and if they don't, they have connections with people who can help you do the rest. One of the great services offered are free travel classes. Everything from Beginning Italian for Travelers to Digital Travel Photography is offered free of charge to would-be travelers.

On Saturday, January 15, the travel center hosted its annual travel seminar, this year labeled "Test Drive a Tour Guide." Many classes were scheduled, covering most of the tours offered by the Rick Steves company. Each lecture was about an hour and a half and was given by a guide who often leads that specific tour. While it can be viewed as a great propaganda machine for the tour company, the idea was to educate travelers about the kind of tour they will experience before they get on the bus and find reality different than their expectations.

My parents and I drove up to Edmonds together to see two of the lectures. "Venice, Florence, and Rome," offered by Sarah Murdoch, covered a tour that focused on those particular cities. The most helpful information offered was about personal guides in these cities. For those taking a RS tour, you are introduced to a local Venetian or Florentine who spends four or more hours taking you around town, explaining why certain statues are important to the locals, introducing you to local traditions, and sharing more of the soul of the town than you would experience on a visit by yourself. Previously I had dismissed the concept of a private guide; it seemed like a waste of money to me. But this explanation of how to better know the city I am visiting changed my mind. It would be a shame to visit a town and pass by a broken column and not know that it was the town center 2,000 years ago, or some story like that. Another expense added to my list: private tour guides for large cities.

The other lecture we attended was "The Best of Italy" tour hosted by Rick Steves himself. Having spent a bit of time browsing his website, I didn't come away with any new information for myself. My parents, on the other hand, became enlightened about the prospect of taking one of the company's tours. I've always stressed to people about picking travel partners who have the same travel style, or risk disaster. The company actually advocates the same thing, except they are providing you with 25 extra travel partners.

The part of the second lecture I enjoyed most was the two additional tour guides assisting Rick with his presentation. Both men were from Sicily, and everything they said was intertwined with large hand gestures and passion for the topic. Just that little anecdote gave me a small boost in confidence that I just might get along with the people of Italy. They love food, wine, beauty, and life. Sounds good to me!

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