DVDs have all 43 episodes of ‘Rick Steves’ Europe’
Getting ready to go overseas and wishing you’d taped the episode about your destination from “Rick Steves’ Europe” on PBS?
Quit kicking yourself. If it ran between 2000 and 2005 on public television, it’s included in a new DVD anthology of all 43 shows in the series.
The popular program, which debuted in 1990, is now carried by 300 stations.
The set includes seven discs of the episodes plus a bonus DVD taking you on one of travel guru Steves’ tours.
No, it isn’t a hard-sell video ad for his guidebook and touring company, though you can’t help but wish his knowledgeable group leader would join you on your next European vacation. Rather, it inspires you to visit a nation’s hot attractions while not overlooking places that provide cultural context, such as family inns and pocket restaurants.
Best extra: Rick’s self-effacing outtakes, revealing forgotten lines, head-banging low doorways and rants that never made TV.
The set is a how-to bonanza. The always chipper and youthful Steves advises you, for example, how to order in a pub, where to ge the best currency exchange and what to pack.He takes his own advice; throughout the programs, Steves wears the same style cotton shirt and trousers, and he travels with a modest backpack, even on two-week trips. Watching some tour members struggle with hefty suitcases is sure to convert you to his “pack light” philosophy.
Each disc covers a geographic area: Great Britain, Ireland, Spain and Portugal, France and Benelux, Germany and the Swiss Alps, Italy, and Eastern Europe.
The latter will be of special interest for travelers looking for new itineraries. It includes such emerging destinations as Slovenia, Croatia, Bulgaria and eastern Turkey.
Updated editions of the set are possible if major changes are warranted, said Robin Goddard, Steves’ publicist.
The collection retails for $69.95 online and in bookstores, which would buy a lot of travel guidebooks.
But getting authoritative tips from Steves’ own lips is personal and empowering. And if you can’t swing the price, the scripts are available at www.ricksteves.com.