Travel Tales
Every month we feature funny, cautionary, or inspiring anecdotes from travelers. If you have a true (short) travel tale to share, send it to stories@ricksteves.com. If you have a photo that illustrates it, please attach it. And don't forget to tell us your first name and the city where you live. We'd love to hear from you!
Light Packing Poster Children
The photo of the happy railpass travelers currently on your homepage is of my sister and brother-in-law, Margie and Robbie of Houston, Texas. They got engaged on their first trip to Europe and then returned a few years later for a three-week whirlwind tour of Europe.
My husband and I do a pretty decent job of packing light, and have done several multi-week trips in Europe with only carry-on bags. For literally months before their trip Margie was asking for packing advice and a correspondence developed debating the merit of various items.
Well — it is clear that her 'packing light' skills have now well eclipsed mine. She is literally the poster-woman for how to pack light!
When they were in Italy they ran into Rick Steves on a train platform.
|
He asked to take their picture saying that he needed pictures for his catalog. But nothing seemed to come of it. Well, almost two years later I was surfing the web and saw this — Margie and Robbie on the Rick Steves homepage. Bona-fide celebrities they are! |
|
Then, a couple of weeks ago I was looking up some packing tips for someone else and lo and behold, Margie and Robbie are officially the poster-children for how to pack. |
|
And, those photos don't really show Margie's packing prowess. Here she is returning to Houston after visiting us. Yes, that is one carry-on plus one diaper bag after a one week trip to England travelling with a 7-month-old baby. |
|
I'm a long time reader and wanted to thank you for all you do to educate folks on how to travel. We learned a lot over the years and often refer others to your site and books when encouraging others to travel abroad.
After three trips to Europe in 30 months we sought out a transfer with our work, and moved from Seattle to England in 2007 to have a 'permanent travel experience,' shorter flights to our chosen destinations and more days off from work. We just had our first child this year and his passport is on its way. We're already planning our travels with our stowaway.
So, thanks to all of you at ETBD for your great work!
— Sarah in Shiplake, UK
Fine print: We reserve the right to edit and post all Travel Tales submissions. Please provide us with your full name and city/state. We will not print your last name or email address in Travel News.