Posted on 11/03/2016 11:52:27 AM PDT by ZULU
If you are a patriotic Conservative, Rick Steves is NOT your tour. Recently, a friend of mine took a tour to Sicily sponsored by Mr. Steves. The Tour went fine until the last day when they visited a war museum in Catania. The Tour Guide, a creature called "Alfeo" went on a long anti-American tirade, attacking us for our effort in Europe, blaming Black Lives Matter on the police, stating American troops raped Sicilian women, American flag waving Sicilians were forced to do so under armed force, 9-11 was our own fault, etc.
My friend spoke out and told the guide to shut up and stop attacking America, he was on vacation and did not want to hear politics. "Alfeo" ignored my friend and went on with his rant, stating RICK STEVES WANTED THIS TIRADE DELIVERED, IT WAS HIS POLICY.
I figured that out some time ago. Used to love to watch that show....haven’t in many years. Same with Anthony Bourdain.
We have followed his guide books for years and have found them valuable.
We know he is a socialist, which is not surprising given his love for Europe.
You should complain, there is no reason to endure political lecturing, one way, that you can’t control and that you paid for. Tell his company you are upset, plus review on Yelp and other sites.
Interesting - he does spend a lot of time raising funds for PBS.....
“Europe through the Back Door?” And you bought that book? Did you find yourself in every bath house and gay opera?
Rick knows all the best bath houses.
What rock have you been hiding under you little Italian Commie Paolo? Huh? Are you a Hillary troll? The overwhelming number of American boys were decent kids fighting a dirty war that your idiot Il Duce helped create with that other psychopath Adolf Hitler and his even crazier buddies the Imperalist Japanese.
50% of my ancestry is Sicilian. Most American Sicilians I know love America and are conservatives. America is the best Country in the world except for the little rotten pinkos that slither around here.
So go stuff it, creep.
Steves has a site where he is backing Hillary. He is an anti-Trump Democrat and Hillary lover and take it from me, my friend would never lie about something like this. He just wanted a good peaceful tour and a get away from what is going on here.
My son travels overseas regularly and says that Rick Steves' travel guides, and pod-casts have always been right-on. His recommendations for hotels and restaurants has always been current, and he's never gotten a bad recommendation from him.
Yeah. I saw that one on the Net also. His tour scheme for Iran collapsed too. Guess the ayatollahs didn’t like comments about the sexy tuffs of hair sticking out from under the hijabs being like cleavage to him. :)
Yup.
You can’t get away from these scum. They are everywhere, stealing our money and using it to promote their anti-American crap. The best we can do is try to be informed and patronize them as little as possible.
Just for interest, I spent many years as a travel journalist and along the way had a chance to meet many people like Rick Steves. Keep in mind these folks largely work for the media - they work for TV, radio or newspapers.
In addition, a lot of travel groups are organized by universities and hosted by professors. I think you are starting to get the picture.
He sounds like a real low-life. Bet he is ELCA - Evangelical Lutheran Church of America - a faux Lutheran church. He couldn’t possibly be Missouri Synod or Wisconsin Synod.
:(
Will do.
Hmmm, I didn’t realize that.
I always liked his tour shows. Tons of them on YouTube.
Oh well. One less thing on my viewing list.
He posed his comments to YELP and they were relegated to “Not Recommended Comments”.
Agreed. He may be a lib from Oregon, but he's not stupid.
Also, although I can't put my hands on it at the moment, I have read that all licensed tour guides in Italy adhere to a code of conduct that requires objectivity and respect for everyone regardless of where they come from. Indeed, the tour guide industry in Italy is highly regulated and very competitive, and while this guide could be guilty of the rant, as described, I have my doubts since it would have put him at risk of a large fine, suspension, or license revocation.
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