How To Europe

Comparison of How To Europe with similar books.

John Whitman: "The Best European Travel Tips," Rick Steves: "Europe Through The Back Door," Lonely Planet: "Read This First: Europe," Rough Guides: "First Time Europe"

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When the subject of travel guidebooks for Europe comes up the first one that people think of is a traditional guidebook like Arthur Frommer's Europe on $5 a Day. This and similar books advise travelers on where to sleep and eat, and what to see and do.

On the other hand, none of the books discussed here is a standard "guidebook." Instead each focuses on the unique infrastructure of Europe and how it affects independent budget travel. For example, Americans meet up with new experiences regarding trains, hotels, restaurants, telephones, the metric system, foreign currencies, pickpockets, and other topics where the picture in Europe differs significantly from American ways. The standard guidebooks skimp on discussing these differences in everyday things, if they mention them at all. That is why you need one of these books, especially if you are a first time traveler.

The spine of most books is right side up when the book is on its back — in the USA. In Europe the spines of books are right side up when they are laid face down. The photo of the spine of these books shows an interesting feature of How To Europe. It is vertical. I designed it that way as a compromise, and so people would not have to turn their head sideways to read the title.

Carpe diem. Vivere bene! Gratia Deo.

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Read a book, but not just any book.

INFRASTRUCTURE AND LOGISTICS OF EUROPE

These books describe the basic infrastructure of Europe from the point of view of an American tourist. Logistics are far different in the "Old World," the moniker for Europe we were taught in school when I was there. From electrical service and the metric system, public transportation and driving a car, dining out and sleeping facilities, and on and on, just about everything is different in Europe compared to Midland Ciy, USA.

Several other books cover the same territory as How To Europe, explaining Europe to new visitors. Here is a table of available books, that I know of, with basic data, links, a brief description, and my evaluaton.

Rating	Title (linked) Author Publisher Date ISBN	Pages Size Word count Weight Images Maps	Comments
3 stars	The Best European Travel Tips John Whitman Harper Collins 1995 0-06-273394-X	272 pages 5¼"x8" Appx. 97,000 words ½ pound No illustrations. Sketched map.	This is a fairly comprehensive report and includes a good deal of information on eastern Europe. The book format is bulleted paragraph throughout and it is therefore not easy to read.
3 stars	Europe Through the Back Door Rick Steves Avalon Travel 2015 (Puts next year's date on the cover every August) 1-598801082	776 pages 5½"x8½" 1 pound Appx. 230,000 words Appx 300 B/W photos. Crudely sketched maps.	Covers the basics but is incomplete on many topics. Has virtually nothing at all on eastern Europe. Many of his photos are knock-offs from 1980s editions of my book, How To Europe. Back then Rick complimented me on my photos and asked me how I did it. I taught him, but I didn't give him permission to copy mine. He copies my covers also, except that I don't slap a new date on the same words every year like he does. Get a used copy if you must.
3 stars	Read This First: Europe Paul Harding Lonely Planet 2000 1-86450-136-7	430 pages 5"x7¾" 1 pound Appx. 155,000 words Scenic photos. Excellent color maps.	It is a somewhat light introduction to Europe, even on the basics. It appears to be directed more at Australians than Americans. The back half of the book includes thumbnail descriptions and beautiful maps of 36 countries, including most of eastern Europe. This is excellent material, counterbalancing the front half.
2 stars	First Time Europe Louis CasaBianca (early editions) Doug Lansky (presently) Rough Guides 2005 1-84353-407-X	358 pages 5"x7¼" 1 pound Appx. 140,000 words Tourist type photos. Good overview maps.	This is rather superficial coverage, spread too thin and prone to errors. For example, he advocates using the toilet on a parked train to save money in a pay toilet. Correction: using a toilet on a train parked in a station is prohibited. There is a lot of flippant and cocky-attitude material. The "Country Profiles" on 30 different countries with maps and data is very good.
4 stars	How To Europe: The Complete Travelers Handbook John Bermont Murphy & Broad 2003 0-940792-69-9	470 pages 7"x10" 1½ pounds Appx. 220,000 words 345 captioned photos. Sketched map.	How To Europe covers more subjects and in more detail than any of the above. It has extensive coverage of eastern Europe. The hundreds of captioned photos set it apart and contribute strongly to making this a uniquely valuable book for first time visitors to Europe. The book is heavy. See the table of contents and read the entire updated book on line, FREE.
Notes: Star ratings are in the range of 1 to 5. There can always be worse and there can always be better so these are all in the range 2 to 4. Naturally I award my own book the highest rating. Else why would I write and publish? For more information see How To Europe: The Complete Travelers Handbook. The information in this table is based on the actual books. I bought each one. I have purchased nearly all of the editions since the first publication date of each of these books. There may be newer editions of these books but they don't change much. I am tired of buying the same words every year. The book links take you to pages at Amazon.com where you can read more about each book, including publishers promo and independent reviews. You can also order the books. The author links take you to a corresponding web page (if I could find one) of each author's biography. Read about their background and qualifications.

NOTE TO READERS

I welcome questions, comments, complaints, and compliments. If you have any concerns about your trip to Europe that have not been covered well enough on my web site please do not hesitate to write. Ask, cuss, discuss, or whatever. I read every email and update my pages when I see a question repeating, Then I will not get that question again, hopefully. In some cases readers have been so generous with their time and talent that I have included their emails verbatim, e.g. chapters 22 and 25.

I do not open attachments. I do not click links to web pages of any kind. I will reply in a day or two, usually.

My email address is [email protected].

At your leisure scroll through the Table of Contents of HOW TO EUROPE: The Complete Travelers Handbook and read all 30 chapters, FREE on line. Good deal! You'll probably find the answers you seek, and some you didn't know you needed.

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