| Global Picks
 
 Rick Steves’ Surprising Choices
for World Travel
 
  Best mode of travel “Seat of my pants. Actually, taxi, airplane or
        bicycle — whatever is most efficient at the time.”
 Two countries he’s
          crazy aboutBali and Thailand. “Bouncing cross-country in Thailand in
          a Jeep with no windshield, with bugs bouncing off your teeth, with guys
          out of a Star Wars bar scene — that’s travel.”
 Where he would take his
            next tour, if he had the choice“Personally, I like traveling in Russia,
            but it’s hard to get my readership to go along.”
 Country with most interesting
              cuisine“Japan. Every few hours, I take a dipstick to see if I have any
              more room for the great food.”
 Best way to tell a great local restaurant
              from a tourist mecca“The local restaurant has a handwritten menu in the
              local language and just a few items, market-fresh. Locals are sitting
              there, not tourists.”
 Best way to tell a great hotel“It’s family-run,
              centrally located and doesn’t cost too much. Don’t spend your money on
              a fancy hotel. The next day, with the money you saved, you can hire a
              private guide to show you around, and you’ll get a great education.”
 Best
              times on a Europe Through the Back Door tour“On Sundays, I would cultivate
              and encourage times to be quiet together and reflect on what it meant
              to be in a different part of the world. I called it Back Door Fellowship.
              I’d encourage my staff to allow time for that on their tours as well.
              People appreciated that. It kept the tours from becoming superficial.”
 Three
              places he would like to know more aboutBudapest, Poland and Nicaragua. “These
              places would offer me a steep learning curve.”
 
        
  
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