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26 of 26 found the following review helpful:
 Travel with ClassApr 15, 2005
By S. Paquin
"Cheers!"
This series has not yet been released, however I have seen and recorded most of these programs on television. I recommend this set to everyone, but especially to those who share Rudy Maxa's taste in travel style.
Rudy (aka: Lucky Bas!#%d in my home) includes most of the reigonal highlights, fine local cuisine, and he usually throws in a lesser known activity as well. Rudy travels in style. He stays in posh hotels, eats gourmet cuisine, drinks fine wine and he prefers riding over hiking whenever possible.
If your style is more down to Earth, I suggest watching Rick Steves travel shows. Rick Steves likes hiking, picnicing, meeting the locals. He stays at 2 star hotels or B&B's, and he has a lot of money saving tips.
I really love them both. I wish I was in the business of making travel DVD's (Rudy and Steve - Do you have any job openings?)!
11 of 11 found the following review helpful:
 The usual destinations... but very nicely doneMay 05, 2007
By Esther Schindler
I wish I had a dollar for every hour I wasted watching a poor travel video. Based on the number of them I've watched (and reviewed), it's difficult to do the job well, and way too easy to make a dull, pedantic presentation.
Yet, when you're planning a vacation, even as a fantasy, you want all the help you can get: what is worth seeing, what's it like to eat-and-sleep there, and how do you get around town? It's also less of a commitment to watch a 30-minute travel show with the highlights, compared to buying a book on the subject, not to mention that it's easier to picture what a place looks like.
Rudy Maxa is among the better options I've found. He shows you the standard destinations that you'd find in a general travel guide, but he does so... well, so *nicely*. You learn about the top spots, such as the big name museums (generally with a good overview of its specialty). He lets you indulge in a bit of fantasy travel (Maxa shows a top hotel, the sort that make me drool and make my credit card wince). He demonstrates some of the regional food, such as Belgian mussels with fries. The best stuff is when he shares some of the "experience" of traveling -- such as the reason you should make a point of taking at least one cab ride in London, or how to use the city's public transit.
In contrast, Rick Steves' DVDs are always trying to reassure the viewer that you can do the trip on the cheap; that's okay too, but occasionally I don't *want* to go off the beaten path, or at least I want to know what that path includes before I rush headlong into the woods. I do like the Rick Steves videos, but I like Maxa's one-star better.
This DVD collects a few high-level travel videos. One show is about London, another about "exploring outside London" -- primarily the spots that you'd choose as day trips from London, such as Stonehenge, Oxford, and Blenheim. Another show focuses on Amsterdam and the Netherlands, yet another on Brussels and Belgium. I doubt any of the places he includes in these videos will surprise you, but I'm also sure you'll enjoy watching. If you're planning a trip to any of these destinations, I expect that you will find at least one "Oh, *that's* worth knowing!" item.
11 of 14 found the following review helpful:
 Enchanted ItalySep 21, 2005
By Jeane Rhodes
While a bit dated, these segments on travel in Italy with Rudy Maxa are enjoyable. The selection of sites is a bit limited, although Mr. Maxa does tend to cover a lot of territory in a short time. His visit to the Chique Terre was brief and focused on the villages, so those interested in the beautiful walking trail between the villages will be disappointed. The "extras" included are very brief and provide little additional information, so if you are a regular viewer of Rudy Maxa's public television series, you will find nothing new here. His discussion of air travel consolidators is good and, if you are interested in this topic, may be worth the purchase of the DVD.
6 of 7 found the following review helpful:
 Don't be fooledNov 15, 2006
By Peter Bridge
I can't figure out how Rudy has gotten the mileage he's gotten. I've watched many of his videos (heck, at some point, you've seen everything else), and I have found him to be consistently, extraordinarily, shallow in his research and understanding of his subject countries and locales. Please understand, I say that in the context of knowing many of his destinations, in some cases quite well.
If you want a light, fluffy, skim of the region, Rudy is your man -- he never covers anything that you wouldn't know about if you gave nine minutes to absent-mindledly flipping through a competent guidebook... and in the same depth. Think of Rudy as a tour bus, passing through at twenty miles an hour, giving you a glimpse, but never quite stopping to let you smell the roses. Or the horse manure. Lite, cheerful, sanitized, smooth, and lo-cal.
For a basic introduction to a country or region, Rick Steves is a better resource, whether or not you are seeking bargain travel -- look especially to Rick for help with building and prioritizing a trip around available time, and for help finding nice little spots the big books may overlook. If you want more than Rick offers, you'll have to start working your way through more serious volumes. Rudy ain't it.
On a positive note, the pictures aren't ugly. If your library has nothing else, and if you've seen everything else on Netflix, you probably won't regret the money invested, unless you've already been to the destination, in which case you may well be asking, "Why, Rudy, why? It would have been so easy to do a much better job."
8 of 10 found the following review helpful:
Rudy to the MaxaApr 30, 2005
By Zecon
In Molto Italiano, Rudy Maxa is the quintessentially perfect travel host and tour guide. He is a welcome face and familiar persona from National Public Radio and Public Television. If you've enjoyed his travel shows, you will definitely appreciate this 4 show, 113 minute DVD. You get your money's worth.
Rudy takes us to four areas of Italy. He focuses on Rome, Naples and the Amalfi Coast, Sicily, and hill towns in Tuscany and Umbria. Rudy mixes culture, history, art, food and wine, and incredible Italian scenery to capture the very essence of Italian life. For the novice Italian vacationer, this DVD also contains maps and helpful travel hints. If you are planning your first or even a return trip to Italy, this DVD will be useful.
The only shortfall of this DVD is that Rudy's coverage of Sicily does not include a stop at the hillside town of Taormino. Over the year's I have spent a lot of time in Sicily and Italy. So, I could not imagine traveling to the island without spending a day or two in this picturesque town overlooking the Mediterranean. In fact, I would recommend a visit to Taormino well above one to the Amalfi Coast. I am surprised he did not include it.
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