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AmazingTravel Guide.  Rick Steves’ travel philosophy is, “We travel all the way to Europe to enjoy differences-to become temporary locals.  You’ll experience frustrations.  Certain truths that we find “God-given” or “self-evident,”  are suddenly not so true.  One of the benefits of travel is the eye-opening realization that there are logical, civil, and even better alternatives.  A willingness to go local ensures that you’ll enjoy a full does of local hospitality.  A tight budget forces you to travel close to the ground, meeting and communicating with the people.  Travel can make you a happier American, as well as a citizen of the world.  It’s humbling to travel and find that other people don’t have the “American Dream”-they have their own dreams.”

The title “Eastern Europe” is the term Americans use to describe the Czech Republic, Slovakia, Poland, Hungary, Slovenia and Croatia, Vienna (A Gateway City), and Mostar, Bosnia-Herzogovina.  As Americans, we refer to Eastern Europe as including any place that was once behind the Iron Curtain, from the former East Germany to Moscow.  But people who actually live in many of these countries consider themselves “Central European”.  To them, “Eastern Europe” is really eastern: Russia, Ukraine, Belarus and Romania.  These six core “Eastern European” countries fell under communist control during the last half of the 20th century.  More importantly, for centuries leading up to World War I, they were all part of the Austrian Habsburg Empire.  Before the Habsburg Empire, the kings and emperors of these countries also frequently governed their neighbors.  And all of these countries (except Hungary) are populated by people of Slavic heritage.