Positano and the Amalfi coast are gorgeous, no question about that. But they have price tags to match. So what is a budget traveler to do? After a little research, I discovered that you can stay in tiny Piano de Sorrento and take buses and trains that link the pricier towns together at a fraction of the cost. And even better, I got to stay in a super affordable hostel in an old Monastery, with bells chiming, lovely staff and some of the nuns...

It may be self-proclaimed, but it may also be true! Who is to say, really, which is the most beautiful bookshop in the world? As a graphic designer and artist, I would have to say that their sign in no way indicates the beauty that awaits any book lover inside Alta Acqua Libreria, hidden somewhere in Venice… After all, how many bookshops display their wares in an antique gondola? And how many have a secret staircase out back, made of...

How can you not love Venice?! It’s a magical place where you feel as if you’re walking through a dream. There are, of course, the classic scenes – the gondolas… St. Mark’s square (Piazza San Marco, the main square of Venice, which Napoleon supposedly called “the drawing room of Europe”)… The many famous bridges, like the Bridge of Sighs, which connects the New Prison with the interrogation rooms...