If you want to see the Roman ruins and really get a feel of how the city must have looked when the buildings were fully intact during ancient times, then don’t go after dark. Because they definitely were not lit up at night like this. At least not according to the history books.

When I was in Italy, I saw lots of artists creating beautiful sidewalk art like this man drawing Girl With a Pearl Earring in Siena. They seemed to be enjoying their endeavors and appeared to be collecting a decent amount of money. This got me wondering, why don’t they do this in New York City?

If you’re planning a trip to Venice, you’re probably thinking that you want to take a ride in gondola. Then you get there and you find out that it’s going to cost you a minimum of €80. You start second-guessing your plan, thinking that perhaps it’s not absolutely essential that you participate in this time-honored [...]

We decided to splurge on our hotel in Rome, choosing the beautiful historic Hotel Eden, which we got at a pretty good rate from Hotels.com. We really enjoyed staying there but, like many fancy hotels, Internet access wasn’t free. Nope, it was €25 a day plus tax. We’re somewhat addicted to the Internet — and [...]

Separated by the Bosphorus, the city of Istanbul spans two continents: Europe and Asia. Like most tourists, we stayed on the European side, specifically in the Sultanahmet, which is the historic center. But we were excited to venture over to Asia, so we caught the ferry at Galata Bridge to the neighborhood of Uskadar. It [...]

(Fisherman on Inle Lake; photos by Jeremy Willinger) This is the second part of guest blogger Jeremy Willinger‘s posts about his recent trip to Burma. You can read the first part, which focuses on Yangon (Rangoon), here. When you leave the cities of Burma, the country opens up into an expanse of rice paddies, villages, [...]

You know how they always say that in life you regret the things that you didn’t do more than those you did? Well, in my case, it seems to be that I regret the things that I don’t buy more than the things I do. I thought that I was over the fact that I [...]

(Temples of Bagan; photos by Jeremy Willinger) Guest blogger Jeremy Willinger just got back from a solo trip through Southeast Asia, where he visited Burma (aka Myanmar), Thailand, Laos and Cambodia. He was especially struck by Burma which, he warns, requires careful planning for even the most adventuresome of travelers. Here, he shares his experiences [...]

It's a commonly held conviction that Venice becomes magical at nighttime. Now, this Italian engineering marvel is quite lovely during the daytime too — you know, thanks to those canals and colorful architecture and all that. So what makes it even more special in the dark?

Our first stop in Italy was Venice. We were there for about 48 hours (Monday to Wednesday) and didn't have one really good meal. This is partly because Venice is completely overrun with touristy restaurants where they show pictures of the food on the menu, partly because the streets of Venice are so confusing that [...]