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...

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...

Heading to Hua Hin, in Southern Thailand… After traveling in English speaking countries, it can be a bit of culture shock to find yourself in a huge airport in Bangkok, where you don’t understand most of the conversations around you! But never fear, Thailand is exotic but also very tourist friendly, and many people speak at least some English, especially those in tourist-related jobs. The kind young clerk at the money exchange wrote...