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Planning and saving money for an international getaway is definitely within reach with a few easy budgeting tips and the mindset to stay focused on your goal: to experience a new culture, explore a new city, and soak up everything it has to offer! As we’ve all now spent the better part of the last year stuck inside, our wandering minds are dreaming of exploring a different country, taking in the views we can’t get at home, and just getting away from everything for an excitin

My favorite area to wander and live in Florence is Oltrarno, the area just across the river from the main tourist center where you can quickly sink into local life centered around Piazza Santo Spirito. One of the many things I love about Oltrarno is that it is still full of hidden artisan studios where, with the right insider know-how, you can discover ancient techniques still in use today to create timeless masterpieces. I recently met with one of those master artisans, hum

Gelato that makes me lust for another scoop before I’ve finished the first- that’s basically what I’m searching for at all times when in Italy. So when I met my new friend Antonella, a local in a seaside village called Peschici in the “spur” of Italy’s boot, I asked her where I could find the best gelateria. She had already tipped me off to the best hidden restaurant, best hidden beach, and a contact who leads nature excursions on horseback. She responded to my probe about g

On the coast of Gargano, the “spur” of Italy’s boot, there’s a well-known restaurant built on a wooden pier jutting out into the sea. It’s actually an ancient fishing machine called a trabucco , and visitors flock there to sit at rustic wooden tables with a glass of prosecco in hand as the sun goes down. Naturally, I loved the idea of combining food, local tradition, and nature, so I had to check it out for myself. It was… okay . The food was too fancy for its own good and t

As a nature lover and artist , one thing I love about travel is experiencing different types of landscapes. I notice how the straight pine trees of the southern US become wild and craggy in southern Europe. I notice how the color palette of a place gets dustier, more saturated, or expands into a range of colorful minerals new to my painting vocabulary. And I notice the way tall mountains energize the “adventuress” in me, while flatlands gently sloping into the sea make me wan