Picturesque squares, wide boulevards and cosmopolitan flair give Arequipa a different vibe than the rest of Peru. Known as “The White City”, Arequipa is the second largest city in Peru. It has an upscale, European feel…

Machu Picchu, also known as The Lost City of the Incas, is an ancient archaeological site discovered fairly recently. In the early 1900s, American archaeologist Hiram Bingham uncovered it with the help of a team of…

Boarding the plane for Cusco, we realized we wouldn’t see anyone we know for a year. What a strange feeling. Just a couple of months earlier, we had quit our advertising jobs in New York. We…

Gritty streets. Noisy construction. Endless traffic. Palermo definitely did not fit our vision of Sicily. After a somewhat hallucinatory overnight train ride from mainland Italy (more on that here), we figured our sleep-deprived state was skewing…

In true budget travel fashion, we opted to take a train and ferry from Italy to Sicily instead of flying. Stretching our dollar even farther, we opted to take a regional train with “reclining seats” for…

In Italy, if Rome is history and Florence is art and Milan is fashion, then Naples is people. Initially settled by Greeks in 2000 BC, Naples is one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in the…

Since 79 AD, Mount Vesuvius has erupted over 30 times. In the context of 2,000 years, that number doesn’t seem like a lot. Perhaps that’s why 600,000 people continue to live in the shadow of Mount…

A thriving Roman city, Pompeii peacefully existed in the shadow of Mount Vesuvius for hundreds of years. As early as 6th century BC, the city walls were first constructed. By 80 BC, Pompeii was an official…

The Amalfi Coast is undeniably one of Europe’s most beautiful and awe-inspiring coastlines. While staying in Sorrento, we knew we wanted to experience the iconic coastal drive to the quaint little town of Amalfi. Opting for…