In case you haven’t noticed, I haven’t been writing, blogging, or flying much lately. What have I been doing? Planning a trip to Italy, a trip I’ve been dreaming about for years. Because I want this trip to be perfect, I’ve been spending entirely way too much time on Trip advisor. Don’t believe me? Ask the husband. He hasn’t had a decent meal in days. But who can eat when there are hotels, hundreds and hundreds of hotels, to be viewed? Let me tell you, that website, if you don’t know already, is seriously addictive. I can’t stop. Just when I think I’ve found the perfect place to stay, I find another perfect place to stay. It never ends. There are just too many perfect places to stay in Italy. I don’t know how one decides. The one thing that actually has been decided upon is the flight from New York to London, flying back to New York via Rome. I booked it last night and got a fantastic deal – $670 round trip – yeah baby! All I have left to do now is book a flight from London to Venice, and then another flight from Venice to Naples, find a driver from Naples to Positano, figure out the train system from Naples to Rome, and then settle on where we’re going to stay, and even more importantly, where we’re going to eat. It makes me tired just thinking about it. But here’s what I like so far…

VENICE
The husband wasn’t too keen on Venice, not with the summer heat, the giant rats, the swarm of tourists, and the smell of garbage, until I told him about the amazing hotel I found in the Jewish Ghetto. Actually it was the market around the corner from the hotel that really caught his eye. Hotel Ari Mori d’Oriente is elegant, quiet, and off the beaten track.