Venice can be all things to everyone. Look past the sad, tired & sweaty faces. Look past those who think that immersive travel means making sure they get back to the Carnival cruise ship before the buffet closes. Train yourself to ignore the conversations about how much a coffee costs in Saint Mark’s Square. Cleanse your mind of the lemmings wearing audio guides while following blindly in single file behind the walking tour rep with that “shoot me now face”.

Then and only then you will see Venice for what is and not what Venetians fear it has become. In fact, if you focus you will see what the Venetians are desperately trying to restore and protect. This is definitely one of the most beautiful, awe inspiring and unique places on this planet. The people are striking. The sun warms your bones. The food is that of a hybrid, representative of the cultures that have traded, visited and settled at this seafaring crossroads for over a thousand years.

Never take the word of anyone who says it smells bad, it is too expensive, or you have to walk everywhere you want to go. Never trust the lazy. Never trust anyone who dismisses a genuine historical and geographic wonder because they went to the one in Las Vegas and “that was good enough”. No sir, these are the people you immediately ignore after you have sold them what they need. Tupperware, Mary Kay, a K-Tel Patty Stacker, a book by L. Ron Hubbard or swampland in Florida. It’s business not personal! Remember, if they wear camouflage to dinner at Red Lobster and remove “their tooth” before bed, take a wide birth. As a friend recently remarked, “Its all about gratitude” (Thanks Gary!). Be grateful for difference! Embrace change! If you expect where you travel to be the same as where you live, you may be wasting the money you could have spent on a staycation.

Arrive in Venice by train via Santa Lucia Station. Take a Vaperetto to your hotel. Do yourself a favour and stay on one of the islands in the lagoon. Stay on Burano or Murano. Sit canal side and drink an ice cold Peroni. Go to Harry’s bar and have a Bellini on a bar stool that Hemingway once wouldn’t give up until closing time. For more tips about how to leave Venice with no regrets and a return trip already in the planning stages, leave your email address below so you don’t miss the next blog post.

Live well!

Mark