My husband Tim turned to me and whispered in a confidential tone out of the corner of his mouth, “I’ve never been so excited in my whole life.”

Tipping: You can pre-pay the suggested tips for stewards and dining room attendants, but if the service is special you might wish to give a cash reward at the end of the trip.

Dreaming of “La Dolce Vita” in beautiful Italy? If you decide to turn that dream into reality, the following tips may save you a lot of stress and a considerable sum of money.

If you love that lost-in-time feeling, then you will love Lisbon. The city’s wistful air preserves crumbling balconies and buildings that grasp at their cracked-tile exteriors.

High above me are slate-gray mountains capped with snow. Despite the altitude it’s 68 F and in the narrow valley the meadows are in full flush and horses take shade in the orchards

Is it my imagination or are all these buildings glowing…pink? That was my first impression of Dijon: a blur of centuries-old stone buildings imbued with a faint shell-pink glow.

It’s a sunny summer’s day, and a man in a bathing suit is climbing a ladder out of the sea. He clambers onto the cream-colored stone, grabs his towel, and throws it over his shoulders.

Glynna’s Rolodex of Contacts in Malta

If you want to make money from real estate, look for places where it’s cheap but about to go up in price. Maybe a new highway is coming, or new air links to an inaccessible but stunning area.