The worst part of travel these days is flying. There are lines, lines, and more lines. The airlines treat travelers like cattle, the airports aren't much better. But there are ways to expedite the dreaded time needed to wait on lines for security checks and passport control. Read The Traveling Professor's blog post for these easy tips in getting through the airport quickly.

On almost every small group tour The Traveling Professor runs, there seems to be at least one traveler who is delayed or worse yet, needs to cancel a trip. Sometimes The Professor can recoup some of the costs for a trip but not always. Trip insurance can protect a traveler.  So the questions are, do you really need travel insurance? What kind of insurance do you need? Where can you get it?  Check out today's blog post to find out more.

Of course there is the Colosseum, the Borghese Gallery and the Pantheon.  But no one goes to Rome to see that anymore. We go there to eat!  And there are many places to eat in Italy.  In this blog post The Professor posts his "Top Secret" places to eat in Italy. Some of the places are fancy, some are casual.  But they are all worth visiting on your next trip to Rome.  But please, you must promise to tell no one else about these super secret spots.  Enjoy!

Of course, a passport is the most valuable travel document. If it's lost, it could ruin a trip. There are a few things travelers should know about passports and The Traveling Professor has a few good tips for you. Read today's blog post to be all up-to-date on what you need to know about your passport, The Professor has all the good tips for you and here are his Top 10 passport tips.

We introduced our Croatia and the Dalmatian Coast cruise with a preview tour in October 2017.  Since then, we have taken many travelers on our 30-person small ship luxury charter on 4 subsequent tours, including 2 this past August. There is a lot to like about visiting Croatia and especially cruising along the Adriatic coast.  The Traveling Professor will tell you all about it, with photos, in his latest blog post about a small group tour to Croatia.  Maybe you will consider a small ship cruise with The Professor too!

In my 15 years as The Traveling Professor I have learned a lot about travel and how to travel comfortably, efficiently and as inexpensively as possible.  I am not a "cheap" traveler who does anything to save a buck (or a euro).  My travel tips make sense, they do not sacrifice comfort for cost.  They are easy to implement - by that I mean you don't need to jump through hoops to save money or time. Take a moment and read my best international travel tips and make your next overseas trip easier, more comfortable, and less expensive.

The Professor just returned from a small group tour to Italy.  We saw a lot of great sites like the David at the Accademia and the classic Renaissance Italian art at the Uffizi Palace.  We enjoyed the charm and history of this great Tuscan city.  But when it came time to eat, we took advantage of the bounty of wonderful Italian food, Tuscan style. The best restaurants in Florence feature fresh vegetables, aromatic herbs, home-made pasta, organic beef.  Don't forget about the pizza, cheeses, fruits and of course the best gelato in the world.  Read about The Traveling Professor's ppicks for some of the best restaurants in Florence.

If you are like The Traveling Professor, you abhor those overnight coach class trans-Atlantic flights from North America to Europe.  They are jam-packed, cramped, and they are practically impossible to get any sleep on.  You could always book business or first class, but that will probably cost about $3,000 or more.  But on a recent small group tour to Italy, we took an overseas flight from New York to Italy, I flew in comfort with a good 6 hours of shut-eye, for less than a coach-class seat.  See why Premium Economy is the only way to go to Europe.

There is much more to Italy than Rome, Florence, and Venice.  We do recommend visiting those three cities if you have never been to Italy before.  However, there is so much more to explore.  In between trips to Croatia, we had the opportunity to go up to Trieste, very close to the Croatia and Slovenia border. Although we spent only a short time there, we found it to be a refreshing and most enjoyable way to experience Italy.  Read about our short visit to Trieste in today's blog post. 

Lots of people go to Paris just to eat. Travelers have no problem in finding restaurants. The Traveling Professor has compiled a list of his favorite restaurants, many of them used on his small group tours to Paris. There are a wide variety of restaurants, some specializing in fish, some in traditional French food, and some in more modern French food.  For those looking for a break, we've also including a favorite Italian restaurant with comfortable seating an view of Luxembourg Gardens.