It was an inspired choice. It turns out we weren’t eating tapas (“We don’t use the T-word here,” said the waiter) but cichèti, small snacks unique to the bars of Venice…

Our conversation, usually dominated by football, turned to the tenderness of sliced flank steak and the sweet softness of the sensational cuttlefish cooked in its own ink…

On more than 20 visits to Venice, Polpo owner Russell Norman has trawled the back-street bàcari, the small bars where locals pop in for a glass of wine and a snack, to find inspiration for Polpo. He is the right man to talk to about where to eat in what he calls “one of the world’s worst destinations for food lovers”.

“Avoid all the crappy tourist places,” is Norman’s advice, “anywhere with the menu in six languages stuck in the window or, worse still, one with photographs of lurid pizzas.

“But there is still a side of Venice which is alive and isn’t Disneyland, and it’s best typified by the bàcari.”

With those words ringing in my ears, and a list of his favourite bàcari in my pocket, I headed off for La Serenissima.

A bar crawl, or giro di òmbre, is the best way to try Venice’s bàcari, popping into each for a cichèti and accompanying òmbra (small glass of wine). And a good place to start was Ca’ d’Oro – Alla Vedova (Cannaregio 3912, Ramo Ca’ d’Oro), one of the best-known bàcari, on the Strada Nuova, well away from the city’s touristy hub. On a Friday night it was packed with punters lingering around the bar, waiting for the hot polpette (pork rissoles) to emerge from the kitchen. These delicious balls of salty, finely minced pork (the inspiration for the meatballs at Polpo) were snapped up within seconds of hitting the old marble bar counter, washed down by unbottled Veneto red in tiny glasses.

Around the corner is La Cantina (Cannaregio 3689, Campo San Felice) which, like Polpo, has taken the simple cichèto to another level with its freshly prepared, imaginative dishes. On the bar was a tray of oysters on ice (€9 for six), which the barman shucked to order, behind it a counter of fresh fish and an ancient hand-operated slicer for the charcuterie, and on the blackboard around 30 wines available by the glass. But, like all bàcari, La Cantina didn’t run to anything as tourist-friendly as a menu. When I asked for one, the barman replied, “It’s me!”

Raw fish is a speciality, and my trio of minced salmon, lightly seared tuna with finely chopped cucumber and sea bass (€2 each) with tomatoes, prepared right in front of me, were melt-in-the-mouth fresh – the best thing I ate in Venice. ” (via guardian.co.uk  ) by Gavin McOwan

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read the rest of eat like a local in Venice Italy

here is an example

US Dollar (USD) to Euro (EUR)

Interbank rate for Monday, February 15, 2010

Put it into your wallet before you travel. This can also be reversed fro euros to dollars

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Enter for your chance to win one of ten all-expense paid trips to Germany for you and a guest, including night stays in Düsseldorf and Amsterdam, all meals, transfers, and the experience to be onboard for the conveyance of Celebrity Eclipse in March 2010…

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for Celebrity Cruises – Enter to win all-expense paid trips to Germany hotels, all meals, transfers and cruise on Celebrity Eclipse

ends on January 14, 2010 at 11:59 p.m. ET

-Monthly Travel News Email Newsletter-Get on-the-road email dispatches and travel articles from Rick…

-Subscribe to Travel News (email)…

-Travel Newsletter-64-page, print newsletter is packed with information on Rick’s favorite destinations and travel tips…

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Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for Free travel info from Rick Steves

She finds it the perfect time to get away with her husband and son.

“It’s like everybody’s home with their family so we’ve got the whole beach to ourselves. It’s like our own little private paradise,” Leal said, adding that her mother sometimes gently teased her about going away instead of visiting her for the holidays…

Hotel bargains

You may love your family, but if you’re yearning to escape the annual ritual of eating turkey with relatives you barely know or spending Christmas elbowing for room with other houseguests, lots of bargains and tempting destinations await.

“My favorites during Thanksgiving are to go to places in the Caribbean because the Caribbean, even during Thanksgiving, is off, off, off season,” said consumer adviser and HLN money expert Clark Howard.

“At Christmastime through New Year’s, it’s a different drill. The best deals are to Europe, starting on Christmas Day. If you can wait and go on Christmas Day or later, you’re going to get fantastic bargains to Europe.”

Travelers often focus on air fares as the barometer of whether to splurge on a vacation, but the big bargain story this year may be hotel prices, especially in big cities or convention destinations decimated by the bad economy.

The trick is to book a room anywhere but at those most in-demand locations, so check out hotels around the airport or the center of a big metropolis.

This may be your perfect opportunity to explore Washington, New York or San Francisco, California, during the period from Christmas to New Year’s, Howard said.

Where to get away for Thanksgiving

The United States may pause on turkey day, but for the rest of the world it’s just another day in November. You’ll find great deals outside the country, in places like Mexico, Canada and South America, said Pauline Frommer, creator of Pauline Frommer’s guidebooks.

St. Lucia may be a good bet if you’re thinking about the Caribbean, because the low-cost airline Jet Blue recently added a nonstop service to the island, she said. (Keep in mind the Atlantic hurricane season doesn’t officially end until the end of the month, though late November storms are rare.)

Escaping for Christmas

“Prices usually skyrocket pretty much everywhere in the world,” Frommer said.

If you heed Howard’s advice about flying to Europe on Christmas Day, check transportation options at your destination. Savings on air fare can be cancelled out by an expensive cab ride in cities where public transportation shuts down during the holiday.

Closer to home, Mexico is still a good value, Brown said.” (via  cnn.com ) by A. Pawlowski, CNN

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to read all of Escape your family for the holidays

when you load Virgin Atlantic home page look on top left …

the first item that’s listed is special offers…

When we clicked we saw fares to London from $229 and premium economy from $497 + other deals

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for Virgin Atlantic Special deals

Travelers in our Fodor forums recently shared their tips for keeping money and other necessities safe while traveling abroad…
For example, some minimize pickpocketing risk by investing in an inconspicuous day pack, or splitting cash and credit cards with a travel partner…

Below are some other useful strategies…

Tip #1: Don’t carry your wallet in your back pocket
“Resistant at first to the idea of keeping his wallet in his front pocket, my husband is now sold on the idea after several instances where he detected his back pocket being checked out by a stray hand, (we were in crowded areas).” — brioche

Tip #2: Divide and conquer
“I put my 1-2 day’s need of cash in my wallet. If there’s extra cash I have, I split it up into various inside zippered pockets within my bag. CC and ATM cards go inside other pockets in my bag.” — yk

Tip #3: Do not treat a money belt like a wallet
“A money belt is not a substitute for a handbag or wallet. It is essentially a ‘body safe’. You do not access it during the day or in public. It is for the surplus cash, back up ATM and/or credit card, passport.
Not for your walking around money — use a handbag/wallet just like you would at home.” — janisj

Tip #4: Or ditch that money belt all together
“A million years ago when I started traveling I used a money belt all the time, and carried a nifty backpack or daypack that just screamed ‘tourist.’ Now, I carry a regular purse that is big enough to hold a pocket umbrella, map, camera and whatever guidebook I am carrying that day, but doesn’t advertise ’strange person in a strange land.’ I finally realized that I live in a major metropolitan city that is a huge tourist area, so if the way I’m dressing at home isn’t attracting pickpockets, I should try to replicate that when visiting another tourist area.” — tejana

Tip #5: Get crafty with your clothes
“I usually travel in the fall and have my black microfiber raincoat. I made a pocket with a zipper and sewed it to the inside of the raincoat so I can carry something in there. I use a money belt but only keep out cash for the day. If I keep out any large amount, I separate it and carry it in different places on my body. With using ATMs it isn’t like when we would carry large sums of money from home.” — bratsandbeer

Tip #6: Don’t make a scene rifling through your money
“The best way to carry money is QUIETLY, wherever you are…Distractions are just as likely to make you leave something behind, or carelessly turn your back…There’s no need to fear pickpockets once you’re aware that they will work tourist areas. Carry as little with you as you can, so it can be as close to you as possible.” — tomassocroccante ” (via fodors.com)

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for the other six tips for Safely Carrying Money in Europe

Dear Traveler…

Next week I’ll be taping a few new radio shows and I’d love to hear from you…

Take a look at our recording lineup – click link below…
If you have a comment or question you’d like me to answer, please follow the simple instructions on our website… If your comment or question is used on the air, I’ll send you your choice of a free autographed Rick Steves’ guidebook.

You’ll also be able to listen-in on our live, unedited taping sessions this Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday (a special audio link will appear on our radio web page when we’re recording).

I’ll look forward to hearing from you.

Thanks for traveling with me…on the air.

Rick Steves

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here to get the info for Wanna be on Rick Steves’ radio show? Receive autographed book

Look past the crowds and hefty price tag of Europe’s usual suspects and venture onto a road less traveled…

Beyond Rome, Paris, London and the like, Europe offers a vast and varied cache of history, beauty and culture…

The landscapes of France’s Barbizon inspired 19th century artists. Cappadocia’s rock-hewn monasteries, a UNESCO World Heritage site, blend Turkey’s natural history with religious lore. Zagreb, past Croatia’s decades of conflict, is blossoming into a vibrant and colorful capital city.

Info on countries like Slovenia, France, Italy, Iceland, ALBANIA, AUSTRIA, BELGIUM, BRITAIN, BULGARIA, CROATIA and many more” (via  latimes.com )

Pointswizard.com Spin: Click here for In Europe, 63 destinations off the beaten path

Order an ouzo, find a deckchair and watch as islands slowly, strip-teasingly reveal their charms: a perfect beach hidden in a craggy cove, a blazing white chapel on a soaring peak, an immodestly pretty village tumbling around a crescent bay.

It’s never dull – islands are great individualists; even close neighbours can be like chalk and cheese (or whitewash and feta, as they say in Greece). You don’t have to go mad and catch the 20-hour ferry to Kastellorizo from Piraeus. Take one of the following mini-cruises, and you will find your inner Odysseus…

The Cyclades

Everyone knows the superstars, Mykonos and Santorini, but there’s far more to the Cyclades, Greece’s iconic archipelago, laden with sugar-cube villages, blue church domes and sink-your-toes-in sandy beaches, all brilliantly illuminated in the clear Aegean light.

The lesser-known, but no less beautiful, islands in the Western Cyclades are perfect for a mini-cruise: they’re so close together that ferrying between them is like playing hopscotch, and they come with fewer tourists, too.

The route: Milos – Sifnos – Serifos – Kythnos

Start at Milos, made famous by the sublime statue of Venus, now in Paris’s Louvre. In some ways it qualifies as a junior, low-key Santorini – it’s popular among honeymooners, while its coast features cliffs in striking colours, volcanic rock formations shaped like pipe organs, turquoise creeks and mermaid grottoes.

Make the de-rigueur sea tour around the island – or better, paddle your own way (see www.seakayakgreece.com; day trips £55). Beaches are Milos’s other strong suit; there are miles of them, from popular lidos to isolated sandy inlets.

Up in Plaka, explore the ruins of ancient Milos, the archaeology museum and rare early- Christian catacombs. Stay in the bougainvillea-draped Chronis (www.chronis-hotel.gr; doubles from £80, B&B) in the port town of Adamas. Kynigos (00 30 22870 22349), a waterfront taverna, has first-rate cooking.

Next stop is Sifnos, an island so laid-back and sophisticated it almost seems Californian. Split your time between the cosmopolitan port, Kamares, and the green and pretty interior. There are beautiful walks, the old village of Kastro to explore, and some of the archipelago’s best beaches at Vathy and Platys Gialos. ” ( timesonline.co.uk ) by Dana Facaros

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