I spent April and May of this year traveling Europe on my own and loving it. It's June and I've arrived into Venice's Marco Polo airport to meet up with my brother and his fiance. We've planned to spend 2 weeks together traveling through Italy and Croatia. This is the first visit to Venice for all of us and we're excited to see whether the city matches its reputation.

From Alilaguna ferry we catch our first glimpse of Venice by sea and it's magnificent. It's exactly as seen in the movies, gorgeous Venetian buildings jutting against the blue waters of the Adriatic. Sitting in the back of the ferry, I can feel the goosebumps rise on my arms.