While on a flight to Stansted, England, on our way to Venice, the New York based international flight attendant working on my side of the cabin eyed the book, Frommer's Italy 2008, in my hands as she poured a little cream into my coffee. "Are you going to Italy?"

"We are," I said, nodding my head at the husband who was asleep beside me. When she placed the cup of coffee on my tray table, I said, "Thank you."

"You're welcome. So where exactly are you going in Italy?"

"Venice, Positano and Rome. Have you been?"

The flight attendant laughed, "Have I been? Too many times to count!" Click went the break of the cart. "I'll be back as soon as I'm done with the service." And like that she was gone, off to the next row where she offered the passengers behind us coffee, tea, cordials and dessert.

Want to know good, yet affordable, places to go, and eat, on your next vacation? Ask a flight attendant. Flight attendants are much like cops in respect to knowing great places to visit. Yet unlike cops, flight attendants aren't just familiar with one city, they know the ins and outs of many different cities. Don't believe me? Just ask the flight attendant on your next trip. You'll see.

Ten minutes later the flight attendant was back at my row, a pen in hand. She placed a piece of paper on my tray table, a customs and immigrations form, and flipped it over. On the back she wrote the word POSITANO, and then began to draw as she said, "I go to Positano two to three times a year. Here's what you need to do..."

"What?" said the husband who was now leaning over my shoulder.

"Positano," I said. "She's giving us the scoop on Positano."

"My favorite place in the whole world," said the flight attendant.

What I didn't know at the time was Positano would soon become my favorite place in the whole world, too. It's that amazing. That beautiful. And the food...absolutely delish! It's the kind of place where you can just relax, sitting on your ocean view balcony, and let Italy come to you.

We're nearing Valentines Day, so it stands to reason that magazines and Web sites would be trawling out their top romantic vacation spot features. I took a look at a couple of these around the Web and I'll keep peeking around, but I figured I'd post this one from Travel and Leisure Magazine because it seemed to offer a more eclectic series of offerings than most others. That, and because I immediately nixed any listing that included Las Vegas, a place for which I harbor an extreme, burning, and perhaps irrational loathing.

But back to the article. As I say, the offerings here are eclectic and yet well considered.

From Italy’s Amalfi Coast to Istanbul, Rio, Thailand and Vietnam, the folks who put together this list seem to know what they’re talking about. Granted, to head out on any one of these travel adventures would likely cost you a pretty penny, but can you really put a price on love?