Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – May 18

Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – May 4

Picture It!
I had the pleasure of journeying to Vancouver, B.C. last week for biz, so I parlayed in a bit o’ pleasure by staying for the weekend. What a gorgeous place! The wino in me felt compelled to sip the local wines and I was NOT disappointed. The whites are just yummy. Very light and crisp. I found myself drawn to Pinot Gris and Pinot …

Travel + Wine Stories Not to Miss: April 27

Picture It!
Tis Spring in The Napa Valley! This shot is at The Robert Mondavi Winery.
Wine & Food Report
Bud break in the Napa Valley
April 23, 2012 – Great ready, it’s time for the 2012 vintages! Blogger Trevor Jonas at The Cork Board was out in St. Helena this week shooting some great spring shots around local vineyards. Looks like it won’t be long now before the …

Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – April 20

 
Picture It!
My Basel, Switzerland-based pal, Jon, is living it up in Annecy, France this weekend. The dude travels every weekend it seems. How do I get his life? Seriously…
A little about Annecy: 
The little town sits in the Haute-Savoie department of south eastern France in the region of the Rhone Alpes. The northern tip of Lake Annecy (Lac d’Annecy) is 35 kilometres south of Geneva and is one of the …

Top 5 Places to stay in Ladakh while you trek and have fun

By Divij Pasrija
If you are trekking in Ladakh, India  any time soon or maybe planning to, you would then need to know about accommodation. Unless you have friends living in the “cold desert of the north”, or have planned on homestays, Ladakh accommodation is a must to plan for. Here are the top five ranked Ladakh hotels you could plan to stay at. Each of …

Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – April 13

Picture It: Photo of the Week

New Orleans Jazz Fest is mere weeks away! See our past tips on where to go and what to do during Jazz Fest.
Travel Tip of the Week
How to afford summer travel to Europe 
If you think visiting Europe is out of reach for your budget, Nilou Motamed of Travel + Leisure will make you reconsider with six great tips to help …

Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – April 6

Picture It: Photo of the Week

That’s right, people – it’s Masters week!
To honor The Masters Golf Tournament feast your eyes on Amen Corner. One day I’ll see you in person, Augusta, one day…
(Hey Tiger, let’s do this! It’s green jacket time.)
 
Air Travel Report  
Report: AirTran did the best job for passengers
April 2, 2012 – Gasp! You mean United isn’t #1? I kid. I kid. …

Signature Cuisine in Oaxaca

By Logan, guest blogger
My favorite part of traveling is the food. Every once in a while you get a raw deal, but that is a small price to pay for the other 95 percent of the time when a culture can truly render you helpless with just one bite. I’ve lived in Texas for nearly 13 years, so I am certainly no stranger to Mexican …

Fire atop Moscow skyscraper sends flames 880′ high

By Elaine N. Schoch
What was supposed to Europe’s tallest building, is on fire. A skyscraper in The Federation Tower complex part of a massive development along the Moscow River about 2.5 kilometers (1.5 miles) west of the Kremlin ignited earlier today. The fire is some 250 meters (880 feet) above street-level. No injuries have been reported.
I drove by this area on my last trip to …

Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – March 30

By Elaine N. Schoch
The travel world has been a busy one this week. Here are a few stories we wanted to share. Happy (and safe) travels!

Brazil takes aim at sites that promote sex tourism
Brazil is getting ready for the 2014 World Cup by taking on more than 2,000 websites that promote Brazil as a sex tourism destination. According to MSN Travel, in 2011, the Tourism …

Adventures in Salzburg: Going back to Haus Wartenberg

By Teresa Kao
Sleep, it turns out, is a magical thing. I was so sore and tired last night that I doubted if I could even get out of bed this morning, but amazingly I felt vastly better so set off for my original Salzburg home, Haus Wartenberg. I had intended to take the route we used back then, that goes through a rather terrifying tunnel …

Travel + Wine News: Stories Not to Miss – March 23

By Valerie Quintanilla
We’re starting a new weekly feature that captures interesting and exciting travel and wine news. Please tell us what you’d like to know more about. Happy travels!
Air Travel Report: Up in the Air 
Smarter Travel: Declining Airline Profits Could Mean Higher Fares for Flyers
March 22, 2012 – If what goes up must come down, then does that also mean what comes down must go up? …

Exploring Salzburg: Hohensalzburg and the Monchsberg Hill

By Teresa Kao
I had a particularly ambitious plan for today so decided to try the hotel breakfast. It wasn’t cheap at 14 Euros but it was excellent.  I had ham and cheese on semels (a local roll about the size of a bagel but less dense), scrambled eggs, several glasses of orange juice, and coffee. Everybody here seems to have the single serving machines where …

Exploring Salzburg: Getriedgasse, Easter Eggs, and Dirndls

By Teresa Kao
I spent the day walking around altstadt (“old town” in German) and I am exhausted! I got a good night sleep in my very comfortable and quiet hotel, Villa Carlton. They use a hotel card to govern electricity in the guests rooms, something I have encountered only once before at the Royal Palm in Gabarone, Botswana. I have no idea if this has become …

FAA to test e-readers and iPads!!

By Elaine N. Schoch
If you’re one of the 40 million e-readers and 60 million iPad owners get ready, your traveling days are about to change. Ok, not just yet but soon. Maybe.
The Federal Aviation Administration has decided to take a “fresh look” at the use of personal electronics on planes. In other words, they’re going to test e-readers and iPads to see if they’re …

The Salzburg Arrival: “I made it!”

Day one of my aunt’s Return to Salzburg after her maiden voyage 44 years ago! She’s met lots of lovely, helpful people. Meeting people is my favorite part of flying solo! Enjoy! – Valerie Quintanilla
By Teresa Kao
I made it! I’m here! The journey reminded me of my dreams of trying to get here because there were several steps, each with challenges, as it turned out, but each …

TSA patting down a toddler? Video goes viral.

By Elaine N. Schoch
Imagine going through airport security in a cast and a wheel chair. Now imagine having to go through a pat-down, lifting your shirt and having your hands swabbed for explosives. Oh, and you’re a scared three-year-old who just needs to hold daddy’s hand to get through it but you can’t… A video shot in 2010 shows just this. A three-year-old boy receiving …

Return to Salzburg, Austria

My favorite aunt (mother to my favorite cousin and grandmother to my favorite 2 year old) returns to Salzburg this week. She elected to take the trip to revisit a place she called home during a college study abroad program some 44years ago. She was a 19 year old girl taking her first trip on a plane, then her first trip overseas (by boat!). Imagine …

Traveling with Old People, I Mean Aging People…

By Elaine N. Schoch
My grandfather ran five miles a day and played golf until his mid 80’s. My cousin, in her mid-70’s skied weekly in Aspen during the winter months and hiked 14rs in the summer. They are my inspiration and what I will strive to be. So I run. I exercise. I try to take care of myself so I can live life to …

American Airlines Flight Sent Back to Gate After Flight Attendant Rants Over PA About Crashing

By Elaine N. Schoch
Oh me, oh my. I just love these kind of little new bits…
The Dallas Observer reported an American Airlines flight was getting ready to take off from DFW to Chicago when a flight attendant came on the PA saying they were not going to be taking off.
“We are not taking off,” she said, according to the passengers. “We’re having technical difficulties. We …

Tips for all you Road Trippers…

By Elaine N. Schoch
So what’s the best day to fill up your tank to save cash? Wednesday or first thing Thursday morning. Prices are typically raised Thursday about 10am in anticipation of weekend travel, according to chief executive Chris Faulkner of Dallas-based Breitling Oil & Gas. The AP shared this  tip on saving money on gas along with a few more that you can check …

Skiing Taos Ski Valley!

By Shell R
There are so many great things to look forward to about winter, like sitting by the fire, building a snowman and of course my annual ski trip! This year – 10 days in Taos, NM/Taos Ski Valley. Since it was just going to be two of us I wanted to find an affordable studio house with a kitchen, laundry, private hot tub and …

Election Day in Russia

By Elaine N. Schoch
As March 4 approaches – election day in Russia – we wanted to dedicate our photo of the week to the occasion: Red Square at sunrise. Here’s to a fair and honest election.

To cruise or not to cruise?

By Elaine N. Schoch

If you like to cruise now is the time for deals! And for good reason… With two recent, high-profile cruise ships, both owned by Carnival, catching fire and stranding thousands of passengers, the industry is aggressively lowering rates to lure passengers back on-board.   

Jan. 13, cruise ship, Concordia capsized off the coast of Isola del Giglio killing 32 people.

Feb. 27, luxury-liner, …

Sacramento airport metal detector left unattended

By Elaine N. Schoch
According to The Associated Press, federal transportation officials have removed two officers from screening duties at Sacramento International Airport after a metal detector was left unattended and five people were suspected of going through unscreened. Video surveillance footage showed all five people walking through the metal detector without setting it off;  four passengers and one airport vendor. TSA closed the checkpoint for …

A Race in Charleston (no, I didn’t win)

By Valerie Quintanilla

I started running around 2002. I was working at a public relations agency on the Home Depot account. Home Depot sponsored a now defunct Denver race called The Governor’s Cup. I convinced my team lead that running the 10k qualified as client relations,and thus I was able to expense my registration. Don’t judge (well, do if you must, it’s not like I’ll ever …

How to Handle a Canceled Flight

By Elaine N. Schoch

We’ve all been there. Your flight is canceled or delayed and you’re going to miss your meeting, delay the start to your vacation or for me, miss picking up my daughter from preschool. Now, that wouldn’t be a big deal if The Husband had not left for a business trip an hour BEFORE my flight was supposed to arrive back in Denver. …

Earn Hilton HHonors points for texting? Heck yeah!

By Elaine N. Schoch

I’m a huge proponent of earning and using points for travel, heck I just used miles for three free round trips to Russia. Not to mention stayed for free at two hotels in Moscow (on two different trips). So, when I saw this news on FrequentFlier.com I had to share.
 
Offers Details
– Through June 30, Hilton HHonors members can earn 1,000 points …

Passenger fined after activating emergency slide on landing to help mother with screaming child get off plane in a hurry

By Elaine N. Schoch
I’ll be honest, I’ve wanted to active the emergency slide or open the exit door when there is a screaming child sitting next to me on a plane. Usually it’s my kid though… Le Van Thuan did just that when his flight on Vietnam Airlines landed in Ho Chi Minh City airport. The 29-years-old opened the emergency exit to help a screaming …

It all took place in a little town known as Ekatrinburg

By Elaine N. Schoch

If you’ve studied history, you may remember the story about the last Russian Czar, Nicholas II and his family being murdered in a little town called Ekatrinburg (also called Yekaterinburg) there by Bolsheviks at the Ipatiev House. But the story doesn’t end there. One of the Czars daughters, Anastasia, supposedly survived and was hidden, then later came forward and revealed herself. So …

My New Appreciation for Roped Lines

By Elaine N. Schoch
I admit, I’ve always taken roped lines for granted. You know the ones I’m talking about, the lines artificially formed with metal posts connected by thin cloth/rope that direct the masses into an orderly line to say go through airport customs or to check-in at the airport. Yeah, those annoying places where you have to be too close to everyone around you, …