Bin111 Napa Valley Wine Trip
June 10, 2009
By special arrangement with Bin 111 Wine Store, we have assembled a custom 5-day/4-night trip to Napa Valley. The trip includes private winery visits and tastings, with all wineries personally selected by Tim from Bin 111.
Group size is limited to 16 persons – reserve your spot today before they are all gone!
You and the group will arrive in San Francisco and be immediately transported to Napa Valley for lunch and the first tasting. This evening is yours free to enjoy as you wish.
This morning you will depart for a day filled with winery visits and tastings. Lunch will be provided. Tonight there is a chance to experience dinner via the wine train (optional additional).
Day 3: Balloon Ride, brunch and Wine Tastings
It’s an early morning today as you and the group head out for an experience you’ll never forget as you soar above Napa Valley in a Hot Air Balloon. Brunch is included with your flight. Afterwards you will be taken back to the hotel for a morning at your leisure. The group will depart again around noon for a winery visit, tour tasting and lunch. An afternoon tour and tasting round out the day, the remainder of the day and evening is free to explore on your own. You might decide to be dropped off in town for shopping and dinner or just head back to the hotel for some R&R.
Today is your last full day of winery tours, tastings and lunch. Four wineries will be visited today. Tonight you and fellow group members enjoy a farewell group dinner at a local restaurant.
Day 5: Return home to Milwaukee
You will be picked up at the hotel for your transfer back to San Francisco airport and your flight home.
Celebrity Solstice
May 21, 2009
This particular post is just a little bit out of date, in that the Solstice inaugural was last year in November – but then again this blog is not that old, so some things may be worth going back in the past to cover.
The Solstice is the first in a new class of ships for Celebrity Cruise Line - soon to be followed the Equinox this August and the Eclipse in April 2010. Of course a picture is worth a thousand words – so be sure to look at the ones posted here.
A couple of truly signature items for this ship: Lawn club, with glassblowing demonstration, canopies around main pool area, water features in main pool and solarium, multiple dining choices, 2 -story library across from tree suspended above main atrium. You may not used the library to actually read a book, but you will appreciate it’s architectural beauty.
Check out what some of the staterooms look like. (this is a very nice ship, we do not call them cabins!) We had a great time on this ship, and know you will love it too.
River Cruising
May 18, 2009
In March we sailed on the Uniworld River Baroness out of Paris, France. To see our 1 week extreme condensed video version of the trip, please visit http://www.getaway.travel/travel_videos.htm
on the Seine River in France
We generally love cruising of all sorts. River cruising is quite a bit different from ocean cruising, especially when compared to the large mainstream cruise ships. The River ships are generally just a bit longer than a football field and accomodate 80-120 passengers. Compare that to 1500-2000+ passengers on an ocean going vessel! River cruising is all about destination and intimate experiences. We loved France and loved seeing it aboard this Uniworld ship. The food and service were outstanding with most shore excursions included. In fact on our trip, only 3 optional excursions were offered for the entire week. Just a overview of what we saw: City tour of Paris, Honfleur, Normandy Beaches, Les Andelys and Rouen.
This may be just the type of trip you are looking for – dozens of different Europe itineraries are available.
That’s a great question!
About the only thing you will remember longer than a really great vacation is a really really bad vacation.
Maybe the bad vacation will be a source of chuckles and laughter at a family get together years from now. Certainly you’ll have many interesting stories, but one thing you’ll know is it was no fun when it was happening.
This is not to say that expensive vacations cannot go bad. The unforeseen does sometimes occur, but the question we’re asking here is when you feel you need to get the absolute, positively lowest price on something – how low does it need to go before you no longer care about quality, service or value. You didn’t pay much, the vacation was lousy, but it’s really OK because you saved a bundle!
We believe that this is one of the areas where a good Travel Agent can help. We have the expertise to sort out options and provide those that will best meet our clients’ needs. If you’ve called a travel agent and told them about what kind of vacation you are looking for, but they did not ask anything about you or what you like to do – call a different agent. A good agent acts as a consultant, not an order taker.
Las Vegas Conference
May 13, 2009
Bright light city gonna set my soul. Gonna set my soul on fire …
Well – not really. We recently attended a travel conference in Vegas. Vegas is not our typical cup of tea, in that when travelling we more enjoy places with a lot less cigarette smoke. Vegas is more for those that enjoy gambling, enjoy the shows, and don’t care what time it is (there are still a lot of you out there!).
While in Vegas we attended an agent reception at the new Trump International. The reception included drinks and then tour of some guest rooms – (which we did really like). The rooms were on a high floor, so all of us eager and slightly lubricated travel agents packed ourselves into the elevator to make the trip. The hotel rep pushed the floor button, we sucked in our guts, held our wine glasses tight and waited for the door to close. Once the door closed, the elevator began to ascend…..about an inch or two at most…..and then quickly dropped back to the original level! Wine went flying pretty much everywhere along with our shrieks of terror! …It must have been the extra snack I ate before boarding. After a lonnnnggg minute, we did get the doors to open and then divided the group in 2 for our next attempt at ascent. Nobody ever said being a travel agent was not a dangerous job.
Even after the group got shaken up, Dick and Pam still smiled nice for the camera!
