TravelsandEscapes

With a busy Christmas and New Year’s travel schedule ahead of us, here are some tips learned from travel gurus.

Check out airlines that you would never expect to travel to your destination. For instance, did you know that many times a flight from JFK in New York to Vancouver, British Columbia is cheapest on Cathay Pacific Airlines? Best of all…it’s non-stop. Going from LAX to London? Take a look at Air New Zealand. Great flight…and they serve New Zealand wines on the flight, even in coach. Ever thought about taking Korean Air from LAX to Brazil? They fly non-stop Monday, Wednesday and Friday.

The Bureau of Transportation tells us these are the most inexpensive airports to fly in or out of: Long Beach, CA, Dallas Love Field, Orlando, FL, and Ft. Lauderdale, FL.

Peter Greenberg, Travel Editor, tells us the three dirtiest things in a hotel room are the bedspread, the TV remote and the telephone handset. With all the flu issues it wouldn’t hurt to use some anti-bacterial wipes the next time you’re in a hotel room.

Bella, one of the winery dogs, shows off her “fancy” collar.

Fall has set in at The Terraces Winery. Leaves have all changed colors and some are dropping.

Golds and oranges are the colors in the vineyard now.

Monterey Bay Aquarium celebrates 25 years with exhibits about seahorses, otters, jelly fish and so much more. If you are close to this area, it is definitely worth a stop. Plan on spending at least a half a day there.

This otter was hiding in and out of his pool.

Even though these sardines look blurry in the photo…they looked even more blurry as we watched them swim past us.

One of many “jellies”.

Another jelly

Coral and fish

Seahorse swimming through the tank…look at his “fan” on his back.

Hanging over the Fisherman’s Wharf area, greetings are issued as Monterey gets ready for Christmas.

Overlooking Cannery Row this large festively decorated Christmas tree joins the palm and the flags.

Even Santa gets into the Christmas spirit with some boat trips in Monterey. Do you suppose the glass bottom boats will come across mermaids dressed like elves?

Walk along the Path of History in Monterey, CA and find yourself back when the California Constitutional Convention was held.

These preserved adobes represent Old Monterey.

California heritage is not only represented in adobes…check out this tree.

Pelicans flying overhead in formation.

Waves along the Monterey Coast were higher than normal Friday, due to off shore storms several days prior.

You can tell the day was overcast with grey seas. Cold salt spray stung as it hit your face.

Just ran across a restaurant I can’t wait to try…

If you are ever in Santa Rosa, California…check out Rosso Pizzeria and Wine Bar. Located at 53 Montgomery Drive their philosophy of the slow food movement of Italy is one I remember from an Italian trip.

They say they are passionate about food, wine and soccer. Cant’ wait to see if they are right!

Just ran across these quotes and wanted to share them with you.

Did you know that there will be over 5 million travelers this holiday season…starting with Thanksgiving and going right through Christmas and New Years?

According to Budget Travel, 930,000 travelers will be going through Denver’s airport during the Thanksgiving holiday. And over 125,000 through Phoenix on just Wednesday.

Did you also know that the Wednesday prior to Thanksgiving and the Sunday after are the busiest days of the year?

With those statistics in mind, don’t forget to confirm your flights and their times, arrive at the airport extra early, don’t wrap your gifts and be prepared to stand in line. Should be fun…