My wife and I are getting ready to celebrate our 20th year anniversary. She is super big on travel. She couldn’t care less about jewelry or flowers. She just loves traveling. And she loves her wine. Kids will be taken care of by grandparents.
That said, Nov 4th is our anniversary. I expect us to be fully vaccinated by then. What are some global travel ideas for travel between Nov 2nd and Nov 7th?
We married when both of us were 22nd years old. Planning to fly her business class and have her the time of her life. Please give some ideas for location and activities
Happy anniversary! How about Italy? It’s a perfect couples destination. We especially love Tuscany, where you can visit some of the best museums and historical sites in the world or spend lots of lazy days eating pasta and drinking wine.
As cliche as it sounds, Napa/Sonoma would be my choice for a wine getaway! Swing by San Francisco to enjoy some urban scenery and activities. Food is great, too, and the weather is not that bad in November.
Here is a shameless plug for my ‘hood. Even though November will be rainy in Seattle, we do have decent wineries with great wines… and with so many folks wanting a Covid vaccine and doing well with mask mandates, I’m sure things will be open in November. The Willows Lodge is very nice, and the Herbfarm is well known for its multi-course dinners.
We have a November anniversary. Wouldn’t go to the Caribbean because of hurricane season. But both of my kids went during that timetable and were lucky. November can be at the tail end though.
I wouldn’t go to Europe. Not enough time, no idea how their vaccination rollout will be.
If you can get to Canada, Banff would be awesome. I like the idea of Sonoma. New Orleans was fun, the food scene there is amazing. I’m not a drinker and there was plenty to do.
My daughter and her boyfriend went to Maine and can’t wait to go back. Bar Harbor.
Can you tell I’m not that worried about a little cooler weather. Deal breaker for many though.
Places I am not personally into. All inclusives in Mexico. Florida. November can be hard. Hurricanes in the south, cold weather in the north.
Another vote for Napa. My D and SIL went pre-pandemic and had a wonderful time. They stayed at two lovely B&Bs (if u want the name PM me and I’ll ask). They took some kind of wine train one day, visited a number of wineries, enjoyed the town, and ate very well. They now order wine from their favorite small winery in Napa.
Napa/Sonoma - did this for our 30th - pick a few wineries known for her favorite varietals and join their club. Private tastings and tours for club members are the best!
Stayed in 3 B&Bs - lower, mid, upper valley - 2 nights each and visited wineries/restaurants near the B&Bs.
I wouldn’t risk booking a trip to Europe. Italy just went back on lockdown and France isn’t much better.
We did Napa/Sonoma for our 10th and loved it. We stayed at the Sonoma Mission Inn and Spa. As cheesy as it sounds, we really enjoyed the Napa Valley Wine Train but we also splurged and rented a Porsche Boxster to drive around in. Food highlight was eating at French Laundry. Our favorite winery stops were Ferrari-Carano and Chateau Souveraine (but they’ve changed hands sine we’ve been).
If things do open up, put Spain on your radar. We did a wine tour of the Rioja which was fabulous. France is the other obvious destination. With just 5 days you could do Paris and Champagne country.
A brand new hotel, Four Seasons Napa is supposed to open sometime later this year. Our favorite hotel is actually in Sonoma - The Lodge at Sonoma. Garden Cottage rooms there come with gas fireplaces, and pre-Covid, their breakfasts were excellent. As far as wineries go, we are fans of Rombauer (even joined the wine club!) and Frank Family Vineyards. In Sonoma, we liked Patz and Hall. Hess Collection winery has a modern art museum that is open for browsing, and if you can get in one of their tours, Far Niente has an interesting car collection.
We never did the wine train, but kid and BF did and liked it.