Hot Air Balloon Napa – Best Wine Country Activities 2017

Written by Allison Levine on May 30, 2017

Travel Lifestyle Wine

This story originally appeared in California Winery Advisor.

Are you ready to see the vineyards in a hot air balloon Napa style?

There are few reasons I can think of that make getting up before the sun worth it. One of those reasons is a hot air balloon ride. And what better place to take a ride in a hot air balloon than in wine country? It is a peaceful, beautiful way to see the vineyards and offers a view that cannot be achieved except from above.

Hot Air Balloon Ride companies can be found throughout in Napa, Sonoma, Paso Robles, Santa Barbara and Temecula. When you are looking for a company to go for a ride, customer safety is the number one priority. Be sure to look for a company that has current insurance, experienced pilots, and balloons that are maintained impeccably. You can also check the company’s safety record, which will most likely be on their website. Once you have picked a company and signed up, you will be in for an unforgettable experience. Read More +

Please The Palate’s April 2017 Newsletter

Written by Allison Levine on April 7, 2017

Travel Lifestyle Food Cocktails

2017 is flying by! How did it get to be April already?!?! As this newsletter arrives in your inbox, I am traveling in France and attending the Decouvertes du Rhone, a week long festival to explore the vineyards of the Rhone Valley. I look forward to sharing experiences from my trip in future stories but for now, you can check out photos on Instagram.

One of the new things that I started for 2017 is the Please The Palate “Pick of the Week”. With all of the eating, drinking and traveling at Please The Palate, each week I will share the one item that stood out, be it food, wine, cocktails or something special. I hope you enjoy my “pick of the week” and find your own each week as well.

Upcoming Events
Celebrity Cruises Leading Edge Mobile Cinema Tour
March 29 – June 20

The Celebrity Cruises Leading Edge Mobile Cinema Tour is coming to the following cities: San Francisco, Los Angeles, Houston, Wichita, Ft. Lauderdale, Boca Raton, Miami, Tampa, New Jersey, New York, Rhode Island, New Hampshire, Washington DC, Boston, Chicago and Canada

Celebrity Cruises is bringing a new experience to lovers of cinema and travel across North America with a unique mobile cinema tour. The story of Celebrity Edge℠ is going on a cross-country journey; making 48 stops over 12 weeks, from March 29 through June 20.

At each tour stop, attendees will be welcomed on a red carpet as they enter Celebrity’s state-of-the-art, custom-built 91-seat high-definition mobile cinema for a 15-minute cinematic experience, including a 3-D animatic reveal of Celebrity’s newest class of ships in nearly a decade – Edge Class. Inside, guests will enjoy beverages and gourmet truffle popcorn, and have the opportunity to win one of more than 50 modern luxury giveaways with Celebrity.

Sample tour stops include: California Jazz & Wine Festival, California Wine Festival, 50th Houston International Film Festival, SPAC Rock & Run, CitiCenter DC, Arlington Heights Promenade of Art, and the Toronto Wine & Spirits Festival on Sugar Beach. At select tour stops, Celebrity’s own Marine Research Naturalist Brent Nixon will provide an “Oceans Alive” experience featuring high definition 4K under water filming encounters with sharks, turtles, stingrays, and majestic humpback whales, allowing guests to feel the “pulse” of the living oceans Celebrity sails around the world.

Read the full April 2017 Newsletter.

A Curated Experience In Wine Country

Written by Allison Levine on March 21, 2017

Travel Lifestyle Food Wine

This story originally appeared in ATOD Magazine.

A Brand New Way to See Some of the World’s Most Beautiful Places

Planning a trip to a wine region can be daunting. Where should we stay? Where should we eat? What wineries should we visit? Are there other activities we should explore? How do we get around? Wouldn’t it be nice to have a curated experience in wine country where anything you want to do will be customized and planned for you? We agree. So luckily, we happened upon a brand new personally curated experience with a company called BeautifulPlaces.

BeautifulPlaces is the first “villa company” in the world that focuses on epicurean luxury travel to wine regions and beyond. Whether you want to immerse yourself into a local community, take a cooking class, hire a private chef, or visit a winery, they can make it happen. The pinnacle of the experience is the accommodations. The collection of villas range from large chateaus to contemporary homes to mountaintop retreats. Pick a place – California, Caribbean, Colorado, Florida, Massachusetts, New York, Rhode Island, Austria, Brazil, Costa Rica, Croatia, Czech Republic, France, Ireland, Italy, Mexico, Portugal, Spain and Thailand – and let your journey begin.