Travel with Pops, Napa and Sonoma Wine Country

For those of you looking to travel to the California Coast, October is the perfect time to go. The weather is perfect as it is before the rainy season and the temperature is mild. It is also my favorite time to visit the wine country in Napa and Sonoma.

Usually October is also when the harvest is going strong but this year with our drought and hot summer the harvest was a little earlier. Don't let that stop you, this is still a good time of year to visit the wineries. If you can I would go mid-week. The crowds are a lot less and you will find it easier to get to the tasting bar and to find a table at a restaurant.

For a day trip I like to make my way up through the Sonoma county wineries, cut across when you hit Santa Rosa and then work my way down Napa Valley. The wineries are up to you but some of my favorites are Kenwood and Chateau St. Jean in Sonoma County; and Grgich  Hills and for sparkling wine Chandon in Napa Valley. Look at a wine map and pick your own.

You still have time. The weather should be great into early November.

Travel with Pops, Marina Bay Sands

View from our seats at the race

On our recent trip to Singapore we went to the Marina Bay Sands. This is a complex of 3 highrise buildings with a park, pool and observation deck that spans all 3 buildings on top. The top spanning the 3 buildings is in the shape of a ship. The complex also has a hotel, casino, and shopping mall in the 3 buildings. For access to the park and pool you need to be a hotel guest but for a small fee you can go to the top observation deck and enjoy the beautiful view of Singapore. This is something I would highly recommend.

Enjoy some of the pictures we took.

View of our seats from the top of Marina Bay Sands

Travel with Pops, Macau

St. Marks

Today was our last day in Asia. We were in Hong Kong and decided to take the ferry to Macau for a little siteseeing and gambling. What made the trip better was hiring a guide that took us around the city. We saw the second oldest church in Macau, the ruins of St. Pauls, a Buddhist temple, the fortress,  and the many casinos. One of the casinos had 55 gold bars inlaid in the floor entrance. We got out at the Venetian and spent a good 3 hours gambling. Between Kevin and I we came out a little ahead. That means I lost some and Kevin won more. Kevin was also able to capture a video of someone bungi jumping off the Macau Tower. I'll add that later.

When I get home I'll add more detail and more pictures. This has been an awesome trip.

Gold bars

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Fortress 

Venetian

Travel with Pops, Snake Temple

I took Kevin to the Snake Temple in Penang, Malaysia and talked him into getting his picture taken with the snakes. It's not "Snakes on a Plane" but close enough.

Travel with Pops, Langkawi

Today we went over to the island of langkawi. From Penang it's a 1.5 hour drive north to Kedah and then another 1.5 hours by ferry. The day didn't start out well because we were in a downpour all morning. About 2pm it started to clear and we tried the cable car to the top of the highest peak. Usually it has an incredible view but today the weather did not cooperate. We started in the clouds but soon it started to clear and we could see the ocean. On the way back we stopped at the beach for a walk and view of some of the islands. By then the weather was awesome. Cenang beach is very long and the sand is like powdered sugar. The water is very warm and there are many activities from jet skiing to parasailing. Only thing to watch for are the jellyfish.

Now we are waiting for the ferry back to Kedah. More details when I get home.

Travel with Pops, Singapore Grand Prix

The race last night couldn't have been better. Mercedes lost and I won $100 from my son. The seats were good but we didn't expect to see much action. We were wrong and we did see some overtaking. Singapore was a great trip.

We are now in Penang Malaysia and staying at the Equatorial. I have already talked Kevin into eating jellyfish and chicken feet for lunch. We get free happy hour for 2.5 hours, then a nice dinner at the hotel and then off to the Slippery Seniorita for more drinking and live music.

More tomorrow.

Travel with Pops, Singapore Last Day

View from top of Marina Bay Sands

With the race tonight we decided to get some last minute pub crawling in. This time it was a little higher class. We started at the Marina Bay Sands and ended at the Raffles hotel. The Singapore Sling was invented in the long bar.

Long Bar in Raffles Hotel

Tonight, after the race is the Beer Market where the price of the beer changes based on how much is ordered.

Travel with Pops, Singapore Pub Crawl

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Tonight is qualfying for the race so today we decided to see how many pubs we could go to during the day. We started at an Irish pub, had a few pitchers at Hooters as we sat outside by the river, had a great lunch at Jumbos where we eat chili crab (a local dish), walk over to the Fullerton Hotel for cocktails (the Manhatton's were made with both sweet and dry vermouth) and finished with jugs at two more pubs on the way back to the hotel. We made it up one side of the  river and back down the other side.

Singapore is an awesome place both day and night.

Later it was off to qualifying which worked out great because Mercedes didnt qualify well which will make for an interesting race. After qualifying we went to the Maroon 5 concert (which was awesome but a lot of people and we were really packed in).

Tonight is the race. During the day we plan on going to the Marina Bay Sands and Raffles Hotel.

Travel With Pops, Singapore Grand Prix

Ok, we are both officially exhusted. Other than a few naps on the plane I have been up for 49 hours. We walked to the track which was a long hike, picked up the tickets and only made it through about 20 minutes of practice for the race. Back at the hotel to get a good nights sleep. I think Kevin is impressed with Singapore. Walking through the Clarke Quay area saw nothing but restaurants, bars and people from all over the world enjoying the nightlife. That's it for now. Tommorrow we have a busy day of sightseeing. We plan on staying to the end of qualifying and the Maroon 5 concert so it will be a late night. The pictures are from our seats with the Marina Bay Sands hotel in the background.

Travel with Pops, Hong Kong 2015

Well, Kevin and i made it to Hong Kong. The flight was great. Singapore Airlines is the best airline in the world in my mind. They treated us great and the movie selection was awesome. Just what we needed for a 14 hour flight. We have a 7 hour layover in HK and spent most of it walking the city and having breakfast. We found a non tourist small place and needed help with the menu but we ended up getting a bowl of ramen soup with a fried egg, sausage and ham, very good.

Now we are back at the airport and in the lounge drinking Stella and watching the Thursday night football game.

Next stop is Singapore in a few hours.

How to Get a Low Airline Fare

This September my son and I are going to the Singapore Grand Prix with a detour up to Malaysia and then a 2 day stop in Hong Kong and Macau. You would think a multi-destination trip to Asia would cost a fortune. I am here to tell you that is not the case. I'll explain the trip and then tell you how I did it.

Since this was a multi-destination trip I broke the trip into 2 pieces. The main piece was flying out of San Francisco to Singapore with the return flight stopping in Hong Kong for a few days. I was able to find a price for this piece at $680.40 per person. You heard me right, that's about the same price for a round trip ticket  to the east coast from San Francisco. For the second piece of the trip I needed a round trip ticket from Singapore to Penang, Malaysia. For that I found a fare of $55 per person on Tiger Air. Tiger Air flies a lot out of Singapore and the flight to Penang will be 1 hr and 30 min each way. So flying from San Francisco to Singapore with a stay of 4 days, flying from Singapore to Penang with another stay of 4 days, back to Singapore, Singapore to Hong Kong with a stay of 2 days and finally back home from Hong Kong to San Francisco all for the low fare of $745.40.

Now let me tell you how I did it.

When I first started looking the fare for just a round trip ticket from San Francisco to Singapore was between $1300 and $1400. I started early so I had time to shop around. I like to use sites like Kayak or Travelocity to do my initial searches. Also, if you have time you can set a fare watcher that will notify you when fares drop. Fares will vary depending on what day of the week you are searching so if fares drop and you don't catch it they may go back up. About a month before I booked the flight the fare dropped to about $900 on Singapore Airlines. That was my preferred airline and I almost booked the flight then but decided to wait a little longer. It was risky but I took the risk. As it got closer I started looking every day. My last search was on Kayak and I hit the $680.40 price. However, when I went to book the flight at $680.40 it transferred me to the Singapore Airlines site and the price jumped to about $1400. There was no way I would pay that so I captured the information and called Singapore Airlines directly. They informed me that the $680.40 was a travel agency deal and they could only book at $1400. Since I never give up I then tried Travelocity to see what I got. On Travelocity I got the same $680.40 and I was also able to book through Travelocity. What a relief, I got the price I wanted on the airline I wanted. After that it was easy to book the Tiger Air flight to Malaysia at a low price.

I have been doing this for years now so here are my best practices.

• Plan early.
• If you have multiple options for airports find the cheapest option. For me, I live in Sacramento but flying to Asia is a lot cheaper out of the San Francisco Bay area.
• Start checking prices early.
• Be flexible on dates. Leaving on a different day could save you a lot.
• Set up a fare watcher if possible on the search site like Kayak or Travelocity.
• If you see a great price grab it, don't wait. If not wait.
• Check different search sites.
•  Break up a multi-destination trip into segments of different round trips. For me I did 2, San Francisco to Singapore to Hong Kong to San Francisco and the other a round trip between Singapore and Malaysia. This turned out to be a cheaper option.
• If you are a gambler take a chance that the price will drop further.

As you can see, there is a lot to consider and maybe a lot of time to commit. If you aren't comfortable trying to do this yourself use a travel agent. The airlines do not offer commissions on air only so the agent may add on a fee for their time. But, as you can see you can save a lot of money. I saved about $700 per person. The agent fee will be minimal compared to that. They know what they are doing and you could still save a lot. 

PS, I just did the same search and came up with these results (1 month before I leave).

• The same flights on Singapore Air - $1443
• Singapore Air later in the same day - $1216
• EVA - $1099

Pops' Travel Guide, Ritz Carlton Half Moon Bay California

This weekend we stayed at the Ritz Carlton in Half Moon bay, California. If you don't know where Half Moon Bay is it's  on the Northern California coast just south of San Francisco. From Sacramento it's about a 2.5 hour drive with normal traffic. From San Francisco it's well under an hour. Also, any time of year is beautiful along the coast but the weather is best in the Fall and Spring. If you are thinking of going, now would be a great time. The temperature was around 70 degrees and the beaches were packed with sun bathers and surfers.

When you think of the Ritz Carlton you think of a luxury resort. The Ritz Carlton doesn't disappoint. Down to the littlest of things they take very good care of you. Checking in you are offered a glass of wine, you are called by name in  the restaurants, and the service is impeccable.

Being a Ritz Carlton you would expect the best but this resort is also in a very beautiful location hugging the bluffs of the Pacific Ocean. Our room had an ocean view which I would highly recommend you spending the extra cost to have. Most of the pictures you will see came from our window.

For you golfers, there is a beautiful course around the resort and along the coast. There is also a spa and beauty shop. During the day and especially at night they have plenty of fire pits to enjoy sitting outside and keeping warm. They offer blankets also if you need one. They also offer marshmallows to roast in the pits. I saw a lot of children and adults roasting marshmallows at night. I also noticed that some rooms were dog friendly. If you want or need to bring your dog check with the booking agent.

There are plenty of options for eating. Both inside and outside. They have a champagne brunch on Sunday that I would recommend but make sure you get your reservation in advance as it fills up fast.

You may think the Ritz may be too pricey but looking at the prices of other resorts in the area it isn't that much more. I would recommend pampering yourself and staying there.

Pops' Travel Guide, Villa Caletas Hotel, Costa Rica

Think back and try to remember the most beautiful sunset you have ever seen. Everyone has seen a beautiful sunset but can you remember the time and place? I just came back from a place where I can truly say I've seen my most beautiful sunset!

Villa Caletas is a resort in Costa Rica located on the central Pacific Coast just north of Jaco. I have stayed there twice already and have written about the hotel. This will be entirely about the sunset.

To me the hotel was built just for the sunset. It is high on top of a mountain right on the coast. The hotel has incredible views of the Pacific Ocean. In the bar area they built an amphitheater and every evening starting about 4:30 pm people will start to show up just to view the sunset. If you get there early you can get a table on top or if all tables are taken you can sit in the amphitheater. Another option is to have dinner there. You will get a table, a great dinner and still have the same view as in the bar area. The Villa Caletas even has their own music they play just for the sunset. The entire experience is awe inspiring.

The best thing is nature. Every time you go you will experience something new. It could be from different cloud patterns, Macaws and Toucans flying about and in the trees, or bringing someone new to experience it for the first time.

Villa Caletas information http://www.hotelvillacaletas.com/