First Stop on Our China/Japan Adventure, SkyPark SFO

Well, we are on our way. We drove from Sacramento to San Francisco this morning and dropped the car at SkyPark SFO. They were expecting us, so check in was easy and only took a few seconds. Got on the shuttle and we were dropped off right in front of the terminal. After we checked in for the flight we still had enough time to go to the Centurion Club Lounge and relax before the 12 hour flight.

The Centurion Club is offered to AMX members as part of the annual card fee. Food, drinks, WiFi are included with no charge.

 Next post will be from Beijing.

How Could I Forget to Bring That Thing on My Vacation?

I write this blog to not only share some of the destinations I have been to but to hopefully make travel a lot easier for you.

My father was a Flight Engineer in the Air Force and always followed a checklist when doing almost anything. In travel that was the best thing he could have taught me.

Have you ever started a vacation or business trip and found out you forgot to bring something critical or just annoying?

I never go on a trip without first checking my checklist of items to bring. I usually categorize the checklist by:

• Critical/Must Have
• Things that can't be replaced easily like Passport, Drivers License, Medications, Credit Cards, Glasses
• Should Have
• Things that can be replaced but may be expensive like Camera, Sun Glasses, Chargers, Power Adaptors, Noise Cancelling Headphones
• Nice to Have
• Things that can easily be bought at your destination like Toothpaste/brush, Razor, Swimsuit, Hat, Sunscreen, Aspirin  
• Collateral
• Print off all reservations with confirmation codes. They can be used in case of a dispute.
• Airfare, hotels, car rental, etc
• Misc
• Stop newspaper, hold mail, pay bills, etc

I use Excel but a word document or similar will work. Even a notepad will do.

A checklist is easy to do and the earlier you start the better. Create one before your next trip, save it as a template and modify it as time goes on. You can use the checklist on every trip. Get all your items on the checklist ready before the trip and the day of your trip check each item off as you pack it.

Hopefully this will save you time and aggravation with a less stressful start to your vacation.

Beginning the China/Japan Adventure

Friday my son Kevin and I leave for China and Japan. The purpose of the trip is the Japanese Grand Prix but we'll also be in Beijing and Tokyo seeing as much as possible. In previous posts I mentioned several options for parking at SFO.  This time we are using SkyPark.

SkyPark is an easy option for parking at SFO and less expensive. Where long term parking at SFO is $25/day I can have valet parking at SkyPark for $19/day. I don't have to worry about finding my car when I return and SkyPark will take me to my terminal and back with my car waiting for me when I get back.

There are other off-airport parking companies. Do a little research and find one best for you.

Read my previous post on parking options which will help you make the best decision.

• Off-airport parking 
• Renting a car each way
• Stay and park hotels

Pops' Travel Guide, Tokyo Flight Tip

I just booked a flight to Tokyo from San Francisco for my son and I and wanted to share a tip.

This will be the first trip to Japan for both my son and I. Also, my son has never been to mainland China.

In booking the trip, I found a flight with a 23 hour layover in Beijing on the way there and a 21 hour layover in Beijing on the way home. Both flights arrive in Beijing around 6 pm. Because of the long layover the airline will provide a hotel for both nights. Also, because of the long layover we can get a free 24 hour transit visa in China.

What this does for us is we get a free nights stay in Beijing on both flights, We get a free visa for China. The flights will be broken up with the stay in Beijing. It will also give us a day to get acclimated to the time zone and it gives my son an opportunity to explore China which he may not have again.

Arriving at 6 pm we plan to have dinner and get a good nights sleep. We have most of the day to see Beijing (Forbidden City, Temple of Heaven, etc) and get back to the airport for our short flight to Tokyo. On the way home we will do the same except we will go to the Great Wall which is about an hour outside of Beijing.

We could have booked a direct flight but now we get to see a little extra.

So, when traveling a long layover can be a good thing. Take advantage of it and see something you may never have a chance to see in the future.

Great Ski Season in the Sierras

Bear Valley in Feb

I'm a little late writing this but wanted to recap an incredible season of skiing this year.

El Nino came through this year with a long and great ski season. My last day of skiing was at Squaw Valley in early May. Squaw and Alpine were the last ski areas open in the area with Squaw planning to stay open until Memorial Day.

Granddaughter's 1st day of skiing

I live in Sacramento and there are about 13 ski areas within a two hour drive. Under three hours and you have a few more. It is real easy to get in a day trip of skiing. I live a little over an hour from Sierra at Tahoe and can leave the house at 7am and be home before 6pm, skiing from open to close of the lifts.

Last day of skiing in May

This year was a great year as I was able to average about 1 trip a week after the first of the year. Ski areas I hit were Sierra at Tahoe, Heavenly Valley, Squaw Valley, Bear Valley and Northstar. All days were mid-week and most days were just after a fresh dumping of snow. Even in May the conditions were good. One highlight was at Squaw in May. We skied over to a run that was closed for the USA Ski team which was practicing. After watching for about 10 minutes they opened it up and the conditions were perfect.

The Sierra in Northern California has a lot to offer from large resorts to small operations and everything in between. Everyone has their favorites and I do too.

Bear Valley is a longer drive, about 3 hours, but worth it, The terrain is rough with cornices and cliff areas but also has runs for the beginner. I skied there a lot in the 70's and remember seeing a lot of celebrities as it is off by itself and was more self sufficient.

Heavenly Valley is where I learned to ski. and will always be one of my favorites. It is a huge area where you can either start in California or Nevada and ski between the two sides.

Sierra at Tahoe is the closest to my house and has a good variation in terrain. It is smaller and there are no lift lines mid-week. I can get in a full day of skiing without waiting in lines.

Whatever your ski level the Tahoe area offers plenty of options. If you want a resort atmosphere then go to Squaw Valley or Northstar. For exciting nightlife try the ski areas on the south shore of Tahoe. For more of a mom and pop atmosphere try the smaller areas.

Next year I plan on going to Mammoth Mountain. It is a larger ski area and a longer drive, about 4 hours. This will have to be a weekend trip.

Crawdad's Sacramento on the River

This week I had an appointment in West Sacramento and had an hour to kill before the meeting. I decided to go to the Sacramento River and relax at Crawdad's. On a nice June day how could you not relax while sitting on the river watching the boats and people go by,

Crawdad's literally floats on the river with a dock for boats to tie up when they are at the restaurant. They have a great selection of food and a nice open air bar where you sit, watch the river and relax.

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Pops' Travel Guide, California Grappa

I know there are not a lot of you out there that like Grappa. I happen to be one that does so indulge me. My son and I made the trek up to the Amador Wineries in Northern California to pick up our wine club selections. The Amador Wineries are about a 45 minute drive from our house. We usually drive up, go to the 4 wineries I am a club member of, have lunch and then drive home. It's a nice relaxing day in a beautiful part of California with the rolling hills full of vineyards. The best part is it's hardly ever crowded and the scenery and wine quality matches that of the more familiar areas in California. It's like going back in time to Napa when you didn't have to pay to taste and there were no crowds. Spring is coming soon and you might want to consider this option.

Now to the main point of this post. While I was driving from winery to winery I remembered that I was out of Grappa. For those of you that don't know what Grappa is, it's made by taking the leftover mash from the wine process and distilling it. My cousin Roberto in Italy makes his own and that's where I fell in love with it. There is one winery in Amador, that I know of, that makes and sells Grappa. If you know and love Grappa you will know that Grappa can have different tastes depending on what grapes the mash came from. We went to the Vino Nocheto Winery to buy the Grappa. There they had a Barbera and Sangiovese and I bought both. You can also get Moscato and Zinfandel.

Now Grappa is not for everyone and most of my friends think I'm crazy for drinking it but if you are like me and love Grappa then Vino Nocheto is a great option. If you live in the area and want to buy some, California law won't let you taste at the winery, then make the trip to Amador County and spend a day in the area. If you live too far away you can find locations that sell it online.

The address is 11011 Shenandoah Road, Plymouth, CA 95669 and they are open most days 11am to 4pm.   Amador County is just southeast of Sacramento off of Highway 49 in the gold country.