First Step: Location-Location-Location

One of the most important decisions when taking a trip is where to sleep.  I know you're thinking, "Hey, I'm a low-maintenance person!  I just need a bed!" and this may be true for you, but the cheapest hotel/motel in town, may not always be the best decision (and could end up costing you more in the long run).

Find a couple locations near your destination.  In the case of Napa Valley, there's a handful of towns along the main road that are all near wineries and only one of them is Napa, CA.  Take some time and see what places are near your destination but maybe not directly in the town/city you're thinking about.  Smaller towns can be quieter and sometimes a lot cheaper.

When choosing a town, realize that you will want to venture out.  Will you need a rental car or do they have reliable public transportation?  Will you have trouble finding parking?  Your hotel may be just a place for your to sleep, but you also don't want to spend your entire vacation in the car or on the bus.  Find a balance between the location of your activities and lodging prices.  Get yourself a handful of location options and then move onto the fun of picking the hotel.

As far as our Napa vacation goes, we chose Yountville as our home base for the week.  It's quiet, peaceful and has three restaurants at which we would like to dine.


Up Next:  Choosing the perfect lodging.

Revived!

I'm taking another holiday with my fiancé (who will be my husband by that time) because we are going on our honeymoon!  Same deal as last time, I'm going to put up all kinds of planning tips that I've come across and give some updates (they may be minimal ;-) during the trip!

Let's just get down to it, shall we?

First item of business:  where are we going?

We are heading to Napa Valley for a week of wining and dining.  During a recent visit with a very good friend, we took a day trip to Napa and just fell in love.  We stayed here:

We tasted these superb wines:

And we ate an amazing dinner here:

It was all spectacular.  I mean, how could it not be when you get to lounge in a tub like this?

Seriously.  Look. At. That. Tub.

And so from that day trip, we were hooked and we knew that despite it being one of the most popular honeymoon destinations, we would be booking ourselves another trip this year.  We want to do some winery tours (including Lasseter Family Winery in hopes of a John Lasseter sighting), relax in some spas (The Meritage looks promising) and eat some amazing food (oh yeah, The French Laundry, one of the highest rated restaurants IN THE WORLD).

So I'm a little...okay, very excited for our trip and I hope I can give some help to anyone else planning on visiting this oasis of the west coast.