Europe will always be like an exquisite dream. The mere mention of the continent feels much like rolling fine wine on your tongue while relaxing in front of a placid lake or a quiet vineyard. The more specific dreamers might think more of taking slow gondola rides on the canals of Venice or sipping cups of premium coffee on a cafe in Paris.
One thing is certain though. A vacation to Europe is never cheap. This is what can burst any aspiring tourists dream bubble. Do not fret though. It is not entirely impossible to explore the wonders of Europe at least once in your life. There are a number of ways to make a trip more in tune with your limited budget.
The first thing to do is to plan. Obviously, you are more likely to be able to save if you followed a master plan rather than if you just hopped from one city to another on impulse. Be as detailed as possible. Include in your plan your exact destinations, flights, accommodations, activities and specific budget. When everything is plotted, make a commitment to follow your master plan.
Another way to cut cost is to try taking everything on your own. Instead of paying for the services of a travel agent, planner and guide, you can do everything yourself from plotting your course to actually going through it. The more romantic tourists simply call this backpacking across Europe. With just a backpack and your loved one beside you, you can conquer the best spots of Europe on a shoestring budget.
Backpacking, of course, is not for everyone. In fact, it may not be the most sensible thing to do. Always remember that many parts of Europe are every bit like urban jungles, albeit seemingly more romantic. You can easily get conned or lost if you are not naturally enterprising or street smart. This is especially true if you get so easily caught up in the experience of foreign sights and sounds. If you think you probably sound or look like a little lost dog, do not go on a European vacation on your own. Take a guided tour.
Some guided tours are not as expensive as you think. The best way to go around Europe without spending an entire fortune is to choose a package deal. Travel experts have numerous packages to choose from to fit almost any kind of budget. Some will allow you to pick the places, activities and accommodations that you prefer.
Before you pay for a package deal, make sure you check the exact terms. Some travel companies exclude either airfare or accommodations from the total cost of a package. A few others also fail to mention several items that may eventually add up to the total cost. It would also help to check your exact itinerary and research on destinations and activities so you do not end up feeling cheated over locations that are not really as interesting as they sound.
Europe vacation experiences are as magical as one can ever dream them to be. This is why you should rather be sure that you can get the best out of your trip at a fair and affordable price.
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The Wine Messenger has a great collection of wines and all can be ordered online (but within 24 states only, read their shipping policy). Collections are typically created to reflect the variation available within a specific geographic area, from one grape variety, or in a wine type.
Considering that the best and most enjoyable way to learn about wine, is to try new wines and to explore the wonderful geographical and winemaking differences that make today’s wines so diverse, The Wine Messenger can really help you to become an expert.
One of the most interesting collection they have is the California Collector Sampler. California is a very geologically diverse region and is equally varied in the range of climates and terroirs that can be found. This sampler showcases classic California grapes like Merlot, Pinot Noir and Chardonnay and also includes a special blend of Cabernet Sauvignon, Petite Syrah, Zinfandel and Merlot.
A wine box can be a great gift idea, so they also sell attractive gift boxes, with a specially designed packaging that ensures that your gifts arrive in perfect condition. Exclusive wines are hand-picked and approved by their Tasting Panel and there are also free personalized gift cards that can be included with any gift order.
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Wally said me: I have lots of great stories for your weblog, we have trekked to little known regions of France and Italy to find foods and meet with wine makers.
And this is one of these stories, exactly, one story written by my wife, Terry, about finding a “new” winemaker in France. This happened in May of this year.
A Taste of Fate: Meeting Winemaker Jacky Blot
Many of my vacations truly are “working vacations”. Yes, we spend three weeks in France, but we are visiting wine makers, cheese producers and the like. Yeah, I know, tough job – but someone has to do it. I can’t complain. I do work at hunting out products. Much like the truffle pig, I am always sniffing around, looking in local shops, watching what the locals are eating. Of course this often means eating and drinking many things to be assured of quality – I never just take someone’s word for it – but that is another story altogether.
When I eat a cookie I like in Italy, I will find out who imports it to the U.S. I am quite vigilant. This is just the best way to bring my customers items they might not find otherwise, such as many of the wines we have in our shop. Sometimes I find them through a focused tasting or meeting wine makers. Sometimes greatness just falls in your lap, almost like Divine Intervention.
Forces were at work when we discovered the lovely wines of Jacky Blot: Domaine Taille aux Loups (whites) and La Butte (reds).
The Intervention came by way of a kindly Paris wine shop owner, Christophe Vidal. While we were buying some wine from his shop, I noticed some odd whiskeys from Japan which started up a conversation (and some sampling of said whiskeys, did I mention how nice this guy was?). In our discussion of the wine business, we mention that we are planning to visit a winemaker or two in the Loire Valley. As we are about to leave we hear a shout. He comes running up to us with an open bottle of wine. Turns out that the winemaker, Jacky Blot from the Loire Valley, had been in his shop earlier for a tasting of his wines. Jacky had left an open bottle but Cristophe didn’t need it, perhaps we could take it back to our apartment and enjoy it. We took our Taille aux Loups wine, happily skipping back to our apartment and marveling at the kindness of strangers.
The wine is a delightful surprise. Chenin Blanc grapes, light, crisp, wonderfully balanced. What a nice gift! My husband, Wally, ever diligent, looks up the winery and I can see he is contemplating – actually becoming determined – to find the winery in our travels. We move on to the Loire and are having dinner in the city of Tours when, lo and behold, the Taille Aux Loups is on the wine list by the glass. We have to order it, and yes, it is as good as we remembered. Okay, that settles it; we have to find this winery.
After a few days of trying wines in Chinon and Saumur (both great cities to visit and sample wine), we track down the winery Taille Aux Loups. We drive along curvy roads, follow the river (because we don’t know exactly where it is) along the south bank of the Loire east of Tours. Eureka, we find it! Jacky’s daughter Françoise greets us warmly as we come in from the rain, and sets up quite a tasting for us. We try sparkling wines, the whites that we love, and reds from nearby Bourgueil. It is quite fantastic, especially since we don’t even have an appointment. Jacky pops in and gives us an exuberant hello, but he is quite busy with a bunch of clients in another room. We write down the name and phone number of their distributor in California and buy some bottles to add to the collection we have amassed during the previous few days. We high five ourselves once we get in the car, feeling the excitement of another successful hunt. We rub our hands in anticipation of tasting this wine for our clients back home, and hope that the distributor, Adventures in Wine, carries the wines we want. We have never bought from them before, or even heard of them.
We return to our Paris apartment a few days later with our cache of prized wines. I really want to serve Jacky’s wine at our upcoming tasting in two weeks. I need to email my assistant Dave to find this company. As I am looking in my purse to find the business cards from the wine makers we visited, I find a card for Adventures In Wine! I have no idea how it got there. I don’t remember ever meeting the person whose name is on the card. There is no other business card from America in my bag, having cleaned it out before we left. Françoise at the winery did not give me a card, she just had me write down the name in my notebook. But here it is. Magic! That did it. We were obviously destined to have this wine in our shop.
The importer has the whites I want, not the reds, but they are ordering them for me. So with this happy set of circumstances, I am able to offer this fantastic wine to our customers. And it all began because I had noticed some odd whiskeys at a Paris wine shop and started asking questions.
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After our article about wine, 
