Wine and Spirits Travel

Some days of travel are amazing and some are not. Then there are the ones which are a little of both. This was the case for my fifth day in Israel . The day certainly started out right as I enjoyed a leisurely breakfast from my balcony at the Dan Acadia Hotel in Herzeliya, a suburb of Tel Aviv. I was getting spoiled by these Israeli breakfasts, which were filled with fruit, cheese, and sweet treats. It looked to be another beautifully sunny day and I wished I had time to check out the pool and the beach, but I had to get ready to meet the group. We were heading for a tour of Old Jaffa. I had discovered my passport and glasses missing and thought they might have been left at the previous hotel so I asked our tour guide to have the bus make a stop at the Dan Hotel Tel Aviv. Unfortunately, despite the urging from my fellow journalists to stay, Carmela felt they were running late to get to the Jaffa tour and wouldn’t wait for me to check at the hotel. What

I was up early at the Dan Hotel Tel Aviv for another busy day on my press trip with Israel Tourism . After breakfast, I met with the rest of the journalists and our guide, Carmela, in the Executive Lounge at the hotel with our luggage.  We were heading to two more hotels in Israel before we would be back at this one. Since most of the group had arrived later than me, they were all heading to the Bauhaus area I had toured on my first day. I decided to check out some of the boutique shopping area around Sheinken Street in Tel Aviv with another journalist, Jo Piazza. We stopped first at a café for some coffee. As interesting as the pastries looked, we had just finished a big Israeli breakfast, which focused on the sweets. As we walked through the blocks we noted that they all looked simple and understated from the outside, despite the fact that most of the clothes and shoes were high-end. I window-shopped while Jo picked up and dress and then we

After a major renovation, The Westin Downtown Cleveland offered to flew me to the Ohio city to write about the hotel. It had been years since I had even been there, and I was anxious to see what the city was doing in preparation for the 2016 Republican National Convention , so it didn’t take me long to accept the opportunity. It was my first time flying into Cleveland and I quickly learned that this town has its priorities straight. It’s all about the food and the music, with top chefs producing the former and music’s most famous museum hosting the latter. A sign greeted me the minute I walked out the door of the airport announcing the 2015 Rock and Roll Hall of Fame Inductee Exhibit. (The 2016 Exhibit will be up soon and I look forward to seeing it.) As much as I would have loved to go straight there, I was waiting for my ride from Christopher Moore of the Cleveland Tourism Board . I made a quick stop at The Westin Cleveland Downtown to check into my r

I had never been to Milwaukee before. I didn’t make it there during my traveling years and I hadn’t been there in the seven years I’ve been living in the Midwest. When I received an invitation to cover one of the biggest music festivals in the world that happened to be in Milwaukee, it didn’t take me long to say, “Yes!” My friend Lisa, who was living in Green Bay at the time, met me in Milwaukee for a girls’ weekend. Margaret Casey of Visit Milwaukee picked us up at the Hilton for our first day of tasting and touring. Our first stop was at Indulgence Chocolatiers . I wish we had a place like this in Champaign. Julie, the owner of Indulgence, fell in love with the chocolate shops in Europe and decided to open one in Milwaukee . She creates a selection of chocolate truffles, barks, and bars. Then, she pairs them with your choice of white wine, red wine, beer, whiskey, or cheese. Everything sounded scrumptious and we finally settled on sharing chocolate &