Travel – Page 16 – Snapshots & My Thoughts by Ailee Petrovic

Wanderlust January 21, 2013

Wedding Checklist Weekend in the Bay Area

Leaving San Francisco always makes me so sad (and reminds me of this Walter Cronkite quote + pictures). I was in the Bay Area from Thursday through Sunday – first in Palo Alto, then Mountain View, Oakland, San Francisco, and finally Napa + Sonoma. A lot of wedding tasks were accomplished during this time – tasted our vegan cupcakes, (re)visited the venue, met our florist, and assessed various rehearsal dinner wineries (see list below). We ate delicious food (Oren’s Hummus in Palo Alto, Google cafes in Mountain View, Hopmonk in Sonoma, and DOSA and The Plant in San Francisco). We drank amazing wine + champagne at Artesa Winery (amazing 360 views on site), Gundlach Bundschu, Nicholson Ranch Winery, and Domaine Carneros. It was tough to board my flight yesterday – cannot wait until we go back for the menu tasting in a few months! See highlights below.

Where the adventure began – in Palo Alto

Posing in front of Alcatraz
At Boudin on the Fisherman’s Wharf – love these letters so much

The perfect sunset with the gorgeous Golden Gate Bridge

On the hunt for a rehearsal dinner winery spot – at Domaine Carneros

Georgia during the wine tour at Artesa Winery

At Hopmonk in Sonoma for lunchLocal brew and my favorite – St. Germain Cocktail

View from the top of Artesa Winery

The Wine Country – is there any place prettier? Already missing it

Wanderlust January 17, 2013

En Route to San Francisco

I’m currently traveling to one of my favorite places in the world – San Francisco. I’m going to hang out with one of my best friends, Sasha’s sister, and to meet our wedding coordinator at The Carneros Inn, our florist, our lighting designer and our cupcake creator! I cannot wait. I’m sitting in Orange County, daydreaming about being Lauren Conrad… pictures of the trip to be posted soon!

Photo <via>.

Wanderlust January 15, 2013

Dream Job: Travel Consultant

I often think to myself, if money was not part of the life equation, what would I be doing for my job? Instead of management consulting, I would perhaps be a travel consultant. I would love more than anything to help people plan their great adventures – picking out hotels, restaurants, excursions, shows, etc. in foreign lands. I love to travel. It’s my passion. I get great excitement from experiencing new cultures, trying unknown foods, and meeting new people. I want to share that joy with people and alleviate the potential stress of trip planning.

Before Sasha and I went to Europe, I made a guide book for us. It’s very detailed, and we almost followed it to a T. I got rid of the scanned passport pictures, and uploaded where you can view my insanity here. If you are going to Greece, Turkey or France soon – I’d love to help you! I have many good ‘lessons learned’ from the vacation.

Our next trip will definitely revolve around water and relaxation (it will be a honeymoon after all!), and so I had to feature these pictures from my best-friend’s gorgeous tumblr <fourth lake>.

Snapshots December 31, 2012

2012 // best year of my life (in pictures)

It’s true – this really has been my favorite year of my life. Every year, I make a Shutterfly book to document the travels and memorable occasions of the year, and after finishing this year’s album, I truly cannot stop grinning. I spent the last 365 days living with my best friend, traveling around the world, going to four weddings, seeing the birth of two close friends’ babies, finding a new church home, getting a promotion at work, being given a new home to decorate, and having two proposals in my family (mine and my older sister’s). I’m blessed with amazing friends and family, all of who make every day happy.

Click here to view my 2012 in pictures.

It includes travel to Montana, Wyoming, Nevada, Arizona, Illinois, Colorado, Oregon, California, DC, Florida, Antigua, New York, Turkey, Greece and France. Lots of amazing memories. Happy New Year to you!

Wanderlust December 23, 2012

Church with the Corinthians

Today is our last day in Greek, and we were picked up early by Manos for a private tour of Corinth, which is about an hour and a half away from Athens. The drive west was absolutely breathtaking, as we followed the coast nearly the entire way. We stopped to take a picture at the Corinth Canal, then made our way to the Greek Orthodox Church of Corinth, where we went inside and witnessed a real Corinthian service. We’re going through the book of 1 Corinthians at Bayou City Fellowship right now, so I was nerding out the whole time. We drove through the city looking at ruins, then rode up to the top of the highest mountain where we walked through the fortress that protected the Corinthians for thousands of years. Next was the wine tastings – my favorite. Our favorite place was Palivou Estate, where the wine tasted like magic. We bought the biggest bottle (against my best traveling/luggage-weight-limit judgement) of their award winning Ammos Reserve. After the tastings, we went to the ruins of the Mycenaens. The cave we entered was built in the 12th CE B.C., which is ancient. We headed for a late lunch after seeing the tomb of Agamemnon (in the movie Troy), then trekked back to Athens, winding along the water. Exhausted after lots of walking, we’re packing and getting ready for Paris, as our flight leaves at 6:45 AM. The City of Lights on Christmas Eve – my dream come true!