The San Diego Italian Film Festival is featuring ‘Feeling the air’

As much as we love to travel, we sometimes need a few weeks at home to do decompress and, unfortunately, take care of those loads and loads of laundry. A travel break gives us time to reenergize, feel grounded, and plan for the next adventure.

This is also when we bring the world home though international wines, culinary experiments, and watching foreign films.

We recently discovered the San Diego Italian Film Festival has a monthly Italian film series. Every few weeks they feature a different genre – fiction, documentary, shorts, new releases, or classics. Tomorrow they’re showing Sentire l’aira (Feeling the Air), a documentary about a teen who chooses to leave his comfortable home to become a shepherd.

We love watching movies that make you think, reflect, and view life from a different perspective. We think this film will deliver on all of these points.

If you’re in the San Diego area, we hope you’ll join us for a slice of Italy tomorrow (Thursday, May 16) at 7pm. The event is at the Museum of Photographic Arts in Balboa Park. The cost is $10 and you’ll have an opportunity to connect with the Italian community in San Diego.

Can’t make it tomorrow? Mark your calendar for the other film nights.

We’re excited to bring Italy home!

Make it a date night with Italian wine and cheese.

Looking for amazing international cheeses in San Diego County. Check out Venissimo. We’ve been to their Del Mar location a few times to stock up for parties and enjoy the selection.

(Thanks to the San Diego Italian Film Festival for the invitation and delicious basket)

Mexico’s second largest airline, Interjet, now offers daily non-stop service to Mexico City and Guadalajara from the John Wayne International Airport in Orange County, California.

With an inauguration ceremony, the airline began operations last Thursday, October 11 at John Wayne Airport Terminal B.

This represents a great step for Interjet as it becomes the first Mexican airline to service this important region in California.

Additionally, Interjet is now covering the west coast of the United States, adding another great destination to its American portfolio of cities which include New York, Miami, and San Antonio.

José Luis Garza, CEO of Interjet, mentioned there are great advantages to operate from John Wayne Airport as it is smaller, convenient, simpler, and decongested. He added that travelers will also find custom clearance to be fast and easy here.

In addition, Garza said they are always innovating and invites people to discover the advantages of flying with Interjet. “There are plenty of differentiators apart from the price, like legroom, leather seating, 110 lbs. bag allowance, free onboard snacks and beverages, and a lot of flexibility in the ticketing.”

Alan Murphy, John Wayne Airport Director, also mentioned this partnership with Interjet will continue to build strong relationships in business and in tourism between Mexico and Orange County.

He added travelers can actually reach many more destinations with Interjet, as they can connect to the many cities that Interjet services in Mexico and Central America.

Following Interjet’s “we give you more for less” tagline, their inaugural promotion fares are $289 round trip to Mexico City and $299 round trip to Guadalajara.

For more information and booking visit Interjet website: www.interjet.com

Ready to get off the beaten tourist track on your next Hawaiian adventure? Continental/United Airlines has just made it that much easier with a new non-stop flight to Hilo on the Big Island.

Instead of flying into Kona International Airport and driving 2.5 hours to Hilo, there will be daily direct flights from Los Angeles International Airport (LAX) and San Francisco International Airport (SFO). A huge timesaver!

It all begins June 9th, so start booking your tickets now.

What makes Hilo so appealing?

Instead of grand five-start resorts, you can expect quaint inns, bed & breakfasts, family-friendly hotels, cabins, and campgrounds. People love Hilo for its unique natural beauty. Just look at the photos:

Waipio Valley, from the Waipio Valley Overlook. Located about an hour north of Hilo, it’s one of the spectacular highlights on the Hilo-Hamakua Heritage Corridor. Credit: Bob Coello/BIVB

Kilauea volcano’s lava pouring into the ocean last year. Credit: Tor Johnson/HTA

Buckets of exotic tropical flowers at the Hilo Farmers Market. Credit: Bob Coello/BIVB.

Halemaumau Crater in Kilauea volcano…home to Hawaii’s volcano goddess Pele. As seen from Hawaii Volcanoes National Park. Credit: www.bluewaterjon.com

The Big Island Hawaii Volcanoes National Park is only 40 minutes from Hilo International Airport, and one of five national parks on the island. Yes, the Big Island is that big.

This shot shows one of several waterfalls at Hawaii Tropical Botanical Gardens in Hilo. Credit: Bob Coello/BIVB

Now are you ready to visit Hilo?

Wanted: Beautiful TravelPlusWine Photos!

Featuring Real Travelers, Real Experiences

Each Thursday, TravelPlusWine will be hosting a Travel & Wine Photo blog post featuring your creative travel and wine photos.

Upcoming Event — March 10

Snowy Mountains & Ski Vacations

How it works:

If you’d like to be featured, send us your:

• Photo (just one!)
  
• A title & brief description (3-4 sentences max.) including where… but be creative with the rest.
  
• Twitter name
  
• Link to your website or blog

Send submissions to: katie [at] travelpluswine [dot] com

***Weekly submissions are due by Wednesday at noon***

The Themes:

Each week we will be featuring a theme… pertaining to travel and/or wine.  Here’s a look at what’s coming up…

March 10: Snowy Mountains & Ski Vacations

March 17: Travels to Wine Country

March 24: Interesting Landmarks

March 31: Gadgets & Gear On the Road

April 7: Spring Break!

Search for Twitter Hashtag: #TWpics

(TravelPlusWine Pictures)

The Rules:

By sending us a photo, you are verifying..

• The photo is yours (you properly deserve credit)
• You give us permission to post the photo on TravelPlusWine

TravelPlusWine reserves final editorial decision, including the right to:

• Not post a photo
• Edit the photo title and description

TravelPlusWine will post a handful of the best pictures received.

Ideas?

Do you have a theme idea for travel or wine photos? Send it our way… katie [at] travelpluswine [dot] comN

This sounds like the ultimate TravelPlusWine adventure! Fortunately, for those of us who can’t be in wine country at the moment, there’s a way to live vicariously through others.

The Three Thieves is a new hour-long television show featuring three wine entrepreneurs on a quest to discover exciting new wines. It debuts tonight at 8pm on the Cooking Channel.

Winemaker and Three Thieves star Joel Gott ensures this isn’t your average sip-and-swirl television show. Joel and the other two thieves, Roger Scommenga and Charles Bieler, worked hard with the Food Network to create a show that mixes in what’s exciting like scenery, food, people, and wine.

The first episode of Three Thieves takes viewers to Chile. The idea, Gott explains, is to visit and explore, so people see and experience what’s out there in wine regions around the world.

Three Thieves sounds like a great show for travel and wine lovers, so check it out!