Billed as the first British royal wedding in 350 years to a commoner, the media is abuzz with Prince William and Catherine’s upcoming wedding on April 29th.

Hotels like NYC’s The London are offering a Royal Engagement package for those “whose invitations got lost in the mail”. The package includes champagne, truffles and a traditional English Breakfast, while you watch the 11am (London time) nuptials on the tele.

Dunkin Donut’s British-born CEO is celebrating the event with the Royal Wedding Donut – a heart shaped donut available only during the 5 days leading up to the royal wedding (April 24-29).

Papa John’s pizza teamed up with a British food artist to create The Royal Pizza - a mosaic pizza depicting William and Kate using standard pizza toppings. Available in UK stores only.

Stir up a glass of Pimms No 1 and toast the royal couple!

Via: Foodbeast

EveryTrail is a cool travel sharing site that makes it easy for you to share the highlights of your latest girls getaway with family and friends. Once you download the free app on your iPhone or Android, you can turn on tracking, go about exploring the beautiful place you’re visiting, and take photos along the way. After saving your trip, you can see the route you took reflected on the map with photos appearing in the location where you took them. Instant travelogue!

EveryTrail is also a great resource if you’re planning a trip. With its high quality destination guides and thousands of trips contributed by its active community of travelers, it offers a wealth of travel ideas.

For example, if you were planning a trip to Carmel, you could view trip stories shared by other travelers in the Carmel area. Here’s a trip by someone who went kayaking near Carmel.

Via: everytrail.com

The votes of millions of travelers are in! Conde Nast Traveler and TripAdvisor have both released this year’s list of best places to stay based on readers’ favorites.

• Conde Nast Traveler 2011 Hotel Gold List
• TripAdvisor Travelers’ Choice Hotel Awards

Conde Nast’s scoring system is based on sub-categories for Room, Service, Food, Location and Design. TripAdvisor travelers used an overall 1-5 rating system. Both lists are great resources to help you plan your next girls getaway.

Last weekend we went on an epicurean girls’ trip to Sonoma for Wine Road. The idea is simple – you buy a weekend or day pass and can then stop in at wineries for a specially prepared wine and food pairing.

We stopped at quite a few wineries and sampled some great wine (red zins, cabs, chardonnay, port) and food: braised beef short ribs, fennel sausage over risotto, Mrs. Scorsese’s lemon chicken, bacon-wrapped dates, chocolate terrine - to name just a few. We also each got a cookbook with the recipes of what we sampled on the Wine Road to take with us.

Almost 100 wineries participated in the event – some had live music, one had a Texas BBQ and one had a soft serve machine with pumpkin ice cream!

All the places we stopped at were really enjoyable. Some of the wineries had beautiful settings - our favorites were Bella, Dutcher Crossing, Francis Ford Coppola, Mazzocco, Rued, Sbragia, Trentadue and Wilson. It’s no wonder this event is popular - buy tickets early because they sell out!

Wine Road

It only takes one summer visit to San Francisco where you’re shivering, surrounded by the infamous summer fog, to learn that June - August is not the ideal time to visit. For the best weather, plan your visit to San Francisco in late September or October. One of the big events in October is Fleet Week which occurs over Columbus Day weekend. This past Columbus Day weekend we happened to be in San Francisco and experienced what it had to offer.

The sunny skies and 80 degree weather were perfect conditions to enjoy the Blue Angels perform their amazing aerial acrobatics above the sailboats in the bay. One of the best places we found to watch the show is the beach-front bleachers at Fisherman’s Wharf, just below Ghirardelli’s chocolate.

On Sunday, don’t miss the Columbus Day parade. We headed over to North Beach, otherwise known as the Italian district, where hundreds of locals dine alfresco while the Columbus Day Parade passes by. After I walked by table after table of beautiful pasta dishes, I was definitely hungry for Italian food. Luckily there are plenty of choices in North Beach.

After the parade we headed over to Marina Green to see the Marines exhibit for Fleet Week. Not only were the guys nice and very polite, but it was interesting to see the mobile command center, popup kitchen and the MREs that Marines eat in the desert.

The Marina District’s Chestnut Street is just a few blocks from Marina Green so our next stop was Susie Cakes on Chestnut. This is my new favorite place to get huge slices of cake and share with my friends (coconut and chocolate are both great choices). Chestnut Street has some of the top restaurants and pubs in the city and is always buzzing with activity. While we were on Chestnut the bars & pubs were overflowing with people cheering for the Giants baseball team as they won their NL league championship.

Recently I spent a fun-filled weekend in Toronto. I was there for a cousins’ get together and we stayed in the downtown Entertainment District. With a WalkScore of 97/100 it was within easy walking distance of Queen Street, CN Tower, Kensington Market and many theaters. CN Tower is the major landmark in Toronto’s skyline (kind of the Canadian equivalent to the Space Needle) and helped us get our bearings on more than one occasion.

Exploring the city in July, I saw many beautiful flowers adorning outdoor cafes and pubs. For shopping we headed to Queen Street. Some of our favorite stops included: GetOutside for shoes, Mujamba for an amazing collection of ribbons & shoe laces, and Fashion Crimes for every type of party dress you could imagine. If you’re on Queen Street be sure to stop in at Dufflet, known as the ‘Queen of Cake’ and best baker in Toronto. For lunch or dinner try the secluded patio at the Queen Mother Café which serves Dufflet cakes for dessert.

For more shopping visit Kensington Market to see a collection of funky, local shops and hear live music in the streets.

Take a streetcar or cab to the historic Distillery District to see some beautiful buildings, shop and then relax at Mill Street Pub with some local ale and sweet potato fries. If you have time, catch the short ferry ride to Toronto Island. Walk around the well-groomed park or rent a two or four person carriage bicycle to explore the island. The return ferry ride provides a postcard perfect view of the city.

Summer is in full swing and many of us are planning a road trip or summer getaway. Whether your destination is the beach, a scenic town or a family gathering, here are some summer hotel deals to check out before you book your stay.

Hilton’s The Great Getaway
Hilton is offering up to 30% off during the summer, breakfast included (must be pre-paid)
More details

Starwood / AAA deals
The Starwood Hotels which include Westin, Sheraton, W and others are offering AAA members 30% off this summer.
more details

Hyatt / AAA deals
The Hyatt Hotels is offering AAA members some summer deals as well:

• - 25% off at participating Hyatt Regency, Grand Hyatt and Andaz hotels. Plus, use offer code BREAKF and receive free breakfast for two daily.
• - 15% off at Hyatt Place and Hyatt Summerfield Suites (breakfast included).

more details

Kimpton Ride the Rails promotion
The Kimpton Hotels’ summer promotion encourage guests to reduce their carbon footprint. Ride the train and show your ticket at check-in to get 15% off their best room rate. Urban trains from the airport count as well!
more details

Marriott Summer Weekends Deal
From June 1 - August 24, 2010, book your escape for Thursday-Sunday (Friday or Saturday required) and save 20% off normal nightly rates. Use code M11 when booking.
more details

La Quinta Route LQ promotion
La Quinta offers 15% off their best available rate for stays through June 30, 2010. Guests also receive discounts from local merchants. Booking must be made on LQ.com/ENJOY15 using the code ENJOY15.
more details

TIP: When booking hotel reservations online check the weekend rate (Friday/Saturday) to see if it’s different from weekdays. On my upcoming trip to Toronto, I saved $70 by booking Thursday (higher rate) separately from Friday/Saturday (weekend special rate).

Letters to Juliet, a movie set in Verona, Italy, opens in theaters tomorrow and it’s a perfect movie to see with girlfriends. The scenery is gorgeous, the characters have movie star looks and the story line, although predictable, has a happy ending. What more could you ask for? Stop in at your favorite Italian hang-out before or after the movie for some red wine and pasta to continue the theme.

Once you’ve seen the movie, you’ll probably want to visit Verona in person. From now until May 24 you can enter to win a trip for two to Verona, Italy with the Send a Letter to Juliet sweepstakes. You can submit your entry at the movie theater or by mailing a postcard. For details see how to enter. Ciao!

Movie trailer