advicesisters.com for life, love and happiness

https:// advicesisters.com / Lifestyle / Mrs & Mrs. Smith Offers a Unique Travel Service and a Great Contest

Mrs & Mrs. Smith Offers a Unique Travel Service and a Great Contest

By: Alison Blackman

“Mr. & Mrs. Smith” isn’t just the title of a movie featuring the super-sexy Brad Pitt and Angelina Jolie, actually, it’s a classic pseudonym for a couple that is checking into a hotel “incognito” for a romantic getaway.   It is also the name of a travel club with a website that lets you book unique, trendy, hip, chic and fun boutique hotels that the company has researched and feature in their travel guides, as well as the new collections appearing all the time, exclusively online.  The Mr. & Mrs. Smith website guarantees the best room rates available and there is no booking fee (*Membership starts at $30+ per year).  If you sign on as a member of the BlackSmith Travel Club, depending upon your level (black, silver or gold), you’ll get lots of freebie extras that can enhance your trip, such as late check-out in London, a picnic hamper and a bottle of rose in the Hamptons, money back on every booking, and exclusive discounts and special offers at Mr. & Mrs. Smith hotels such as a discount on car rentals, luxury items, and more.

If you are internet savvy you can do a lot of research on your own and hopefully find just what you’re looking for online.  But Mr. & Mrs. Smith appeals to sophisticated couples and families who know what they want, and would like easy access to more interesting venues than what is normally available on large or bucket hotel sites.   The user-friendly website includes maps, reviews, lots of good information about a wide range of destinations around the world, even house rentals. It is clear that the company has vetted these unique and unusual places, and looking at the website will make you want to pack your bags to somewhere, right now!  On the downside, since Mr. & Mrs. Smith focuses on boutique hotels, there are few if any hotels in other categories, and therefore less choice (although still plenty on a global scale).

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Taste of Wine Country Event at the City Winery

Mr. & Mrs. Smith Taste of Wine Country Event at the City Winery

At an event yesterday to promote the contest and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, the company partnered with the City Winery and Murray’s Cheese.  The event took place at the City Winery (155 Varick Street in Manhattan).
City Winery The City Winery is a restaurant and bar, but also an event space, and it is an actual, working winery.  The City Winery sources its grapes from California and elsewhere, but the wines are impressively good.
Murrays CheeseMurray’s Cheese Has been dispensing a huge variety of high quality cheese from all over the world, for decades. My mother used to the Bleeker Street location weekly, (there is also one in the Market at Grand Central) and bring home all sorts of cheese for the family to enjoy.  Last night’s event featured three delicious California cheeses, including the one in the photo, a San Andreas from Bellwether Farms.
Guests also got a chance to check out the Grove 45 Olive Oil, which is packaged in a chic, silver container, and is part of the goodies the winner will get in the  TASTE OF WINE COUNTRY SWEEPSTAKES.

carneros inn

The Carneros Inn, CA

THE TASTE  OF WINE COUNTRY SWEEPSTAKES: Who could resist this?

The winner gets a bucolic boutique stay at the Carneros Inn, a charming, family-friendly hotel with old-school decked porches, cowhide rugs and rocking chairs share space with Le Corbusier chaises and a colour scheme Giorgio Armani would be proud of. You’ll spend three nights at this farmstead-fabulous resort, with a cosy cottage, private garden and romantic outdoor shower to call your own.   To get you to the grapes, you’ll receive two round-trip American Airlines tickets from New York to San Francisco. We’ll also throw in $300 towards travel expenses. (Winners must be New York State residents.)  And while you’re in Napa, meet the women behind Grove 45, the valley’s latest organically produced extra virgin olive oil  (grassy and a bit spicy, and just delicious)!  Owners Nena Talcott and Bonnie Storm will give you a personal tour of their press, followed by an alfresco lunch amid the olive groves. You’ll also have the opportunity to take a private, guided one-hour tour of Bettinelli Vineyards in Oakville, California, home to sought-after wines such as Harlan Estate and Screaming Eagle. Sip in NYC Master vintner, David Lecomte, will guide you on an hour-long tour through Manhattan’s only working winery, where you’ll be treated to a straight-from-the-barrel tasting of a Napa cabernet sauvignon. The winner will also sample California cheeses, thanks to Murray’s Cheese.  A gift crate delivered to you in New York: three fragrant cheeses, two artisan salamis, plus the latest liquid-gold olive oil from Grove 45 and their signature wooden cheeseboard.

Do you want to win? The deadline is September 9, 2011 . Here’s where to enter

To learn more about Mr. & Mrs. Smith, visit the website: http://www.mrandmrssmith.com/us/

About Alison Blackman

Alison Blackman is a beauty, fashion and lifestyles writer, editor and consultant. Her focus is on advice, beauty, fashion, lifestyles, relationships and things that help make life easier, more successful and more on http://www. advicesisters.com & her relationship advice site http://www.leatherandlaceadvice.com. Find & Follow Alison on popular social media (Icons to the right of the AdviceSisters Logo). If you like what you see, it's easy to like & share with social media icons at the top and bottom of each page.