Comments from Laura O.

#1- If you can't carry it, don’t take it - that goes for all kids over the age of 10.  If they can’t carry it, they shouldn’t take it, and if they can carry it, quit whining about it.

Corollary to #1, whatever your teenager chooses to take on a trip, they have to carry.  They learn rule #1 really fast that way!

In Napa, V. Sattui is great, I like Grgich and Peju as well.

Sign up for everything that you can get for free (frequent flyer points, etc).  I’ve taken my family all over the world on them – one daughter is in Africa now and the other went to Thailand with frequent flyer points.

Also sign up for airline updates.  In foreign countries, though, get there 2-3 hours before scheduled takeoff, no matter what the airline update says.  We got caught in Munich when the airline notified us that the flight was late, we showed up 2 hours before the flight only to find out that the flight had closed even though it hadn’t taken off.  We really had to jump through hoops to get on the flight.

                                                                   ~ Laura O.