If I won a million dollars in the lottery, I’d buy a first-class, around-the-world airplane ticket, then I’d invest the rest (yeah, right). Traveling ranks as one of my favorite pastimes, even after 9/11 when airports have become such a pain in the ass. I do appreciate how businesses are working to make the long layovers more bearable. Once I even got a mani-pedi at the Xpress spa in SFO’s international section, but usually I try to minimize the time I spend there to getting a burrito at Andale.



Recently I found a diamond in the rough in Vino Volo. During my last trip to Montana, we had a three-hour long layover in Seattle. It wasn’t long enough to leave and grab a bite at Pike Place Market, so we walked around the airport and discovered an oasis of a wine bar right in the central terminal. The moment we stepped into this wine bar, we were transported from our airport reality of being surrounded by Starbucks and Burger King. I sipped a “value red” Australian Shiraz, but you can do location-specific flights like JFK’s “I Love New York” which highlights top picks from the Hudson Valley, Finger Lakes and Long Island. Or you can stick with California wines and get Sacramento airport’s “California Kings” flight of Cabs, Merlots and Zins.



Vino Volo, Italian for “wine flight,” turns out to be an SF-based company, and while the wine bar won’t be at SFO for a while, they are in Sacramento, JFK, BWI and Dulles. Has anyone else out there been?