HitAnyKey42 wrote:I don't think he's checking the thread every day. I'm sure he'll reply to you within a couple days.

I don't know how often he checks wine.woot, but he responded within 20ish mins after I sent the paypal!

Hi Folks -

I have received a number of deposits already and have replied to most everyone. However, I do not have everyone's email, which I will need eventually anyway. So, here is my email:
rick [dodt] laub [adt] alumni [dodt] duke [dodt] edu (yes,I am avoiding getting spammed by the bots) This is also my Paypal address.

If you would kindly send me your email address, screen name, real names of members of your party, and a phone contact number, that would be wonderful.

Thanks!

I'm very excited about this trip and finally getting to meet some fellow wooters.

Has anyone checked out the suites at this hotel? I may be able to get a deal on one, and I was wondering if they're worth any extra over the normal rooms seeing that the group deal may no longer be available?

Regrettably, I must give up my spot. So sad....

I made a commitment last year to do the RAGBRAI with a friend from work. Dates happen to be the same week.

So while you are tasting the finest wines the US had to offer, I will be riding a bicycle across Iowa. 62 miles on the 23rd, 81 miles on the 24th and 77 miles on the 25th. Someone better drink up for me on the trip. Really disappointed I can't make it, but excited to ride my bike all the way across a state.

Not so sure this is a good idea

woopdedoo wrote:Hi Folks -

I have received a number of deposits already and have replied to most everyone. However, I do not have everyone's email, which I will need eventually anyway. So, here is my email:
rick [dodt] laub [adt] alumni [dodt] duke [dodt] edu (yes,I am avoiding getting spammed by the bots) This is also my Paypal address.

If you would kindly send me your email address, screen name, real names of members of your party, and a phone contact number, that would be wonderful.

Thanks!

Done.


Also for others who still need to send, remember to send it as "Personal", that way there is no fee to you or to Woopdedoo.

MarkDaSpark wrote:
Also for others who still need to send, remember to send it as "Personal", that way there is no fee to you or to Woopdedoo.

I sent mine as "Personal" and still got charged a fee.

kkv123 wrote:I sent mine as "Personal" and still got charged a fee.

I believe you have to check it as a "gift".

I sent my deposit that way, and paypal showed the fee as $0.

kkv123 wrote:I sent mine as "Personal" and still got charged a fee.

I used Other, and no fee charged to me or Woop. At least it said he got the whole deposit amount.

redwinefan wrote:I'm very excited about this trip and finally getting to meet some fellow wooters.

Has anyone checked out the suites at this hotel? I may be able to get a deal on one, and I was wondering if they're worth any extra over the normal rooms seeing that the group deal may no longer be available?

I've got half a room reserved for tour #1, the other half still looking for resident, but I could easily cancel and share with someone else. Gonna be great to finally put faces to names.

bsevern wrote:I

I sent my deposit that way, and paypal showed the fee as $0.

Yes, I sent as "Personal" AND "Gift" and still got charged the fee. But I paid with a credit card and not directly from a banking account - could that be the reason?

kkv123 wrote:Yes, I sent as "Personal" AND "Gift" and still got charged the fee. But I paid with a credit card and not directly from a banking account - could that be the reason?

Yes, I believe that would be the reason. Any payment made via PayPal that uses a CC has a fee, regardless of the "type".

rjquillin wrote:I've got half a room reserved for tour #1, the other half still looking for resident, but I could easily cancel and share with someone else. Gonna be great to finally put faces to names.

Just make sure you don't look at Sparky. You don't wanna see that face.

Bad news for me.... good news for chipgreen.

I must withdraw from the tour at least for now. My +1 definitely cannot make it and I cannot get confirmation that I will be available.

I will go back into the shadows and continue hoping for the possibility of sliding in as we get closer, but I must release this privilege to others who know they can make it.

trifecta wrote:Bad news for me.... good news for chipgreen.

I must withdraw from the tour at least for now. My +1 definitely cannot make it and I cannot get confirmation that I will be available.

I will go back into the shadows and continue hoping for the possibility of sliding in as we get closer, but I must release this privilege to others who know they can make it.

Thanks, trifecta. I hope that you are able to make it in the end.

Note that dstearl also bowed out, which should put the newbie list back to 30 attendees.

chipgreen wrote:Thanks, trifecta. I hope that you are able to make it in the end.

Note that dstearl also bowed out, which should put the newbie list back to 30 attendees.

Hmm, this means that Dave is going to have way more wine than he can handle...I'll have to see what else I can take off of his hands haha.

North316 wrote:Hmm, this means that Dave is going to have way more wine than he can handle...I'll have to see what else I can take off of his hands haha.

Please do! I'm somewhat regretting my recent wine buying spree given the costs involved for this trip. I'm going to have to be extremely selective between now and July!

chipgreen wrote:Please do! I'm somewhat regretting my recent wine buying spree given the costs involved for this trip. I'm going to have to be extremely selective between now and July!

Welcome to the tour! Good luck with being selective with your wine purchases between now and July!

bahwm wrote:Welcome to the tour! Good luck with being selective with your wine purchases between now and July!

Thanks, I'm pretty excited about the opportunity! As for being more selective with wine purchases, that's sure to be a work in progress...

bahwm wrote:Welcome to the tour! Good luck with being selective with your wine purchases between now and July!

Yeah..... I am trying. But Klez was an enabler on the gazzi syrah with a split and chukon on posted that 2003 joly chennin blanc deal today......

cmaldoon wrote:Yeah..... I am trying. But Klez was an enabler on the gazzi syrah with a split and chukon on posted that 2003 joly chennin blanc deal today......

And so it goes--the slippery slope!

This is stupid. Or, rather, I'm stupid.

Put justplainjulie and the +1 on the bus, and put me and my +1 on the waiting list.

That makes a lot more sense.

cmaldoon wrote:Yeah..... I am trying. But Klez was an enabler on the gazzi syrah with a split and chukon on posted that 2003 joly chennin blanc deal today......

At least I'm taking three of those. The jury is still out on the Wellington Syrah up now...I want a full set but I don't want to have to pay for it or store it, so I'm hoping somebody else wants a half set.

klezman wrote:At least I'm taking three of those. The jury is still out on the Wellington Syrah up now...I want a full set but I don't want to have to pay for it or store it, so I'm hoping somebody else wants a half set.

Like a said... You're a fracking enabler. Wellington...$15 a bottle shipped ... One bottle each.... How am I to resist?

At least I know (found out today) that I'll be working 12 hours a day, 7 days a week for almost the next 2 months. That'll pay for this wine and the tour and then some.

JOATMON wrote:This is stupid. Or, rather, I'm stupid.

Put justplainjulie and the +1 on the bus, and put me and my +1 on the waiting list.

That makes a lot more sense.

You are a gentleman. DONE!

JOATMON wrote:This is stupid. Or, rather, I'm stupid.

Put justplainjulie and the +1 on the bus, and put me and my +1 on the waiting list.

That makes a lot more sense.

Whoohooo! thank you thank you thank you

Deposits in, now I just need to figure out the hotel and flight situation.

First and foremost, thank you woopdedoo and RPM for putting this together!!

Are you able to share the list of wineries we'll be visiting yet?

Cheers!
Brian

bsevern wrote:First and foremost, thank you woopdedoo and RPM for putting this together!!

Are you able to share the list of wineries we'll be visiting yet?

Cheers!
Brian

thanks for the thoughts!

no - you have no idea how difficult it is to coordinate wineries, days, wines plans and everything so that everything works (relatively) smoothly. People are not always available, geography matters (you want the route to work for the buses so there is as little time spent traveling as possible and as little (hopefully no) backtracking. Wineries can be sensitive about their tasting order in the day, all kinds of things.

To give an example, when we wanted to go to Buena Vista on the 2008 Tour, they refused (relenting only because of a last minute plea vouching for the seriousness and sobriety of the group with a representative who turned out to have been a college roommate of rpm's cousin....) because they were going to be the last winery of the day -- no one wants the drunken remnant....

And various wineries don't like to follow specific rivals or precede others - knowing you'll have bought a lot at a previous one or are holding onto your wallet for an upcoming attraction.

It's a testament to the Tourists that as many of the wineries want us back as do. And as many want in on the act.

Just a thought... if there is any need to find an additional winery for us newbie tourists to visit, Tallulah Wines might be a good choice.

The owner Mike Drash really seemed to embrace the wine.woot community during his recent offers and made this comment "Thanks for all the kind words. If anyone is ever in Napa look me up. We've got a great place in downtown to taste and the vineyards aren't too far away, as well!".

Again, this is just a thought in case something falls through or the schedule needs rounding out.

Big thanks to rpm and woopdedoo for putting this together - I feel privileged to participate!

Drat ! I regret I have been unable to clear my schedule in order to make the trip. I had been looking forward to it for a long time as I had missed out on the original Wine Woot tour.

Well, this opens up some slots for a few others. And may they, as well as everyone else on this expedition, have a marvelous learning experience and lots of fun !

RPM Thank you for the information and thanks to both you and Woop for ALL your hard work. I am sure those who are asking questions are only doing so because there is so much anticipation of the fantastic event that you are putting together for us.

.... That's it, just thanks, no requests.

It's beginning to look like we won't be needing the bigger bus for the veteran tour. We aren't even at the original limit, let alone the 30-person limit.

HitAnyKey42 wrote:It's beginning to look like we won't be needing the bigger bus for the veteran tour. We aren't even at the original limit, let alone the 30-person limit.

That's what I was thinking. Unfortunately, at this time I don't think me or my +1 can make the trip. We have a wedding to attend in Baltimore at the end of June, which has now stretched into a 2.5 week family vacation, including Colonial Williamsburg and capped with Philadelphia on the 4th of July. Its almost 3 weeks off work, so taking another week of vacation just a couple of weeks later is not currently feasible for either of us. So we're going to have to give up our place in line on the veteran's tour. We will miss you all.

PSA - friendly reminder, if you haven't already done so, deposits are due TODAY.

merbill wrote:That's what I was thinking. Unfortunately, at this time I don't think me or my +1 can make the trip. We have a wedding to attend in Baltimore at the end of June, which has now stretched into a 2.5 week family vacation, including Colonial Williamsburg and capped with Philadelphia on the 4th of July. Its almost 3 weeks off work, so taking another week of vacation just a couple of weeks later is not currently feasible for either of us. So we're going to have to give up our place in line on the veteran's tour. We will miss you all.

Oh poopie!!! Yeah, you'll definitely be missed.

On a side note, if you were planning to (or would like to) stay in a resort for some of your trip, let me know. Williamsburg is where my mom owns a TON of timeshare. So that resort she can pretty much get reservations into very cheaply. Plus, it's an awesome place to stay. I grew up going there pretty much every year with my family. Just toss me a PM or email if you'd like info.

Deposits are sent! My wife and I are pretty excited to go.

Hak--can you send me any more info on the resort? We might be interested in staying there.

Thanks RPM and woop for making this happen. It'll be our first trip there, and I have a feeling that we're going to have a great time!

As much as I want to go on the trip, I just cannot commit right now , since I do not know my schedule. I'm disappointed especially since I was looking forward to meeting new wooters and going to all the wineries such as Scott Harvey. Maybe things will clear up a bit later, and spots will either open up, or I will go on 2014 tour

I can't commit yet to the veteran tour either, but I'm hopeful. I'll be trying to get the logistics down in the next week or so, especially if it has any chance of looking like getting full soon.

Sigh. I think it's best that I drop out. It wasn't as say to find another + 1 as I hoped it would be. I was really looking forward to this experience. This seems like a fun group.

OK, I guess the deposits did some sorting...

Well, where does that leave us. I haven't heard from Woopdedoo on who has deposited and who has not, but from the posted regrets, we now have

Tour 1 - 27 Tourists 3 openings

Tour 2 - 18 Tourists - of whom two are ?? at this point, which means as few as 16.

This will leave us with some decisions to be made about (1) size of buses, (2) scale of tours, (3) costs, and (4) whether (and how) to allow Tour 1 Tourists to continue onto Tour 2.

I am personally sorry to see each regret - many of you I know, and the rest I was looking forward to meeting.