WEDDING BELL BLUES

Modern Bride magazine (hey, I like to stay current with all the trends out there) conducted a travel survey through a group called Virtuoso, a network of 6,000 luxury travel agents who seemingly haven't put me on top of their invite list just yet. According to the agents, the top honeymoon destination for 2008 was, to me, a bit of a surprise.

That would be Italy. Which, come to think of it, makes a certain amount of sense. Venice is dreamy and romantic and all that, although I personally was disappointed on my only visit way some 30 years ago. Rome is Rome, and Florence is always a huge draw (sometimes too much; a visit in August a couple years back was like a trip on the Tokyo subway). There's also the Amalfi Coast, the Cinque Terre and dozens of gorgeous spots up and down the country.

If you think about it, Italy also is a place a lot of Americans, in particular, seem to feel comfortable. France can seem to foreign to some folks from south of the border, but Italy has food that's become so insinuated on American menus that visiting a taverna in Rome is a lot like being in New York or Chicago. Or even Tulsa.

But we digress. The next nine places on the list (and remember these were luxury travel agents, not your run-of-the-mill folks who suggest a post-wedding trip to Wingham or Winnipeg), were

• Hawaii
• Tahiti
• Mexico
• Greece
• Costa Rica
• Bali
• Fiji
• France (guess some Americans are pretty brave, after all)
• Turks and Caicos

 The latter one was a bit of an eye-openerl. I must admit I don't know a lot about it but I would've suspected the Bahamas or maybe Barbados would get the nod over the Turks and Caicos. Guess I better hustle down there and see what I've been missing?

TEXAS CALLING

In addition to missing the Turks and Caicos, I seem to somehow have never made it to San Antonio. We got a note on our travel wires today that said the San Antonio New World Wine & Food Festival opens Nov. 4 for a six-day run. More than 40 culinary and wine-tasting events throughout the city showcase internationally renowned vintners and the hottest chefs from San Antonio and beyond.

See www.nwwff.org for a complete schedule and information about ticket prices, or call 210-822-9555.

We hear there's great golf in the area, and having a margarita (a real one, not one of those pre-fabricated slushy thingy's some restaurants will dispense out of a slurpee machine) on the Riverwalk seems like a nice way to spend a fall evening.

HOW'S THAT AIRLINE STOCK HOLDING UP, GEORGE?

A glance at the business wires today (like I said, this is a blog that likes to widen its horizons) showed a whole bunch of headlines with words like "China Air loss" and "Malaysian Air loss"  and "Finnair loss."

It's not a good time for most stocks, as far as we can tell, and things aren't looking so great in the airline industry for sure.

On the other hand, experts in the U.S. say they're expecting much better deals than normal for Christmas-time and for the upcoming American Thanksgiving holiday.

Northwest Airlines started the rush Tuesday night with a broad holiday fare sale, Associated Press reports, and most other major carriers matched the prices Wednesday, according to Rick Seaney, chief executive of the travel website FareCompare.com.

“It’s by far the most broad-based fare sale we’ve tracked in at least 18 months,” Seaney said, “and this is the earliest I’ve ever seen one.”

The big deals might not migrate north of the border, but it's always worth a look to see what deals you can get out of Buffalo, or Detroit if you live down London way or further west.