BUT WHAT ABOUT...

Frequently Asked Questions About Our Travel Planning Services

So, do you have a few questions? We've got answers! Below, you’ll find answers to general questions about our company and the various travel planning services we provide. Please visit the appropriate page for questions on a specific service or destination.

ABOUT SALT & WIND TRAVEL

What Is Salt & Wind Travel?

Salt & Wind Travel is a boutique travel planning company for discerning food and lifestyle travelers. Brought to you by the team behind the food and travel lifestyle site Salt & Wind Travel, we created Salt & Wind Travel to help fellow food lovers travel in good taste.

We help savvy travelers get a taste of where they’re headed via custom itinerary planning.

Who started Salt & Wind Travel?

Founded by food and travel expert Aida Mollenkamp in 2015, the company is run by Aida and filmmaker and travel expert Kristen Kellogg. We believe you don't know a place until you've broken bread there, so all our work aims to help you travel deliciously. To learn more about our team, check out our about us page.

Why is Salt & Wind Travel different from other boutique travel agencies?

Put simply, we’re all about specialization and curation.

Our team has deep expertise in hospitality and travel, and we’re committed to providing you with a custom travel experience. We’re focused on deep knowledge in a few locations — California, Hawai’i, Mexico, France, Italy, and Switzerland.

Each destination is meticulously researched, each travel partner handpicked, and each activity personally planned to help you meet the people, tastes, and sights that make these regions deliciously unique.

While all the Salt & Wind staff is familiar with each of the destinations where we work, we have specific team members who are the lead experts in our various destinations. Our team members have lived in California, Hawai’i, France, Italy, and Mexico, so we also have vast cultural knowledge of those locations.

Who are the Salt & Wind Travel itinerary planning services for?

Salt & Wind Travel is not for the one-city-a-day, selfie stick-wielding tourist. Our services are for travelers who want to dig deeper and understand what makes a destination special. We’re for the explorer who travels to experience classic gems worth their weight as well as just-opened hotspots to discover what the culture of a destination is 100% unique.

How do you promote sustainable travel?

Every way we can! At Salt & Wind Travel, we aim to positively impact the local economies by promoting sustainable wine, food, and travel to our most-loved places, including California, Mexico, Italy, Hawaii, and more.

HOW SALT & WIND TRAVEL WORKS

Where do you provide travel planning services?

We have deep expertise in a few specific locations — California, France, Hawai’i, Italy, Mexico, and Switzerland — so our recommendations are thoroughly vetted and high quality.

All these destinations have a deep sense of place, vibrant food culture, intense creative scenes, and unique local makers — the things we believe make a destination magical. While all the Salt & Wind staff is familiar with each of our destinations, we have specific team members who act as experts in the various destinations.

What sort of travel planning services are available at Salt & Wind Travel?

We’re food and travel experts who help food lovers travel in good taste. As of 2020, we’ve stopped providing public small group trips and have focused our services to be 100% on custom itinerary planning. However, we can still arrange private group trips if you so desire.

How do I get started with your travel planning services?

To have us start planning your travel itinerary, do the following:

Where do you provide concierge travel planning services?

We provide our guests with our travel planning services in all locations where we have expertise, namely California, Hawai’i, Mexico, Italy, France, Spain, and Switzerland.

Here are the places we most commonly work in each destination:

  • California | Los Angeles, San Diego, Santa Barbara, San Francisco, Big Sur, Napa, Yosemite, San Luis Obispo, Mendocino, and Sonoma

  • Hawai’i | O’ahu, Maui, Kauai, Lana’i, and Island Of Hawai’i

  • Mexico | Valle De Guadalupe Wine Country, Mexico City, Oaxaca, Jalisco, Yucatan, Veracruz, San Miguel de Allende, Los Cabos

  • Italy | Milan, Lake Como, Lake Garda, Turin, Bologna, Verona, Venice, Florence, Umbria, Rome, Amalfi Coast, Puglia, and Sicily

  • France | Paris, Loire Valley, Champagne, Bordeaux, Rhône Valley, Provence, L’Occitane, and Languedoc

  • Spain | Basque Country, Jerez, Madrid, Andalucia, Galicia, Barcelona, Valencia, and the Balearic Islands

Where do you arrange private day tours and other experiences?

Currently, we can arrange private day tours or other immersive experiences in every market where we work. We most commonly arrange these custom experiences in the following places (if you don’t see a specific place, reach out to us at travel@saltandwind.com, and we’ll confirm if we can help you out!)

How much time do you need to help me plan my trip?

We like to have at least 90 days for planning, but we can do it in less time for a rush fee. The exact fee depends on the extent of your travel planning needs and the duration of your trip.

How much do the services cost?

Our services are about US$100-$300/day of your trip. Please head to our travel planning services page to learn more.

I only need help with restaurant reservations — can you help?

One of the most complex parts about traveling with a focus on food is securing reservations in countries where you don’t speak the language. That’s why we have an a la carte service to help you with that! Reach out to us at travel@saltandwind.com for help.

Which travel planning resources do you have?

We have four travel planning resources for you!

  • Bucket Lists: Get a bucket list for all the destinations where we work, including suggested planning timelines, itinerary ideas, and things to do.

  • Travel Guides: We also have destination-by-destination travel guides that dive into more specific tips.

  • Italy Trip Calculator: Need help determining your travel budget? We have Italy Trip Calculator created an Italy Trip Calculator based on over ten years of travel planning data, and it is much more detailed than other calculators out there!Italy Itinerary Planner

  • DIY Italy Itinerary Planner: Want to plan everything yourself? You’ll want to get our Italy Itinerary Planner workbook that helps you do just that (with a ton of our hard-earned intel and travel tips)

PAYMENT & MONEY MATTERS

MONEY MATTERS

What is included in the Salt & Wind Travel service fees?

Each Salt & Wind Travel service has different offerings included in the fee. Please refer to the specific page to understand what is included in our travel planning services.

What is not included in the Salt & Wind Travel services fees?

There aren’t any hidden fees! However, we sometimes work with a travel agent who may charge a nominal fee for booking things like flights. While we offer a la carte services (like the ability to have us plan a special event for you or have a photographer take your pics throughout the trip), all the services we’ll provide are listed in our initial fee!

Each fee is based on an estimate of the time our team needs to make your trip successful. Thus, your trip planning fee may require an additional fee if the services the client requests go beyond the initial scope.

And how can I cancel the service?

You can cancel our services for any reason and at any time; however, the fee is non-refundable.

TRAVELING WITH DIETARY RESTRICTIONS

I love good food but I have a dietary restriction, allergy, intolerance....

We love good food too and we'll do our absolute best to work with you to accommodate your dietary restriction, allergy, or intolerance. Our co-founder, Aida Mollenkamp, has celiac disease so we and our partners are familiar with making it work. Just please inform us as to your specific diet as soon as you start working with us so that we can work with our partners to make sure you eat and eat well. 

Anything else?

Please refer to our code of conduct for specifics ways that our relationship can be successful!

Have any additional questions?

Contact us at travel@saltandwind.com