So, you’ve decided to visit some Texas wineries and are ready to plan your trip. But how do you plan your trip using the resources at the Texas Wine Lover website and mobile app? I recently visited 13 wineries over four days in central Texas and I planned my trip using only the website’s Guide, Plan Your Trip, and the mobile app. Here’s how I did it. You do not need to follow exactly what I did, but you may learn a tip or two on how to make your trip planning a little easier.
The first thing I did was come up with a list of wineries I wanted to visit. It had been a while since I was in central Texas (the area above the Hill Country) so I concentrated on that area. I’m a computer user even though I have an iPad and smartphone for my use. I prefer a larger display so I can see it more easily. Hey, I’m getting older! You can follow the same planning tips on a phone.
I brought up the website’s Plan Your Trip and looked at the map view. If you need a refresher, I explained how to use Plan Your Trip in a previous post. I zoomed the map into central Texas which helps because it changes the listings too for just the wineries in that area.
Hover over a winery icon to see the name of the winery and if interested, click on the icon to see a little card with more information. The fastest way to plan your trip if you know you want to visit the winery is to click on the “Add +” link there to add the winery to your plan. If you need even more information, click on the little winery card to see the large winery listing with information like days/hours open. This information is vital to determine if you can visit a winery on a certain day and time. Clicking “Website” (“More Info” in the app) on a listing will bring you to the website’s Guide listing with even more information on the winery. The Guide has all the information for a business. There is a plus (+) sign on the listing in Plan Your Trip and mobile app where you can add the winery to your plan or a minus (-) sign if you want to remove the winery from your plan.
After you have added all the wineries to visit, here’s where the fun comes in. Switch over to “My Plan” that’s on the menu in the top left above the listings. The mobile app’s menu is at the top left by clicking on the hamburger menu (the three lines).
What you’ll find in My Plan are the wineries you added you want to visit. If you look at the map, there are numbers given for each icon based on the order they are listed in your My Plan. Most likely they are not reasonable since one number may be next to another number on the map but the order to visit them is far away. To resolve that problem, look at your list of wineries on the left. If you want to reorder some, hold your mouse down on the double lines on that winery’s card and drag it up or down in the list to where it is more appropriate. Tip: Depending on your browser, you can zoom in and out to show more listings on one screen. In the Chrome browser, the setting is after you click the three dots in the top right corner of the browser.
I know I am different than most winery visitors because I usually have to visit more wineries in a day in order to write about them (yes, I dump good wine in order to make it through the day). In my case, I know approximately how long I can spend at a winery so I must factor that into my planning. This is when I discovered a very cool tip! Once I have the order of wineries in an appropriate order, I then need to determine how long my driving will be between wineries. That’s where the Start Plan button comes in.
When you click the Start Plan button, it will use the first winery in your list as the starting point. If you prefer to enter a different starting point such as your home or hotel, there is a box above the list of wineries to enter the location for your starting point. Directions are given at the top of the screen from the first location to the second. Who needs a GPS? The cool tip is it will give you an estimated time between the two points. That is what I use to determine how long it will take between wineries in order to determine how many wineries I can actually visit in a day. I have seen the estimated time is usually very accurate for your plan.
That’s pretty much it for how to plan your winery trips. Your plan may need tweaking depending on the time between wineries, how long you plan on spending at a winery, and so forth. You may find it necessary to change the order of wineries just to fit the wineries in with their open days/hours on your plan.
The other thing is I have been talking about visiting wineries. Please note that any business with an address listed in the Texas Wine Lover Guide and mobile app can also be used. For example, you should plan on adding one of our restaurants to your plan during the day.
When you are done planning your trip, simply take your phone with you on the trip, and you can start your plan and follow it through completion. Enjoy your time and drive safely!