I attended the Villa Joseph Marie High School annual charity auction on Saturday night, and it reminded me of the great values on offer in Global Traveler’s online auction to benefit the Mentor Foundation. At the Villa auction, GT donated a trip to China, which was a big hit, as were other travel-related vacations.

Global Traveler’s auction benefits a great cause that helps children around the world avoid getting involved with drugs and alcohol, which is one of the largest issues facing our children. While your bids will help children, you and your company will benefit from great deals and offers. Some of the selected items for bid include:

- Two business-class tickets on American Airlines

- Two business-class tickets on Asiana Airlines

- Two business-class tickets on Singapore Airlines

- Four business-class tickets on British Airways

- Two business-class tickets on  Emirates

So get online and bid, take a fabulous trip and help Mentor!

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

We are about to enter another wine survey season. GT is the only magazine that conducts a survey of business- and first-class wine in the United States. It is a major task, and I certainly understand why other financially strapped publications don’t take this on.

We are all looking forward to dealing with the airlines that never seem to be able to get the wines to us without our help. Some airlines finds a reason not to send their submissions because they are understaffed or just don’t care enough to follow through. It is really quite amazing how difficult some people can make this very simple task.

The survey itself is very interesting to watch. Not only is there a panel of about 25-30 professional judges, but every wine is poured in a back room and each glass is labeled at the bottom with an identifying number. It is truly a blind tasting. Read about last year’s survey here.

When we award the winners of the GT Tested awards (this past year we held the function at the Andaz Wall Street), we like to have the winners of the wine survey send samples to be served at the function. This year we had about 350 guests at the Andaz Wall Street. It is a big hit, but some airlines, much like the survey itself, try to have their wines at the event and fall short. This year, we had confirmation after confirmation from winners that the wines would be supplied. We listed them on the event program, never to have the wine show up. Of course, this causes problems.

All this so that you, the business luxury traveler, has the best possible wine while traveling at 35,000 feet!

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

Anyone looking to fly to Europe any time between Christmas Day and April 30, 2010? Well, you are incredibly lucky — right now! This morning, Dec. 10, 2009, from 9 a.m. to 10:25 a.m., Lufthansa is auctioning off seats for departures between the applicable dates for just one euro (approximately $1.47). The online bidding will proceed as follows:

9 a.m - From any U.S. destination to Europe in business class

9:05 a.m. - From Charlotte to Munich in economy class

9:16 a.m. - From Chicago to Dusseldorf in business class

9:35 a.m. - From Florida to Frankfurt in business class

9:55 a.m. - From New York to Dusseldorf in business class

And, it doesn’t stop there! Until 10:25 a.m., 72 flights from Germany to Europe, Asia and Africa will also be auctioned off. Customers will bid for their chosen flights, ranging from 10 to 50 euros for economy class or 10 to 100 Euros for business class.

Now, the only question you might have to ask yourself is — why are you still reading this blog and not checking out further details on the Lufthansa website? You may just get all that holiday shopping done before 10:30 a.m.!

– Courtney Centeno, account executive

Robinson Ranch was the perfect venue for a golf outing between Global Traveler’s own Bill Noonan and Fran Gallagher and Ken Bright, of Singapore Airlines, and John Jackson, of Korean Air. Actually, it was a split team — Fran and Ken on the back nine (which we played first) and Fran and John on the front nine. Bill took the opposite for a game of competitive skins.

My first nine was deplorable, but my partner was able to win eight of the holes against the Jackson/Noonan team. When we switched teams, I was determined not to let John down, so I summed up all my golfing experience to card a 43 and clean the clocks. Everyone was surprised by that score due to my poor play in the first round.

It was a glorious day and a bit cold, much to the shock of this Philadelphia boy, who showed up in shorts and a golf polo. A quick pro-shop purchase turned me into the Robinson Ranch “poster boy,” with a logo pull-over and hat. I stayed in the shorts out of defiance. The temperature dipped close to 50 degrees on the last two holes.

I have had the pleasure of flying both Korean Air and Singapore Airlines, and both are top-notch, comfortable carriers. Singapore Airlines has a fantastic all-business-class flight from Newark, which I flew last year. They also offer this service out of Los Angeles. Korean Air has dramatically improved over the past five years. They rival every carrier on the planet. I flew the airline just four weeks ago and found their first-class product tops. It was the best caviar service I have ever had.

– Fran Gallagher, publisher and CEO

I have been in London since early Wednesday morning. London is one of my favorite cities, and it is great to be back for the first time since I studied abroad here in 2005. I have had a busy schedule for the past three days, but I am looking forward to tomorrow, when I have the whole day free, to explore some of the old haunts from my time here.

It is almost the end of the day, and I’ve just gotten back to my great hotel room at the InterContinental Park Lane after a busy day. My days and nights have been filled with great activities and lots of good food. I am sure I will have plenty to blog about from this trip in the coming weeks. Yesterday kicked off the London Restaurant Festival , which is the main reason for my visit. This is the first year the city has celebrated this festival, and the schedule is quite unique, including special festival menus, a huge pig roast and special dinners by celebrity chefs on the London Eye.

As I flew over on Tuesday night (British Airways Club World — quite nice!), I started to think of my last flight to London, in January 2005. I was struck by what a huge difference the last four years have made. Before boarding my last flight to London, I remember tearful goodbyes with my mom, dad and grandmother. This trip, I walked assertively through the airport on my own and waited for boarding in the lounge. I had never been to Europe before my study abroad experience, and I had certainly never been farther than a three-hour car ride away from home for an extended period of time. This time, I was loaded with experience from literally traveling the world, on my own, for the past three years. Gone was the nervous yet excited college junior eager for a taste of the world; in her place was a more confident young professional with a taste of the world and ready to explore a different side of London.

For many reasons, London will always hold a place in my heart. It gave me my first itch to continue to travel. And every time I come back, I am sure I will find more reasons to fall in love with the city.

– Kimberly Krol, eFlyer editor, circulation and public relations executive