vices and records yourwhereabouts. It is set upto work in 146 countries.International users canselect the region, andthe app automaticallylocalizes to the emergen-cy equivalent of 911.

What’s hot: Althoughthere’s no substitute forcommon sense and be-ing street-smart, havingimmediate access to a911 call and a record ofyour situation add a

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What’s not:Be carefulwith the 911feature ifyou’re testingthe app. Once it’sarmed, all it takes is a

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touch of the screen.When I tried to close

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Worth it: Iput this appin the most-used area ofmy phone.Even if youuse it onlyonce, it couldbe a lifesaver.

— Jen Leo, Los Angeles Times

ARMCHAIR TRAVELER

App contacts emergencyservices internationally

G2 | Sunday, December 7, 2014 | SFChronicle.com and SFGate.com

Q: Our daughter, Anna, who is currentlyin Germany, recently made a reserva-tion on Sixt.com, the website of a Euro-pean car rental company. She reports

that she found the rate on Kayak.com, which sheaccessed from her laptop. She then was taken toa payment page on Sixt.com without any inter-vening page to confirm the date entered, whichshe asserts she entered correctly. Anna typed inher credit card number and was presented with aconfirmation and receipt that showed the reser-vation. It was for the wrong date — Oct. 26 in-stead of Oct. 19.

She immediately e-mailed the company tochange the reservation and was sent a message inGerman that she’d booked a prepaid rate thatcouldn’t be changed.

She contacted Sixt by phone and learned thatthe only car it could offer her, due to the shortageof cars resulting from the German rail strike,would cost her almost three times the originalrental price. She got in touch with the customer-service department and was referred back to thesame e-mail address (reservierung@sixt.com)that she had e-mailed originally in an attempt tocorrect the reservation. Having apparentlyreached a dead end, she booked a car with Hertz,but she still would like the charge from Sixt re-funded.

Is this something you can help us with? I’mwriting you because the charge is coming to ourcredit card, which is shared by our daughter. Idon’t know where else she, or we, can turn.

David Coats, Minneapolis

A: Looks as if somethinggot lost in translationbetween Kayak.com,which searches manytravel sites, and Sixt.com.

Here’s how it breaksdown for Anna: Kayakwill find you a low pricefor a rental, but you haveto read all the restric-tions carefully. Yourdaughter should havebeen taken to a page thatexplained the terms ofher reservation.

The giveaway waswhen she was asked toprovide a credit cardnumber. If you’re “secur-ing” a reservation with acard, chances are it’s arestricted rate. In otherwords, once you click onthe “buy” button, you’restuck.

European websitescan be tricky. As I note inmy latest book, “How toBe the World’s SmartestTraveler” (National Geo-graphic), many Europe-an websites handle datesdifferently — instead ofmonth-day-year, it’sday-month-year. Thatconfuses some Americancustomers. When thatconfusion is combinedwith a nonrefundable,nonchangeable rate, itcan add up to trouble.

I reviewed the e-mailsexchanged between yourdaughter and Sixt, but it

wasn’t clear where theproblem happened. Itcould have been a glitchin the site or user error.Regardless, Sixt shouldhave reviewed the prob-lem. Often, companiescan fix an honest mistakeif it’s caught fast enough.You also could have ap-pealed this to someonehigher up at Sixt.

In the end, Anna wasresponsible for review-ing the terms of her res-ervation before booking.But from where I’m sit-ting, it’s difficult to deter-mine whether this wasan oversight or a tech-nical problem. Sixtwasn’t obligated to re-fund Anna’s rental, but Ithink it owed her morethan the boilerplateresponse it sent her.

I asked Sixt to reviewyour daughter’s rental. Itagreed to cancel hernonrefundable reserva-tion and refund the 54euros that had beencharged to her card.Please ask Anna to readthe terms before sheclicks on the button nexttime.

Christopher Elliott is theombudsman for NationalGeographic Travelermagazine. E-mail:elliottc@gmail.comTwitter: @elliottdotorg

TRAVEL TROUBLESHOOTERBy Christopher Elliot

Rental car firmwon’t give a breakon incorrect date

SPAIN

INFO TO GO

QUOTABLE TRAVELERBy Larry Habegger

“Choose your country, useguidebooks to identify the areasmost frequented by foreigners —and then go in the oppositedirection.”— Dervla Murphy, Irish author of travel books, including“Full Tilt” (1965)

On a recent balmyday at Poseidon Vine-yard & Obsidian RidgeWinery in Sonoma,people lounged oncushy chaises on thewood deck in front ofthe tasting room. Othersplayed bocce ball in theshade of olive trees, offan expansive courtyarddotted with gardens andsculptures where morevisitors clambered upfor photos in a giantblue Adirondack chair.

It was a quintessentialWine Country after-noon, with a few smallkids running around,their parents lazilywatching as they sippedChardonnay, and severaldogs basking in the sun.

The vibe: It’s a great trick use of space, sincethe property is actually Cornerstone Sonoma,the eclectic 9-acre center on the Highway 121Carneros winery corridor that mixes landscapearchitect installations, art and home designshops, a restaurant, and two other wine tastingrooms. The Poseidon tasting room itself is quitesmall, trimmed simply with a wooden bar sup-ported by barrels, accents of corrugated metaland dark wood, and lots of wine set on polishedwood shelves.

The experience: Just opened in August 2013,this is the first tasting room for the winery. Butthe wine isn’t new — the Poseidon Vineyardwas planted in 1973 near the Napa County Air-port, and still supplies the signature Chardon-nay and Pinot Noir today.

The Poseidon brand was front-and-center inthe news this August, however, when the 6.0-magnitude Napa earthquake struck, its epicen-ter at the Napa Valley Marina right next to itsvineyards. Remarkably, there was no damage tothe property, though during my late Octobervisit to the tasting room, the quake was still atopic among the guests. It was clear the host hadjoyfully told this ironic story plenty of timessince summer: The vineyard was named afterthe Greek god of the sea, also known as “theearth-shaker” because, according to legend, thedeity got a kick out of causing quakes.

The team: After emi-grating from Hungary in1956, Nicholas and Cath-erine Molnar moved intogrape growing in theearly ’70s, putting theirsons to work in thefields. By 1993, the en-trepreneurial familywas also importingHungarian barrels toNapa with their KadarHungary cooperage.

In 1999, the familyplanted the ObsidianRidge vineyard, focus-ing on Cabernet Sauvig-non. Four years later,sons Arpad and Petertook over operations,added their longtimeenologist Michael Ter-rien as a principal, andfounded Tricycle WinePartners as the parentcompany. By 2011, thegroup was ready tomove from customcrush and build theirown winery.

The wines: The $10 tastingfee is a reasonable invest-ment for four wines, pouredgenerously in the alfrescowine bar setting. While Cor-nerstone is a tourist destina-tion, it’s also a neighborhoodhub south of the Highways116 and 121 crossroads. Theenergy is enjoyable; on myweekend visit, it seemedthere were a good number oflocals, stopping by aftergrocery shopping at theFruit Basket across thestreet, and on their way toAngelo’s Wine Country Delinext door.

We choose our quartetfrom a list of six wines, in-cluding Poseidon EstateChardonnay 2013 ($26), theBench Chardonnay 2012($34) and Estate Pinot Noir2013 ($32), plus ObsidianRidge Estate Syrah 2011($30), Estate Cabernet Sau-vignon 2011 ($30) and theSlope Cabernet Sauvignon2010 ($45).

The extras: Big wineries may havetheir private gardens with a few sculp-tures, but Cornerstone boasts a Sculp-tureWalk of 60 large-scale works thatyou can wander around, bringingyour kids or your leashed dog for astroll.

If you go: Open daily 11 a.m. to 5 p.m.23568 Arnold Drive, Sonoma, (707)255-4929, www.tricyclewine.com.

Nearby: Cline Cellars, 24737 ArnoldDrive, Sonoma, (707) 940-4000. www.clinecellars.com. Jacuzzi Family Vine-yards, 24724 Arnold Drive, Sonoma.(707) 931-7576. www.jacuzziwines.com.Gloria Ferrer Caves & Vineyards,23555 Arnold Drive, Sonoma. 707-996-7256. www.gloriaferrer.com.

Rating: 66

Arpad Molnar

Poseidon Vineyard & Obsidian Ridge Winery is part of Cornerstone Sonoma.

TASTING ROOM Poseidon Vineyard & Obsidian Ridge Winery

Putting down roots in hubof gardens and sculptures

Tricycle Wine Partners

Wines are offered inside the tasting room and on the deck.

By Carey Sweet

iWitness