Where I'm sitting winter has arrived. Snow flurries and windchill. Brrrr. Now that winter looks like it's settling in, let's see if anyone has come up with places to that are warmer.

• Brenda's post on the drop in tourism in Hawaii. and what there is to do in this tropical paradise this time of year, ought to be reason enough for a person to rethink the budget and see if Hawaii is doable after all.
• Meg suggests sitting in the scariest swimming pool ever--Devil's Pool at the top of Victoria Falls
• Jeffery pointed out that Cuba knows how to treat its 2 millionth tourist--with an ice-cold mojito and a salsa band
• Along with the warning that snacks in India could cost more than you counted on, Josh sounded a warning to be careful of the party scene in Mumbai--you could find yourself drug tested.
• And, although New Mexico is not THAT warm, the great thing about traveling here to ski is that it feels warm during the day when the sun is out--kind of. The best part is that the sun almost always shines in New Mexico. Every day. All day.

Let's say you're interested in boycotting Utah but you really want to ski at an affordable destination. Consider New Mexico. The mountains are steep and become packed with powder; the sky is blue; and skiing is near places worth heading to whether you ski or not.

Consider this: Santa Fe and Taos

I'm not saying that Utah isn't a lovely state--It's gorgeous--breathtaking even. Then there's David Archuleta who is cute as a button. He's from Utah. So are the Osmonds. But let's say you want to boycott the state because it's been suggested as an appropriate response as of late. (See Meg's post.)

If you do think about heading to New Mexico for a ski vacation, here are details to tip your decision-making in New Mexico's favor.

The downward slide of the economy is creating an upswing of excellent opportunities for less expensive travel. Because people are holding off on making their holiday plans, the travel industry is cutting prices to attract customers. That's true whether you are into luxury travel or the budget version.

That's the buzz as reported in this article from The New York Times. Reading the article is like a trip to the travel candy story.

Want a ski vacation in Jackson Hole, Wyoming? Other places in the Colorado Rockies? There's a deal. How about a luxury beach vacation in Bermuda? To St. Lucia? Perhaps Las Vegas entices you. Or Miami. What about Aruba, Mexico or the Cayman Islands? The article outlines details about each.

Sure, you have to have some money in order to plop down dough for a plane ticket and a hotel room in the first place, but bargains range from free nights, and are along the spectrum of several dollars to 30% off. One popular reduced rate offer is that if you stay in a hotel on the actual holiday, the holiday is free. That means if you're in the hotel for Christmas Day, Ho! Ho! Ho!, Santa has brought you a present.

Now that temperatures have truly dropped, and the snow is starting to gather on some mountains, planning for a ski vacation is perhaps next on your things to do list.

Outside Magazine has released their ranking of the top ski and snowboard destinations in North America. Looking them over could help you narrow down the choices if you want a top notch place.

Although places like Vail and Aspen are the ski buff resorts that come to my mind first when I think of skiing, perhaps because I can recall shots of some famous person decked out in ski gear at one of them, there are others rank higher.

Here's the list in order:

Alta, Utah and Snowbird, Utah are tied for first place.

Whisler Blackcomb, British Columbia

Vail, Colorado

Jackson Hole, Wyoming

Snowbasin, Utah

Fernie Alpine Resort, British Columbia,

Silverton, Colorado

Aspen, Colorado

For the rest of the list, click here.

Travel health and the emerging specialty of "wilderness medicine" have obvious overlap. Dr. Paul Auerbach is one of the leaders in wilderness medicine: helping found the Wilderness Medical Society, co-author of A Field Guide to Wilderness Medicine and numerous journal articles and serving as faculty to the Stanford Fellowship in Wilderness Medicine.

His blog, Medicine for the Outdoors, is celebrating the two year anniversary. For those who haven't yet had a chance to visit, it is filled with practical information and advice for those exploring their environment and wanting to come back from the experience in good health. Travel and expedition medicine is the focus of my career and I find myself citing Dr. Auerbach's work and information, in my work. He is one of the pioneering physicians who helped elevate this field of medicine to a new and unique specialty.

A visit to his blog will allow the reader to learn about things from jellyfish stings and dislocated shoulders on the trail to malaria medications and outdoor recreation. This is truly an opportunity to read, first hand, the information from a leader in wilderness and expedition medicine. I highly recommend a visit to his blog, if you get a chance. Oh, and don't forget to congratulate him on his two-years of dispensing great advice!

Before this weekend, all my best skiing experience had come from either the Alps or the Pacific Northwest (e.g., Whistler, Oregon). I had never skied in the Rockies before. How is skiing in Colorado different from skiing in the Alps? I had to find out.

I am happy to report I just got back from a 5-day "research trip" to Colorado. The highlight of the trip was, of course, skiing Vail. To really generalize, based on skiing only Vail, I would say that skiing the Alps is very comparable to skiing the Rockies in that both have great conditions, extensive slopes, sunny weather. There are, hoverer, some differences that could make or break the deal for some people.

Cost

A one-day Vail ski pass is $92. That is just ridiculously expensive. Not only that, the price is the same whether you start at 8 am or 11 am. All they do is half day, afternoon discounts. Contrast that with Verbier, a comparable mountain in the Swiss Alps. One day ski pass goes for $64 Swiss Francs ($63). Kaprun, a ski resort in Austria, sells their day passes for 35 Euro ($55) for adults and discounts for teenagers and kids. And that's with the Euro being at its all time high.

Greetings from Vail. In case you haven't heard yet, the skiing here is pretty awesome. The season has been the best "anyone can remember", I keep hearing from people.

Sadly, it has also been one with the most recorded deaths. On Friday, a man in Aspen jumped off a cliff and died. Yesterday, a 32-year-old Denver-area man in Vail became the 17th skier or snowboarder to die on the Colorado slopes this season, Denver Post reports. The man died after a skiing incident on an intermediate run called The Wuides in Blue Sky Basin at Vail. I am not sure what happened, all I know from the news that the skier was wearing a helmet at the time of the incident. Helmets can only do so much, I guess.

The prior record was tied last weekend when a Kansas man became the 16th death on the slopes. The previous record for deaths was 16, set in the 2001-2002 season. And there's still great snow and skiing here until at least April 13th...let's hope that's it for fatal accidents this year.

Be safe out there. The bottom areas get icy. More on that later. I'm kinda busy conducting "apres ski" research right now.

Photo: Sweet and Bitter

I am in Colorado this weekend. (Stay tuned for a ski dispatch.)

I have to say I was impressed by Colorado the minute I got off the plane. Check out the conveyor belt they have at Denver airport? Yes, they really put skiing first, don't they. Instead of collecting your skis or golf bag at various stages of decomposition at the "over sized baggage claim," you can just collect them right out of the spinning ski conveyor belt.

I have never seen a ski conveyor belt before. Thought I would share. Clearly, I am easily impressed.