Travel

If you need to know about the snow, there's a new free service that will get you the latest on where the best powder is around North America. The reports are provided as text messages delivered to cell phones. To register, log on to www.skimag.com or www.skiingmag.com. Options for customizing your reports include new snow alerts, weekend forecasts, type of snow, base inches and percentage of snowmaking at any given resort.

Q. My husband and I are planning a summer trip to Banff. There are so many things to see and do, we could use some guidance. A. Banff, in the Canadian Rockies within Banff National Park, is set in a scenically beautiful region known for outdoor recreational activities.

An audience-participation show based on the reality TV show "Fear Factor" will open in May at the Universal Studios theme parks in Hollywood and Orlando. The "Fear Factor Live" show is an example of the kind of corporate "synergy" resulting from NBC's purchase of Universal in 2003. The deal combined the television network with Universal's movie studio, cable channels and theme parks.

UBUD, Indonesia – While backpackers around the world use Lonely Planet guidebooks to search out the cheapest hostels or flights, its publisher has had enough of budget travel. He goes first-class. "I can do things in comfort now," said Tony Wheeler, head of one of the biggest travel book companies in the world with annual revenues of $58 million.

Does Delta Air Lines' dramatic move to slash fares create a Wal-Mart of the skies? Delta started the pricing revolution earlier this month by removing some restrictions and cutting fares an average of 44 percent in an attempt to beat discount competitors at their own game with everyday low prices.

Low airfares combined with savings on lodging and attractions make a winter trip to California very appealing. Visitors to Santa Barbara can take advantage of a number of cost-saving offers. "Sideways in Santa Barbara" includes hotel discounts and a self-guided map of locations featured in the wine-country road-trip film "Sideways." Hotel packages start at $99 a night; most are valid through May 25. Contact: www.santabarbaraca.com.

Travelers holding airline tickets to South Asia may find they're eligible to postpone their trip or get a refund, even if their destination is quite far from areas hit by last month's tsunami. For example, Northwest is allowing passengers with tickets for January to delay travel if they are traveling to or through the eight countries the airline serves in South Asia. The offer includes Singapore, which wasn't touched, and all of India, a vast territory where only a tip of the coast was affected.

Q. My cousin was in Washington to sightsee, and he came home raving about the International Spy Museum. He even called it the world's best museum. What can you tell me about it? A. It is terrific. I spent four hours there one day and could have spent four more. People, especially men, were totally absorbed in pretending to be spies and seeing, reading about and playing with exhibits, films, gadgets and gimmicks used by real and fictional spies.

We're likely to see very aggressive sales the first 30 to 60 days of the new year. If you'd like to travel, scan airline Web sites daily for low-cost fares. If your dates are flexible, flying on the off-peak days of Tuesday, Wednesday and Saturday is generally cheaper. Bargain flights to Florida have been proliferating, including $198 round-trip fares from the West Coast. We expect similar sales for travel throughout January, possibly into March.

A hot tub after hiking, or a spa apres ski. And a vacation in Europe – despite the weak dollar, despite the Madrid bombing.

Airfare 101 is a course that's always changing. Let's review the past year's lessons (and some old stand-bys) and get ready for the changes 2005 is bound to bring: Buy inexpensive first- and business-class seats on low-fare airlines including AirTran, America West and Spirit. These seats are a fraction the price of front-cabin service on legacy carriers. Spirit, AirTran and ATA even offer day-of-travel upgrades ranging from $25 to $75.

Thick fog hovered low over us as our car climbed the highway out of the little town of Grand Coulee. It was the second day of our monthly winter business trip to check on water probes along the Columbia River in northeastern Washington. We passed through desert to wheat and pasture as we drove to Wilbur and then toward Davenport in the midday gray. The season's short days and cold air caused us to hurry along to get fed and settled (with TV remote in hand) into our hotel.

Q. I read an article about staying at a spa, and it sounded like such a great experience that I'd like to try it. However, I don't know a thing about spas or how to find a good one. Can you help? A. Finding a good spa depends on what you are looking for and whether you can afford it.

EAGLE CAP WILDERNESS, Ore. – The shovel bites into the earth, propelled by a swift kick from my sturdiest hiking boots. A twist of the handle, and I've dug up a heavy spadeful of earth and random plant life. I carry it a few yards to a dirt-filled trench that, when we arrived, was a beaten-down, unused hiking trail. As a fellow worker plants my "plug," I pause to look through swirling snow at the gray profile of Eagle Cap mountain.

Late one afternoon aboard the Carnival Conquest, Susan leaned out over the railing of our stateroom balcony. Happy tears welled up in her eyes as she gazed out across the endless Caribbean Sea. Though the sky beamed blue, some nearby mist drifting close to the water gave birth to a rainbow that appeared to stretch right to our balcony. That moment captured the romantic spirit we'd been enjoying on a two-week celebration of our silver anniversary. We also spent a wonderful week in the ship's home port, New Orleans, equally blessed with blue skies.

PASADENA, Calif. – It's an urban legend that almost always proves true: It never rains on the Tournament of Roses Parade. Tourists who trek to Pasadena for the Rose Bowl Game or the parade on Jan. 1 are just relieved they don't have to shovel snow or sell their first-born for fuel.

LAS VEGAS – OK, let's be clear about where you should be on New Year's Eve. New York City? Cold, possibly snowy. Times Square is like a stockyard before the clock turns midnight.