Book it and wrap it
up. Many family members are getting one of the best surprises this cold holiday season – a winter getaway.
“There are some people surprising kids and family members with a vacation as a stocking stuffer,” says
Anthony Nuznam from Trafalgar Tours.
Instead of just sitting at home and relaxing for two weeks, you can change your holiday rituals by relaxing
on a beach in Jamaica with a frothy drink, or a cocoa by the fireplace in Whistler instead. The holidays are
a great time to travel so you can break those monotonous holiday plans and heat things up… or cool them down,
depending on where you’re going.
But you’re probably wondering how you can afford a vacation with all your holiday expenses rung up on that
dreaded Visa bill that you’re probably wincing at right about now. Christmas is peak travel time and flying
can get pretty expensive, but there are great last-minute deals and packages still available and
wallet-friendly.
Fun with Parkas and Snow
Vacationing in Canada instead of heading somewhere hot is not the end of the world. There are
breathtaking winter wonderlands that you can visit right here in the Great North that are just as fun and can
warm you up in exactly the right places.
A vacation to Mont Tremblant this holiday won’t burn a hole through your pockets. This holiday retreat in
Quebec can be a good road-trip vacation for those in surrounding provinces. It has intense mountains to ski,
snowboard and tube on, skating, dog sledding, quaint shops to find deals on winter apparel and gear,
bakeries, chocolate factories, and who can forget about beaver tails? La Tour Des
Voyageurs of
Les Suites Tremblant is a fabulous hotel that is giving a 15% discount on a one-bedroom with a queen bed. The
room, available for three nights from Dec. 27-30, is going for $296.65 CAD per night.
If you do feel like splurging this holiday and are looking for a really cool place to visit, it would, hands
down, be the Ice Hotel in Jukkasjärvi, Sweden. It is
a hotel built of ice and snow, where you can actually sleep in a thermal sleeping bag in -5 C temperature and
enjoy the Northern lights, snowmobiling and reindeer sled tours. For the modern adventurer, rooming at
an ice hotel would be an experience unlike any other hotel stay you’ve had. Three nights, from Dec. 30-Jan.
2, would cost $1974.39 CAD.
Suiting up for the Beach, not the Slopes
How many times do you have to shovel the driveway, pick off the ice from your vehicle and be stuck
in a blizzard on the highway? Probably more than you can count on one hand so far. Even though it is nice to
embrace the snow and all that it can offer, it can also be nice to escape it during the holidays. “Everyone
goes down to the Caribbean,” says Nuznam.
There are some last-minute all-inclusive vacation packages that go from being relatively cheap to really
expensive. During the holidays prices go up, but an all-inclusive vacation to the four-star Oasis Resort in
Cancun, Mexico for five nights costs $1565 CAD, which is an affordable deal from redtag.ca.
Another awesome location that is fun for the whole family is Bridgetown, Barbados, at the Mango Bay Resort
and Spa. You do have to reach a little deeper in your pockets, but this place has been a hotspot for many
international beach lovers. This five-star all-inclusive package, leaving on Dec. 28 for seven nights, is
$3549 CAD and also available on redtag.ca. “They’re great values because
they’re all new, all-inclusive and attractive properties. Plus there’s tons of water sports, the weather’s
perfect and you’re in close proximity to everything,” says Nuznam.
Traveller’s tip: If you absolutely can’t get away during the holidays, January is an
excellent month to travel because there are an abundance of flights that airlines and travel agencies are
trying to get rid of. •
