Q: I’m traveling to Hawaii next winter. Should I buy my plane tickets now?

A: We called Tom Parsons, publisher of bestfares.com, to get his take on the constantly changing airfare scenario and how it could pertain to flights to and from Hawaii next winter. His advice? Wait.  “Hawaii is getting beaten up right now,” he said, referring to the global recession that’s keeping not only Americans but also the Japanese from dancing the hula. Rates from MSP to Honolulu for next winter are currently costing around $700 and Parsons thinks they are unlikely to go much higher. But if you wait a few months and monitor the fares every two weeks or so, you very well may come upon a bargain as the airlines try to fill their seats. At the very least, he advises travelers to wait until Southwest Airlines begins service to Denver (scheduled to start this May). That should lead to cheaper prices to Los Angeles, San Francisco and Seattle, where Hawaii-bound flights are much cheaper than what we Twin Citians usually pay.

Other tips: If you want a good fare, stay away from holidays and spring break.  Schedule departures on Tuesdays and Wednesdays.

Of course Switzerland is well known for downhill skiing, but one of the country’s classic winter activities is little known to tourists. It’s called Schlittenfahren (sledging, in English) and involves sleds and mountain-long tobaggan runs that serve up equal amounts of laughs and crashes. Sledging is dangerous enough that it would never fly in the lawsuit happy U.S. But the Swiss seem to take it all in stride: Old men smoke as they whoosh past hairpin curves; babies in polar fleece Snuglis are strapped down in front of their parents for the ride.

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Perhaps it’s because the country gets most of its publicity for narco-terrorism that the makers of this “Colombia is Passion” promotional video decided to narrate it with a child’s voice that is as perky as Dora the Explorer. Now that traveling in Colombia is getting safer, the South American country is making a lot of must-see lists. At this time of year, the Caribbean city of Cartagena is mighty appealing.

I’m fresh from a weekend in Grand Marais, where I warmed up with decadent pesto-shrimp pizza and succulent short ribs at Chez Jude on Friday night. As I scooped up the last of the sage ice cream (delicious, a play on mint), I picked up this little nugget: Judi Barsness, proprietor and chef of Chez Jude, treats guests at Bearskin Lodge on the Gunflint Trail to her cooking on weekends. For Chez Jude neophytes: Barsness creates a changing menu based on what’s fresh and available nearby and what’s growing in her garden out the door (or what was grown; the sage of the ice cream came from her own crop). No surprise she took an internship with a kindred spirit, the famed Alice Waters of Chez Panisse in Berkeley, Calif., a few years back. Chez Jude is open through February 15; the restaurant opens again for the summer season on Mother’s Day weekend. Barsness will be cooking at Bearskin throughout the winter season.

As the economy worsens, the travel industry is bracing itself for a disappointing holiday season. To get people back in the air and on the beaches and ski slopes, many companies are offering significant sales: Twin Citians who want to visit Los Angeles between December 13 and December 17 can get there for $259. Ski.com is offering a 50% reduction at a Jackson Hole hotel for the entire season.
The question, of course, is if people will take advantage of these sales. What about you? Are the deals making you feel like it’s time to start packing your bags? Have you found any great sales that you’d like to share?

I’ve been watching the struggles of Sun Country from afar this fall and wondering if the airline will survive. Losing Sun Country would be a shame for many reasons, including healthy competition for Delta. But I would miss its service and comfort most of all. Amid an increasingly cramped and grungy mode of transport, Sun Country managed to provide relatively comfortable, competent and cheerful service (for which it was recognized as among the best in the nation for the third time in October.) Here in Boulder, I’m watching the similar struggles of Frontier, another small airline that’s been losing money. Like Sun Country, Frontier is banking on the busy winter vacation season to provide a cushion — and some profits.

For consumers, the question is when do you give up your loyalty for security? What if you book your vacation to Mexico for February, and the airline goes under at the end of January? Consumers who buy their tickets with credit cards typically are protected from the loss of the cost of the tickets, but booking a new flight on short notice could be prohibitively expensive. I’m planning a trip to theYucatan for the second week in April, and I’m really torn. The cheapest fares and direct flights are on Frontier. But April is just past the winter travel peak; the airline is going to go kabluey, it will likely happen as winter sales tail off. I haven’t made up my mind. If you’re planning a winter getaway, what are you going to do?