Heading to Margaritaville The best cure for cabin fever may be to fly south If the thermometer didn't break from cold, it was buried under six feet of snow. Even the hardiest winter-bound Canadian yearns for a southern expedition at this time of year. A call to Whistler's Roseway Travel, however, tells us that the annual cabin fever breaking point is about to hit. Bookings are picking up after a slow December, says Christine Cuttle, which might also be a factor of the slow start to the ski season, forcing Whistlerites to take more time to put something aside for that mid-season break. One surprise is that January flights are heavily in favour of U.S. destinations. Cuttle says recent last-minute deals to Reno (round trip $229), Las Vegas ($249), or La-La land ($159) may occur despite the gap in Canada-U.S. exchange rates because people just want to get out of town for a while. But flights are being booked for Chicago, The Big Apple (New York), and eastern Canada. "A lot of these people are transient in the nature of their jobs so are able to pop down to San Francisco for a few days, as opposed to the business person who has to plan her vacation more," Cuttle says. But those transient workers make for a lot of Whistler travellers. "A lot of our clients do a lot of last-minute bookings," Cuttle says. February will be a different scene. "We're getting a lot of requests for last-minute flights in February to Mexico: Cancun, Los Cabos, and Puerto Vallarta," Cuttle says. Just to make you crazy, here's what came up for a flight that left yesterday: Seven nights in Puerto Vallarta including hotel, $549; including all food and drink, etc., $739. Oh baby, take me with you when you go.
