Travel deals abound in the fall
CHRISTINE HICKS- USTA Travel
Iwas teasing my liaison at the paper that this long, hot fall is bad for the travel business. It's been a rather protracted summer. Welcome? Sure, but surreptitiously we pine for fall, that seasonal break, the temperature shift that says it's time to put away shorts and get out the sweaters.

While hot weather may be enjoyable, it really does dampen the travel spirit. Who can think about traveling someplace warm in winter when warmth streams in your car and kitchen windows? I can't.

Wake up. Now is the time to scoop up some semblance of savings on Caribbean cruises and resorts. Now is also the time to obtain passports, if you don't yet have them. Now is the time to book your choice of vacation, rather than settle for what can often be costly leftovers after a couple of months of pickings.

In a failed but valiant effort to encapsulate what truly valuable deals are out there, I trolled the Internet. Some things just can't be summarized. I cannot give you the best deal. Part of that problem is that what constitutes my best deal may have no frame of reference for you. For example, what good is a seventh free night when you can only stay six? What value is a "kids eat free" promotion when you travel solo? What good is free tennis when you're a golfer? And a 50 percent-off promotion is only as good as what the other 50 percent looks like. So where does one begin?

One begins at the beginning. Make a wish list. Anything goes on this wish list. Maybe yours starts out with "gourmet restaurant on-site." Perhaps it's for a full spa. It could be you want hiking trails. Or a hotel that offers a place to safely park the kids during the day while you relax under a banyan tree. Your wish list has no boundaries. There are no rules.

You may benefit from a "wish-not" list. At times, I like to write down what I don't want, if perhaps for no other reason than to commit it to paper and get it out of my head. That particular exercise helps me focus and remember what territory I've already covered.

Wish lists can be personal, in which case you'll have to negotiate common ground at some point with the rest of your traveling party. Start by negotiating where to look for the perfect vacation. Destination is only trumped by an inability to get there and home in a fashion reasonable and acceptable to you.

Make research a family/joint responsibility. The more resources you tether to seek out the perfect (or nearly perfect) place, the more likely you are to uncover it - and find the deal to go with it, the one that works for you.

It's finally cold enough. That guilty feeling you experience spending any part of a sunny day indoors has finally released its grip. Use the chill to find something warm and affordable some place else.

(Christine Hicks-Usta has enjoyed more than 30 years as a member of the travel industry. Direct questions to her at Bee Group Newspapers, P.O. Box 150, Buffalo, NY 14231-0150.)