Fly your children to Vancouver for free using a special deal we've uncovered!

Zoom Airlines will allow kids 17 and younger to fly free if accompanied by adults. The young ones are still assessed taxes and fees, but the airfare is covered.

But hurry: you have to book your travel by July 31.

Zoom flies from Vancouver and Montreal to several European destinations: London, Paris, Glasgow, Manchester, Cardiff and Belfast.

In order to get this amazing discount, simply book travel at www.flyzoom.com and enter the promotion code: Children2008.

Zoom Airlines does offer some fine print on the deal. There is limited availability, and other restrictions may apply. So visit www.flyzoom.com to learn more.

Calling all skiers and snowboarders! Discount Whistler lift tickets are now on sale!

As always, AlluraDirect.com is offering a book by deal that'll save you tons of money if you book before November 15, 2008!

Savings and Perks!

What is the book-by deal? It's a fantastic way to save money! As long as you book your tickets before November 15, you could save up to 30% off in-resort pricing. As an added bonus, for every adult ticket of 3 days of more, you receive a child ticket of equal length. This means you save hundreds of dollars over several days of skiing! Sorry, as with most promotions this fantastic, the Christmas Season (December 20 - January 2) is blacked out.

Hint: Lift tickets rates and promotions are based on your first day only. This means that if you start skiing on December 19, one day before the blackout period begins, you'll still get the deal and the free kids tickets.

Sample Savings

Say you've got a family of four, two adults and two kids. You want to ski for 6 days starting on December 19. When you book by November 15, you pay a total price of $678.30 including tax. If you wait and buy the exact same tickets in-resort, they'll cost you upwards of $1,600!

Even if you don't have children, this is a great deal. An adult skiing for 10 days, beginning December 19 will pay $509.25 including tax through the book-by promotion. Wait until you're in-resort and be prepared to shell out around $860 for the same ticket!

New "Peak to Peak" Gondola

Our discount Whistler lift tickets will also allow you to ride the Peak to Peak Gondola, which opens this December 2008. This crazy new ride will allow skiers and boarders to go from the top of Whistler to the top of Blackcomb, and vice versa, in only 11 minutes! This means that diehard riders can now do both mountains in one day without major downtime!

With 28 cabins serving 28 people each, the Peak to Peak gondola will be able to serve 2050 people per hour each way. This means you won't spend a lot of time waiting in line.

Ready to Buy Your Lift Tickets?

It's ok to do a little more research if you like. Have a look around and discover how hard this deal is to beat. But keep in mind that you have to buy your lift tickets BEFORE midnight, PST on November 15 to qualify for early booking prices. We also ask that you reserve your lodging through AlluraDirect.com first.

To buy tickets now or for further information, please visit our discount Whistler lift tickets page.

Living amidst the excitement of the Olympic Winter Games is an almost unrivaled experience. A truly multi-cultural gathering of world-class athletes achieving their dreams with world-wide media attention must give you chills. But the disruption to everyday life might just give you a headache.

Giving A Little - New Rules & Operations for 2010

The 2010 Winter Olympics will bring some changes that jumble up familiar Whistlerite and Whistler Visitor routines. From parking restrictions and road closures, to security cordons and the extended line-ups at restaurants, residents and visitors will all have to adapt to their surroundings.

While more regulations and changes are bound to solidify as the planning continues, here are some modifications announced by 2010 organizers:

• Zero Public Parking – To endure the surge of vehicles flocking to Whistler during the Olympics, organizers have deemed to close off public parking all together. Grab your private spots now and treat them as gold!
• Limited Access – Access to venue sites will be restricted to people with tickets or special accreditation from Olympic organizers. Expect blockages and detours as you make your way through Whistler.
• Public Transportation Plans – With no public parking, the next best thing is to hop on transit. Special transit plans have been proposed, including an addition of up to 75 busses and 6 mini-busses to the regular Whistler transit regiment.
• Security – Getting around Whistler will also include the obstacle of heightened security. Though cordons will not be put up around public areas, security will likely affect road closures around venues.

Getting a Lot - An Olympic Legacy

Large developmental projects aimed to accommodate the 2010 Winter Olympics have already brought noticeable change to the Whistler area. The Sea to Sky Highway, proposals to solve Whistler's chronic housing shortage and even the Peak to Peak Gondola have all slightly hampered the familiar day-to-day schedule at Whistler.

However, these developments will all eventually pay off, for those who can wait through the temporary inconveniences. Residents and visitors will breeze through their drive to Whistler on the soon-to-be-completed highway. Come December 2008, anyone can transfer from Whistler to Blackcomb (and back) in the speedy convenience of the largest free-spanning gondola in North America. Even for the strongest critics, these developments will prove handy in the long-run.

The bottom line: Visiting Whistler in February of 2010 is for Olympic fanatics. If you don't fit this bill, there's many more normal (and much less expensive) times to visit. Visit just before or after the main event for more affordable (and available) accommodations, blockade-free Village strolls and the lingering buzz in the atmosphere.

Across Canada, skiers are shedding their outer layers and the snow has begun to return to its liquid form. For the snow bunny, its time to lapse into temporary hibernation. However, as you stuff your winter gear beside that dusty exercise equipment, just remember: summer is here! Snow may be seasonal, but many Canadian ski resorts are open year-round.

It's not too late to visit one of Canada's fabulous ski resorts for a plethora of summer activities!

Why Summers are Spectacular at Ski Resorts

Many ski resorts offer year-round activities and events to suit all summer adventurers, sightseers and sports enthusiasts.

Here's a taste of why vacationing at a ski resort in the summer is unbeatable:

Discounted Accommodation Rates: Find your own mountainside get-a-way in a number of luxurious properties for much lower rates than during ski season.

Develop a New Summertime Hobby: Most ski resorts offer summer activities for all fitness levels and interests. Try horseback riding, mountain biking, bungee jumping, white water rafting, canoeing, hiking, sightseeing, wilderness tours, and much, much more!

Avoid the Ski Season Crowds: Visit and explore Canada's ski resorts in the summer without the large winter crowds.

Admire the Views in the Sunshine: Canada's magnificent mountain ranges never go out of season. Journey to new heights to breathe in fresh mountain air and soak in the natural beauty of your surroundings.

Partake in a Special Summer Event: Most ski resorts never close their doors to visitors. This means year-round events to match every season. Special events for 2008 include the Pemberton Festival (Whistler), Kokanee Crankworx (Whistler), Tremblant International Blues Festival (Mont Tremblant), Canada Day Celebrations and wine festivals (Silver Star, Sun Peaks).

Discover Summer Activities at These Resorts:

• Whistler
• Sun Peaks
• Kicking Horse
• Panorama
• Silver Star
• Fernie
• Mont Tremblant

Find Summer Ski Resort Accommodation Deals

Search or browse through hundreds of summer accommodation options in Sun Peaks, Silverstar, Mont Tremblant, Whistler, Fernie, Panorama, or Kicking Horse. Book on-line with property owners, save time, and get back outside to enjoy the sunshine!

The small farming village just north of Whistler is making news in a big way - and its got nothing to do with potoatoes.

From July 25-27, Pemberton will play host to a concert series featuring nearly 50 acts. With a line-up as extensive as the range of genres that will be heard, the Pemberton Festival promises to entertain music lovers of multiple generations.

The concert series features a 500-acre site, two stages and a dance tent. All the hype comes at a price, however. Tickets are only sold for the full three days at $259.50 (plus fees and charges). Find out more about Pemberton Festival tickets.

Eclecticism: The Key to the Pemberton Festival

Big-name bands Coldplay, Tom Petty and the Heartbreakers, Nine Inch Nails, Jay-Z, and The Tragically Hip offer something for every taste in music. Add less mainstream bands like the Flaming Lips, Seru Tankian, Sam Roberts Band, Death Cab for Cutie, Interpol, My Morning Jacket, and Metric. The result is the largest, most diverse concert series in Western Canada.

Pemberton Festival organizers know that a good concert means more than just big acts. The Festival Village will feature many food stands, bars and a farmer's market to please your palate. Pemberton farmers will supply the market with local produce which is a great opportunity for local businesses.

While only approximately 5,000 people live in the Pemberton Area, event organizers hope the festival will attract over 25,000 concertgoers.

Party All Day at the Pemberton Fest, But To Rest at Night?

For music lovers who are not too fond of roughin' it in a campground (and paying $60 per person for the pleasure), Whistler presents ample accommodation opportunities only 25 miles away.

With more than 550 properties at bargain summer-season rates, Whistler vacation rentals present an affordable solution to offset pricey concert tickets.

Savings tip: Book Whistler accommodation with a group and split the cost of Whistler lodging. Spend what you save on your Pemberton Festival tickets instead!

Now that flowers are blooming again and the skis are buried in the back of the closet for a few months, perhaps it's time for a bit of nostalgia about the 2007-2008 Canadian ski season. Do your memories capture a winter of epic proportions? Or did the powder fail to live up to your expectations?

The statistics tell a varied story. Some mountains received a little more than usual, some mountains saw a little less, and others were just right. Here's a graph with a few mountain's snow stats this year, but only from those mountains that reported a final cumulative snow total this year.

While this season seems to have been rather humdrum in terms of snow, mountains south of the border in Colorado received record dumps, with eight mountains breaking all-time snowfall records.

But for at least one local, the pleasure of the season isn't measured in centimeters. The writer of a (very detailed) blog chronicling Whistler weather said that in his five years in the area, "This is the best season since I have been living in Whistler."

It's still too early for accurate predictions of next season's weather, but we'll certainly welcome your wild guesses.