Just think. No cooking, no washing up, no unsolicited phone calls, no recycling of yet more turkey leftovers, no uncles who fall asleep on the couch after too much rum in their eggnog.
The holiday season is the most stressful time of the year, and a significant number of Canadians dream of escaping the commercial hype, squabbles with relatives and post-Christmas blues by taking a vacation far enough removed from the rest of the family to dull the guilt.
According to a recent Expedia.ca/Ipsos-Reid poll, 39 per cent of us are planning to do just that by travelling to the United States and beyond during the holidays this year. But why stay on the usual snowbird paths when there are so many out-of-the-ordinary experiences to choose from? How about a Christmas feast in a centuries-old Austrian cellar, a nostalgic week on the estate of a sixties rock star, or a paddle on the turquoise waters off the Baja coast. It's not too late to plan your fantasy getaway, whether it involves a dose of Christmas abroad or not. Here are some suggestions:
Dutch hideaway
in the Caribbean
To really get away from it all over Christmas and still enjoy some tropical sun, you can still book a cabin at Ecolodge Rendez-Vous on the Dutch island of Saba in the northeastern Caribbean (availability reported as of press time).
Shaped like a pyramid, the 12.5-square-kilometre island is just south of St. Maarten, and remains one of the most tranquil and least-known in the region.
The lodge, with eight cabins completed and four still to be built, opened this past summer. It is a 15-minute hike from the nearest village, Windwardside, and is a perfect escape for those interested in a peaceful hideaway and challenging hikes. There aren't any beaches to speak of, but the waters around the island offer some of the best diving in the Caribbean.
The cost: $135 a night for a cabin that sleeps four. Food is extra, but the lodge's kitchen is reputed to be excellent; phone: 599 (41) 63348; e-mail: info@ecolodge-saba.com; Web: http://www.ecolodge-saba.com.
Arts and crafts
in New Mexico
If you want to stay in a relatively warm place that still feels like Christmas, consider Taos, a high-desert village at the base of the Sangre de Cristo Mountains in northern New Mexico. It was once described by a former mayor in an epic piece of boosterism: "Taos is not a city," Philip Lovato enthused. "Taos is not a town. Taos is not even a place. Taos is a state of mind and a power centre of the universe."
He was in good company. D. H. Lawrence visited the area three times from 1922 to 1925 and wrote about the "magnificent fierce mornings" that liberated him from civilization. He rhapsodized about the mountains, "blue as chalcedony, with the sage-brush desert sweeping grey-blue in between," and described "the vast amphitheatre of lofty, indomitable desert."
The holiday season in Taos brings out artists and crafts people from the town's diverse cultures: American Indian, Hispanic and European. At an elevation of more than 1,500 metres, Taos usually gets a lot of snow in December and Christmas week sees strolling carollers and special events in galleries and museums. There are still rooms and suites vacant for Christmas week at the Fechin Inn, Taos's most elegant hotel.
The inn's 2.5-hectare grounds are just two blocks from the historic Taos Plaza.
The cost: Rooms range from $285 to $776 for a two-bedroom suite; phone: (800) 811-2933 or (505) 751-1000; e-mail: info@fechin-inn.com; Web: http://www.taosvacationguide.com.
Cocooning in
Papa Phillips's digs
If you just want to be alone with a significant other, enjoying some desert rays while reveling in some sixties and seventies nostalgia, you could spend a few days in the former Palm Spring, Calif., home of John Phillips of Mamas & Papas fame. While it is usually occupied by rich and famous renters for most of the year, it happens to be available for the holidays this season.
