Instead, this may be a good time to think small when shopping for the travelers on your Christmas list. Smaller items, after all, mean less hassle when packing (not to mention fewer fees when flying), while slightly older, less feature-laden models can provide excellent quality at lower prices than their next-generation replacements. Your giftees will still be grateful, and you may still have enough money left to get yourself something, as well.

In an era when airline blankets are either nasty or non-existent, the Comort Travel Blanket ($20) from Eagle Creek will shield your favorite flier from both germs and frigid conditions. At 10 ounces and 59 x 36 inches, it’s compact, made of comfortable micro fleece and packs into itself to make a pillow. Best part: It features a zippered pocket that will hold an eyeshade, iPod and other small necessities of modern-day air travel.

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But not all national parks—some are closed during the winter; others offer reduced services. Still, others attract large numbers of wintertime visitors because they're located in regions that enjoy their best sunny weather when it’s frigid up North. A winter trip to the Virgin Islands National Park, will present the same problems that you'd find on summer excursion to Yosemite: high prices, long lines and a trail of “no vacancy” signs.

The best wintertime national park trips combine unique and surprising activities and fewer visitors. At Yellowstone, for example, just five percent of the three million annual guests come during the winter months. One January morning we were two of only a handful of people watching an eruption of Yellowstone’s Old Faithful geyser. The regular eruptions of this famous geyser during the summer months typically attract hundreds of people who jostle for position along the surrounding boardwalk.

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Cruising couple dinged $420, all for a few hours in Brazil

Expensive surprise

About six weeks before sailing, Princess notified the Belams’ travel agent stating the couple would need a Brazilian visa. The cruise line noted that it was the passenger’s responsibility to get them and any passenger who did not have a visa would be denied boarding.

The visas would cost $210 per person (actual visa cost, plus expedited service) — an unwelcome $420 surprise. It gets worse — the cruise ship was only stopping at one Brazilian port, Fortaleza, for only nine hours! “If we’ve known that it will cost us that much for a few hours in Brazil, we would have looked for cruises that do not go to Brazil at all,” says Aaron Belams.

"You don't 'make' chai, you 'cook' it." Raju didn't raise his deep-set eyes from the blackened, milk-stained pot. He was explaining the major difference between tea in India and elsewhere. The viscous mixture bubbled and threatened to boil over. "Everyday I sit and cook chai. I start when the sun comes up and finish when it goes down." Raju knows almost all of his customers by name.

A cloud of dark, acrid smoke from a passing diesel-choked engine floated down Deeg's dusty lane, locally known as a road. A few minutes passed and the cloud settled. The dark outline of the massive fortifications from the town's 18th-century palace reappeared across the way. The serene demeanor of the Indian winter morning reassumed its gentle pace unchanged from years, possibly centuries before.

"Chai, chai, chai…" Raju's low, deep voice resonated a rhythmic chant to let passersby know the tea is on the boil. His equipment, a small hand-primed kerosene stove and aluminum pot, project an air of antiquity. They could have been discovered in a nearby archeological dig. Fresh cow's milk, water, plenty of sugar and any number of spices provide the essential mix. It sells for 2 rupee ($0.05) a glass and earns enough for Raju to support his wife and two children.

In India everyone drinks chai. It is essentially milk tea with sugar. As sociable as sharing a coffee or beer with a friend, so too is chai in India but more so. To reject an offer is a grave insult. You will never enter someone's home or place without being given at least one cup.

Deeg lies 85miles south of India's capital of New Delhi, and Raju has been a part of the 40,000-strong population for 48 years, tending his chai stall for 18 of those. His family has been serving chai to the locals as long as Raju can remember. He is not sure which of his forefathers started the tradition.

Life is sweet in the quiet town. It is not an opulent existence--far from it. But it is a simple life for a simple man with simple needs. Deeg is home to the Maharaja of Bharatpur's Monsoon Palace. Bharatpur was the princely state before the departure of the British in 1947, when Deeg came under the principality of the State of Rajasthan. Besides the Monsoon palace of the Maharaja with its hundreds of fountains, well-maintained gardens, and original furnishings, there are few reasons for travelers to visit Deeg,--except for the tea.

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