It's so cold your bones are chattering. Wouldn't it be a dream to chuck it all and just head to the airport for a flight to anyplace that's warm?

The ads for last-minute vacations are certainly enticing with their promise of selloffs that will make you the smartest shopper on the sand. And it's easier than ever to book at the spur of the moment, thanks to online booking and paperless e-ticketing.

But while waiting until the last minute can net you a great deal, it's not for everyone, experts say. And it pays to do a lot of homework before you start packing your bags.

"The tradeoff in going last-minute is you may have to make a lot of compromises on the destination, the hotel and the kind of room you want," says Jill Wykes, spokeswoman for Sunquest Vacations, a travel company that sells both regular and last-minute packages.

"The more you care about where you go and what you want to do when you get there, the more it pays to take your time in comparing options," she adds.

For those who want to go the last-minute route, Wykes suggests picking the destination first, rather than the date, because being flexible on the day you leave can give you a broader range of alternatives. For instance, mid-week vacations are in less demand than weekends, so you'll probably get the best selection of last-minute deals if you can travel on a Tuesday, Wednesday or Thursday.

Then you have to decide what your vacation priorities are.

If price is the overriding factor, a good strategy will be to start with an online search for all-inclusive packages. Particularly for families, booking an all-inclusive makes it easier to budget, knowing there won't be extra expenses for food, drink and recreation.

Cruises are a good bet too because the price includes meals, activities and entertainment.

But can you get there?

Even if a resort or cruise line is offering an unbelievable deal, it means nothing if you can't get there from here. Many packages described as all-inclusive refer only to the resort and don't include air travel. And that can pop a last-minute dream.

Air availability is tight this year because the strong dollar has more Canadians thinking of making getaways. There are only so many aircraft, and even with extra charter flights to popular sun spots being added in the winter, many holiday flights are already booked solid through the cold months.

This has become a particular problem this holiday season for people trying to book cruises. Most weekend flights are already fully booked to popular cruise ports and that means passengers may need to be flexible about their travel days, says Aida Vincelli, vice-president of the travel company The Cruise Professionals in Mississauga, Ont.

"For example, we recently booked a couple for a New Year's cruise, but they are flying to Florida two days before and having to stay two days after the end of the cruise before flying home," she says.

"Unless they are flexible like this, people would be best off thinking of January," she suggests.

Even the first week of January is difficult because people are still coming back from New Year's trips.

January used to be the shoulder season for air travel and resorts, and so the first two weeks of January traditionally saw some of the deepest discounting of the winter. But that's less true now. Baby boomers are taking longer vacations around the holiday season and doting grandparents are often willing to pay to take the family and grandkids on a trip even if it means taking them out of school.

One way around the flight issue is to search for what destinations still have air availability before shopping for a place to stay. When doing a web search for package trips, include the words "air included."

Some companies specialize in packages that include air and transfers. These include Sunquest, Air Canada Vacations, Air Transat Vacations and Sunwing Vacations. Other sites, such as SellOffVacations.com, include packages put together by Sunwing and others.

Remember there are more options for flying out of major hubs such as Toronto, Montreal and Vancouver than there are out of smaller cities such as Regina or Halifax, where there may not be a flight every day to your favoured destination.

Comparison shopping

Having narrowed down your search, there can still be so many unanswered questions on the sites that it can end up becoming confusing to compare possible vacations. For instance, all-inclusives don't always include meals, beverages and activities, so you need to read the fine print. Meal plans range from breakfast only, to all three meals a day, to meals plus snacks and beverages.

That's why Wykes recommends relying on the experience of a travel agent when you're ready to book. Agents often get word of last-minute availabilities that aren't on websites.

And look beyond the tried-and-true winter destinations like Mexico, the Dominican Republic and Cuba, the destinations where you will see the most last-minute deals aimed at Canadians. "The world is a big place," says Sean Shannon, managing director for Expedia.com. "The number of last-minute getaways is growing and prices are surprisingly good."

For instance, this winter, a number of tour operators are featuring deals on packages to St. Lucia and Turks and Caicos islands.

A little further afield, there are many package deals to be had in Costa Rica , Shannon adds.

If you can be a little flexible around the days you want to travel, there are some really intriguing deals to exotic locations, too. For instance, there is a big push in Western Canada for cruises in Tahiti and Hawaii.

The cost of air can make those Pacific destinations less affordable for people in Eastern Canada, but there are plenty of exotic destinations in the Caribbean and beyond as well. For eastern Canadians, a number of lines are offering specials on cruises out of Buenos Aires and Rio to the Amazon or Chile, Vincelli says.

And look into specials in Florida and the Bahamas. Americans facing an economic squeeze and falling home prices are not as likely to feel like travelling this winter, opening up more space for Canadians.

Florida is making a push for Canadians based on our dollar reaching par with the greenback. And Disney World in particular is promoting package specials for Canadians.

But don't forget that some of the best deals of all may be in store for those who want to savour winter in Canada. Americans, who were a mainstay of winter resort travel to Canada, are finding the higher dollar a deterrent.

Check websites such as Expedia.ca and Travelocity.ca, and you'll find deals on city hotels and spas across the country — and even some peak-season deals on ski resorts in British Columbia, Alberta and Quebec.

A final tip

Keep in mind when flying last minute or otherwise that if your flight goes to or even stops in a U.S. city en route, new rules require Canadian air passengers to have a passport. Canadians don't need visas, but a number of other nationalities do. The simplest explanation is on the website of The National Academies.

Wallace Immen is a Toronto-based travel writer who tries to plan trips as far in advance as possible

[an error occurred while processing this directive]