A Dutch prison has been turned into a luxury hotel.

The old cell doors still remain but the prisoners are long gone (I hope). As the Het Arresthuis website says, "Today, people can enjoy a care-free and casual stay here."

I'm sure it's 100% Not Haunted At All.

From its opening in 1862 to its final shuttering in 2007, Het Arresthuis was one of the Netherlands' most feared prisons. According to the Daily Mail, Het Arresthuis "quickly established a reputation as an intimidating jail." As opposed to those soothing, mellow, welcoming prisons I keep hearing about. 

I've been skiing at Ontario's Blue Mountain for nearly two decades, not to mention partaking in the endless diversions of its resort village, but I have never done anything like what I did last weekend.

I skied down one of the trails all by myself -- as in alone, solo, with no one on the run except yours truly.

On a typical winter weekend Ontario's largest ski resort is packed. This was certainly the case during my visit Feb. 23 and 24, when most of the lift lines spilled out of their roped-off lanes and every restaurant and bar was hopping.

But one section of the hill (pictured below) was dreamily serene. How did I get away from the madding crowd? By heading off-piste, Ontario-style, to "The Orchard," a 64-acre section of cleared and graded Niagara Escarpment that has been labelled as "shoeshoe trails" for years. But that will change next season, when Blue completes a $10 million expansion consisting of a high-speed, six-person chairlift and new night skiing on three of the Orchard's six new runs, one of which, at 1.6 kilometres, will be the longest beginner trail in the province. (Eat your heart out, Happy Valley.)

If the weekend crowds are any indication, additional terrain and lift capacity are sorely needed and, quite frankly, have been a long time coming.

If this is Blue Mountain on a Saturday in February, then where is the roiling sea of humanity?

Need a cheap hotel room for an afternoon hookup?

Dayguest.com is happy to be your wingman/woman. As their website says, they've begun offering "boutique and luxury hotels for a few hours, during the day" in two major Canadian airports and cities, in addition to their existing hotel discounts in the USA and Europe.

According to a Toronto Star report, DayGuest.com is now offering super-short hotel stays for 30-70% off the usual rate in Toronto and Montreal. It's hyped as a service for business travellers and day tourists who simply need a clean room to nap, splash water on their face, and prepare for a daytime meeting.

Heh heh, sure, whatevvvvver you say, DayGuest.com. I guess you can't openly promote yourselves as an online madame running a Japanese-style love hotel...not in this notoriously conservative country we call Canada.

Considering all the buzz recently, adventure travel seems to be the next big thing in travel. Travellers are no longer content to go on museum tours and see old churches all day. At least, the youth aren’t. And, as goes the youth, so goes Contiki Holidays, the tour company for 18-35 year olds.

Seeking a celestial hotel?

This Chilean hotel has an observatory -- and private, open-ceiling domes -- for you to galaxy-gaze at the night sky.

Established in 2005 in the wine country of Pisco Elqui, Chile, the Hotel Elqui Domos features seven geodesic dome rooms that can fit up to four people. Each dome has a detachable roof over a double bed, a living room, private deck, and bathroom so you won't need to pee in the bushes by the light of a full moon, solar flare, or meteor shower.

You can also stay in one of four observatory cabins. These wood cabins feature three levels, double bed, skylight, and a private deck. How astronomically cool is that? It's like you're camping under the stars in the countryside, except instead of bumpy cowboy dirt, you're laying on a soft, warm bed with mega-thread count sheets.

Smell that sweet scent wafting up from Colorado? That's the smell of the burning 'pot tourism' debate in Denver.

On November 4th, the same day President Obama was re-elected, both Colorado and Washington state voted to legalize marijuana... a move that will surely increase tourism [I highly doubt you'll cancel your Seattle weekend because the U district smells 10% funkier].

Colorado is already a popular destination for snowboarders who enjoy their diggity dank. Now that Colorado Amendment 64 has made marijuana legal, Colorado's lawmakers are debating how to manage the upcoming green gold rush. The state's Amendment 64 Implementation Task Force has been pondering over pot for weeks. And finally, after many all-nighter, Doritos-fuelled brainstorms, the task force released their recommendations Tuesday.

The result:

The task force wants to allow out-of-state, bud-loving tourists (e.g., boarders, Rihanna, this guy) to buy weed at Colorado's soon-to-be-open retail pot shops.

Lighting up at a marijuana social club in Denver, Colorado on Dec 31, 2012. AP Photo/Brennan Linsley

Photo credit: Alessandra Tarantino/AP

 Just so you know, this is not an attempt to lure readers simply by mentioning the lead characters in three of the most-read news stories of the past 12 months. (But it worked, right?)

Last week, I received an email from Hotels.com spokeswoman Lauren Wasley, who informed me that following the Pope’s resignation on Feb. 11, the accommodations-booking website found that searches by Canadians looking to stay in Rome increased 87 per cent when compared with Feb. 11, 2012.

"Makes sense," I thought. "After all, millions of his followers may want to:

a) Personally bid farewell to Benedict XVI (pictured above) before he enters his retirement years, which will probably differ somewhat from those of Gregory XII, the last pope to retire, in that there was a lot less shuffleboard being played in 1415, and Tim Hortons wasn't yet open for business.

b) Steal Raphael's The Transfiguration once that pesky Benedict is out of the way.

c) Visit Rome because...er...it's in the news."

In short, it seemed odd that the historic papal announcement would generate such travel interest. (Hotels.com wouldn't disclose sales figures, but it stands to reason that a big bump in searches should yield at least a small bump in bookings.)

It made me wonder if the setting of any big news story would boost searches for hotels in that place, even if the story isn't related to vacations, or even travel, in any way.

Turns out I was onto something.

Movies made me fall in love with San Francisco. Five of my favourite films were shot there:

#5) Harold and Maude

#4) Bullitt

#3) The Maltese Falcon

#2) The Game

#1) So I Married an Axe Murder

[not to mention Vertigo which I'll cover below].

 Each of these films make the city feel misty, romantic, dangerous, and gritty.

Last week I had a chance to visit San Francisco on my return from Huatulco, Mexico. It would be a super-short layover, though, just 10 hours from landing to takeoff. That's the same length of time that Tom Cruise had in Collateral to taxi around L.A. and whack people like they were chores on his 'To Do' list.

I've liked every San Franciscan I've ever met, so I couldn't think of anyone I wanted to whack. Alas. But San Francisco is too sexy a city to miss.

Do you find yourself looking ahead on the calendar at this time of year? Beyond freezing February, into (hopefully) warmer March and April? This week's podium presents three more reasons to plan for the near future, with the "silver" and "gold" vacations even delivering savings on (gasp!) getaways over March Break: 

GOLD: The new "March Madness" sale from holiday packager Sunquest is promoting low-season rates on all-inclusive sun-and-sand vacations during the busiest time of year. Prices start at less than $700 (plus those pesky taxes and fees) for week-long trips out of airports across Canada to destinations like Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Mexico, Costa Rica, Aruba and Curacao (pictured below). To book, call 1-877-485-6060.

Photo credit: Jan Van Breda/ANP