Yeah, last minute travel can be cool. But it can also leave you cash poor, especially when you’re talking high-season travel in major vacation destinations. But as with most things in life, a just little edumuhcation can go a long way. Case in point: Kayak.com’s Fare Alerts.

Create a Fare Alert (or 12) on Kayak.com or SideStep.com for the summer getaway(s) currently sequestered in your noggin by clicking on the “Get fare alerts for this trip” link on the top right-hand corner of the flight results page. You can track fares for specific dates, a flexible span of time (e.g. summer weekends or, say, the month of June) or an entire region (e.g. Europe). When your daily or weekly Fare Alert (you choose how often it arrives) touches down in your email inbox, you’ll be able to make informed travel decisions.

Depending on what you ask it to track (specific dates, flexible span of time or even top cities in a region), each Fare Alert can show you:

- How much the fare for specific dates has increased or decreased in dollars since the last alert

- The airfare history for your trip dates based on searches made by Kayakers over the past 90 days

- A snapshot of prices in Kayak.com’s matrix view, so you can quickly compare prices by carrier and number of stops

- The lowest fare available during a specific span of time (e.g. the next four weekends)

- The best fares available for popular destination cities in a region you want to visit (e.g. Africa)

Who knows, maybe you’ll still pay craptons to travel to the most expensive resort on the hottest island right in the middle of the high season. After all, it’s high season for a reason. But at least you’ll be pimping it out with full knowledge of your unbridled American excess. Just remember the wisdom of G.I. Joe.

(**Editor’s note: Yeah, Kayak.com owns us. You wanna make something of it? I’ll have you know I was surreptitiously using Fare Alerts to aid in making my personal travel plans long before Kayak.com bought our parent company SideStep.com in December. Nepotism, bias, blah, blah, blah. Fare Alerts just make good travel sense.)

Boy, am I stoked to go skoarding this weekend! Hmmm. Sounds like an old lady with too many snowmen in her yard. What about, we’re planning to hit the slopes for a little planking! Hmm. No, sounds like something Dr. Phil would tell you never to do to your children. There’s always the obvious and more benign term snurfing. As in, snurf’s up, dudes!

Each of the above words has been entered in Ski Utah’s 2008 Ski-Snowboard Lingo Contest, a month-long search for a new term to replace the cumbersome compound noun “skiing and snowboarding.” The contest, which runs through March 4, has two winning categories:

- The best new catchall term for skiing and snowboarding

- The best new skiing and snowboarding lingo or term related to the sports, but not necessarily a catchall phrase

The winner in the catchall category will win a two-day ski trip hosted by Ski Utah in April. The winner in the best new lingo category wins two lift tickets to the Canyons and 10 t-shirts sporting the new word. Clearly, for everyone who does not happen to live in Utah, concentrating on the catchall term makes more sense.

Contest judges include pro skiers Julian Carr and Kristen Ulmer, as well as editors from Transworld Snowboarding and Powder magazines.

To participate, submit your word online. Make sure to select the Ski/Snowboard Lingo Contest before you submit.

Lonely Planet is givin’ it up fo free, yo. Spend $40 in the online store, and you’ll get a free copy of the recently released Lonely Planet Blue List 2008, a guide to favorite spots around the world compiled by Lonely Planet authors, web site contributors and photographers. And you could easily drop that kind of cash by scooping up a few of the latest Lonely Planet books to roll off the presses.

Virgin America, perhaps the only airline that I actually look forward to flying, is having a Valentine’s Day fare sale. And unlike some other airlines who shall remain nameless but bombard my inbox with fare “sales” that aren’t really sales no less than once a month, Virgin is actually offering some good deals. Like Washington, DC, to Los Angeles for $248 roundtrip and San Diego to San Francisco for $78 roundtrip. Fare sale runs through Feb. 8, 2008 for travel through May 9, 2008.

We know a good deal on cool travel gear when we see one. Today, I spotted the Burton AUDEX iPod AK Backpack for sale at the Snow Shack for $90. The pack retails at $279.95, though I found it for less on several web sites that I checked and available on eBay for $115. Still, Snow Shack is offering the best deal I can find.

Made for skiers and snowboarders with fun features like external pole and shovel storage spots and a panel for holding snowboards horizontally across the back, the Burton AUDEX iPod backpack would be ideal for frequent travelers who like to keep their tunes at the ready. An iPod storage pocket keeps your little white bundle of musical joy safe, while an iPod controller on the shoulder strap lets you, uh, control your music from the, uh, shoulder strap. No surprises there. The strap also has a headphone port. Plus, it just looks cool.

Know some travel-savvy kids and teachers? Tell them about the National Geographic Hands-On Explorer Challenge 2008, a contest whose winners receive a 10-day trip to Australia. To enter, kids must be between the ages of 9 and 14, write a 300-word essay about a hands-on discovery they’ve made and include a photograph that illustrates their essay. Deadline for the contest is Feb. 15, 2008.

In its ongoing efforts to go green, Fairmont announced this week that its properties in California and Arizona will begin offering free parking to overnight hotel guests who drive hybrid vehicles. That includes:

Fairmont San Jose

Fairmont San Francisco

Fairmont Sonoma Mission Inn & Spa Resort

Fairmont Miramar Santa Monica

Fairmont Newport Beach

Fairmont Scottsdale Princess

We assume this applies even if you’ve rented a hybrid during your trip (not a bad way to offset the additional cost that comes with renting a premium vehicle). For hybrid drivers, this deal can amount to quite a savings - in San Francisco, for example, downtown hotel parking rates often climb higher than $30/night.

Silverjet has a rather unusual promo happening this weekend in honor of the Superbowl. In short, buy a ticket between Friday and Sunday. If the Giants leave the stadium victorious, you win an additional free ticket from the airline. I won’t regurgitate all the details, as they are outlined quite nicely on View from the Wing. Link below.

Silverjet Buy One Get One Free… If the sports book works out in your favor

Thank heavens I finally figured out to do with the extra $48k I keep stuffed in my freezer behind that two-year-old box of Hot Pockets that never seems to get eaten. The Ritz-Carlton Club San Francisco has come up with quite a swish “deal” for Valentine’s Day this year. For just about the same amount as the median annual household income in the United States, travelers can experience seven action-packed days in the City by the Bay. Perks include:

- Helicopter tour to Napa Valley

- Private wine tasting

- Town car transportation throughout your visit

- A personal chef to prepare dinner each evening

- Dinner for two at Gary Danko

- A $1,500 shopping spree

Travelers may purchase the package through Feb. 14 for visits before April 30, 2008. A word to the wise: if you’re planning to visit San Francisco, wait until March. The rainy season here is miserable. Miz-rah-bull, I tell you.

Shop Till You Drop With Ritz-Carlton

Looking for a last-minute Pacific Northwest getaway near Oregon’s Mt. Bachelor this weekend or next? I ran across what I think is a great deal this morning while perusing the last-minute offerings on VRBO (Vacation Rentals By Owner), a site that allows property owners to rent homes and condos directly to travelers. I’ve used it many times in the past and, each time, had good results. It’s a great resource when you have a large group that wants to stay in the same location, especially near beaches and ski resorts. Here’s the deal:

Sunriver Vacation Rental A 3,500-square-foot five-bedroom, four-bath house with sleeping arrangements perfect for five couples or two families with kids in Sunriver, Ore. for $300/night ($200 cleaning fee will be added for stays shorter than 7 days), though the listing says last-minute deals are available, so make sure to ask about rate reductions for this weekend if you call.

The house offers a slew of amenities. A few:

- 55″ big screen TV and 48″ big screen TV

- Deck with hot tub

- Stainless steel BBQ grill

- Garage game room with air-hockey, ping pong table and foosball

- DVD, CD, TIVO, VCR, Playstation 2, central sound system with controls throughout the house

- Sub-zero fridge, gas range, double oven

Not bad for a last-minute Superbowl weekend escape in Oregon, eh? Spend Saturday on the slopes at Mt. Bachelor, Sunday taking in the game with plenty of room for food prep and plenty of diversion for those who aren’t as keen on watching the pigskin.