Left: Rio de Janeiro. Right: Hong Kong.

Here’s some good news for those dreaming of adventures: February is a great time for traveling. Whether you prefer to go off to the north, south, east or west, there are many choices of activities, exciting destinations and festivals worldwide to keep us all entertained for awhile. For those of you who are in search of the sun and sea, there is always a nice warm beach somewhere in the world that is waiting to welcome you with open arms.

That’s why winter is high season for tourism in the Caribbean and Central America, and hotel rooms are not as plentiful. If you decide to head south and not already have a reservation, you might still be able to get a last-minute deal, though. If you have no success by searching online, then a travel agency will be more than happy to help. The same principle applies for cruises, which are quite popular this time of the year.

February is also the time of the Lunar New Year in much of Asia, so if you choose to head east you’re sure to see some spectacular sights. Other places in the world host their carnival season in February, with the spectacle running up to the 16^th of the month in New Orleans, culminating with the Mardi Gras. Similar party atmospheres can be found in Trinidad, Martinique, Rio de Janeiro and even Venice, Italy, among other places.

Go far enough south and the seasons are reversed, so you’ll find summer in full bloom.  That makes February an ideal time for a safari in southern Africa, a stop for tango lessons in Buenos Aires, or even a trip to explore Antarctica.

Keep in mind that since it is summer there, children are out of school, families are traveling—and local venues such as museums and other tourist attractions tend to be packed. The airplanes that will take you on your journey going south, and eventually back home, will most likely be full as well, so don’t forget to pre-reserve your airline seats.

While traveling in February, also pay attention to whether it is the dry or wet season in your destination of choice. In tropical countries, you will experience a lot of rain and higher humidity during the wet seasons, but prices will be lower. This information can be obtained by checking the tourism web site of the country you plan to visit.

If your choice of destination of choice is to the north, you are likely you are in search of snow and winter sports. Look around and you’ll find that there is someplace out there that will be a good a match for all the snow lovers of this world and the sports they practice.

The key to enjoying winter sports with less crowded slopes is to go during the middle of the week. Hotel rates will also be lower during the week. The smaller the resort, the lower the lift ticket prices, but if you prefer a big name, popular resort then try and choose one where children can ski for free. This can be a big savings if you choose to bring the whole family along for the journey.

Photos from Wikimedia Commons.

In a story on Dec. 22, The Associated Press reported that Jamaican ski team member Errol Kerr would be representing Jamaica in the Winter Olympics. The story should have made clear that the official list of athletes who will be competing in skicross will be announced by the International Ski Federation in January. Kerr would qualify for the Vancouver Game according to the Federation’s current rankings.

__________________Some might say he’s Usain Bolt on skis. Not surprisingly, though, when Errol Kerr tells people he’s a member of the Jamaican Winter Olympic team, most pull out the bobsled one-liners.

“When people hear of a Jamaican skier, they expect dreads hanging out the back of my helmet and a smoke stream following me down the mountain,” Kerr said.

This is no joke, though.

Less than two years since Bolt brought world records and world renown to the island nation with his sprinting, Jamaica’s latest winter star is hoping to put his country on the map in the new Olympic sport of skicross.

“It’s more than just a country,” Kerr said. “It’s in my blood, in my DNA.”

Born to an American mother and a Jamaican father, Kerr grew up a dual citizen between Lake Tahoe in California, where he moved with his mother as a child, from Westmoreland, Jamaica’s westernmost parish.

He has felt most at home on the slopes since he was a kid watching a ski race on TV.

He rolls with the jokes, most of which inevitably draw comparisons to the Jamaica bobsled team, a fan favorite in the 1988 Winter Olympic Games in Calgary that inspired the comedy movie “Cool Runnings”.

In fact, one of Kerr’s sponsors is a beverage company called Cool Runnings.

“There’s no running away from it,” Kerr said of the bobsled team. “I embrace it. They laid the groundwork.”

But while the bobsled team was initially a novelty, Kerr hopes to enter the Vancouver Olympics _ his first _ as a serious contender.

The hybrid style of skicross draws on Kerr’s extensive background in Alpine skiing. It also makes good use of the rougher edge he picked up in motocross and BMX, and the 200-plus pounds (90-plus kilograms) he has to throw around, said American Jonny Moseley, an Olympic gold medalist who will be a TV commentator for the freestyle events _ moguls, aerials and skicross _ in Vancouver.

“Errol’s got a good shot at the Olympics,” Moseley said. “He’s cut out for the sport.”

Kerr’s background helps in an event that is rowdier than Alpine ski racing, where one athlete races against the clock. In skicross, four competitors speed down a steep, winding course together, taking on banked turns, berms and each other along the way. The first one across the finish line wins.

“It’s very pure, very simple that way,” said Moseley. “But there’s a lot of contact, a lot of strategy and jockeying.”

To viewers, it is dynamic, and anyone who has raced friends down a mountain can relate to the scramble. Snowboardcross drew big crowds and good ratings when it made its Olympic debut at the 2006 Turin Games. Adding skicross will continue to draw younger athletes and fans, said Joseph Fitzgerald, the International Ski Federation’s freestyle race director.

“You watch it on TV and it pops, there’s so much activity,” said Fitzgerald, speaking from San Candido, Italy, site of the skicross World Cup.

Kerr is taking nothing for granted. He spends his days training at Alpine Meadows, a resort at Lake Tahoe that has sponsored him, and in his mother’s front yard, where he built a starting gate with the same specifications as the one in Vancouver and rigged up his own snowmaking machine.

His mother, Catherine Kerr, once a ski racer herself, stands behind the practice gate, counting down: “Racers ready … attention … ”

She lets the gate fly. Errol Kerr springs out, strides. He plants his poles once, and crouches for the first tabletop jump, staying tight and close to the ground. Another stride, another jump. Then he circles back, and goes through it all again … and again … and again, shaving off the precious fractions of a second that could land him ahead of the pack in Vancouver.

Errol Kerr’s late father never strapped on a pair of skis, Errol’s mother said. It would have moved him to see how far his son has come, and to know that he is competing for the island, she said. Kerr said part of his dream was always to race for his father’s country _ under the black, green and yellow flag of Jamaica.

“To be able to see Errol grab a hold of that and say let’s take it a step further, put Jamaica on the map of skiing, it’s beautiful,” she said. “He would just be so proud.”