Video: Top budget travel destinations for '09

It's always right around this time of year when I start longing for a vacation. True, most of us are just back from at least a few days off for Christmas and New Year's, but vacations are kind of like movie popcorn to me: a taste only makes me hungry for more. So I was the perfect audience for the info I got today from a new program called Tuscany: A Journey for the Senses. I'm not crazy about the name (you can't get much more New Age-y than "journey" and "senses," and New Age-y I am not), but I love the concept: a week in Tuscany studying art, architecture, or cooking. There are four programs in all, and they last anywhere from seven to 10 days. The best part? You stay at Fatttoria La Palazzina, a villa in the Val d'Orcia region. To be honest, I don't care if my pastel paintings turn out like my nephew's kindergarten art—if I get to bask by that pool and stare out at the rolling hills every day, I'll be happy. The programs start at about $2,200 for a week, which sounds steep until you consider that it covers your room, classes, local transportation, admission to museums, and meals cooked by the villa's resident chef, Eliana Pasquini. I'm guessing she doesn't serve movie popcorn, but I'm sure I'll find something to tempt me.

For most of the year New York's finest dining is reserved for the city's Trumps and Rockefellers. But during the twelve sweet days of the NYC Restaurant Week each January and June July, the Big Apple is anyone's oyster (or Kobe-beef steak, or butternut squash risotto…). From January 18 to 23 and 25 to 30, over 250 of New York's poshest watering holes will offer $24.07 lunches and $35 dinners. Lunches tend to be two courses, while dinners usually include an appetizer, a main course, and a dessert—which is a relative steal considering that many of these places can charge over $35 for a single entrée. Bookings for choice spots are now available at nycgo.com/restaurantweek, and they go fast. Tourists and locals alike grab at the rare chance to sample offerings from celeb chefs such as Bobby Flay (Mesa Grill), Jean Georges (Perry Street and Spice Market), and Nobu Matsuhisa (Nobu and Nobu Next Door). Or to earn big-city bragging rights by scoring a table at the iconic Smith & Wollensky steakhouse or the legendary Tavern on the Green. My personal favorite splurge is A Voce, a Michelin-starred Italian bistro on the corner of Madison Square Park. To help you match the meal to your palette, NYC & Company has many of the prix-fixe menus posted online, with more to come in the following weeks. Bon appétit! EARLIER Making the most of Restaurant Weeks nationwide

You might think that the recession would mean fewer people on the slopes, prompting resorts to run specials. But au contraire, mon fraire—that's not the case. At least not in New England. I checked around on the websites of the best known ski resorts in New England (such as Stowe, Killington, Sugarloaf, and Loon) and found no true drop in prices being offered compared with this time last year. And the Vermont Ski Areas Association is reporting 17 percent increase in the sales of season tickets, says The Economist. There seems to be two reasons: 1) Many skiers living on the East coast used to fly to West Coast slopes for its broader and more varied terrain. So this winter skiers are trying to save money by skiing closer to home in New England, boosting demand. 2) Resorts have added high-speed lifts and amenity-filled hotels in the past couple of years, and now they have minimum payments to make. They're not in much of a position to cut prices. What to do? Shop aggressively. Since last season, Liftopia.com, the Web discount lift ticket service, has more than doubled its list of ski resorts to 88 mountains. The site has deals nationwide, with the heaviest discounts for resorts in the Rockies. But as of yesterday I saw discounts of roughly 15 to 20 percent at second-tier resorts in New England, such as Smugglers Notch (Vt.), Crotched (N.H.), and Whiteface (N.Y.). Booking a package deal is another option. Expedia, for instance, currently has a winter sale. Some hotels that are located in ski villages are discounting un-booked rooms and bundling them into airfare packages—so if you can't save on lift tickets, at least you can save on the cost of transportation. The Frugal Traveler at the New York Times blogs that the best deals are in combination bus transportation and lift ticket deals. RELATED FROM BUDGET TRAVEL Save money by going to low-key, old-school resorts. Here are ten great ones nationwide: "Shut Up and Ski"