Honduras is no secret to backpackers, but for the more upscale crowd the small country is constantly overlooked for the more developed beaches and rainforest of Costa Rica and Panama. Here in lies the opportunity: Instead of competing for white sand real estate or crowded canopy zip line tours, head to Honduras for vast cloud forests, virgin rivers, and warm locals. Guest guide Tim Shisler takes us along as his raft careens through two-story high rock walls, flies along a zipline and explores Honduras in Central America.

Photo:  © Tim Shisler

Dozens of snowkiters will attach themselves to giant kites so they can harness the wind during Kite Soldier 2010, put on by Snowkite Soldier, in central Idaho Feb. 19-21. Some of these riders on skis and snowboards will fly hundreds of feet in the air, while others will reach speeds in excess of 60 miles per hour, as they zip through a 14-mile course heading uphill thousands of feet to mountain peaks around Idaho's Camas Valley.

During the infamous Poker Run, snowkiters will go through five checkpoints, collecting a poker card at each one.  The snowkiters with the highest hands will take away thousands in prizes at the award party Saturday night.

Not sure if you want to try snowkiting?  If you are an intermediate skier or snowboarder or better, get ready to learn. There are several places you can start snowkiting in the West.

Photo by Aaron Beck

If so, you have another two weeks to put together a video conveying "What Inspires You to Ski Tour?"  Canadian Mountain Holidays, one of the longest running and most popular companies offering heli-skiing in the winter and heli-hiking in the summer, has partnered with ARC'TERYX, to offer the "What Inspires You to Ski Tour?" contest winner an all-expenses-paid trip for two. The winner and companion  get a seven-day Heli-Assisted Ski tour at the Adamant Lodge in Western Canada from April 2-10, 2010.  For all the details, rules and regulations visit "What Inspires You to Ski Tour?". The contest ends February 15, 2010.

If you're a cold-weather vacationer, have you gone dog sledding yet?  With some companies, you just sit back in the sled and enjoy the scenery, while a musher controls the dogs as they drag the sled through meadows and trails in the woods. Other companies, however, teach you skills to control the dogs and steer the sled.

Here are some places where you can take a dog-sled tour.   Lots of winter resorts, especially ski resorts, also offer dog-sled rides as an alternative to a day on the slopes.

Adventure travel trends keep evolving. Here's a look at some of the predictions for 2010. And, a look back at how we have all been adventuring during the last decade.  Tell us your adventure travel plans for the upcoming year.

Anytime I find a good read, it's a pleasure to sit down for a few minutes and see how other journalists craft adventure travel articles.   HighOnAdventure.com publishes roughly a month, only online. If you enjoy armchair reading about adventure travel, peruse some of the tales by a group of experienced travel journalists, whose joyful (and sometimes not so pleasantl) experiences are recorded in tales of meandering around the globe. The colorful pictures that go along with the articles tell their own stories.

Would you like to overnight in an underwater lodge, an ice hotel or a treehouse?  How about a yurt, a jail or a cave?  About.com's Guide to Canada Travel,  Jane McLean, has put together a carnival blog about Weird and Wacky Accommodations around the world.  In her blog, you'll find a link to my choices for weird and wacky places to spend the night.

Snowkiting - when wind power from a kite hooked to a harness lets you ski or snowboard fresh backcountry powder for hours - is a fast growing sport. Picture yourself skimming atop virgin powder snow in an open meadow, on a frozen lake or sliding down a mountainside. When the wind is right, you'll fly off the ground and sail from 10- to 45-feet in the air as your kite scoops up wind and billows. Snowkiting is a true adventure sport and you can try it in Colorado, Utah and Idaho.

It's summer in Australia and the scuba diving is spectacular on the Great Barrier Reef.  On Lady Elliot Island, which is actually part of the reef, divers just walk off the shore and swim between coral canyons.  A stingray swam over my head, while I looked into the open mouth of a giant clam.   If you want closer spectacular diving, there's always Bonaire, one of the ABC islands in the Caribbean,where you can also walk off the shore and sink into a colorful coral and fish-filled underwater world.

Lady Elliot Island photo courtesy of Clint Hempsall

It's the middle of cold and flu season, so what can you do to make sure you stay healthy during a trip? Here are some suggestions to help ensure you stay healthy throughout your vacation. These are sources where you can find health tips you need to know before leaving on a trip, such as which vaccinations you may need, plus tips for staying healthy while on vacation.