Next, research to pick a destination for this year's snowshoeing. Lots of time spent on the Lech, Austria, Swiss, Val d'Isere, Tignes (both Val d'Isere and Tignes in France with Tignes one of my personal favorites) websites checking out hotel prices.

Caveat, it will not be cheap if you choose a hotel with half-pension (breakfast and dinner included) whether it be a 2** or 3***, 4**** and 5*****'s being completely out of the ballpark for us. Less to book a condo/apartment and do your own cooking, anathema to me. Hey...I cook at home all the time. It is also no cheaper to take breakfast only and eat out at night. Average dinner prices in Europe have always been double the price of an American meal. We are so spoiled with giant pizzas for $5 U.S., etc. A restaurant meal will always run from 25-35 Euros a person. Opt for half-pension.

It's also important that whatever ski area we pick has a giant ski circus with predominantly blue and red trails (easy and medium) for us to hike up on snowshoes.

The last step was to examine train ticket prices. Would it be less to buy a pass from Rail Europe or just roundtrip tickets? Visit the SNCF (France), SBB (Switzerland) and Deutsche Bahn (Germany) websites.

Back and forth, pros and cons, France, Italy, Switzerland or Austria, eeny-meeny-miney-mo, a drum roll please....the winner is.....St. Anton am Arlberg.

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