This is an elementary question about travel that nags at me every time my wife and I plan a trip. We would like to go back to Mexico next January.

1. Which should we arrange first, plane tickets or housing? We're flexible about which week we go as long as it's in January. I always fret about buying plane tickets and then not being able to find lodging. We know where we want to go and even where we want to stay.

2. Since we're flexible and not tied to specific dates, when is the best time to fly in order to get the best prices, that is, is it cheaper to fly midweek or should we plan to fly on weekends?

Sorry to trouble you all with what must be fairly elementary questions but I checked the archives and didn't find anything that seemed to directly address this. (Maybe because the answers are ones everybody already knows.)

Thanks...John in Oregon