Staying Warm
- January 29th 2008
- Uncategorized
I get this question ALL the time on Yahoo! so I thought I’d put my standard response here. All I’ve learned about traveling when it’s cold.
Traveling anywhere in winter climates is both a good and a bad thing. Good because it is probably the off season (unless you’re traveling to ski) so it will be cheaper. Bad because it means you’ll be cold.
Growing up near Palm Springs, Ca I was born with a fear of being cold. That famous question, would you rather die of cold or heat, always elicited the ‘heat’ answer from me. I was honestly afraid of being cold. One winter my family celebrated Christmas in the local Big Bear Mountains so that we could have a white Christmas. It was beautiful, but skiing and sledding were only interesting to me for a little bit until I got so cold I was just miserable
When my husband attended Loyola of Chicago, we moved to Illinois for a couple of years. I finally had to face my fear of intense cold. It turned out to be not that scary, and yes, I’m still a wimp when it comes to cold. I hate being cold. The secret is to learn how to stay warm. Even though we’re back in California now, I feel empowered to travel to cold climates because I know how to dress and pack to stay warm.
I always start with good long underwear. On advice from my aunt, I paid top-dollar for silk underwear, and it was worth it. Much thinner and easier to wear than cotton, it wicks sweat better and keeps you much warmer. It’s hard to find though, but REI always carries it online. On top of that I always wear running technical socks under my boots, jeans or wool pants, long-sleeved shirts under long-sleved sweaters under down jackets. The keys though are the gloves and the hat/scarf combination. I always prefer a scarf to ear muffs because I hate ear muffs, but my hubby loved ear muffs so it’s personal. The gloves though are essential. If it’s really cold, use thin knit gloves inside mittens, otherwise get double-layered gloves with insulation in them or go for just mittens. Mittens are always warmer, but they don’t allow you to articulate your fingers. The hat should be cute, but warm knit. It doesn’t matter much what kind of hat, but any insulation up there will keep you DEGREES warmer than without.
No comments yet.