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Never gone tropical in winter, except once


shootingstar

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In all these years, only once in my life, I've gone somewhere else tropical in the middle of snowy/icy winter.  At the time, it was escaping from Vancouver BC at that time, is not really escaping hardship.  So we went to Maui for 5 days.  I actually found it too humid. And didn't spend time lying around in sun on beach.

Since my early 20's, I've had no desire to lie out on the beach.  I tan too easily and now cycling as part of my lifestyle, I don't need more sun. I've never been a beach person. No, I'm not self-conscious about wearing a swimsuit. I don't know how to swim, so water stuff is not in me.  No, I'm not interested learning how to swim.

So all the talk everyone I've known, to escape to Mexico, Las Vegas, Carribbean, Florida, Arizona or anywhere warm in the world, is kinda of lost on me.  I actually haven't been envious to go to hotter /humid /warmer places.  Doesn't mean I enjoy days of icy/snowy crap. So rainy Vancouver days is ok. Can be grey. But ok...compared to  -25 to  -30 degrees C winter snow/ice where I've been working and living in past few years.

I know I've lost my tolerance for high humid hot weather.

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13 minutes ago, Dirtyhip said:

We went to Granada in Dec a few years ago.  It was great, but coming back during one of our worst cold snaps in a while was shuddering.  It made the transition difficult. I was really cold when I first got home.  We went from mid 80's to -28. 

I would think that nice warm vacation would fly past and that first morning in the cold would feel like the worst day of your life. 

I've never been anywhere tropical, period, unless Pasadena counts.

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1 hour ago, Dirtyhip said:

I thought I was going to die.  HAHA

While living in Florida I often wondered why and to who they sell heavy football jackets in the stores.  I thought it might be tourists right up till the first time the temperature dropped to 60.  Then I found out what the locals wear when they are scared to death of the weather.

Then there's my oldest coming home from Malaysia for Christmas.  He is going to be an icicle.

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I think it's what you were accustomed to growing up.  The beach was my babysitter in the summer. My mom would pack us a lunch and drop us off at 8 am with our surfboards and pick us up at 4 pm most of the summer.  When I got older I just rode my bike to the beach, surf board under one arm.

Surfing was my escape after my dad died and I surfed every day the summer of 1981.  I have an inner ear condition so gave my board to my brother so I wouldn't drown myself but I do miss it.  

The ocean calls to me and I go to the beach often, usually weekly.  I can sit in the sand and listen to the waves crash and it can be 90 degrees or 40 degree and raining, I don't care.  In fact a cold rainy day at the beach is magical. It's just completely devoid of people and so peaceful.

To each their own but give me the beach any time of the year.

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51 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

While living in Florida I often wondered why and to who they sell heavy football jackets in the stores.  I thought it might be tourists right up till the first time the temperature dropped to 60.  Then I found out what the locals wear when they are scared to death of the weather.

Then there's my oldest coming home from Malaysia for Christmas.  He is going to be an icicle.

I get the chiding when we complain of the cold when it's 50 degrees, it's the same when Northerners complain about 100 degree weather.  

A 40 degree drop whether it's from 70 to 30 or 90 to 50 is noticeable.  Yeah man 60 degrees is chilli for us just as 90 degrees is miserably hot for many of you.

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19 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I think it's what you were accustomed to growing up.  The beach was my babysitter in the summer. My mom would pack us a lunch and drop us off at 8 am with our surfboards and pick us up at 4 pm most of the summer.  When I got older I just rode my bike to the beach, surf board under one arm.

Surfing was my escape after my dad died and I surfed every day the summer of 1981.  I have an inner ear condition so gave my board to my brother so I wouldn't drown myself but I do miss it.  

The ocean calls to me and I go to the beach often, usually weekly.  I can sit in the sand and listen to the waves crash and it can be 90 degrees or 40 degree and raining, I don't care.  In fact a cold rainy day at the beach is magical. It's just completely devoid of people and so peaceful.

To each their own but give me the beach any time of the year.

I used to love those winter days in Virginia when I live on the water.  It was empty beaches and smooth sandy places to take long walks without the noise and crowds.  

Then I'd turn around and cross the street along with the blowing newspaper and have breakfast.

Key West in the 60's was different.  It was primarily a Navy town with some tourist business.  It was possible to find almost empty beaches even in the height of summer. 

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6 minutes ago, ChrisL said:

I get the chiding when we complain of the cold when it's 50 degrees, it's the same when Northerners complain about 100 degree weather.  

A 40 degree drop whether it's from 70 to 30 or 90 to 50 is noticeable.  Yeah man 60 degrees is chilli for us just as 90 degrees is miserably hot for many of you.

I lived in Key West for 2 years.  At 60 I was looking for permission to wear my peacoat.  The Navy sometimes made allowances for an early changeover from whites to blues down there.

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2 minutes ago, maddmaxx said:

I used to love those winter days in Virginia when I live on the water.  It was empty beaches and smooth sandy places to take long walks without the noise and crowds.  

Then I'd turn around and cross the street along with the blowing newspaper and have breakfast.

Key West in the 60's was different.  It was primarily a Navy town with some tourist business.  It was possible to find almost empty beaches even in the height of summer. 

One of my favorite memories was going to Newport Beach on a rainy night and being huddled under a canopy with my family drinking a hot cocoa.  I said we can go, we don't need to stand here.  Kids said no we're good.  So we huddled under the canopy watching the surf & rain drinking our cocoa literally the only people at the beach.

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I am going to the Big Island in February. I had wanted to go the end of January, but my schedule required me to push it a little later. I do hope the coldest of winter is gone by the time I arrive home in early March. The nicest things about Hawaii is that if you don’t like the weather, you can travel 30 minutes and find another climate, and there are sooo many things to do. You don’t need to stay in a humid or rainy location, or go to the beach to have an amazing time.

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Our Haiti mission trips are usually in the winter. Nice to be where it’s warm but we still come back to winter. In 2013 we left low 90’s in Haiti and woke up at home 15 hours later to -34.

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1 hour ago, ChrisL said:

I get the chiding when we complain of the cold when it's 50 degrees, it's the same when Northerners complain about 100 degree weather.  

A 40 degree drop whether it's from 70 to 30 or 90 to 50 is noticeable.  Yeah man 60 degrees is chilli for us just as 90 degrees is miserably hot for many of you.

Move to the St. Louis area. We usually have at least one spell of over 100°F in the summer and something below 0°F in the winter.

The worse change that I ever experienced was in New Mexico. It was over 90°F when I went to work in the afternoon and was below freezing when I got off work at midnight. You can imagine the winds that brought in that weather change. We worked outside and a lot of my coworkers didn't hear about the upcoming weather change and didn't even bring a jacket.

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2 hours ago, sheep_herder said:

I prefer to not go to warmer climates during winter.  The return and working outside is too much of a shock. Except for once or twice, I did not go to business meetings that were held in warmer climates in February.

I would feel psychologically worse....coming back to very cold winter  after warmer/tropical climate weather. 

It's enough to return back to prairies...from Vancouver.  Over 70% of the time I would be in Vancouver, there would be a snow dump, windstorm, or very cold temperature drop in Alberta.  And then returning to Alberta/work and to me, less beautiful surroundings, it's a slight downer.  I don't need the deeper shock of far more contrasting weather/temp. between very warm vs. very cold.

Never, say never.  But I honestly have not been oriented at all to yearn often for a tropical vacation to escape winter.

 

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24 minutes ago, JerrySTL said:

Move to the St. Louis area. We usually have at least one spell of over 100°F in the summer and something below 0°F in the winter.

The worse change that I ever experienced was in New Mexico. It was over 90°F when I went to work in the afternoon and was below freezing when I got off work at midnight. You can imagine the winds that brought in that weather change. We worked outside and a lot of my coworkers didn't hear about the upcoming weather change and didn't even bring a jacket.

When I go fishing in the Sierras it's often like that.  High 30's before sunrise and 90's mid day.  I usually dress so I'm a little cold in the am and comfortable mid day.

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Visited a friend in the Caymans late March 3 years ago. It was later than our original plan due to a passport hold-up. I have been to oceans on nice days, but the beaches there are so clean. Even during peak cruise season in the winter, it's still not bad because most of the cruise people are back on the boats by 2pm. The beaches are pretty peaceful the rest of the day! I learned to snorkel and loved it! I would love to have a kayak down there to paddle across the bay. 

Our girls live in Arizona now. We helped them move almost 2 years ago. It was -12F when we left here. We spent a week there with temps in the 50s-70 all week. We returned into a very cold wind in the low 20s. That was rough, but the weather break helped me. It's not even so much the temperature as the color deprivation that gets me! Grays skies, brown grass and trees. That gets me more than anything!  As for desert heat, I have been there when it was 115. Yes. It's hot, but the shade works! Here, it's typically quite humid when temps reach the 90s. I was more comfortable at a desert 115!

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