Start the New Year the way you mean to go on, and get moving. Here are ten excellent reasons to get away from it all this January. Our fab featured image is by Hugo Quintero.
1. Get away from the cold and head to Southern Hemisphere
If you get Seasonal Affective Disorder (amusingly abbreviated to SAD), then simply don’t allow your body to bog you down with that nonsense – miss out winter entirely and get yourself down to the Southern Hemisphere.
You can head straight into summer by flying south of the equator and feel pleased yet at the same time confused whenever you see a calendar down there.
2. It’s skiing season
The good thing about the middle of winter is the snowfall in more mountainous areas is pretty consistent and ready to yield to your skis.
Across Europe, the Alps, Carpathians and Pyrenees all enjoy an influx of people ready to gleefully careen down dangerously steep slopes with nothing but sticks on their feet.
You can’t do that in the summer and that’s why summer sucks sometimes.
3. New York Hotel Week
Have you heard of New York? It’s this place that fancies itself as the capital of the world and is full of expensive cool stuff.
Best time to visit has to be New York Hotel Week, when the exalted hotels lower the prices and welcome us bargain-hunting ne’er-do-wells with welcome arms.
Some hotels are even allowing you to stay there for as much as a fifth of their normal price. Book now, you fool!
4. Have a SECOND Christmas
While a lot of Westerners think the Gregorian calendar is the bee’s knees, there are a few countries out dominated by Eastern Orthodox churches still observing Christmas according to the Julian calendar.
In Russia, Serbia, Georgia and Ukraine, Christmas Day is actually January the 7th, so head there quick to make sure Santa has plenty to do on his second round this winter.
5. There’s loads of sport to spectate
Ever heard of the Australian Open? It’s like Wimbledon but with Antipodean accents. This year’s event in Melbourne runs from January 14 to 27, so while you’re out there, the fortnight includes Australia Day on the 26th, the country’s annual self-celebration.
Brisbane commemorates this special day with the Cockroach Racing World Championship, which is, well, one of the quirkiest races we’ve heard of.
6. Latvia adopted the Euro as its currency of choice
Latvia is joining the Eurozone so all those Euros you’ve got left over from those skiing trips in France and Germany can be put to good use on a city break to Riga this January.
In other globalist news, citizens of Romania and Bulgaria can work without restrictions and Sofia, Varna, Bucharest, Cluj and all the other intriguing delights of the region are sure to make the travel sections of the mainstream media.
7. It’s always party time somewhere
Every weekend in January, Cape Town in South Africa is host to the Kaapse Klopse festival, which commemorates the country’s history in a weekly cavalcade of colour and dance.
For something more reserved, the Sydney Festival in Australia is three weeks of free music, art and theatrical performances.
If you want to slum it though, head to Christchurch in New Zealand for the World Buskers Festival – a ten-day endurance test for people who like to throw change at people singing in the street.
8. Stay in (Utah) and watch films
The world’s most famous independent movie smorgasbord, the Sundance Film Festival, is on from January 16 to 26 in Park City, Utah.
Hob-knob with the stars and maybe even see Robert Redford, as you haphazardly walk into random theatres and chance upon films about space cowboys eating pudding.
9. Shop till you drop
Dubai is not only sunny in January, but it’s also home to the Dubai Shopping Festival.
The city’s vast network of modern and exclusive shopping centres spends the entire month hosting music, fashion and sport performances, in amongst all their shops.
It’s a shopaholic’s dream come true – and their accountant’s nightmare.
10. Last but not least, Schadenfreude
Everybody hates January, but you can feel supremely smug about being on holiday while everyone else is busy gasping at their Christmas credit card bill.
Make sure you log into social media often to get the most out of your smugness.
Hell is other people, but heaven is other people’s hell.
