WINTERS tend to get cold. So spend your time somewhere else warm during winter. Countries which instantaneously ring a bell at this point in time are Australia and New Zealand. It’s the middle of summer in Australia during Christmas season. And during this time, people are still celebrating Christmas even when it is very hot. Temperatures here tend to rise to 36 degrees Celsius. You will surely be donning sleeveless shirts while you’re here.

To arrive in Australia, you arrive at Kingsford-Smith International Airport in Sydney. There are lots of flights coming here from various cities in the world from Rome to Chicago, Manila to Seoul, and Los Angeles to Moscow. Most of these flights are even nonstop. If you want to see an airliner refuel in midair, then select for a nonstop flight. These nonstop flights needed to be reserved early so at this point in time, log on to the Internet and go to the website of travel agencies Expedia and Travelocity.

These travel agencies offer a variety of deals to lure customers in including bundled packages of hotel and flight deals. Make sure though that you need to reserve for round trip air tickets because so you won’t get stranded here beyond vacation time. During Christmas Eve here in Australia, the folks tend to serve turkey just like they do during Thanksgiving in the United States. Malls here are much like what they are in the United Kingdom – adorned with anything Christmas and bedecked with various discounts especially the novelty items. The human atmosphere in malls here are unlike what they are in the United Kingdom though. First, Caucasians here who are the native Australians have that distinctive non-rhotic accent.

Second, there are no black or Hispanic people here. The most compelling group of minorities that you can see are the Chinese, the Taiwanese, the Laotians, the Singaporeans and the Filipinos. Aside from the turkey, Australians also serve Christmas pudding and mince pies on the night of December 25. People in the Gold Coast usually troop to the beaches during the day because it’s the middle of summer here in Australia. Other areas which don’t have beaches and in the middle of the Australian heartland organize outdoor activities such as picnics and various outdoor games like basketball, volleyball, cricket and football.

Even beaches are not spared from these games during Christmas Day. There are such instances of beach flag football or beach volleyball played with women in very skimpy attires. The ultra-conservative Christians and Catholics do not mind as much because temperatures here during the season tend to border on having a heat wave. That’s way better than going somewhere else where you will shiver like Antarctica or the North Pole. Spending Christmas in the North Pole or Antarctica is another novel way to enjoy the holidays. That’s exactly what English and Hollywood actor Orlando Bloom has been doing. Bloom spent Christmas 2006 in North Pole, admiring the serene environment. Wherever you’ll be spending your Christmas, make sure it will be a very merry one.

WINTER doesn’t necessarily mean that it is occurring simultaneously all over the world. Take Australia for example. In the land Down Under, winter happens at its peak during the month of June. This is where students will have their two-month vacation because weather can be particularly shivering here even in the desert areas. There are even places in Australia with high elevations where snowfall occurs. And suffice it to say that there are areas in Australia and New Zealand that are ideal for winter sports such as skating and ice skiing.

In the United States and in Europe, winter occurs during the months of December to February. At this point in time, temperatures tend to fall below -3 degrees Celsius. You need layers and layers of clothing if you want to spend a winter vacation in these areas because you will die of frostbite if you will not do this. And make sure not to don any fiber with cotton because that particular type of fiber tends to absorb moisture making you even colder. Let’s tackle the areas to be visited one by one. Here in Spain, there’s a mountainous region called the Pyrenees which are ideal for winter sports. The Pyrenees are for people who are bored going to the Alps. They simply are more adventurous and would want to go somewhere where the environment is not similar yet eerie as the Alps.

If you want to spend your winter vacation in the United States, the name that automatically comes to mind is Lake Tahoe. Lake Tahoe is situated near the borders of Nevada and California but it’s such a massive area because it comprises a total of 191 square miles. This area is full of a wide array of yummy species which will make for good seafood. Businesses in Lake Tahoe are as diverse as they can be but they all converge into one mission – to lure in more tourists each year. In fact, Lake Tahoe is so popular that it has even hosted one Winter Olympics in the past.

Lots of celebrities ski here including the current governor of California, Arnold Schwarzenegger. Schwarzenegger himself has boosted his governor’s image thanks largely to Lake Tahoe. Schwarzenegger was credited with preventing the South Lake Tahoe fires into an even more dangerous predicament by mobilizing thousands of firefighting equipment just in time by cutting through the bureaucratic red tape. Some of the menus found in the restaurants here in Lake Tahoe are the following: omelette filled with cheese, herbs, artichokes, mushrooms, pepper and cured ham. There’s also potatoes filled with pepper and onions as well as fried bacon, bananas in the form of pancakes dipped in gingered syrup, scrambled eggs with tomato, pork sausage, roasted walnut in waffle form and dipped with strawberry juice mixed with butter, maple syrup and whipped cream, pineapple, melon, orange, coconut, croissants, smoked fish, crab claws and legs, shrimp spring rolls, bass dipped in lime with coriander and many others. There are a lot more barrage of activities here but it remains to be experienced by you.