It is Tuesday, January 4. The holidays are over. No more Christmas dinners and oliebollen for now, but a slight winter dip. Outside it is cold and, with a little bit of bad luck, it is also cloudy. “Are you OK?” I hear myself say. I remember very well how I felt this time last year. Not too good, and that is a vast understatement.
Many people will recognize it, the winter dip.
Some are not quite in their mood, others are really depressed. Fortunately for me the former is true, but not feeling well is always annoying. When it’s dark and cold outside, you have to depend on yourself a little more and there are just fewer fun things to do. I am already not a fan of winter, but in corona time the walls come down on me completely. Dutch winters generally force you to sit inside a lot. Although, of course, there are beautiful sunny days when you do go outside. A walk through the woods or along the canal in Utrecht is lovely then. But still, it is not my favorite season. I prefer to be outside a lot. And much rather in a climate where you don’t need a winter coat.
Flipflops in January
Therefore, since about six years ago, I always go to a tropical destination in the winter. Where you can go through life on your flip-flops without freezing your toes off. The first time I went on a tour of South Africa. When I do it, I do it right. How wonderful that was. Then I decided to seek the sun every year in the winter. That avoids having months of bad weather. Until about October it is fine in the Netherlands, and from March I am more positive, so a tropical trip in between is highly recommended.
Workation to Stockholm
Now I’m just telling you that I love going to warm destinations, but in 2020 I went to Stockholm in February. That doesn’t exactly fit the tropical theme, but the reason I went there has everything to do with working from abroad. After all, that was my second workation. I really wanted to go to Sweden, and especially Stockholm, but thought it was too cold and a shame to do that as a summer vacation, because I don’t think it would be warm enough there.
So then the idea came up to go there as a workation, best of both worlds.
I took 2 days off and the rest of the week I just worked. That way I could still go to Sweden, but it didn’t come at the expense of my vacation days for the tropics. When I go far away I generally also want to be completely offline, not working part time.
Tip against the winter dip
Hanging the garlands yourself is a terrible cliché, but true. At 2 degrees, rain and cold, I also prefer to lose myself completely in self-pity, with a cup of tea and 3 chocolate bars under my blanket on the couch, but no one comes to rescue you from your own misery. So let’s get out our laptop and find a nice destination to cheer ourselves up. Not only the trip itself, but also the fun before the trip gives me a boost. Then I have some positive energy again in no time.
Winter 2021 in Spain
The summer in Holland was very disappointing, which made me want to go to the sun much more. It already flew at me in October to sit for months more in the cold. And so the plan to spend the winter in Spain was born. But I didn’t think 2 weeks was enough, I wanted a long period working from abroad. I felt like a granny going to spend the winter in Benidorm, and my friends often made that joke. But hey, I’m going to the sun, joe joe. My employer is very easy in this, many people work for us from abroad. My work as an event manager makes it a little more difficult for me, because I have to be somewhere on location regularly, but between mid-November and mid-February I did have the freedom to go, and so I packed my backpack and went for it. Now I’m in Spain for 3 months. Not a winter dip in sight! Reading tip: 2 months living and working in Valencia
