When Temperature Matters

Cost and quality of living and internet availability and infrastructure play significant roles when its time to choose our next destination. Some secondary factors include food scenery (yes, we love good food), availability of public transportation (I haven’t driven a car for years and happily continue this trend), political situation (well, this is a relatively new one since we are not crazy enough to visit World’s most dangerous destinations. However, even Thailand with its recent coup created an unexpected inconvenience from an insurance point of view), etc.… Obviously, a destination’s climate is somewhere on the list, but not at the top. After experiencing -20C in St. Petersburg and +40C in Kuala Lumpur anything in between is Ok. Obviously, for our slow travel destination we are not going to accept Iceland or Alice Springs in the winter or any place in India any time of the year. Extreme conditions are for vacations. If you have to work, a reasonable level of comfort is crucial.

Long story short, we ended up in Sofia exactly a month ago. It was an excellent choice: friendliest people with almost every other person speaking English, fantastic food, wines and spirits, flying Internet and an endless list of things to do and see. Perfect! Seriously, if you are contemplating your next move – go to Sofia… in summer. That’s the catch, at least for us.

Apparently, after half a year in Thailand and 3 sunny months in Andalucia, our bodies adapted to warmer conditions. When we just arrived in Chiang Mai, I was amused by the sight of locals wearing coats and hats when it was +25C outside. Now I absolutely on their side. In the past week, day’s temperature dropped from balmy mid-20s to mid-10s, and I was freezing. A year ago when we were in Seattle, I was wearing t-shirt during the same conditions.

During April, the hottest month in Chiang Mai, we asked ourselves which is worse – heat or cold. Brr, I know the answer now. If there were a time machine, I would jump back into April’s heat in a bit.

Some fond memories from warm[er] days: