Don't take the weather with you

Timing a mid-winter break is tricky. Photo / iStock

Choosing the perfect time for your mid-winter break is tricky but crucial, writes Shandelle Battersby.

I made a serious tactical error with my holidays this year - a rookie mistake for a Travel staffer, I agree - and took them way too early, aeons ago, back in May.

I thought the sun shone all year round in California - the state is in the middle of a devastating drought for the love of God - but I found out the soggy way that Disneyland is not the Happiest Place on Earth in torrential rain, and had to wear everything in my suitcase at the same time when we went to Yosemite National Park, which was threatening snow.

Timing a mid-winter break is tricky.

Ideally about this time of year you're just back from a jaunt to the islands, Asia or Europe, glowing with a tan and ready to slog through the last few weeks of cold weather.

Travelling during the July school holidays can be painful and extra expensive, but many people have no choice.

If you can avoid doing this, then I reckon Asia or the islands are best in late July/early August.

You don't want to end up in Central Europe in peak season (July and August) because a) it's too hot to move and b) that's when all the Europeans head to the beaches for their summer break. It's better to go in June or September but that means putting up with New Zealand's winter at its worst.

You also don't want to leave your holiday too late because there's no point suffering through the cold, rainy days and nights and getting sick, only to head away exhausted and vitamin D-deprived just as the weather is coming right.

A friend is about to head to Samoa for a holiday, but he suffered through several weeks of illness first. He told me last week he had to de-ice his windscreen three mornings in a row. He's been counting down for weeks. If he doesn't get on that plane soon I fear there'll be tears.

Another friend has left it all too late and has been trying to head somewhere in the islands but either everything is booked out, or it's prohibitively expensive. She's settled for a few days in Melbourne instead.

This feeling may be more of an Auckland thing - I was in Nelson/Marlborough a couple of weekends ago and although it was freezing (-3C first thing in the morning), the skies were clear and the sun was shining. The locals didn't seem jaded at all, rather they appeared invigorated by the brisk weather and I was too.

Maybe up here we just get so tired of the perpetual rain that it overshadows any enjoyment of rugging up and sitting by a fire.

Of course, as I found in California, there's no way to guarantee you'll get your timing right weather-wise at the other end, but I guess the idea is to minimise the room for error.

I'm already contemplating next year's mid-winter getaway, and I'll be making sure there's plenty of sunshine to look forward to.

What are your travel strategies for getting through winter? Email travel@nzherald.co.nz