Celebrating the Christmas holidays abroad can be somewhat of an art form. For us Aussies, who normally celebrate Christmas in summer dresses or shorts and t-shirts, and whose Christmas holidays are opposite to the rest of the world, it can be quite a feat to get the hang of a cold (and sometimes white) Christmas. This is the situation we are in right now. We are about to celebrate our third Christmas in the Northern Hemisphere. Let me tell you, Christmas travel, and being away from home, is kind of weird.
CHRISTMAS IN LONDON
Our first Christmas away from home was in London. We stayed in a great AirBnB on Southampton Road, near Belsize Park and Hampstead Heath. We had only left home a few weeks before and so we were a bit confused about how we could move around, and what we could buy each other, when the following year we would be living out of a backpack. We spent many hours on Pinterest trying to find temporarily decorate a house for Christmas. Samantha, from Going Where the Wind Blows, has had some interesting experiences spending the Christmas holidays abroad in various parts of the world. And Tasha from Meldrums On The Move has some brilliant ideas on sending Christmas gifts. We found cheap toys in the pound shop and buying a special Christmas ornament as a memento was the best idea for the kids – plus they were in London, what better gift could you have? And for us adults, some local wine and cheese, and chocolates from a local chocolatier was the perfect consumable gift. I also splashed out and bought my husband the gift of a course at The River Cottage.
CHRISTMAS IN NORTH WALES
The next Christmas was spent in North Wales. It was beautiful, and we were a bit more accustomed to the cold. We were also in our own “home” so we could decorate a little more freely, although we were still conscious of the number of decorations we bought and the gifts we were giving. Were they able to be packed up and sent home if we decided to move on? Or were they of a price that meant we were okay with just discarding or donating them?
CHRISTMAS IN COUNTY DURHAM
THIS YEAR we are in the Mid North of England. We are in an area called the North Pennines. If you drew a straight line between Workington on the West Coast and Hartlepool on the East Coast, we are pretty much on the halfway point. It takes an hour to get to most places of interest, but only twenty minutes to the nearest village with facilities (as opposed to a village that is just a church and a few farmhouses). We live in an old 1800s farming estate house, and our nearest neighbour is about a kilometre away. If you are an avid hiker or love canoeing or rock climbing, I am sure you have heard of the area, because the Pennine Way goes right past our house, and we are very near the famous High Force Falls. We are also in a recognised black-spot, which means the area is one of the old truly brilliant places to star gaze. It is cold! Our average temperature this week has sat between -2 and 2. Our Kathmandu Merino Thermals are going to come in very handy I think! We’ve finally got a handle on the thermostat though. Thankfully the rooms are quite small so we we have the heating set to turn on at 7am and off again at 10am. Then it is on for an hour in the middle of the day, and an hour at night, to heat the bedrooms before bed. At night time (4pm) we shut up the lounge room and light the coal fire, which keeps us quite cosy for the evening. The rest of the time we are coping pretty well with jumpers, and if we head out, we wear our thick coats and thermals.
What we can’t do:
Unfortunately being this far north does come with its disadvantages. We can’t hike to the waterfalls because the track is closed due to ice. Watersports have all closed for the winter – who’d go in the water any? It’s bad enough washing your hands at the sink! Most of the attractions are closed or on limited hours over the winter. It gets dark at about 4pm. Even the shops in the village are on “winter hours”. It is a very quiet place around here over winter. But we love it. That’s why we wanted to base ourselves here – it is so different. At home (Adelaide, South Australia) in summer when the heat is searing and you can barely breathe from the thickness of the air, the shops still stay open. In fact, you can almost guarantee the shops will be packed because people are trying to save their own electricity, in favour of using up the local department store’s air conditioning. But even cities the roads become somewhat of a ghost town. I guess winter here is a bit like that. If people go out, it is because they have to. The elderly often congregate in the local pub for a night, to sit in the warm and enjoy the fireplace there. We’ve been known to do that instead of bothering to buy another bag of coal and light the fire. It’s easier. But then it gets too cold and people just stay in. Of course, there are some people still have work to do. The farmers in our area are definitely not taking a break.
What we can do:
County Durham does have some beautiful Christmasy events going on over the winter. Least of which is the Durham Lumiere Light Festival! We can’t wait to go have a look of that. And of course, there is the Beamish Christmas at the Beamish Museum.
How we get around:
It has snowed a fair bit over the last few days, and last night I had the ‘pleasure’ of driving in a few inches of snow, in the dark. Luckily we have an AWD car (we bought the car specifically because it would perform well out in the remotest part of the UK, where we live, and handle the snow okay). We didn’t want the expense of snow tyres because we are probably only going to be here for this one winter, so we have all-weather tyres on the back. For the front? Well, let’s just say, I am very thankful for my Genuine AutoSock tyre snow socks. They have made driving in the snow absolutely brilliant. They are much cheaper than snow tyres and make Christmas travel a lot easier!
Christmas in Europe:
If you are heading to Europe there are fantastic activities to do in any of the major centres or villages around the place. Our favourite is Poland, specifically Krakow. You can read the article I wrote for travelpassionate.com on things to do in Krakow over winter. Europe is just quintessentially Christmas. There are markets everywhere, where little old stallholders are rugged up in their coats and scarves, standing in wooden stalls selling their wares. And there are fairy lights, mulled wine, and sugared almonds EVERYWHERE! Freezing your butt off while walking around one of the many Christmas markets in Europe (Nuremberg is the most famous) is something everyone Southerner must do once in their life I think!
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I loved this article. It is fun to read about what Christmas looks like in different parts of the world! 🙂 Enjoy your snow!
Glad you’re getting to enjoy the snow already, we’re still waiting for our first dusting and we’re further north than you but down by the coast. Never heard of snow socks for car tyres – how ingenious. Only had experience of snow chains in New Zealand and they were not easy to put on for first timers!