Let Travel Put Some Colour Into Your Winter

Winter is Coming.

Are you feeling it yet?

That dull feeling that creeps into your soul as the days get shorter and darker. That heaviness in your spirit as the sky gets heavier and the clouds grow thicker.

Although I love dry, cold, snowy winters, there is that period (usually November and February) when things are simply, dismal.

It’s at times like this that I like to delve deep into my travel memories—and photographs—to remind myself of one of the many things about travel to instantly lift my mood.

Colour

Travel exposes you to a myriad of experiences: a vivid kaleidoscope of colour. Foreign cities are electrifying  places where local architecture, nature, clothes and foods pulsate a palette of colour different to our hometowns.

Often a colour reminds me of a place I have travelled to. Here are 7 of my favourite colour travel memories:

Blue: Iceland There are so many places that could remind me of the colour blue, anywhere near the ocean would work, but when it comes to blue Iceland totally nails it. Blue in Iceland comes in many shades; from the pale milky blue of a lagoon to the cold, hard blue of ice and the leaden grey blue of the sky—the hues of Iceland are like nothing else I’ve seen.

Green: Arctic Circle Meadow, forest, jungle—green is pretty much everywhere, but the dancing green lights of the Arctic are my favourite green ever!

Pink: India My impression of India so far is that it’s pink. Dusk is pink, dawn is pink. Sunrise is pink, sunset is pink. And I haven’t even been to Jaipur, the pink city yet.

Red: Argentina The Casa Rosada splashed by the setting sun, a glass of malbec on a traditional finca, steak sizzling on the parilla, and the sultry colours of tango – was there really another contender for the colour red?

White: Salar De Uyuni The salt flats of Uyuni boast a vast, flat landscape of white as far as the eye can see, cue lots of tourists pulling silly perspective poses. Yes, we joined in. It’s a dazzling sight, sunglasses are a requisite!

Turquoise: Cornwall Under an overcast sky, the sea in Cornwall is the most beautiful turquoise jade colour, comparable only perhaps to some of the waters I saw in the Balkans. Cornwall must be the only place in the UK that I wish for a few clouds just to see that colour.

Purple: Chile Purple is my favourite colour so I was happy from the moment we first entered Chile through heather-clad mountain passes. Funky street art and the lilac-painted houses of Valparaiso surrounded me. I even bought a purple sweater in Chile to blend in.

Which colours remind you of places that you have visited?