It's Always Spring Somewhere!

Good morning, Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holics!

Why do I call you that? Well, I've noticed that the number of unique daily readers of this blog has grown incredibly quickly. Within just a few weeks, readership already exceeds what it took my first site to accomplish in three years!

So you must like what you find here . . . and you must be telling your friends. Thanks!

Today's subject was triggered by an e-mail from a student of mine in Germany. He complained that after a long winter, it's still cold there.

I can relate to that. The weather only turned warm here in Boston in the last few days . . . and it's so warm that it feels more like summer (which arrives in a few days) than spring.

We each have our favorite times of the year. For some it's the dead of winter with lots of ice and snow and roaring fires. For others, it's the laziest of beach days with summer haze gently screening the scorching sun. For many in New England, it's those days of peak colors when our trees put on their annual gaudy show. For those who don't like winter, though, there's nothing quite like spring.

Spring in New England can be a disappointment . . . with the weather going from damp and cold to unbearably hot in just a week or so. But it doesn't have to be that way.

Because the earth is tilted on its axis, the timing and duration of spring is different across the globe. Everyone, I'm sure, remembers that when it's spring in the northern hemisphere, it's autumn in the southern hemisphere. That means that Spring-a-Holics have two chances to enjoy their favorite season. Right? Wrong!

Actually, there are spring-like conditions going on somewhere in every month of the year. For instance, spring comes later to the areas closest to the poles and earlier for those areas closer to the equator. So you can scale into spring (if you live in the northern hemisphere) by simply starting further south. Then you will see why spring training for the baseball season usually begins in Florida and Arizona. While the streets are piled high with snow in Boston, it's already late spring in Florida.

But it's even better than that. Some areas have unusual micro climates that cause spring-like conditions to extend well into summer. San Diego and San Francisco are both like that. In fact, newcomers to San Francisco can be unpleasantly surprised to find that July can be the coldest and foggiest month of the year as they shiver in their summer gear. The warming atmosphere meets the cold Pacific waters to create massive amounts of fog that keep the warmth away. For an extended spring, I prefer San Diego and Santa Barbara. Their weather is pretty similar all year around and spring flowers have a long season.

But it's harder to find the right time to visit various areas than you might think it is. Everyone with a little romance in their hearts has wanted to be in Paris during April. But for most years, that's horrible advice. It usually rains every day. It's not warm . . . and you will be lucky if you avoid pneumonia. The only good news is that the museums and tourist sites are pretty empty.

The true Live Better than a Billionaire-a-Holic handles this problem in two ways. They check out what the weather is like with the locals before visiting . . . and they learn to travel for business and pleasure to maximize their enjoyment of their favorite seasons and weather conditions.

An added benefit of this approach can be to time trips so that the tourists who love such areas are in smaller than usual numbers. Otherwise, masses of humanity can put a damper on your fun.

So while the billionaire is working 16 hours a day to compound her or his money, you can be lazing in ideal conditions while spending little as you enjoy off-season specials. With discount air fares being available to more and more places, you'll find that it's realistic to consider the opposite hemisphere . . . even for just a few days.

While preparing for a trip to Europe one night a few years ago, my wife and I were startled to run into a client who was the treasurer of a large international airline. We asked him where he was going. "Rio," he quickly replied as he sprinted off. "They have great sales this weekend." He later explained that because he worked for the airline, he and his wife could travel anywhere as long as there were two empty seats just by paying for the airlines taxes. With the money they saved on shopping, they were always in the clover.

Donald W. Mitchell, Your Dream Concierge

Copyright 2005 Donald W. Mitchell

Be sure to check out my blog dated May 16, 2005 on how to plan Your Dad's Best Father's Day! and May 30, 2005 on Plan Your Best Fourth of July!