{"id":40379,"date":"2016-02-15T14:59:54","date_gmt":"2016-02-15T20:59:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?p=40379"},"modified":"2018-02-27T16:31:29","modified_gmt":"2018-02-27T22:31:29","slug":"7-reasons-to-love-winter","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/","title":{"rendered":"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter"},"content":{"rendered":"

Main image: Harbin Ice Festival by LiYan via zh.wikipedia<\/em><\/p>\n

Though the weather outside may be frightful\u2014although thus far this year that’s not been the case\u2014it’s no reason to hide under the covers until March 20. Instead, dare to look the coldest season of the year right in the eye and put the win back in winter by jumping into your best Ugg boots and thermal undies and hitting the great outdoors. Here are 7 reasons to love winter.<\/p>\n

Also: The world’s best ski resorts for beginners<\/a><\/p>\n

\"Winter\"<\/a><\/p>\n

Harbin International Ice and Snow Sculpture Festival: Harbin, China
\n<\/strong>The largest ice festival in the world began in 1963 with a local following and has since grown into an annual global event and competition that kicks off every January 5 and lasts a full month with many attractions available to the public much longer (weather permitting). Alpine ski, take a wintry plunge into the Songhua River or take in festival attractions like the enormous ice sculptures on Snow Island or the nighttime illuminated Ice and Snow World. Bring a coat: The average winter temperaturein Harbin<\/a> is 1.8 degrees.<\/p>\n

\"Polar

Polar bear spotting in Canada<\/p><\/div>\n

Polar Bear Tours: Churchill, Canada<\/strong>
\nNo one books a trip to tiny Churchill in the dead of winter for expecting raging nightlife. This Hudson Bay hamlet in the northern province of Manitoba is known as the “polar bear capital of the world” and its here that the masses flock to get up close and personal with the bear via wilderness hikes and tundra vehicles. Looking for a reason to stay up after hours in sleepy Churchill? Slap on\u00a0 your warmest parkaand gaze upward into the starry sky; Churchill is one of the top three places on earth to see the Northern Lights.<\/p>\n

\"Park

Park City, Utah<\/p><\/div>\n

Sundance Film Festival: Park City, Utah
\n<\/strong>Utah is as good a state as any to see stars, but in Park City<\/a> the stargazing happens at eye level from January 21-31 as celebrities, deal makers and industry insiders converge upon this ebullient ski town for a ten days of independent cinema. Sundance is where indie darlings like Heathers<\/em>, PI<\/em>, The Blair Witch Project<\/em> and Napolean Dynamite<\/em> broke out and the festival has swelled into a marquee event for cinephiles and scene seekers. Even if the movies aren’t your thing, the surrounding snow-capped mountains sure are gorgeous, with some of the best skiing around.<\/p>\n

\"Sweden's

Sweden’s ICEHOTEL<\/p><\/div>\n

ICEHOTEL: Jukkasj\u00e4rvi, Sweden
\n<\/strong>You have to love winter to enjoy a stay at ICEHOTEL, since this chic Swedish<\/a> lodging crafted entirely of ice literally melts tonothing every spring and is rebuilt again from scratch the following season. The first such hotel of its kind has become somewhat of a marquee bucket list attraction thanks to its remote location more than 120 miles north of the Arctic Circle and its commitment to ephemeral, 3-D art installations in deluxe rooms. Bed frames and rooms are made entirely of ice, but the bedding will keep you plenty toasty.<\/p>\n

\"Polar

Polar Plunge Chicago<\/p><\/div>\n

Polar Plunge: Chicago, IL
\n<\/strong>You got to give the Windy City<\/a> some credit\u2014it hasa pretty brassy mayor. In 2014, Rahm Emanuel convinced Tonight Show<\/em> host Jimmy Fallon to jump into the icy waters of Lake Michigan\u2014wearing a three piece suit no less\u2014as part of the city’s annual Polar Plunge which happens Sunday, March 6 in 2016 and benefits Special Olympics Chicago. Lady Gaga has also taken part in the event which happens in waves at the city’s iconic North Avenue Beach. With an El Nino year upon us, now might be the time to take part.<\/p>\n

\"Snow

Snow sculptures at Fur Rondy<\/p><\/div>\n

Fur Rendezvous: Anchorage, AK
\n<\/strong>Alaskans<\/a> probably reserve a hearty chuckles when they hear folks in the lower 48 complain about cold temperatures and at the annual Fur Rendezvous, aka “the Rondy,” residents give old man winter a celebratory bear hug in the form of a ten day festival\u2014happening February 26-March 6, 2016\u2014that includes an outdoor carnival, a snow sculpture competition, sled dog races, the World Championship Outdoor Hockey Tournament, live figure skating, the Frostbite Footrace, fireworks and much more.<\/p>\n

\"Santa

Santa Speedo Run | Photo: Jeremy T. Hetzel from Boston via Wikimedia Commons<\/p><\/div>\n

Santa Speedo Run: Boston, MA<\/strong>
\nThis annual dash, in which revelers dress in nothing but a tiny red swimsuit, happens annually in cities like Atlanta, Chicago, Denver and others, but we have to give Beantown<\/a> credit for inventing this merry tradition back in December 2000 when five dudes decided to sprint down touristy Newbury Street wearing nothing but Santa hats, white beards and Speedos. More than a decade later the annual charity event has turned into a phenomenon that has raised more than $1.2 million for children’s charities. Santa would be proud.<\/p>\n

\"Orbitz<\/a><\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

These destinations and events make winter a season worth savoring.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":89,"featured_media":42214,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":"","_links_to":"","_links_to_target":""},"categories":[4,28,44,21],"tags":[2660,2721],"class_list":["post-40379","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-california","category-europe","category-florida","category-midwest","tag-adventure","tag-winter"],"acf":{"api_active":null,"api_title":null,"api_excerpt":null,"api_featured_image":null,"api_lob":null},"posts_api_cpm_point":[{"name":"","description":"","thumbnail":"","address":"Jianshe Rd, Hulan Qu, Haerbin Shi, Heilongjiang Sheng, China","latitude":"45.9796688","longitude":"126.60248079999997","icon":"\/images\/icons\/marker.png"}],"yoast_head":"\nCold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter | Orbitz<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Old man winter got you feeling blue? Here are 7 reasons to love winter.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter | Orbitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Old man winter got you feeling blue? Here are 7 reasons to love winter.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Orbitz\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Orbitz\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:published_time\" content=\"2016-02-15T20:59:54+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:modified_time\" content=\"2018-02-27T22:31:29+00:00\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"820\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"470\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"author\" content=\"Jason Heidemann\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:creator\" content=\"@jheidemann\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@orbitz\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Written by\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"Jason Heidemann\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:label2\" content=\"Est. reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data2\" content=\"4 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"Article\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Jason Heidemann\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24\"},\"headline\":\"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-15T20:59:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-27T22:31:29+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\"},\"wordCount\":831,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg\",\"keywords\":[\"Adventure\",\"Winter\"],\"articleSection\":[\"California\",\"Europe\",\"Florida\",\"Midwest\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"CommentAction\",\"name\":\"Comment\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#respond\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\",\"name\":\"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter | Orbitz\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2016-02-15T20:59:54+00:00\",\"dateModified\":\"2018-02-27T22:31:29+00:00\",\"author\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24\"},\"description\":\"Old man winter got you feeling blue? Here are 7 reasons to love winter.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg\",\"width\":1265,\"height\":725,\"caption\":\"Harbin Ice Festival | Photo: LiYan at zh.wikipedia\"},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Home\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/\",\"name\":\"Orbitz\",\"description\":\"Travel Blog\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24\",\"name\":\"Jason Heidemann\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-US\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg\",\"caption\":\"Jason Heidemann\"},\"description\":\"Jason is a Lead Content Specialist for Expedia Group, and manages content initiatives across numerous Expedia-owned brands. His work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, the Huffington Post, Chicago Magazine, Passport and many others.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/jheidemann\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/author\/jheidemann\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter | Orbitz","description":"Old man winter got you feeling blue? Here are 7 reasons to love winter.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/","og_locale":"en_US","og_type":"article","og_title":"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter | Orbitz","og_description":"Old man winter got you feeling blue? Here are 7 reasons to love winter.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/","og_site_name":"Orbitz","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/Orbitz\/","article_published_time":"2016-02-15T20:59:54+00:00","article_modified_time":"2018-02-27T22:31:29+00:00","og_image":[{"url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg","width":820,"height":470,"type":"image\/jpeg"}],"author":"Jason Heidemann","twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_creator":"@jheidemann","twitter_site":"@orbitz","twitter_misc":{"Written by":"Jason Heidemann","Est. reading time":"4 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"Article","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/"},"author":{"name":"Jason Heidemann","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24"},"headline":"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter","datePublished":"2016-02-15T20:59:54+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-27T22:31:29+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/"},"wordCount":831,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg","keywords":["Adventure","Winter"],"articleSection":["California","Europe","Florida","Midwest"],"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"CommentAction","name":"Comment","target":["https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#respond"]}]},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/","name":"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter | Orbitz","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg","datePublished":"2016-02-15T20:59:54+00:00","dateModified":"2018-02-27T22:31:29+00:00","author":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24"},"description":"Old man winter got you feeling blue? Here are 7 reasons to love winter.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-US","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg","width":1265,"height":725,"caption":"Harbin Ice Festival | Photo: LiYan at zh.wikipedia"},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/2016\/02\/7-reasons-to-love-winter\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Home","item":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"Cold comfort: 7 reasons to love winter"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/","name":"Orbitz","description":"Travel Blog","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-US"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/13baee32443537cb2a544b6fe5402f24","name":"Jason Heidemann","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-US","@id":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/01\/Heidemann_headshot.sm_-150x150.jpg","caption":"Jason Heidemann"},"description":"Jason is a Lead Content Specialist for Expedia Group, and manages content initiatives across numerous Expedia-owned brands. His work has been featured in the Chicago Tribune, Time Out, the Huffington Post, Chicago Magazine, Passport and many others.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/jheidemann"],"url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/author\/jheidemann\/"}]}},"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2016\/02\/Harbin_Ice_Festival.1265x725.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40379","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/89"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40379"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40379\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42214"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40379"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40379"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.orbitz.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40379"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}