Blowing Hot and Cold – Symptoms of the Travel Menopause

As exhausting as it sometimes is to be on the non-stop traverse of transatlantic flights, there is nothing more exhilarating than knowing that you are embarking on a journey to somewhere new or to somewhere warmer than from where you have left. This week I have done just that, escaping the onslaught of Europe's snow and ice to touch down in Asia Pacific, guaranteed to be sunny and nice.

There are challenges to be faced, however, with the trek for higher temperatures, starting not least when departing in multiple cold-defying layers. Admittedly arriving clad out in wool doesn’t bode well by a pool but, when crossing continents from storm to warm, there is no easy transition from ugg boots to swim suit. As I await my connecting plane to transport me from the rain I wonder if perhaps I have been somewhat zealous in my cold weather dress as during my wait between flights I suffer the onset of a temperature plight and need to peel off in a rush as I endure another hot flush.

Ironically, for the corporate traveller, the global 9-5 may indeed follow the sun but, as we cross office time zones, it can be the one element that we see least of.

Amidst the drag of jetlag there is nothing more rewarding than a morning in the sunshine but there are perils to be suffered for the joys of working in a sunnier clime and, as the rays start my day and beckons breakfast in bikini, I wonder ...how can it be easier to survive the harshest of cold spells without falling unwell yet, once in the sun, to suffer the sneezes from the slightest of breezes?

As a self confessed heat-freak I am not one to get a thrill from the new winter chill and although at home I am accustomed to layering up from the big freeze I am quick to maintain my climate control as we retreat from the cold of the Poles. It is when travelling abroad that I am hit most hard for, whilst outside its hot, inside its not and chilling by the poolside by day can quite literally mean really chilling by your bedside by night.

So, as I find myself turning off my fan to keep warm in my tan, I wonder ....just how do we cater when placed closer to the Equator? Can a nation truly adjust to a new destination without some pre-conditioning to handle the air-conditioning or is the rush of the hot flush the first cause of travel menopause?

'Til next time, Pandora