In the yard, January is the time of the New Year and Christmas holidays, which many of us, according to a long and established tradition, try to use for travel. And if the inhabitants of the northern countries fly south, "warm the bones" and recharge with solar energy, then southerners usually choose the northern routes, missing the snow and frosty air.
So, living in the United Arab Emirates for the first couple of years, I stayed with pleasure on the New Year in Dubai, and had real pleasure in meeting the New Year under palm trees instead of Christmas trees, though I did not forget about the congratulatory speeches of the presidents of our countries and glasses with a traditional sparkling drink . But then the enthusiasm became less and pulled in the snow, in a Christmas tale. And where is all the most fabulous and New Year's? Well of course in Europe! Over the past few years, in search of snow, my friends and I traveled during the New Year holidays to almost all of Europe - from southern Italy to northern Holland. But it’s just that, as it turned out, with snow and snowdrifts in the Old World there is a real misfortune - more often the plus temperature, rain instead of snow, green grass, and in some places flowering trees!
Willingly, we constantly thought about new, more northern routes, and once, having postponed for later such exotic things as “New Year at the North Pole”, we decided to visit Mother Russia, especially since traveling around Russia on business trips, I couldn’t help to notice how our cities become more and more elegant every winter - Europe, as they say, was not around! St. Petersburg and Sochi, Novosibirsk and Yekaterinburg and, of course, Moscow, which in just two years has changed almost beyond recognition. Strictly speaking, Russia, stretching from Kaliningrad to Chukotka and from Franz Josef Land to Dagestan, is good at all times of the year - the contrasts of landscapes, climate and tourist infrastructure can satisfy any whim.
And if so, then it's time to relax in Russia! Tickets are bought, hotels are booked, the holiday program is determined, friends and acquaintances are informed, the bags are packed - everything is ready for a meeting with snowy fir trees, snowdrifts, Russian triples in painted sleighs, samovars and a special heady aroma with notes of pine needles, tangerines, chocolates and a haze of pipes of furnaces in which birch logs burn with heat. However, as for the birch haze in the center of Moscow, I’m apparently bending over, but there’s a whole tour ahead of us in the small cities of the Golden Ring of Russia!
So I wish everyone to happily stay, it's good to celebrate the New Year in the United Arab Emirates, and I will come back to you in the new year 2017!
Happy New Year!
Yours sincerely, Sergey Tokarev
