Winter Travel Packing List: What to Pack for Outdoor Activities

The thing about travel is it’s constantly taking you out of your comfort zone.  Which is awesome.  But it also means that sometimes you have no idea how to best prepare for a situation.  For us, that moment came when we were preparing for our trip to Swedish Lapland.  We live in San Diego, home of some of the most beautiful and temperate weather in the United States. What did we know about winter travel to the Arctic Circle?  Not much.  We were not only planning travel to freezing temperatures, but we were also planning to spend much of our time outside enjoying winter outdoor activities.  What to wear?  It was important to get it right so we weren’t miserable.  We put together a winter travel packing list that served us well for enjoying our winter outdoor activities.

Kiruna: The Sinking Mine Town of Sweden's Lapland

Kiruna Church and bell tower.

Kiruna is sinking, literally.  Sweden’s northernmost town located in Swedish Lapland, a remote area with a harsh climate within the Arctic Circle, came to be because of the rich iron ore being mined nearby.  The same mine that brought the people and the town and the money is what is now causing the town to sink.  

Exciting Outdoor Winter Activities in Sweden’s Lapland

We traveled to Swedish Lapland in hopes of seeing and photographing the Northern Lights.  But, since there was no guarantee we would see the Northern Lights, we decided to also plan some exciting outdoor winter activities so if our search for the Northern Lights was unsuccessful, we’d still have a great adventure trying some other once-in-a-lifetime experiences during our visit to northern Sweden.  (Be sure to watch the video of all four of our winter outdoor activities at the end of this article.) 

Snowy Winter Travel Packing Tips



I've sunk into six inches of snow, but I'm warm and dry.

Living in San Diego, I get cold when the thermometer hits 64 degrees.  So packing for our recent winter travels to Madison, Wisconsin posed a bit of a packing conundrum.  Luckily I had some items appropriate for winter, like boots and down jackets, purchased on or for other vacations in cold locations.  But as I said, I get cold in 64 degrees, so those previous “cold” locations were in the 40s and 50s, not in the single digits and negatives.  I also wanted to make sure we were able to thoroughly enjoy our outdoor winter activities, so I needed to get it right so we wouldn’t be miserable.  Happily, with advice from people in the know, I purchased and packed items that ended up being key to our comfort. 

It sounds like such a little thing, but the most important purchase I made for our winter travels were wool socks.  I had previously visited the snow in the mountains in Los Angeles and even though I was wearing my very warm boots, my feet still felt like they were going to freeze off.  Since we were planning outdoor activities of snowshoeing and ice skating, it was imperative that I keep my feet warm.  My friend's mother suggested Wigwam socks and one thing I know is moms are always right, so out I went and purchased four pairs of Wigwam Merino Wool Comfort Hiker Socks for both Romeo and me.  I also bought foot warmers, but between my boots and the socks, the foot warmers were never needed.

Traveling to the Winter Wonderland of Madison, Wisconsin

Enjoying our winter travel destination of Madison, Wisconsin.

I encountered an interesting phenomenon while planning our winter travels to Madison, Wisconsin.  If someone had never been to Wisconsin, they asked, “Why in the world are you going there, and in the winter of all times?”  But if they knew of or had been to Madison, there was no question about why we chose Madison.  Because to know Madison is to love Madison. 

If you have been following along with this blog, then you know why we chose Madison, Wisconsin as a 2014 travel destination.  We were to meet my friend Steve, a displaced native Wisconsinite, and his wife Stephanie in person for the very first time.  I also wanted to take this opportunity, as a born and bred San Diegan, to experience a real winter.