Winter Wear/Where!

Went to shop for winter wear recently. Visited a few shops like Coldwear, Uniqlo, Zara, Pull and Bear, H&M, North Face, Winter Time, etc.

This is what you basically wear during winter
- Long John
- Thin woolen clothing
- Thick woolen clothing
- External coat like down jacket or windbreakers

Of course this depends on your body constitution. My uncle can wear a T-shirt and shorts in 5 degrees regions so... Personally, I think that Uniqlo has all your needs. They have good long johns called heattech shirts, nice thin woolen long sleeve clothes and a 4-way downjacket. All of my purchases are most likely going to be from Uniqlo, all I am waiting now is the Christmas, New Year or CNY sale. Luckily, they all occur before I fly, so I hope that I can get some good discounts there. Zara coats look good, but they don't really work in Europe in winter since they are more for 10 degrees and up. The same goes for Pull and Bear, but maybe those jacket with synthetic wool can go until 0 degrees. North Face is really good and can go to minus 20, but they cost about $450-650 so they are totally out of my budget. They are more for hikers. I overhead a man that was looking to climb Mt Fuji when I was in the store. Winter Time and Coldwear things are more expensive than Uniqlo and I don't think that they are much better. Also, most of their designs suck, especially Winter Time. As for scarfs, most places sell decent ones. I would recommend Zara ones cause they look really nice.

Gloves are a pain. Good gloves don't allow you to use your touchscreen devices, and those touchscreen gloves are quite thin so I'm not sure if they will be good in cold temperatures. I have ski gloves that my dad bought a long time ago, but I was scouting on Amazon and they range from $20-$40 for good waterproof gloves. Otherwise, Timberland sells them for $30 at their outlet store at IMM.

Now the most important thing of your winter outfit - boots. Essentially, if you can keep your feet, neck and chest warm, you will be able to withstand cold temperatures easily. Ideally, boots should be waterproof and can last you to 0 to -20 degrees. Timberland boots are nice, but they cost about $300, which is too expensive for me as I only intend to wear them for these 4.5 months in Europe. I doubt I will be able to wear them again as shoes can spoil if you do not wear them frequently and you must be kidding me if you are thinking of wearing these boots in Singapore cause it is so hot around here. Another idea is to buy Timberland boots from Amazon. They cost about US$100-150 and remember that US$125 and above gives you free shipping to Singapore. My girlfriend bought a ladies Timberland boots from Amazon for around US$125 and they look rather nice. However, being a miser, I am still not willing to fork out US$125 for a pair of boots for 4.5 months so I settled for some cheap boots from a brand called Kamik. Got mine from Amazon for US$38 and they can go up to -40 degrees. They are also waterproof and meant for very cold weather and they have splendid reviews. The bad thing is that the design totally blows and they look like what fishmongers wear at the market. But they do a good job of keeping my feet cold so no issues there. I just hope that no one will look at my boots =)

Scouting for Ryanair tickets now as I plan to go to Paris to find my girlfriend before my orientation starts. It starts on the 18th for me and I am landing in Warsaw on 13th, after which I will fly to Paris to spend Valentine's Day with her (Romantic indeed). But I did not realize that Ryanair only flies a few days a week so I need to find some random accommodation on 13th. Hopefully I will be able to crash at my buddy's place. Yep, WSE assigns every exchange student a buddy to help you, but it is not guaranteed that your buddy will be a super buddy as they also have their own things to do. Ryanair tickets require a lot of camping and analyzing as their price range fluctuates a lot. Warsaw to Paris One Way can cost SGD$60 around 2 weeks from now but can be SGD$20 about 6-8 weeks later. I haven't figured out the pattern and I doubt I will, so I advise you to visit their website every 2-3 days to run price checks.

Oh and remember to get wool socks. I got a good one from Amazon called Wigwam Men El Pine Socks. The rest I got them from Taobao.com. The wigwam one cost like SGD$20 for one and the taobao one cost like $10 for 5.