When my friend Greg asked me when I was going to write my first travel advice book,  I told him I would call it “Shivering Through Europe”.  I was only half joking.  Since the cheap time to travel is winter, HOB and I have shivered our way through many a lovely European town.  What makes this bearable?  Silk long underwear.

Here’s why you should pony up some $$ for the good stuff:

1.  Silk long underwear keeps you really warm (duh) and you can buy varying thicknesses to go with varying weather conditions.

2.  It breathes well and isn’t itchy.  I love how it feels against my skin.

3.  You can wash it in your hotel’s sink and it will be dry by morning.

4.  It’s super lightweight and doesn’t take up much room in your back pack.

5.  Because the fabric is so light, you can layer up like crazy.  Our trip to Germany earlier this year was wonderful, but much colder than we anticipated.  We coped by wearing all our silk long undies at once.  No lie–I had four undershirts and two long john pants on under my clothes every day.  (If the thought of me wearing six pieces of silk underwear simultaneously is too sexy for you to handle, I understand–go have  a drink of water before you continue reading).

6.  They look sharp and you can get quite a variety of styles.  I find the turtlenecks especially comfortable and jaunty looking.

The downside to silk long underwear in that it’s expensive.  I often buy it from wintersilks.com, and if you’re  patient, you can find decent sale prices, especially during summer.  I also find pieces at thrift stores and on ebay (I know, I know, wearing used long underwear is totally sketchy, but I wash it thoroughly before use).

Give it a try the next time you travel in winter.  When you find yourself in an unheated hotel room and you are sleeping snugly with your silk long underwear under your pajamas, you may find yourself writing your own love letter.

WARNING: Be sure to check with  your spouse before buying your silk underthings, otherwise you might both separately go to the wintersilks website and buy the orange turtleneck because it’s on sale and then in all your travel snapshots you’ll be wearing matching turtlenecks like dorks.