Most of my Christmas days have been spent in London, Beijing or Shanghai in last 10 years and they were quite cold. One involved visiting a snowy Summer Palace in Beijing together with students. However, before that I had two very nice, warm Christmas holidays with family.

The first was to Gran Canaria, an island in the Channel Isles providing pleasant weather in December. I still remember boarding the charter flight Boeing 757 at London’s Gatwick airport at 6 am. The pilot came on and said: “This aircraft is freezing cold - sorry!” He soon warmed it up and we had a smooth journey. It was great to be in shorts on Dec 25 and lounging by the pool. We still managed to get a traditional turkey on Christmas Day.

The next Christmas we were hungry for more sun so we went to the USA - to Miami Breach in Florida - and enjoyed hot weather, a Christmas lunch in the hotel and more lounging by a pool. Then we explored the art deco buildings along the boulevard.

The only problem with these two great and very warm Christmas experiences was coming back to freezing London afterward. That’s life!

Colin Speakman is an economist who teaches about Chinese Economic Development and director of China programs for CAPA The Global Education Network in cooperation with East China Normal University in Shanghai.