Gloves

I never travel without my lined leather kid gloves. They are lightweight, super effective. Another really good pair of gloves I have had were made from merino wool and possum fur (possum mink). Bought them in New Zealand. Wool is a great insulator.

I have a pair of cashmere gloves that I bought on a really good Macy's sale in New York about 8 years ago after Christmas. They are thin and lightweight but really warm. I am taking them with me to Amsterdam and Paris in a month. But I don't know how they would hold up in a work situation unless you wore them underneath another pair of gloves.

I have a pair of Smartwool glove liners that I love. They are thin but warm enough to use shoveling snow! Not too hot or thick when wearing them in milder weather either.

I've always liked Isotoner gloves; thin, lightweight and comfortable. There are many styles and types.

I use Marmot gloves when I travel in colder climates. They make heavy ski gloves that keep you warm but are big and bulky not that great for travel unless your going to alpine regions. My favorite are the Marmot fleece gloves and the Marmot (Power Stretch) polyester gloves, I'm going to England in December of this year and the Power Stretch gloves are perfect because they are light weight and easy to pack and are good in the rain where the fleece tend to get soggy.

I have Seirus gloves that are thin and lightweight, but warm enough and with grip surfaces on palms and fingers. Cant find a link to them but worth a google. My most used for travel, however, are a pair of UnderArmour glove liners (made for runners) that are lighter but have same grip surfaces.

I was on ski patrol for twenty years and I learned that you can keep you fingers warmer if you wear mittens. I wore lightweight gloves (silver, I think they were called "space gloves") under the mittens for the times I would need to take off my mittens to work with my fingers.

When I take January (US) trips to cold climates, I use Lee's approach--a pair of lined gloves inside double-layer clunky-looking mittens. But my hands stay warm; I even survived St. Paul, Minnesota.

I also use Lee's method.

Ditto lightweight gloves under mittens. This combination is very adaptable. My new fave gloves are alpaca and are very warm when worn alone.

Depending on how cold it is you may want to consider using some hand warmers inside your gloves. I use them when I visit NYC in the winter. Once you remove them from the packaging shake them up a bit to get them going and insert inside your gloves. I find they work fairly well.

We always have a pair of cheap knit gloves that we keep in our jacket pocket. You can buy them at the dollar store, and they are enough to keep the chill off your hands when needed. When we want more protection, we add a pair of mittens over them (as Lee suggested). But the gloves are always in the pocket. The mittens are in the backpack, and only used when needed.

We are all about function over look when we travel. :) I want to be comfortable, I don't care if it's not fashionable.

We are all about function over look when we travel. :) I want to be comfortable, I don't care if it's not fashionable.

Function should always be more important on travel. That said, we no longer need to make those choices. There are so many outdoors clothing manufacturers that now make beautiful travel clothing. We can now have both!

I do not recommend leather gloves if you expect rain. Mine were soaked within minutes just from handling an umbrella. I now take smartwool gloves, which are warm and dry.

If you don't need the dexterity afforded by gloves then use mittens. Much warmer!

I got some nice fur gloves from Russia as a gift, they are really warm. Don't know their name but will write here if I find out.

LL Bean and other companies sell glove liners, which will give you an extra layer of warmth. They are very thin, silky, but work. Darn things disappear, though, so you may want more than one pair.

A good friend in Chicago (winter there brrrrr) showed me her Italian shearling gloves, said they were the warmest gloves she'd ever owned. I bought my first pair in Florence, in the market. On a subsequent visit I bought more for myself and as a present for my Chicago friend. They are on the bulky side, but I can easily zip/unzip my jacket and backpack and use all the buttons on my camera with them on. The only thing that I can't do is touch-screen (iPod Touch), so I either slip one off (they slip on and off very easily) or sometimes I use a stylus.

Disposable hand warmers are wonderful, inside the gloves, or in my pockets.

If it's raining, a soft-shell glove is nice to have, the Marmot Glide glove is my go-to for everything from scraping ice off the windshield to, afternoon walks.

The other glove that's actually pretty versatile but, classier is the Marmot Basic Work glove. I got these while in Lake Tahoe, the employee said it's their #1 selling item in the whole company. Anyway, soft leather outside with thin synthetic liner that manages any moisture. I got the black ones as I was just looking for walk-around/driving gloves but, went to the local hardware store later and they were selling all three colors.