Thank you Travel and Leisure: 3 Minutes in Extreme Cold

Thank you to Travel and Leisure for publishing my article, “3 Minutes in Extreme Cold Changed the Way I Think About Wellness Travel, How An accidental splash in Antarctic waters led one traveler to intentionally seek out polar plunges, cryotherapy, and a whole new path toward wellness.”

While paddle boarding in Antarctic waters, I cruised over a piece of ice, the board shifted, and I fell in. It was sudden and very cold. Later in the trip, this time intentionally and in a bathing suit, I took part in the official polar plunge—a brief immersion into the freezing Southern Ocean surrounded by ice and silence.

Relatively few travelers ever venture south of the Antarctic Circle, making the experience feel even more remote and surreal. That contrast, between accidental immersion and intentional exposure, became the lens through which I began to see something larger unfolding in wellness travel.

According to the Global Wellness Institute, wellness tourism is projected to reach $1.35 trillion globally by 2028, as travelers increasingly seek experiences focused on recovery, longevity, and transformation. Within that shift, cold exposure, from polar plunges to cryotherapy to contrast therapy, has emerged as one of the most compelling trends.

Antarctica: Pure, Environmental Cold

In Antarctica, cold is not designed. It is absolute. There are no temperature controls, no staged transitions, no engineered recovery cycles, only the body and the elements.

The polar plunge offered a brief, structured moment of immersion in the Southern Ocean, while my earlier fall into the water happened unexpectedly, collapsing planning into pure sensation. Both experiences made the same thing clear: cold has a way of forcing immediate presence.

Switzerland: Engineered Cold at -184°F

Months later, I found myself voluntarily stepping into another form of extreme cold: a -120°C (-184°F) cryotherapy chamber at the L3 Longevity Circle at Appenzeller Huus in Switzerland.

The wellness space, which opened in October 2025, is set within a striking timber-built property in Appenzell, constructed from local wood using traditional dovetail joinery, with just 50 suites nestled in the alpine landscape.

Taking all the courage I’ve built through my travels (I took on a “50 Before 50” experiences challenge and am now working on my “60 Before 60”), I chose to step inside. The chamber allows guests to remain for up to three minutes. I stayed the full time, wearing the provided protective gear—hat, mask, gloves, and socks—as the cold arrived instantly and completely. Unlike Antarctica’s unpredictability, this was controlled, precise, and engineered, yet the body responds in the same unmistakable way with shock, clarity, and heightened awareness.

Iceland: Contrast Rituals

In northern Iceland at Eleven Deplar Farm, cold becomes part of a guided rhythm of heat, breath, and immersion. The Viking sauna ritual cycles through sauna heat and cold plunges, shaped by breathwork and Nordic tradition. Here, contrast is structured as a sequence designed to reset the nervous system.

Portland: Thermal Wellness As Architecture

In Portland, Cascada Thermal Springs + Hotel reimagines wellness as a built environment. The property integrates hot and cold experiences through hydrotherapy circuits, saunas, steam rooms, vitality pools, ice rooms, and chilled rainfall features creating a layered system of recovery rather than a single treatment. Designed with regenerative wellness principles and biophilic architecture that mimics nature, it reflects how modern travel is increasingly blending design, health, and restoration.

Pacific Northwest: Floating Sauna on Lake Washington

In Kirkland, Washington, a suburb of Seattle, Von Sauna places contrast therapy directly on the water. The floating sauna allows guests to move between wood-fired heat and the cold of Lake Washington in a continuous cycle of heat, immersion, and recovery shaped by personal rhythm. It is social, elemental, and immediate, turning cold exposure into a shared experience.

The Shift Toward Cold As Wellness

From Antarctica’s raw immersion to engineered cryotherapy chambers and saunas floating on frigid waters, cold has become one of the defining tools of modern wellness travel. It is no longer about endurance alone, but about presence and forcing the body to reset, whether in nature or in a carefully designed wellness space. Sometimes that understanding begins unexpectedly, somewhere between a paddle board, a piece of Antarctic ice, and the realization that stepping into discomfort has become its own form of travel.

My videos from my Antarctic cruise with Quark Expeditions

Cryotherapy at Appenzeller Huus

Travel and Leisure Facebook post about my article!!