Tokyo had a few days this last august with lethal wet bulb temperatures. I assume Delhi would be similar.
Winter in Montreal just needs the right clothing, but then you’re not packing light. A proper winter coat, gloves, boots, etc. will need way more space than exists in that tiny backpack.
I've spent a few weeks in Tokyo and Kyoto mid summer (though less extreme I guess than this summer) because of business trips and you can "manage"--in the sense that you can limit activities during the hottest parts of the day or just in general--but I don't really recommend picking visits at those times unless you have some specific reason to.
Montreal in winter on the other hand is fine. But, as you say, you need the right clothing which can be reasonably compact but isn't going to fit in tiny luggage. (And activities will be at least somewhat different from in summer.)
I'm a fairly compact traveler in general (just carry-on usually) and you can get off with a lot in temperate to warm climates in urban locations where you don't need to dress up. But I also don't like to pack only those things that I'm sure I need. For example, I have a little kit bag of miscellaneous stuff I mostly don't need but am sometimes glad I have.
> A proper winter coat, gloves, boots, etc. will need way more space than exists in that tiny backpack.
Depending on where you live it might be winter already there too so not necessarily a problem as you already wear the shit and remove what you don't need during the flight. Otherwise you just have to wear them when you enter the plane and put them back in the ikea bag that was in the coat's pocket the rest of the time.
"Winter" is different in different places, so it's very plausible that you won't have the winter clothing needed for your destination anyway, let alone be wearing it when you leave.
You can buy the right clothing in Montreal. Since the stores in Montreal sell to people in Montreal, the right clothing will be cheap and easy to find.
> the right clothing will be cheap and easy to find
Tell me you’ve never lived in a place with actual winter without telling me. The clothes aimed at locals are designed to be a 5 to 10 year investment. Not a jacket you buy to throw away in spring.
That said, you are right that unless you’re in a place like that, the correct gear isn’t even available for you to buy.
I'd tend to avoid buying used long underwear or wool socks.
The "cheap, serviceable, but used" is... fairly picked over by the locals (and especially the homeless).
Consider San Francisco for a moment and the daily occasion of tourists who suddenly find that the fog rolling in the evening is cold and then buy the "cheap" (but horribly marked up) jackets that aren't the right size in which they stand out like sore thumbs.
Or they could go to the Salvation Army store and buy a winter jacket - consider the availability of them there.
Or they could go to REI or Farm and Fleet (I know there aren't any F&F in SF) and buy a new winter jacket there.
After childhood, locals have winter clothes that often last 5-10 years or more (and they pay for durability). My winter jackets are from '10 (I've got a medium weight photographer's jacket that I got in Keeble & Shuchat in '01 that I still wear... wish I could find something like it again). My father's winter jackets are in the 10-20 year range.
I'm also going to note the plural. Locals will often have two or three "winter" jackets depending on the weather.
The only time you get a jacket for a season that is cheap is for a child who is going to outgrow it by the next winter.
You can get pretty far with a thick wool base layer, packable down jacket, and a wool hat/mittens/socks. Maybe not ultralight one bag travel, but with some reasonable clothing choices - not terrible.
Of course I don't live in a country that has actual winter, that's the point.
If I buy winter clothes in my home country, the clothes will be ugly, expensive, and I have no way to make sure if they even work for their intended purpose. It's too hot here.
But when I go to countries that have actual winters, especially First World countries, then I can find decent winter clothes even in, say, a Target.
> The clothes aimed at locals are designed to be a 5 to 10 year investment
Taking a quick look at Target's winter coat selection for men... the coats that are appropriate for December - February in Chicago are still in the $150+ range price there. There are some in the $100 that wouldn't be awful for going a block... maybe two... but I wouldn't want to be wearing them if there was a substantial wind, snow, or if I found that I needed to turn around and go back to the bus stop and wait for the next bus.
When I went to Minneapolis in winter a few years ago I brought lots of winter clothes. I ended up replacing most of it with cheap clothes from Target, except the coat and the boots.
Well you aren't fully packed unless you also pack an income source to refill the card, travelling (at least for a lot of "true" travellers) is about finding a sustainable means of "going infinite" (to borrow MTG terminology).
Sure. Enjoy walking up to the stores in -20C (or -5F) in your light clothes from home (and before someone goes "but actually I'm gonna rent a car" suuure you think that will solve all your problems. sure)
I didn't plan it, but I did this once in Bergen, Norway. Showed up and immediately got soaked by the rain (I think I had a pathetic little umbrella). Noticed that most people outside seemed okay with the rain and had nice rain jackets. Found a store, bought a nice rain jacket. It comes in handy now when my kid wants to play in the rain and I don't want to be miserable afterwards.
This depends on the person. Looking at this past febuary it had a min of -4F.
We had similar in AR back in 21 and I was outside in a tshirt or if more than 10 minutes the thinnest windbreaker ever. (Single layer of plastic and compresses to a baseball size or so.) I might go to a hoody at -20 but not sure even then.
Winter in Montreal just needs the right clothing, but then you’re not packing light. A proper winter coat, gloves, boots, etc. will need way more space than exists in that tiny backpack.