Cold weather leaves many Canadians 'dying to go south'

Pat and Doug Johnson say they like spending time outdoors in the winter.

But at the moment, enough is enough.

"We do outside activities, we have a cottage and we do snowshoeing and all that stuff, but this winter is maybe a little bit too much," Pat Johnson told CBC News in an interview on Sunday.

Theyre not the only Canadians looking for a few days of sun.

Travel agents say their sales are up, perhaps in part because this winter has already felt so long and so cold.

Jennifer Braithwaite of the Barbados Tourism Authority said, The phones are ringing off the hook, people are dying to go south.

And while some people may not relish the process of boarding a flight to travel, Pat Johnson believes that its a small price to pay for a change of scenery.

"We actually look at the air travel part as the penalty we have to pay for travelling," Johnson said.

"Once we get to our destination, we forget all about the problems until we have to leave to go back home."