A Southwest Airlines plane rolls into the de-icing area at the Portland International Jetport in 2018. Derek Davis/Portland Press Herald

Let me guess your situation: You’re chilled to the core. The sight of falling snowflakes is giving less “Gilmore Girls,” more “Fargo.” You look at the shivering shovel in your trunk and, like a kid in a sandbox, start to wonder if you could dig your way out of here.

The good news is, you’re a grownup. Maybe one with a tax refund coming. And those frigid, chapped fingers of yours? With a few taps and scrolls, they can find you a flight to somewhere warmer, like, tomorrow.

If making it through the harsh winter is the old rite of Mainers, the new one is finding a way to escape it.

“It’s funny how Mainers are a little like grasshoppers all summer long and forget what is coming in a few short months. Every year, as soon as school starts, the calls start coming in,” said Shauna Damboise, president of Fancy Fox Travel in Yarmouth.

Last year, more than 100,000 passengers left Portland International Jetport between January and March for warmer climes in the South and Southwest, California and the Caribbean, according to data from the airport. (Though, to be honest, most of them went to Florida.)

The number of people flying out of Portland in the first quarter hit a record high just before the pandemic. Though it hasn’t rebounded completely, it’s getting close, especially in February, when last year the Jetport boarded just over 66,000 passengers, a total for that month second only to 2020.

Coming off a record December, this could be the year winter travel returns in full force.

Thinking you might contribute to those figures? According to Wade Light, owner/agent of Light Travels in Saco, that would make you like a lot of people he expects to hear from this month, their checks from the Treasury burning a hole in their pocket.

“Mainers tend to book winter vacation short-notice,” he said.

FLORIDA FOR THE WIN(TER)

More than half of the post-holiday passengers flying out of Portland to warmer places last winter were headed for Florida, and almost half of that group for Orlando — by far, the top destination from the Jetport this time of year.

While most locations in the Sunshine State see peak winter visitation from Mainers in March, we flock to Orlando in higher numbers in February (an average of 342 passengers per day), presumably because it coincides with school break — though we know you Disney adults are out there.

When Jim Linsky was living in Maine, it was always the third week of January, “because it’s so horribly cold,” he said.

A Disney enthusiast from his first stroll down Main Street USA toward Cinderella Castle as a teenager in 1975, Linsky has stayed on the property more than 70 times since.

As word started to get out about his knowledge of the theme park, people began asking him for help planning their trips, which he turned into a side hustle while working for WGME, where he was a photographer then operations manager.

Jim Linsky, who has stayed at Disney World more than 70 times, retired from a career in TV news in 2023 and now lives in Florida, working as a travel advisor. Photo courtesy of Jim Linsky

After retiring from a career in TV news in 2023, he took his business right to Mickey’s backyard and now lives in Florida, working as a travel advisor for The Curated Travel Collection, tailoring vacations for clients headed for places all over the world, including the Magic Kingdom.

He knows visiting Disney can feel like an obligation for young families — accounting for a lot of those flights from Portland to Orlando — but for many of them, once they get inside the “Disney Bubble,” where worries fade and the fantasy takes over, they’re hooked and eager to return.

“I think, once you’ve been and you’ve witnessed that bubble and felt the magic, it’s a place you want to go back to,” Linsky said.

Other Florida airports that were among the top 10 final destinations of Mainers flying from Portland between January and March of last year were Tampa, home of Busch Gardens and the hub for Gulf Coast destinations like St. Petersburg and Clearwater Beach; Fort Myers, host of the Red Sox spring training camp and not far from the bougie beach town of Naples; and Fort Lauderdale, the site of one the world’s biggest cruise ports.

While Linsky suspects a lot of travelers from Maine are visiting relatives, he said, there are many reasons people might choose Florida for their winter escape: The weather’s fantastic, it’s easy to get to and you don’t need a passport.

“There’s plenty to do, no matter which city in Florida you go to,” he said.

TROPICAL HOT SPOTS

Portland Jetport data doesn’t account for all of Maine’s winter travelers. Direct flights from Boston to Aruba and St. Lucia have helped make the Caribbean islands particularly popular winter destinations for Mainers, who can hop on the Concord Coach to Logan International Airport and be there in five hours from their flight departure, said Maria Northcott, owner of Steward and Porter Travel by Dream Vacations in Bath.

But if you want your pick of Caribbean destinations, now’s the time to book for next winter, she said. For last-minute cold-weather escapees, your best bets are Mexico’s Riviera Maya and Dominican Republic.

“They have so much inventory that we can pretty much always find you something,” she said.

Light, of Light Travels, gets a lot of clients on a budget who say, “I want to go anywhere warm, but I will not go to Mexico,” thinking it’s unsafe.

So he prices out trips to Turks and Caicos and Aruba and, after seeing the cost, they end up coming around on Mexico.

“Mexico gets a horrible rap, and it’s one of our best biggest sellers,” Light said.

Adam Parent and his wife, Kelly, of Saco, in the Dominican Republic, where they’ve traveled several times to recharge from winter in Maine. Photo courtesy of Adam Parent

Indeed, Cancun is the top tropical destination for people flying out of Portland in winter, followed by Puerto Rico, which allows them to travel without a passport, and Dominican Republic, where Adam Parent and his wife, Kelly, of Saco have made four trips and will be there this month.

“It’s literally putting new batteries in. I come back fully recharged, energized,” Parent said about his winter travels, which coincide with the slowest time for his real estate business.

He said he and his wife are just looking for a spot that’s easy to get to, where they can relax by a pool or beach, the water’s pretty and the weather’s warm. Adult-only all-inclusive resorts in the Dominican have fit the bill.

“I feel like a weight has been lifted off me,” Parent said about when he returns home to Maine. “It’s like waking up in a brand-new day.”

That’s some pretty good incentive to file those tax returns.