Phenomenal - a group triumph!
Our holiday was phenomenal thank you - a big group triumph! The amazing snow conditions, the weather, the chalet - and I’m totally sold on the train!!! It’s such a hassle-free and relaxing way to travel. Here’s how we ended up travelling this way:
An avid skier since I was eight and since getting my husband hooked also, the only way to spend his 50th birthday in February was a ski trip with family and friends. We had, had lots of interest from people to join us, but like everything in this day and age, there is just too much choice…. Where do you start?
Last year we got up at 3a.m., flew to France and then had a journey almost triple the length it should have been, transfer into Les Arcs, due to the sheer numbers of people trying to get into the same valley for the half term week. Amidst all the very British complaining about this, I got talking to several people who had travelled by train with no issues. I only knew of the infamous party “snow train,” not an experience I craved, especially with children.
Photo: Jill Groves
I was told to look up Daniel’s website “Snowcarbon” and was sold on trying this method of transport from the off. Taking Daniel up on his offer to assist with holiday planning for such a large group, we finally decided on booking with SkiAmis. I discovered larger chalets are actually harder to book than I thought, but the inclusive booking of Chalet Christine in La Tania fitted the bill for our party of 28. Nathan and his team at Ski Amis could not have been more helpful and accommodating to the varying needs of the group and the whole organisational side was not as bad as I had envisaged.
We travelled to London on the Friday evening (by train) and stayed overnight at the London Central Kings Cross Travelodge for only £54 for a family room. After a leisurely breakfast and a five-minute walk to St Pancras, we were ready to board the 09:45 Eurostar Ski Train direct to Moutiers. The approximately eight-hour journey felt much less than that, fuelled by Beer, Prosecco, various electronic devices, games, chatting and enough snacks to feed the whole train, we arrived in Moutiers at 18:40, grabbed our bags and hot footed it up the mountain in our fleet of SkiAmis transfer minibuses, to be greeted by an delicious hot meal at Chalet Christine.
A completely amazing week followed for all! Copious snow, blue skies, non-existent lift queues (AT HALF TERM!!), food to die for from Danny our Chef (his creamy breakfast porridge is legendary!! I also came home with several new recipes and had a master class in the perfect poached eggs! La Tania really is a bit of a hidden gem in the Three valleys (Shhhhhh!)
Photo: Jill Groves
Even better, we came home on the Saturday overnight Eurostar and so enjoyed a whole extra days skiing! Our transfers took us back down the mountain to Moutiers about 17.30, we watched the six nations at the bar La Bièrerie near the station (but we won’t talk about the result!) and then had a wonderful final meal in the Italian Épicerie, La Valtellina which I had booked with them before leaving England. The overnight train home was much quieter and although there are no beds available, most of us managed to lie across double seats and slept reasonably well, arriving back in London on Sunday morning at 07:16. Breakfast and another train home and I had the first load of washing on by 11a.m.
Our holiday created treasured memories for our whole party that will last a lifetime and I’m already being badgered to organise next year’s trip! Our group’s What’sApp chat has kept me busy since I got home with the ongoing banter and memories from our trip. A huge thank you to Daniel for his time, knowledge and contacts that made our holiday so special.
In conclusion, if you want a more relaxed, stress-free way of travelling, less queues, quality time with your fellow travellers and more time to actually ski, the train gets my vote every time from now on!