We were up at 2am, on my birthday, for a drive from Newcastle to Manchester airport.
We flew with Jet2, who have the noisiest air conditioning known to man, impossible to talk or relax on the flight.
We arrived at Chambery airport midday for a 2 hour coach ride up to the resort.
We booked our holiday with Le Ski a trusted chalet travel company that we have travelled with for a few years now.
As I was still learning to snowboard I booked a 4 day intermediate course with a company called Pro-Snowboarding. I took a group lesson which I think is the best way to learn as you meet other people who are at the same level as you and you can share stories if your bumps and bruises. Outside of lessons you find you are surrounded by 'experts and whizz kids' so it's lovely to be amongst others at the same level as you for a few hours. I would definitely recommend Steph, my instructor at Pro Snowboarding, being South African he spoke perfect English,spoke very clearly, explained techniques excellently and gave personalised instruction for improvement. I had received instruction from a rival company previously but never received such personalised advice.
I think if I do another ski holiday I'd def try to take day 3 or 4 off completely. People are often quite weary by day 3:4 and really do bees a day break to recover.
The bars and restaurants in the mountains are expensive but you really can't beat the view,so spending a few extra euros on your vin chaud is definitely worth it. The weather was so warm whilst we were in Val I took a fancy to the bars deck chairs and stripped off to my t- shirt- now i understand why I've seen photos of the girls out in their bikinis - the place may be full of snow but there are occasions where it's bloody hot out there - you are closer to the sun after all! The bars I. The mountain are also a great opportunity to have a chill out whilst other crazy energetic people in your party can break away and have their crazy hour what you stuff your face with Belgian waffles whilst their not looking.
Although Le Ski chalets are fully catered the chalet hosts do get 1 day off which gives you the opportunity to try some other French cuisines. Thursday was our chalets day off so we booked into a restaurant, opposite Victors, called La Casserole. We chose this restaurant as it offered cheese and steak fondues, which you don't see very often at home. The food was fantastic I had a huge smoked salmon and salad starter, with a very generous portion of salmon whilst my husband had a cred beef and Parma ham salad. The starters adds definitely. If enough for 2.
If you are keen to see how you've improved or fancy checking out where or how fast you've been, there are some great apps for smartphones. I downloaded an app called Phreez for my iPhone and my husband also had it on his Android. The app shows and plays back the route you cover throughout the day and shows you lots of interesting graphs illustrating speed. Difficulty and altitude. You can even upload the results to Facebook to share your day with friends. you don't require an Internet connection for this app, it simply uses GPS to track you, which is not chargeable. But you do have to wait until you regain Internet connection to check out your results.
Another app i found useful was itrailmap. The only problem with these apps is they seem to encourage the butters to go as fast as possible.
Monday 27 February 2012
Wednesday 15 February 2012
We got married at Almond Morgan Bay, St Lucia!
Planning our wedding abroad was so easy, we actually found our return home party the most stressful thing to organise. As you will know if you have read any of my previous posts, I love to travel and planning where we were going to go was all part of the fun.
I looked at the Florida Keys, Spain, Bled Island in Slovakia and the Caribbean. And finally we settled on St Lucia. The main resaon being, we assumed we would be pretty much guaranteed good weather, the ceremony would be conducted in English and many of the resorts were all inclusive, so no one wouldn't have to worry about spending too much on top iof the cost of getting to the destination.
We chose Almond Morgan Bay in St Lucia as it was the only resort on the island that allowed children and we had a 6 month old nephew that was also attending. We chose a date, booked our flights and accomodation and immediately the wedding planner from the resort was intouch to confirm the date of marriage, In St Lucia, you must be in the country for a few days before the ceremony itself, always check this with the foreign office. As part of the holiday a free wedding was included, but there are extras available to personalise this further. Our wedding planner emailed all the details of the extra packages available, but we were advised there was no need to decide until we arrived in St Lucia. When you book your wedding from the UK, you forget that these resorts hold weddings everyday, often more than once a day (another thing you should check before booking a destination weedding), so they are unbelievably efficient in co-ordinating everything. There is absolutely no need to worry. At the Almond Morgan Bay resort, they had everything covered.
On arrival at the hotel we had a letter from the wedding co-ordinator to arrange an appointment the following day to provide our legal documents and meet with the minister. Here we discussed the extras we required, which for us were extra champagne, chair covers and pink sashes. We picked the flowers and location as there were a few avaiable; the beach, a pergoda and the pier. We also booked the end of the pier for our dinner party.
The Almond Morgan Bay resort was certainly a good choice as all our guests were happy. My Fiance and I (now husband!) had an excellent rooftop suite with a great view of the pool and sea, whilst our guests also enjoyed a beautiful sea view. The food was excellent at all on site restaurants and the bartenders were great at creating all sorts of cocktails. My father in law is now a big fan of B52's.
The Weather. As we flew over to arrive in St Lucia, we noticed alot of rain and lots of flooded rivers with brown water running into the sea. Having visited other tropical climes where you get turrential rain for an hour or two, for it then to be dryed away by the beautiful sunshine, I persumed St Lucia would be the same. Oh, was I wrong! I researched the weather before choosing our wedding date to ensure we would fall into the 'dry season' but it was anything but dry. Global warming really is playing hovok with the worlds weather system. 5 out of 8 days were pretty much turrential rain :-(. As the rain went on, I started to get a little conserned as we had planned to get married at the pergoda on the hill, but the wedding advisor said not to worry, if it rained she said they would just move everything into the pier which offered full shelter.
Surprisingly, I was so happy it did rain on our wedding day. Not only because everyone kept telling me it meant we would have good luck, but the pier was the most amazing location. The long pier created a beautiful aisle for me to walk down and our choice of music blended with the panoramic sound of the sea made it a wonderful experience. I couldnt stop smiling through the whole ceremony.
The only thing I did find weird was the suggestion by our photographer to smash cake in each others faces, I had never heard of this before but it is a tradition in the US. My husband and I do love our cake but this was taking it a bit far.
After the ceremony we had photographs taken at various locations around the resort and then went back to the bar for more wedding cake and drinks.
We had a wonderful wedding day with none of the stresses you would get at home. The wedding co-ordinator was so relaxed, we felt there really was nothing to worry about. I had my hair and makeup done at the Spa prior to our wedding. Not really being a 'girlie girl' I had no idea what to have done with my hair but the haridresser created wonders with my hair. Even though i was running a little late for the wedding, the beauty therapist relaxed me saying 'you can afford to be late the wedding won't happen without you!'. Whilst I was getting ready my husband enjoyed a morning of wakeboarding on our wedding day as watersports were also included at the Almond Morgan Bay.
We didn't do much exploring in St Lucia, mainly due to the weather. We took a visit to pigeon island and although I can imagine it to be beautiful on a good day, we had turrential rain and it wasn't a fun day out! On a clearer day we took the Ziplining and Canopy Tram Tour in St Lucia's Rainforest, this was a great experience not to be missed, you can do either or both experiences and I would recommend both if you are able as they each offer very different views of the forest. The canopy tour is more educational whilst the ziplining is more active.
I looked at the Florida Keys, Spain, Bled Island in Slovakia and the Caribbean. And finally we settled on St Lucia. The main resaon being, we assumed we would be pretty much guaranteed good weather, the ceremony would be conducted in English and many of the resorts were all inclusive, so no one wouldn't have to worry about spending too much on top iof the cost of getting to the destination.
We chose Almond Morgan Bay in St Lucia as it was the only resort on the island that allowed children and we had a 6 month old nephew that was also attending. We chose a date, booked our flights and accomodation and immediately the wedding planner from the resort was intouch to confirm the date of marriage, In St Lucia, you must be in the country for a few days before the ceremony itself, always check this with the foreign office. As part of the holiday a free wedding was included, but there are extras available to personalise this further. Our wedding planner emailed all the details of the extra packages available, but we were advised there was no need to decide until we arrived in St Lucia. When you book your wedding from the UK, you forget that these resorts hold weddings everyday, often more than once a day (another thing you should check before booking a destination weedding), so they are unbelievably efficient in co-ordinating everything. There is absolutely no need to worry. At the Almond Morgan Bay resort, they had everything covered.
On arrival at the hotel we had a letter from the wedding co-ordinator to arrange an appointment the following day to provide our legal documents and meet with the minister. Here we discussed the extras we required, which for us were extra champagne, chair covers and pink sashes. We picked the flowers and location as there were a few avaiable; the beach, a pergoda and the pier. We also booked the end of the pier for our dinner party.
The Almond Morgan Bay resort was certainly a good choice as all our guests were happy. My Fiance and I (now husband!) had an excellent rooftop suite with a great view of the pool and sea, whilst our guests also enjoyed a beautiful sea view. The food was excellent at all on site restaurants and the bartenders were great at creating all sorts of cocktails. My father in law is now a big fan of B52's.
The Weather. As we flew over to arrive in St Lucia, we noticed alot of rain and lots of flooded rivers with brown water running into the sea. Having visited other tropical climes where you get turrential rain for an hour or two, for it then to be dryed away by the beautiful sunshine, I persumed St Lucia would be the same. Oh, was I wrong! I researched the weather before choosing our wedding date to ensure we would fall into the 'dry season' but it was anything but dry. Global warming really is playing hovok with the worlds weather system. 5 out of 8 days were pretty much turrential rain :-(. As the rain went on, I started to get a little conserned as we had planned to get married at the pergoda on the hill, but the wedding advisor said not to worry, if it rained she said they would just move everything into the pier which offered full shelter.
Surprisingly, I was so happy it did rain on our wedding day. Not only because everyone kept telling me it meant we would have good luck, but the pier was the most amazing location. The long pier created a beautiful aisle for me to walk down and our choice of music blended with the panoramic sound of the sea made it a wonderful experience. I couldnt stop smiling through the whole ceremony.
The only thing I did find weird was the suggestion by our photographer to smash cake in each others faces, I had never heard of this before but it is a tradition in the US. My husband and I do love our cake but this was taking it a bit far.
After the ceremony we had photographs taken at various locations around the resort and then went back to the bar for more wedding cake and drinks.
We had a wonderful wedding day with none of the stresses you would get at home. The wedding co-ordinator was so relaxed, we felt there really was nothing to worry about. I had my hair and makeup done at the Spa prior to our wedding. Not really being a 'girlie girl' I had no idea what to have done with my hair but the haridresser created wonders with my hair. Even though i was running a little late for the wedding, the beauty therapist relaxed me saying 'you can afford to be late the wedding won't happen without you!'. Whilst I was getting ready my husband enjoyed a morning of wakeboarding on our wedding day as watersports were also included at the Almond Morgan Bay.
We didn't do much exploring in St Lucia, mainly due to the weather. We took a visit to pigeon island and although I can imagine it to be beautiful on a good day, we had turrential rain and it wasn't a fun day out! On a clearer day we took the Ziplining and Canopy Tram Tour in St Lucia's Rainforest, this was a great experience not to be missed, you can do either or both experiences and I would recommend both if you are able as they each offer very different views of the forest. The canopy tour is more educational whilst the ziplining is more active.
Sunday 5 February 2012
Thailand, Bangkok to Phuket, the crazy to the calm
First Stop Bangkok, we checked in to The Royal Orchid Sheraton, a very refined contemporary style hotel right on the Chao Phraya River where we were to spend 2 nights.
Our first day in Bangkok was one hell of a culture shock, this was my husband and I's first trip to the East. We had heard many stories of Bangkok so were aware of some of the tricks, but we didn't realise quite how good the tricksters were!
First on our list was to pay a visit to The Grande Palace. We took a riverboat taxi from outside the hotel down the river, which was an experience in itself, to a market just a short walk down from the palace. On our walk up to the palace we were stopped by a man on the corner of the palace walls dressed a security guard, he was stood next to a wooden stand, spoke perfect english and looked very official. He questioned my trousers as they were slightly cropped and told me I would not be aloowed to go into the palace, I was aware there was a gown provided but the 'security officer' advised as there had been prayers in the morning, we would be better opff returning in the afternoon and it would also be quieter so probably a more enjoyable experience, So we decided to take his advise, then asked him if he had any suggestions for the morning. He recommended a tuk tuk, negotiated a price with the tuk tuk driver and off we went on our 4 hour mystery tour!
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Our first day in Bangkok was one hell of a culture shock, this was my husband and I's first trip to the East. We had heard many stories of Bangkok so were aware of some of the tricks, but we didn't realise quite how good the tricksters were!
First on our list was to pay a visit to The Grande Palace. We took a riverboat taxi from outside the hotel down the river, which was an experience in itself, to a market just a short walk down from the palace. On our walk up to the palace we were stopped by a man on the corner of the palace walls dressed a security guard, he was stood next to a wooden stand, spoke perfect english and looked very official. He questioned my trousers as they were slightly cropped and told me I would not be aloowed to go into the palace, I was aware there was a gown provided but the 'security officer' advised as there had been prayers in the morning, we would be better opff returning in the afternoon and it would also be quieter so probably a more enjoyable experience, So we decided to take his advise, then asked him if he had any suggestions for the morning. He recommended a tuk tuk, negotiated a price with the tuk tuk driver and off we went on our 4 hour mystery tour!
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The security guard advised we would be taken to some very popular temples and other sites around the city. However, it was all a trick... we were taken to a couple of very quiet temples but the rest of the time we were taken to shops - jewellery, crafts, suits and tour shops.
I am releived to say we did survive the tuk tuk ride and made it to the The Grande Palace.in the afternoon. The temples really were magnificent!
After the shock of Bangkok's tuk tuk experience, I could see my husband really needed a bit of western 'chill out time' so I remembered the images of the trendy shopping malls I had seen on the internet. We jumped in a taxi and went in search of the MBK and Siam Paragon Shopping Malls. I'm pleased to say this did the trick and chilled us both out for the rest of the day. Both malls were fascinating - filled with lots of trendy items not seen in the UK and if your into Electronics MBK must not be missed!
Skybar
We had a fantastic meal in the restaurant and got struck by lightening in the Skybar! Yes Really! This is the tallest building in South East Asis and an interesting place to be in a lightening storm. If theres one plac I'd recommend in Bangkok this has to be the place.
Daytrips From Bangkok
The moral of the story with Daytrips from Bangkok - do not purchase from the tour shops the tuk tuk;s take you too.
Dumnden Saduan Floating Market
and the River Qwai
simply too far from Bangkok for a day trip
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