DIARY OF AN ADVENTURER: SNOW IS ALL AROUND

I was a bit unsure what to expect after being told we would be going Skiing in the French part of the Alps. Jen's said to me if I was wanting to see snow, then I should be prepared, and he was right!

We arrived at Turin airport on Friday night and after hiring a van drove up the mountains and over to Chantemerle, a small village at the bottom of the skiing resort Serre Chevalier. The drive should have taken about two hours but there was a massive snow storm and the snow chains from the hire company were broken so we had to drive about 10km/h all the way down the mountain.

The next morning I was shown the walk down to the bottom of the valley where the chairlifts and lockers were. Each morning I had to get the kids up and ready and down to their lessons at 9am. I didnt realise how much gear each one needed and soon became an expert on skiing gear! Once the kids were with their instructors I then made my way back up the hill to our cabin where I prepared the parents lunch and cleaned up from breakfast.

At 11.30am I met the kids up the top of the Gondolas for lunch in the resturant. Most of the time we ate meat patties and hot chips, with lots of mayo! The kids then showed me their skiing skills and we attempted to build snowmen until Sophie and Jens joined us at 1pm with their private instructor. I then had about another hour or so where I sat in the deck chairs outside the resturant and read my book in the sun.

By 3pm Mia was ready to go home and I took her back down the mountain and had the long walk up the hill. We could then just chill out and wait for the others to get back at about 5.30pm each day.

We were very lucky with the weather. We had amazing sunshine with not a cloud in the sky, every day, except for the last day where it snowed! It was so magical, like a real winter wonderland.

On one of the days, Christophe, the private instructor took Sophie, Jens, Lucas and Alice to a different valley in Italy to do some skiing. This meant Mia and I had the afternoon to do something else, after she had done her lesson in the morning. Sophie suggested taking the bus and going to a swimming pool.

There's a free shuttle bus within the resort to take people to different parts and we could use that to get to the pool. The driver could not speak or understand any English so I had to get Mia to translate for me! She's only five which made me feel pretty silly. The pools we went to were really flash and expensive. They were super heated and had indoor and outdoor pools, as well as smaller relaxing pools of varied temperatures. It was nice to take the bus too and see more of the valley we were staying in.

I didn't have any time to explore on my own but there wasn't really a lot to see or do anyway. I can see how it was appealing to the past nannys to go however, one girl has been with them four times! I didn't try skiing, it would have been too expensive and not worth the money to hire a private instructor, for a one off lesson. The slopes also looked super steep and I was a bit scared to try it!

It was still great to get away from London and to experience a traditional family skiing holiday. I enoyed it a lot more than I thought I would because I didn't really have to do a lot and there was not a lot expected of me because I had never skiied before and didnt really know what was happening!

"Not all those who wander are lost.” – J.R.R. Tolkien

I hope this has inspired you.

LARISSAJODEE x

#snow #aupair #travel #bucketlist