Tearing it up on and off piste in Tignes!

Gemma, the newest member of the Erna Low team, shares a censored version of her break to Tignes with her fellow students.

After a tiresome 24-hour coach journey filled with anticipation, I eventually arrived in resort for my ski holiday to Tignes with my fellow uni friends at our ski-in, ski-out accommodation right on the piste, Le Borsat IV for our week’s ski adventure. I was very excited but rather nervous as I had bravely hired a snowboard for the week after only having a measly few hours practice in lessons a couple of weeks before the trip but I brought along my ski equipment just so I could backtrack from my not-so-well thought out original plan.

I couldn't abandon the skis for too long!

The first day on the slopes consisted of falling off every chair lift and sticking to blue runs close to our apartment to steady my nerves but by 3pm, one of the many après bars at the base of the resort was the best place for me. I stuck to skiing for the rest of the week.

I arranged my ski trip with Canterbury Christ Church University and opted out of the extended lift pass to the Val d’Isere ski region as you could pretty much ski over to that area without forking out the extra Euros. Independently, Tignes boasts a large ski terrain for all ski types, for example there are several Snow Parks and a Boarder Cross that skiers can experience to get away from the pisted runs. The main benefits for visitors to Tignes are that it is part of the large well-linked ski area of L’Espace Killy and due to its high altitude (Tignes Val Claret is 2100m) the resort is renown with having a reliable snow record. Consequently its popularity has risen as in recent seasons there has been reduced snowfall throughout Europe, attracting holiday-makers to high altitude destinations.

choosing my line...

The many bars in Val Claret meant that every night was spent in a combination of different venues and the resort was very compact so that it wasn’t hard to find each hub! My favourites were Saloon Bar – with a massive party atmosphere, live music for après and a huge cocktail menu and Melting Pot, where you’ll find a good selection of dance music – Drum n Bass, Electro, Hip Hop and fortunately the prices are reasonable – for a club.

One of our numerous nights out...

I happily enjoyed a few blue skies and powder snow days on my trip, which was just ideal and the last day’s skiing was the best end to the trip with great snow and superb weather – without the outrageous goggle tan marks!

The Long Way Round – My unplanned tour of Scandinavia

John, our IT Manager here at Erna Low, recounts his epic journey home to the UK from Norway after the ash from the Icelandic Volcano closes all air space in Northern Europe…

Day 1 – Thursday 15th April
I have spent the last couple of days on an educational trip to the Norwegian resort of Trysil, a lovely family resort located a couple of hours from Oslo and am due to fly home today.  Little did I know that this was also the first day of what was to become a team challenge that would make Sir Alan Sugar proud.  It started when I joined my group for breakfast.  I was travelling with representatives from TUI, Ski Dream and Pinnacle Travel, together with our hosts Jenny from SAS Airlines and Robert from Rezidor.  Robert mentioned that he had seen something about a volcano erupting in Iceland and from what he could gather there were no flights operating out of Northern Scandinavian airports.  Luckily (or so we thought) Oslo was still open, so we departed for our dog sledding trip as planned, only to return and find that Oslo had also been closed.  Flights were due to depart on Friday morning, so Robert used the first of many favours to secure us some accommodation for the night in Oslo and we took the 2 hour coach journey back to town.

Fourth train of the day

Day 2 – Friday 16th April
Wake up in Oslo to find that the closure of airspace now affects the whole of the UK as well and appears to be getting worse.  Oslo is pretty much full for a huge Expo, so an hour spent on the internet reveals that all trains and car hire out of Oslo are fully booked.  The news suggests that airspace may open later that evening, so call in favour number two and blag city tour passes.  Trysil educational turns into Trysil/Oslo educational.  Spend the day checking out the many museums and places of interest around Oslo, together with a site tour of the Radisson Blu Hotel, which has hosted guests ranging from Annie Lennox to Bill Clinton.  Favour number three sees us being hosted for an evening meal by the lovely people at the Hard Rock Cafe, followed by two stressful hours in the hotel lobby looking at travel options home, without much success.

Day 3 – Saturday 17th April
Meet for breakfast and check the news, which is becoming more and more pessimistic.  Looks like the chances of getting off the ground in the next few days are becoming very slim, so we bite the bullet and decide to get out of Norway by any means necessary.  Conor, one of the group members has heard of a cruise ship departing from Hamburg for Southampton on Sunday night, so a few frantic calls are made and probably the biggest favour so far finds us with six places on the ship, provided that we can get to Hamburg in time.  With all trains, buses and rental cars booked out, we manage to find space on a ferry leaving from Larvik for the north coast of Denmark, so we grab a taxi and make the two hour journey from Oslo to the port.  A four hour ferry journey and an hour’s taxi ride later, we find ourselves in the town of Aalborg and grab a hotel for the night.

Day 4 – Sunday 18th April
Having managed to book a series of four trains with worryingly little time between each departure, we put our faith in the Danish rail system, which thankfully seems to be far superior to our UK system.  Make it to the German border on time and board the third train, which promptly grinds to a halt before even making it out of the station.  Wait around for the train to be fixed, whilst wondering what happened to the famed German efficiency.  Finally get on our way half an hour late and, with only a twelve minute window before the next train, we can see our escape route rapidly disappearing.  Thankfully the German efficiency proves not to be a myth, the train makes up the half hour delay and we make our connection to Hamburg.  Relax in the station with a cold beer before making our way to the port.
We board the brand new Celebrity Eclipse cruise ship, it’s my first time on a cruise liner and I am blown away by the sheer size of this 15 storey, 22,000 tonne monster.  Realise we were very lucky to have found a route home (especially as 800 of the 950 passengers booked to travel were unable to make it for the cruise) and relax for our two day luxury cruise home.

Our lift home

Day 6 – Tuesday 19th April
Finally make port in Southampton, six days later than planned and having used pretty much every means of transport at our disposal.  Having seen the travel chaos first hand, I head home feeling thankful that I work for a company specialising in self drive ski holidays and planning my next trip – a luxury cruise!

Welcome home John!

FlexiPlus Eurotunnel – smug, moi?

Or should it be re-named Club Class?  Joanna opts for driving to Paris and finds the smoothest modeof transport in a weekend of travel chaos…

We decided on a whim to self-drive to france for a meeting in Paris – so very nearly booked flights – and what a relief as it just happened to be the day iceland’s volcano caused complete havoc in the skies!

We didn’t need to think about limiting ourselves with our luggage and chucked everything randomly into the boot of the car – what bliss not having to squash things into suitcases only to be told we were overweight by some arrogant  airline.

Travelling FlexiPlus with Eurotunnel means you  get  directed down an empty lane for the first available crossing and you get to overtake hundreds of cars sitting waiting obediently for their appointed time. FlexiPlus signposts guide you past the bottle necks and you arrive at the wonderfully empty flexi lounge  exclusive to FlexiPlus clients – where you get to stuff your face with a limitless picnic including wine, wide variety of sandwiches and puddings, fruit, chocolate, crisps – and topped off with complimentary newspapers and comfy sofas.  Quick snooze on the train and you are all set for your journey!

Our ski weekend doesn’t take off!

We’re going nowhere today as the Erna Low end of season ski weekend is confronted by Mother Nature…

Against all odds our (slightly depleted) Erna Low Ski Holidays team were about to set off on what promised to be another legendary ski weekend!  We were beginning to get very excited as the departure date was getting closer.  We’d been checking the snow reports in Avoriaz for days, bags were packed and ski legs ready to squeeze in one last weekend of sunshine, skiing and perhaps the occasional beer (or two!) before the season ended.  And then we heard the news.   Who would have thought that a huge Volcanic cloud of ash would put an end to our great plans!  But unfortunately Iceland’s Eyjafjallajokull Volcano is still erupting and shows no sign of stopping!  Our flights have been cancelled and we – like thousands of others across Europe –  won’t be going anywhere this weekend!  Needless to say there are a few disappointed people in the office this afternoon and some sad looking ski bags that will have to be taken home and unpacked without even leaving London!  But Mother Nature has spoken and we will just have to find another way to entertain ourselves this weekend… There is always next year!

all the gear and no where near...

See You Tube footage of the volcano eruption -> this is why we can’t ski this weekend!