 Poster: A snowHead
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True, but a lot won't be careful.
I also find it hard to see how social distancing will work on bubbles and gondolas with normal Jan/Feb/Mar numbers in the French resorts. The intention will be there but the practicalities of having to actually get the required throughput on the lifts and bar/cafes will take over...
We're actually skiing in Trysil, Norway this week and feel pretty safe. Place is deserted and it is only chairs, t-bars and buttons. Even then people are trying to be courteous and keeping distance. I cannot see this happening in France.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@NoMapNoCompass,
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Even then people are trying to be courteous and keeping distance. I cannot see this happening in France.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| chocksaway wrote: |
@under a new name, Gordon's Wine Bar on Villiers Street?
Great place to go for a snifter out of MOD, no chance of being called back, it was a great not spot in the noughties. |
Glad to see its still going. I haven’t been there for years since working across the street in EP. Once in the cellars its hard to leave.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@Hurtle, Yep its a mess but so is the French response, when we got here back in mid December our neighbour (I guess he's around 50) was not due a Covid Booster until May! Now the French Gov has finally got going he had his booster Wednesday. But he had to drive to Moutier to get it. Therefore, to me its no surprise that there is nearly 300,000 infections a day. Plus pre Christmas we got into the Funi Plagne (a large multi Gondola) and of the 12 people in there only 6 wore masks! I glared at a few and two sheepishly pulled up their Buffs.  We haven't been on it since - sticking to Charlifts. The smaller Gondola out of Montalbert we have one to ourselves - not difficult as its quiet or the lifties close the doors for us as we get in.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@ster,
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Once in the cellars its hard to leave.
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So true, so many sore heads to prove it. 
@boredsurfin, sounds pretty much like the UK, but if everybody just gives up and adds to the mess, it won't help the numbers. Except that it's all probably too late, as I've said.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| snowdave wrote: |
| @Hurtle, ... which boredsurfin has largely answered... your original question crossed over with my original reply. 7 or 10 days depending on circumstances if you test positive. |
Well, your post saying that there's no need to test if you drive home seems to imply that the French laws won't apply to you, unless I've misunderstood you. |
You've misunderstood me. Flying home from Switzerland requires a test to cross the border (depending on your interpretation of the rules around "living in a border area") which might be positive. Driving home does not require you to take such a test. Does that put your mind at rest?
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@snowdave,
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Driving home does not require you to take such a test.
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In Switzerland you mean? So it's possible to have symptoms and just carry on regardless in Switzerland? Wow. Sorry, I remain terminally confused (not least because I don't know where you're planning on driving to and from) but I've got to go out now.
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| NoMapNoCompass wrote: |
True, but a lot won't be careful.
I also find it hard to see how social distancing will work on bubbles and gondolas with normal Jan/Feb/Mar numbers in the French resorts. The intention will be there but the practicalities of having to actually get the required throughput on the lifts and bar/cafes will take over...
We're actually skiing in Trysil, Norway this week and feel pretty safe. Place is deserted and it is only chairs, t-bars and buttons. Even then people are trying to be courteous and keeping distance. I cannot see this happening in France. |
So what you mean is, if you take no precautions and are careless, then you have a high chance of catching covid in France skiing in the next few weeks. That's a little different from 'everyone is virtually guaranteed to contract it'
Personally, I will be masked up whenever there are people about. I'm going to Montgenevre next weekend, and will either be outside, or in my apartment AT ALL TIMES.
I will also avoid bubble lifts. I would say the only place we are likely to catch it would be if we make use of the swimming pool, but even then, we'll be in the outside part of it, so minimising the risk.
When I go at half term, me and my family will fill a bubble lift, so won't be sharing with others.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
@snowdave,
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Driving home does not require you to take such a test.
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In Switzerland you mean? So it's possible to have symptoms and just carry on regardless in Switzerland? Wow. Sorry, I remain terminally confused (not least because I don't know where you're planning on driving to and from) but I've got to go out now. |
You seem desperate to start a fight on this (despite, as you say, not knowing where I'm driving to or from), but in a last attempt to explain...
I'll be skiing in France. If I drive to and from France I don't have to take a test to come home.
If fly, then I go via Geneva, and have to test to cross the border, symptomatic or not.
Since you seem to enjoy the rhetorical questions, I assume that if you ever cough, sneeze or sniff at any location other than your home, you immediately isolate at that location, send for a PCR test, and isolate until you get the all clear?
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@snowdave, from what I was looking at earlier, test is not required to transit CH ...
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@under a new name, it seemed ambiguous to me, and despite @hurtle's desire to perceive me in some other way, I'm keen to follow the rules. The "travelling from a border area" seems such a weird getout, because _everybody_ coming over a land border, by definition, is travelling from a border area. The "transit" phrase has also been so ambiguous over the past year as to whether its airside etc. that I wasn't prepared to rely on that either.
Eventual conclusion was to bite the bullet and get some more mileage out of the snow tyres 
Plan B, in the event of COVID infection, is just to stay there, in which case driving back is a lot better than running up the overage rate on a rental car from GVA at £120/day.
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| Timmycb5 wrote: |
So what you mean is, if you take no precautions and are careless, then you have a high chance of catching covid in France skiing in the next few weeks. That's a little different from 'everyone is virtually guaranteed to contract it'
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I accept that if you wear a fit tested FFP2 or FFP3 mask and are careful then you are unlikely to catch Omicron variant Covid-19, even when in the immediate vicinity of infected persons.
If you wear a cloth or surgical mask then you are primarily attempting to contain your own aerosolised droplets, not prevent inhalation of those in the environment. So if you are in a bubble or gondola and as the door closes, in steps an unmasked infected person, you are likely to become infected. That is not carelessness and it is difficult to take precautions to avoid all such circumstances in a big multi-centre resort where most will be travelling. I accept that if you go somewhere smaller like Montgenevre and use open-air lifts then you can mitigate the risk substantially, but only if you also avoid outdoor eating venues.
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I've cancelled my Feb HT hol and opted for first week of Easter instead. I just want to go on a holiday where I can enjoy myself day and night and not be looking out for Covid over my shoulder. Not so much for me, but for my single jabbed teenage son. Who would have to test daily - what happens if he's asymptomatically positive? No skiing (which then rules a parent out as he's only 14), isolation for rest of the holiday and would I do the right thing and quarantine or just try and sneak back into the UK because I can? Too much stress.
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You know it makes sense.
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Omicron + triple vax is basically a cold for all but the unluckiest. In the UK apparently 52% of "colds" are now actually covid (according to Zoe). With omicron at 90% of French cases it's got to be similar...
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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(according to Zoe)
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Is she a mate of Karen ?
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Poster: A snowHead
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@boredsurfin,
The booster has been available for over 50’s since early December. I had mine the day after it opened up. It had been very easy to get an appointment using the doctorlib app. I’m not sure why your mate has been struggling to get his sorted.
@snowdave,
No one tests to cross the border from France to Switzerland, or if they do, it’s pointless because no one asks for it.
From my experience in Morzine; Covid has been everywhere. I follow the rules but am not a hermit, and caught Omicron around xmas, as did my (grown up) kids and their respective other halves. Some are boosted, some are not. Everyone had the same severity of symptoms, although not everyone had the same symptoms. The booster seemed to make no difference. We all had a cold that lasted a few days with a bit of tiredness and fever. That was it. As a result of the minor symptoms, many locals (both English and French) working in the ski/travel/hospitality business, simply don’t test because they need to work. Hence the spread.
Having said all that, I have a small Airbnb business. We’ve been full since mid December and all of our guests seemed to have carried on as normal, have enjoyed a normal holiday, and as far as I know, haven’t caught covid.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| NoMapNoCompass wrote: |
| under a new name wrote: |
| ...a fair few colds mind you! |
Were you actually treating those colds as Covid and taking a Lat Flow/TAG? |
We tested as much out of curiosity as anything, despite GP refusing to issue scripts for PCR as “it’s just a frickin’ cold, have you never had a cold before?” Anyway negative. I’m sure loads of locals were not testing.
As an aside, allegedly any covid tests in Chambthat were being sequenced were all delta.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| musher wrote: |
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(according to Zoe)
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Is she a mate of Karen ? |
I think that's the Zoe app that some folks are involved with like Rob and PamW, so no relation of Karen from FB.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@snowdave, the schools shutting wasn’t because there were so many cases but that at the time the whole class of any cases and the classes of any close contacts of those cases all had to go home!
A couple of cases could shut the school 
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You'll need to Register first of course.
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According to https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases
France has now double the cases compared to UK?
Would love to go skiing but is it wise? Had all the jabs but don’t want to catch Covid on holiday? We’ve been told to live with it. Anyone else confused?
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Well we are on our way now. My view of that cases are high yes, but they have been in the UK and we’ve all avoided it. I am triple vaccinated, driving down, private apartment. At most we will in a supermarket or getting a takeaway or a meal outside at lunch
We usually avoid gondolas where we can anyway, and if needed will wait to get bubbles alone. We have an FFP2 buff that’s official Trios valleys and a box full of FFP2 masks for supermarket/stop offs.
If worse case we catch it and have to drive home we have those masks to protect us and others, so we don’t waft it around spreading as we go.
Tbh I figure as I go into an office her in the UK most days. And I have been to the cinema and restaurants I am doing nothing worse.
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Cases in France will start to drop very soon. Didn't feel unsafe in the uk with high cases certainly won't in France.
Wear a good mask, use gel and common sense thats what living with it is all about or we'll be having the same conversation every winter.
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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Triple buffs sound good, where do you get these? Have a good trip
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If folks are coming here for French Travel advice after the other was locked, the gov.uk advice has just been ended and the links seem to work. There is also clarification of adults and kids travelling together (IIRC).
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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@James77, why use gel? other than for good general hygiene, if you don't wash your hands enough? (contact spread not thought to be terribly relevant to the virus).
& On top of your gloves? Somewhat bemused to see gel dispensers by every chairlift gate I've been on. Or maybe it's leather balm?
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And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
And love to help out and answer questions and of course, read each other's snow reports.
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| under a new name wrote: |
@James77, why use gel? other than for good general hygiene, if you don't wash your hands enough? (contact spread not thought to be terribly relevant to the virus).
& On top of your gloves? Somewhat bemused to see gel dispensers by every chairlift gate I've been on. Or maybe it's leather balm? |
Agreed pointless by lifts. I was thinking generally around public loos, supermarkets, bars. Even in the height of covid people walk out of public loo without washing hands. Sorry to lower the tone but folks are pretty disgusting so the odd dab of gell to kill any nasty not just the c19 sounds good to me.
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@James77, oh, on that, totally agree, (hence my bit about regular hand hygiene). No surprise that least round here gastro bugs (spread often by poor hand hygiene, yeuch) have become very rare.
I'm not however getting too worried about supermarket trolleys, or bar tables. Wouldn't lick one, however.
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You know it makes sense.
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If you actually manage to make it skiing and you get a bit of a sniffle mid-holiday (if you can tell through the perpetual hangover), I’m struggling to see why you would test, as a positive result would cancel your final few days skiing and, presumably, force you to find additional accommodation after your current place ends.
There is presumably no mandate to test if you feel unwell, only a recommendation as in the UK. Only once you test positive does any kind of compelling law apply. So why would you risk it, if your triple jabbed and driving home?
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Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
Otherwise you'll just go on seeing the one name:
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That is indeed the pragmatic approach... which everyone is following even if the governments won't admit it!
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Lovetoski123 wrote: |
According to https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases
France has now double the cases compared to UK?
Would love to go skiing but is it wise? Had all the jabs but don’t want to catch Covid on holiday? We’ve been told to live with it. Anyone else confused? |
Remember U.K. has suspended PCR testing for people without the main (ie old) covid symptoms. In effect a lot of positives will be handled as a private matter in the U.K. now and won’t be in the count.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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@Skimum1, But if you report an LFT it is included.
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Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
Well, the person's real but it's just a made up name, see?
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| Skimum1 wrote: |
| Lovetoski123 wrote: |
According to https://ourworldindata.org/covid-cases
France has now double the cases compared to UK?
Would love to go skiing but is it wise? Had all the jabs but don’t want to catch Covid on holiday? We’ve been told to live with it. Anyone else confused? |
Remember U.K. has suspended PCR testing for people without the main (ie old) covid symptoms. In effect a lot of positives will be handled as a private matter in the U.K. now and won’t be in the count. |
I don’t think that has a great deal to do with it. We’re on a different trajectory to mainland Europe because we weren’t in the middle of a bad winter Delta wave at the time Omicron started becoming prevalent. ONS stats are broadly supporting the testing trend.
Hospitalisations are the stat of interest, and they’re starting to fall. They will plummet next week, lagging the big falls in cases by 5-7 days.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
You need to Login to know who's really who.
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@snowdave,
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You seem desperate to start a fight on this (despite, as you say, not knowing where I'm driving to or from),
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Not at all, and I don't know what I've said to make you infer I want a fight. I was just trying to clarify why, if you're in France (thanks for confirming) you feel entitled to ignore current French rules, which you yourself have set out. I've already said that those rules seem to be pretty pointless now, we're on the same page to that extent. It's clear that many people will do as you suggest.
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Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
Anyway, snowHeads is much more fun if you do.
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@FIRSTOFTHEGIANTS, hope you’re right, here’s to some good news!
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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| Hurtle wrote: |
| ..... I've already said that those rules seem to be pretty pointless now, we're on the same page to that extent. It's clear that many people will do as you suggest. |
On our Geezonaires WhatsApp group a few of us who still acknowledged we are British as it were, came in for a lot of grief from the Francophiles when the numbers were rising in the UK and France was static, and basically what a feckin mess the UK was etc etc
We did try to point out that France did nowhere near the volume of testing and sequencing that the UK does but we were shot down (again), as it was all another feeling of Deja Vu as what happens in the UK happens elsewhere soon after, so we just bode our time knowing that the French Xmas/New Year holidays, just like last year*, would result in a massive increase in numbers.
At lunch yesterday up the hill I jokingly said to the Patron as we were all discussing Le retour très attendu des Anglais dans les stations and how we were having lunch, though outside on the terrace, that I thought when I suggested Friday lunch at the beginning of the week, it might be to toast either/or/both 500k cases in France and Bojo resigning
*this time last year we were still hoping that the lifts might open for French Half term, but the Xmas/New Year rise in numbers put paid to that.
I wrote this in the blog 27th January - and look at/remember the comment from Macron!
I would say immediately after the New Year festivities that there was an element of optimism that indeed the lifts, if not the bars and restaurants would open, however that was before Macron became more concerned about the 'English Plague' and other variants, so soon after I arrived curfew was changed from 20:00 to 18:00, which would mean careful planning to continue with some sort of social life!
And even though numbers of cases in France were nowhere near as severe as the UK last Thursday (21st January) the announcement was made that no one wanted to hear, that the ski-lifts would remain closed for the half-term, which basically means for the rest of the season.
It's actually quite interesting going back over the blog from around this time last year 
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Slight tightening up of supervision today, at the gate to the Bergerie Chairlift skiers (and boarders) were being told to pull their Buffs up and cover their mouth and nose.
Only the second time in 4 weeks - it must be getting serious 
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| boredsurfin wrote: |
Slight tightening up of supervision today, at the gate to the Bergerie Chairlift skiers (and boarders) were being told to pull their Buffs up and cover their mouth and nose.
Only the second time in 4 weeks - it must be getting serious |
I reckon the week starting next saturday is going to get real busy, even if it's January there is such demand from the UK it'll be as busy as high season week, maybe there preparing. What do you think?
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You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
You'll get to see more forums and be part of the best ski club on the net.
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@Minion1980, The flights I booked to Lyon next Sat, have not gone up at all. 40 quid outbound. But the GVA ones are looking pricy on the same day. So I don't know!
I chose Lyon as it was less paperwork and buses as convenient.
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@chocksaway, I couldn't recall what bus I had booked with bens bus so I took a look on their site earlier and there were only 5 seats left on the Geneva to Les arcs bus, not sure what that means. Also I've been looking for apartments in tignes and LA 1950 for w/c 12/03 and there is very little available that has some cancellation allowance.
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FAQ
