 Poster: A snowHead
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Mrs Addict & I often go skiing with Brer Addict and his wife. Trouble is sis in law is a teacher & stuck with inflexible time off arrangements....
No problem!! You don't need ANY days off work to feel like you've had a week in the mountains! We've done loads of weekend trips as follows:
Book cheap flights - out Saturday, back Sunday. NB MUST be very early outbound & fairly late inbound.
Work all day on the Friday.
Drive to airport hotel Friday night (eg Stansted 220 miles, Liverpool 140 miles, Heathrow 250 miles, Birmingham 190 miles).
Early doors Saturday morning flight to Geneva, Salzburg, Turin, Bergamo, Genoa or similar.
Hire car and drive between 1 hr (eg Chamonix, Pila) and 2hrs 45 mins (Tignes).
Ski as much as possible Saturday.
Apres ski beers and and a nice meal out. Text workmates to say you're in a nice French restaurant - in the Alps.
Ski first to last lifts Sunday.
Fly home Sunday evening.
Drive home from airport (worst case scenario: delayed flight and leaving Stansted at 1am - bed at 4.30am, alarm on for work at 7am - character building!!)
Arrive at work and find that workmates who have spent the weekend at Ikea or B&Q are describing ME as mad!
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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mountainaddict, I like your style  How cheap do you find Saturday/Sunday flight prices?
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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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mountainaddict, Sounds great, don't have 3 kids 
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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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ski-finder, be adventurous and do it yourself, I think Thompsonfly flights are out now as we speak. If you choose a time off peak there is absolutely no worries whatsoever with hotel/apartments.......go on give it a go, you may never need the services of a TO ever again!
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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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northantsred,
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If you choose a time off peak there is absolutely no worries whatsoever with hotel/apartments.
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Sounds very interesting!
So how would I find out hotels/apartments which are available just for odd days over a weekend?
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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larry duff, some emailing should do the trick, or pick up a phone. The tourist office is a good place to start.
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larry duff, most Austrian resorts have a website with an accommodation search facility - either the rooms are bookable online, or your request is sent to every property and all you have to do is sit back and wait for the responses. However, you have to wait until maybe 7-14 days before you arrive, as no-one will take a Friday-Monday booking further ahead unless they're desperate.
I've no experience of weekend trips in France, Italy or Switzerland, but a similar approach is worth a try, as is phoning the tourist office directly as Helen Beaumont suggests.
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northantsred, lol never been skiing with a tour op... we've done 4 day trips for the last 3 years.... just Mon - Thu rather than over a weekend. Think we're gunna do a road trip this time round
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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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Helen Beaumont, ousekjarr,
Thanks for that. I've not been to Austria before but my experience of France is that they rarely offer anything other than the full week. I'll give it a go!!!
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larry duff, we've done short breaks in French hotels, and I also have an apartment which offers 3 night breaks outside of the school holidays. More and more people are doing weekends, I've had several French visitors this winter who have done just that.
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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ski-finder, thinking of doing something like that myself, sorry for my wrong assumption!
larry duff, if you get your flights sorted, I then never bother too much about a hotel until a week or so before departure. If do do enquire much sooner hotels tend not to commit with you because they are obviously hoping for someone to book for the whole week. Only when timing is close they realise no one is coming and they have spare capacity will they do a deal.
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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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larry duff, we've found that some hotels won't take weekend booking until a few weeks before, they want to get all the week long bookings in first so just get chaep flights to start with and chill out till a 2/3 weeks before your trip to blanket e-mail the hotels.
We've done trips to Flaine (Samoens+Les Carroz), Flims/Laax and Arabba several times - fly drive.
Of all of them Arabba works out cheapest, and gives the most skiing time but has the longest transfer at 2 hours. Fly to Treviso out of Stansted with Ryanair. You get into resort late (1am) so no time to hang out with a beer but also fly out late to get a full final day.
My personal; favourite is Flaine for the easy access off piste (watch out for the holes)
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rich, northantsred, Helen Beaumont,
Thanks everyone, keep the ideas coming anyone else!
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You know it makes sense.
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larry duff, stay somewhere like Sallanches, on the motorway between Geneva and Chamonix. That gives you scope to drive to a big range of resorts within about 40 - 50 minutes, depending on snow.
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FAQ
