 Poster: A snowHead
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| Swirly wrote: |
| Afterall you don't go to a posh restaurant because you fancy a shite. |
Post of the year for any future questions about restaurants, standard of accomodation, quality of scenery, weather whinges etc.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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Staying in an apartment does not mean you are compelled to cook each evening. I get sick of hotel food after a couple of nights, even in a good hotel restaurant, there is something repetitive about it.
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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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We skimp on the upfront price. We force the price down with the TO as far as we possibly can, I was recently referred to as a no holds barred negotiator.
Personally, negotiate everything, because everything is negotiable. That expensive shop that claims they don't discount? Yes they do. The guy who tells you he's not authorised to give you discount? His boss is. Scrimp on everything and you can afford luxury on a much smaller budget.
Our Dec trip started out as a £600 per person trip. Bill finally came to £420 per person after some shopping around.
We save money on skis - never buy new, and never buy this season's model - there's far too many others who will take the big depreciation drop for you (we're the same with cars, couldn't dream of buying new, even though we can afford it, it just makes no sense to me to drive the first 30,000 miles when someone else can lose the money and make no difference to the thing!)
And I don't believe in designer label. When necessary, and there is a clear benefit to ski gear, we get it. Hell, I spent £50 on a second helmet today, but it was a K2 integrated music helmet, but if it fitted the same as a £20 helmet, I know which I'd be getting.
Because there's 10 of us going in Dec, we'll be drinking at home for the majority of the time, plus our booze is included over dinner, so makes more sense. Probably 2-3 nights out on the beers at most, so no major outlay there. Well, maybe a major outlay if they all hit warp speed, last time I went on a night out on a ski trip I came home 200 euros lighter with a lot of very bad memories 
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| Quote: |
even in a good hotel restaurant, there is something repetitive about it.
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Yes, it's strange that, isn't it? I find the same. In the days when I stayed in hotels for work I used to always try to find a way to eat elsewhere - though sometimes the possibilities were extremely limited. Trouble is with little French resorts - it gets repetitive in the restaurants too.
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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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Trouble is with little French resorts - it gets repetitive in the restaurants too.
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True. This is mainly why we've been self catering in recent years. That way can save as some folks have said, and also eat decent amounts of veggies, and not spend fortune on drinkies. Have cut down on drinking in bars too, and might only have one meal up the mountain and take a picnic.
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I've tried skimping, but find it really hard to. I managed last season to get two 'free' holidays, but that came at the cost of taking loads of school kids and spending a requisite number of hours in medical centres/hospitals.
As for family holidays, driving is the way forward, not for cost saving, more to get the numerous kids stuff in. I will not skimp on childcare!
I suppose it helps living very near Bicester Village to get end of season bargains for last years clobber!
Apres ski is clearly skimped on as babysitters are necessary so we don't bother! Bottle of wine in front of DVD.
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I used to skimp, on having a cooked lunch, apres ski, babysitting, ski lessons for me and friends.
However I have found out there are ways to get all that, all season, all for free.
Nix.
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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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We skimped on having kids 
Two good incomes = 5-6 weeks holiday a year.
We look for mid range/good value accommodation on the slopes (it must be slope side) and normally get 3 good weeks in. In the summer we do the 5* dressing for dinner thing in the world's finest hotels.
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thing to bear in mind is that one person's skimping is anothers necessity. i've been dirt poor (20 quid a week for food petrol etc for a family of 3)
so my current view is
buy from tk max, ebay etal.. it's a year out of date but hardly going to kill you.
beer, i go where beer is cheap and if it's not i buy from supermarket.
cheap flights and pub transport when i can't be bothered driving.. back to the beer again.
this year it's czech rep, bulgaria, cananda and aprica in italy with maybe one more and most weeknds (and some week days) up north where there be snow.
but i have no problem sitting down in a cafe or resturant and getting up and leaving if i think the prices are daft.
so yes i skimp, or rather i live within my means (and my beer fetish)
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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Ways I keep costs down:
Booking early in order to get cheapest train tickets when they come out (late booking not an option with this form of transport)
Trawling websites to find best rate for accommodation including early booking discount.
Choosing resort near rail station to avoid high transfer cost.
Taking all basics like tea bags, coffee, porridge oats with us.
Have our own boots so only need to hire skis each time.
Either buy childrens gear on Ebay or buy new in TK Max/ Trespass and sell on ebay when they've outgrown.
Avoid high cost resorts Val D'isere/ Tignes and 3 valleys
Things we don't skimp on:
choice of country - france suits us best in terms of language and convenience to get to so go there even if other countries are cheaper.
accommodation - go for four star self catering with pool
childrens' ski lessons
Eat out once a day
transport - we like to go by train and if using sleeper would not share with strangers. Often fork out for taxi to resort rather than queuing for bus
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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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| Helen Beaumont wrote: |
| even in a good hotel restaurant, there is something repetitive about it. |
Not for just a week. At least no less variety than what I would make for myself at home in the same week's time. Maybe different food, but no more or less in terms of variety.
Perhaps if I were to do a 3-4 months SEASON in a smallish resort, I could see the potential of running out of variety even in all the restaurants. Though if the resort is so limited, I somehow suspect how much more variety one can cook up in the apartment, with the likely limited supply of ingradience in the resort supermarket.
How much of this "lack of variety" is due to being in a forign country where the food isn't entirely to your own liking? In other words, I'm wondering whether all these cooking motivation has to do with wanting to cook "home" food?
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You know it makes sense.
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[quote="abc"]
| Helen Beaumont wrote: |
How much of this "lack of variety" is due to being in a forign country where the food isn't entirely to your own liking? In other words, I'm wondering whether all these cooking motivation has to do with wanting to cook "home" food? |
surely the whole point of going places is to eat the food, when in rome...
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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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| Quote: |
How much of this "lack of variety" is due to being in a forign country where the food isn't entirely to your own liking? In other words, I'm wondering whether all these cooking motivation has to do with wanting to cook "home" food?
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surely the whole point of going places is to eat the food, when in rome...
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well, if you want to eat absurd quantities of cheese, salamis etc and even more absurd quantities of "green salad" (ie lettuce) along with various forms of potato (sometimes with more cheese) and then have fruit tarts and/or ice cream, then yes, eat the local food. In many places in France the food is great, and varied. But small resorts in Savoie aren't any of them. I can eat one of those meals once a week - absolute max.
The week I spent eating in an Austrian hotel was just as grim - in fact grimmer. Never again. A few days in a small, family run, Italian hotel near Cortina (where the two proprietors spoke not one word of English and the young waitress spoke about 25) was the best eating I've had in Alpine establishments. From what I've read, ski resorts in North America are not hugely rated for their food either. But after all, the "whole point" is not to eat the food, but to go skiing.
I couldn't afford to eat out much, so it's just as well, maybe, that there is absolutely no incentive to do so. Places like Megeve have terrific restaurants, but a couple of hundred euro for a meal? I don't think so.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Quote: |
And isn't it scrimp?
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cathy, I'd say that scrimping (and saving) is what some people do beforehand, in order not to have to skimp when they're on holidays. "Skimp" being used as in "when you make gratin dauphinoise, don't skimp on the cream". 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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In these difficult times I cut back on the servants & sometimes resort to non-vintage champagne.
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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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| pam w wrote: |
| Quote: |
How much of this "lack of variety" is due to being in a forign country where the food isn't entirely to your own liking? In other words, I'm wondering whether all these cooking motivation has to do with wanting to cook "home" food?
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surely the whole point of going places is to eat the food, when in rome...
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well, if you want to eat absurd quantities of cheese, salamis etc and even more absurd quantities of "green salad" (ie lettuce) along with various forms of potato (sometimes with more cheese) and then have fruit tarts and/or ice cream, then yes, eat the local food. In many places in France the food is great, and varied. But small resorts in Savoie aren't any of them. I can eat one of those meals once a week - absolute max.
The week I spent eating in an Austrian hotel was just as grim - in fact grimmer. Never again. A few days in a small, family run, Italian hotel near Cortina (where the two proprietors spoke not one word of English and the young waitress spoke about 25) was the best eating I've had in Alpine establishments. From what I've read, ski resorts in North America are not hugely rated for their food either. But after all, the "whole point" is not to eat the food, but to go skiing.
I couldn't afford to eat out much, so it's just as well, maybe, that there is absolutely no incentive to do so. Places like Megeve have terrific restaurants, but a couple of hundred euro for a meal? I don't think so. |
i dont have a problem with that, i'll eat anything. a 10k run in the morning will burn all the crap off.. well...
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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| Quote: |
The week I spent eating in an Austrian hotel was just as grim - in fact grimmer.
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If you're a veggie, yeah you're screwed. If you're a normal human, who likes meat as much as our bodies are designed to digest it, you'll be spoilt for choice in any decent Austrian restaurant... mmm venison, wild boar and wiener schnitzel...
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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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| Quote: |
If you're a veggie, yeah you're screwed.
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well I'm not, and was certainly not "spoilt for choice". In fact there wasn't any choice. A kind of meal was plonked in front of us. We really aren't fussy eaters but it was probably about the worst hotel food I've encountered outside some very dodgy parts of the Third world. I know all Austrian food isn't like that - though I don't think it would ever be my favourite cuisine.
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If you go with a UK chalet company you are not experiencing the local cuisine anyway. You are at the mercy of the chalet host. Had two very bad experiences with Simply Ski (no longer exist) and Neilsons in chalets and it has completely put me off chalet hols. Self catering much easier with children and it doesn't mean you have to spend four hours cooking a night.
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Our miserable Austrian food was because the catered chalet we had booked into (Inghams) wasn't organised and we had to eat the evening meal in the hotel next door (the proprietors owned the chalet). The hotel was probably given a tight budget for our meals but that's no excuse for the rubbish we were served. I have stayed in some fairly basic catered chalets over the years and always had OK food - usually very good, given the facilities the chalet hosts had, and the budget. We are not particularly hard to satisfy, actually.
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| clarky999 wrote: |
| Quote: |
The week I spent eating in an Austrian hotel was just as grim - in fact grimmer.
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If you're a veggie, yeah you're screwed. If you're a normal human, who likes meat as much as our bodies are designed to digest it, you'll be spoilt for choice in any decent Austrian restaurant... mmm venison, wild boar and wiener schnitzel... |
I'm a veggie and have done OK so far with hotel restaurants. The bigger hotels often have a buffet system so I could just choose what I want. In Italy, I'm well catered for with pasta, soup and pizza and even in Austria the food was less inventive (mainly omelettes and cheese-topped potato dishes) but still highly edible. I have to eat a low fibre diet too, but that never seems to be a problem.
P.S. I'm a completely normal human, my choice/necessity of diet does not make me abnormal.
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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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| Lechbob wrote: |
| In these difficult times I cut back on the servants & sometimes resort to non-vintage champagne. |
Quite right, our friends have had to let their gardener go... 
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[quote="mugen"]
| abc wrote: |
| Helen Beaumont wrote: |
How much of this "lack of variety" is due to being in a forign country where the food isn't entirely to your own liking? In other words, I'm wondering whether all these cooking motivation has to do with wanting to cook "home" food? |
surely the whole point of going places is to eat the food, when in rome... |
I DIDN'T SAY THAT !! YOu've quoted someone else and not me. Part of my holiday is sampling the local food, but that is better done by choosing a differenr restaurant each night than staying in the same hotel. Some are good, some aren't. Same for the restaurants, but at least if you have a bad one you don't have to go back for dinner the next night.
I am not a fussy eater, and will try anything , including andouilette and sweetbreads. Cooking 'in' is becasue I enjoy it, and happens more frequently because of the expense of taking four adults out for dinner every lunchtime and evening. We stay two weeks at a time.
I don't cook English food in France if I cook , I buy and cook with French ingredients as a rule. Our village still has a proper butchers and weekly market. I do a
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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| pam w wrote: |
| Our miserable Austrian food was because the catered chalet we had booked into (Inghams) wasn't organised and we had to eat the evening meal in the hotel next door (the proprietors owned the chalet). The hotel was probably given a tight budget for our meals but that's no excuse for the rubbish we were served. I have stayed in some fairly basic catered chalets over the years and always had OK food - usually very good, given the facilities the chalet hosts had, and the budget. We are not particularly hard to satisfy, actually. |
I think you were unlucky there.
The Austrian hotels I have stayed in on half board options have all had very good meals, always with a choice of main course, and often a choice of starter/dessert too, and always with a salad bar as well as the three "proper" courses.
The vegetarians would usually only have one choice of main course though, and in more than one hotel, that occasionally included ham - I hav eno idea why the Austrians thing pigs are vegetables 
But any country has some dodgy restaurants/hotels. I'm just lucky enough not to have found them yet in Austria.
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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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Don't really consider what I do as skimping but I certainly have to arrange the ski holidays to make them affordable and always look for value.
What I do varies a bit according to who I am going with multiplying things by four with a family means that small differences count for more than when on a boys trip.
On a family trip we invariably self cater and usually out of resort to make it more affordable, having said that we ususally take a decent sized appartment with another family so that it ispleasant to be in rather than feeling cooped up. We have to go in school holidays as one of our friends is a teacher. At Easter we try and go the cheaper week which makes quite a difference.
I gues I save by not buying a helmet. otherwise most of my equipment is bought new but in sales and it has to last.
pam w,
Don't know if there are some Austrian hotels that specialise in providing duff food to non residents, but my first ski holiday was spent in an excellent B&B in Soll and the tour operator provided us with dreadful food at a nearby hotel. Put me off Austria for a few years but since then I have been back many times and have generallly eaten well in the evening. The comfort and cleanliness of the rooms has always been outstanding and the breakfasts have always been very good including my first visit.
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You know it makes sense.
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Skimp:
Go to europe
Smaller resorts (not a fan of mega resorts anyway TBH)
Never eat out, I often don't really feel like trudging round a resort at night in the cold either.
No booze unless it is available cheap from a supermarket
Buy gear in the sales during April/May and put up with a smaller selection
Won't skimp:
Gear: I take a lot of time choosing the right gear and want it tuned how I want it, rental places don't have well tuned high end skis.
Snow record: need a reasonable chance of a pow day!
Accommodation: skiing is hard on your body so I need some comfort, my days of really roughing it ended when graduated from student life. I often book places that 'sleep 4/5' for 2 of us since most places are wildly optimistic in what is comfortable for a holiday.
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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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