 Poster: A snowHead
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hello
we have taken the plung to drive to the alps in the feb half term
anyhow, we are leaving at 4pm from wiltshire on friday and it is about 150 miles to dover, we hope to arrive in calais at about 10pm if we are lucky, we then want to drive at least 100 miles south and get somewhere to stay
does anyone have any recommendations on somewhere nice for 3 adults and 2 children, we don't really want to have to go as far south as Reims but if needs must and all that
we would preferably like somewhere that takes all of us in one room but I have a feeling that this is going to be a problem. We also need somewhere secure for the car as the last thing we want to do is take all the ski stuff off the roof rack
I don't want to spend a fortune nor do I want to be stuck is formula one style places either, I suppose somewhere that is no more than £120 for all of us, less would be best
we are not bothered about breakfast, we just want somewhere to sleep and then hopefully start the rest of the journey at 7am the next morning
we are going to Passy (not far from Chamonix I believe) and have never been to the Alps to ski before so any advice on the route, where to stay, what to do and what not to do would be greatly appreciated.
The children and I ski and are novices, the OH is a snowboarder and is intermediate and the old lady who we take with us is a very experienced skiier so I am sure she is going to hate doing the green runs with me and the kids 
I have a tomtom so at least the route will hopefully be hassle free
thanks in advance for any advice you can give and hopefully this is posted in the right place
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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poe, Bear in mind the time difference. Why not just stay in Calais? Plenty of hotels there, all prices. I use Active Hotels to book through. They have a good review section on their hotels.
Reims is 2 hours from Calais, that's your route to go via, avoid Paris. Leaving Calais at 7am gives you an easy drive to Chamonix, you'll be there in the afternoon.
Winter tyres would be a good idea, together with the obligatory snow chains, hi-vis vests, spare bulbs, GB sticker, headlight deflectors, insurance cert, vehicle reg doc, etc.
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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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I always book with the Formula One's parent company Accor which provides a range of accommodations from the basic Formula one to business class hotel. Just pick the hotel grade and those along the route to suit your budget.
I like en-suite room so Ibis is the one I use throughout Europe especially in Germany but Etap is cheaper and available in most parts of France.
For France I would go with the convenient stopping point rather with a certain grade of hotel.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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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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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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poe, I would expect the roads in Passy to be fine, it isn't really somewhere you stay to go skiing, the queues will be at the tolls just after Geneva and at Cluses.
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oh, what do you mean it not somewhere you stay to go skiing, that's what we are planning to do 
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poe, It is a valley town where people live and work all year around, not a ski resort.
It is an easy drive to a lot of skiing, I don't see anything wrong with your plan, just don't expect it to be pretty.
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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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that's cool, we are staying out of the town from what I can gather, I know that the ski resorts are about 20 mins drive away which is fine, maybe that's why the place was so cheap for the feb half term
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If you use Venere.com to book your room I have a discount code for 4% off....ATY3VC2 It's totally legit, after I made a booking for Chambery I got an e-mail offering the discount to anyone I wanted to send the code to.
Fortunately, I found the code on moneysavingexpert.com before I booked.
I googled Venere and didn't find any major problems, and the prices, with the discount, were better for my hotel than anything I could find elsewhere
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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thanks for the code, just now sifting through all the hotels in the calais area !
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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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poe, have a look at drive2ski.com - it's a website that professes to tell you everything you might need to know about driving to go skiing...
However it didn't get the greatest of receptions when launched to the snowheads massive - http://snowheads.com/ski-forum/viewtopic.php?p=1404877
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poe, If you stay in Calais I can recommend the Hotel du Golf - http://www.hoteldugolf-calais.com/modulosite2/fiche.php?fr=0&id=445& hopefully link will work, but google will find it.
We've stayed there a few times 2 adults 3 kids and have all been in one room - they have put an extra bed in a room with a double and bunks. Not a hotel I would choose for a holiday but fine for overnight stay.
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You know it makes sense.
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ah, lovely thanks, I will take a look at that site, 6 weeks to go and nothing is sorted out, have not even got the roof rack yet but had the ski top box for years, here's hoping it's not perished from being outside for years
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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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I have got hotel du golf on my shortlist, looks fine for what we want from it
do you know if it has secure parking Boris?
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Poster: A snowHead
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Outside the obvious Accor Group offerings (Formule 1, Ibis, Etap), Hotel B&B is a chain I quite like for French Motel type places. Premiere Classe is acceptable as well. Don't like Campaniles - usually pretty expensive for what they are.
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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just checked the ferry prices and it looks like we will now go dover to boulogne as it is half the price of dover to calais, shorter crossing, twice the price, makes no sense sometimes
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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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poe, Hotel Faidherbe in Rue Faidherbe, Boulogne, less than 5 mins from ferry. I've been there 5-6 times, clean, inexpensive and breakfast is good.
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You need to Login to know who's really who.
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Headlight deflectors - Ive had the sticky on ones before noe, but theyve come off en route.
Heard a tip about a strip of black insulating tape doing the same job - anyone got experience of this please?
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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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yep, I have used black masking tape before, works a treat, however, what it does is black out some of your lights and not deflect them so if you were in an accident you may find that you are not covered as your lights were not working as intended
I am not sure if having defectors on your lights is a legal requirement or not though
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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right, so does anyone know what the actual legal requirement is for driving in France?
I know that apart from the usual documentation I also must have a warning triangle and hi-viz jackets
then comes the gray areas....
By law, do I have to have:
beam deflectors - some sites say you do, others say you don't
GB stickers - most sites seem to say that if you have an EU numberplate that you also must have a GB sticker, but what if you don't have an EU numberplate?
I have looked on the AA and RAC sites as well as a commonwealth site but I can not seem to find a definative answer to the above gray areas
I know that the following are recommended but not compulsory:
spare bulbs
first aid kit
can anyone help as regards to the sticker and beam deflector, not that I am not planning on not getting them if it is not a legal requirement, I just want to know what the actual factual law is
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poe, Number Plates: If you've got the Euro type plates with the GB on the end, then no you don't need a GB sticker as well. If not then you need a GB sticker.
Beam Deflectors: It depends on the type of headlights on your car, the lights must not blind oncoming motorists. My Espace has self levelling xenon lights, they have a flat beam pattern, therefore cannot be fitted with any type of deflectors, I checked with Renault France for clarification. If they're normal halogen, then a triangle of tape, whether it be proper deflector tape or just a bit of gaffer on the section of the lens is required.
If you wear glasses you must have a spare pair with you.
Red Bull is illegal if you're driving.
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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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poe, no secure parking that I am aware of at Hotel du Gol
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cheers everyone, interesting about red bull
I have a 307 the lights are not like those ones that move about when you go over bumps, but I can adjust the beam height, would that be ok? mind you, the beam deflector things that you stick on the lights are cheap so I don't know what I am fussing about, as for the sticker, I have a welsh one, will that do ?
boris - I have think we are going to go about 50 miles from the ferry and either stay in the Kyriad at Bethune or at the Ace Hotel at Lens, both are about an hour away and look good, they have good reviews and with the Kyriad we can all go in one room for €110, the Ace Hotel is something like €45 per room and we would need two rooms
on the way back we are going to stay at La Ferme du Vert not far from Calais, one room for €126 for all 5 of us, good reviews and looks nice too, the other option is the Chantisbise but we would need 2 rooms with that one
we would prefer all to be in 1 room otherwise it means one of the children being with the old lady, or me with the old dear and she snores so that's a no-no, having an OAP with a child in a hotel is not really our thing when the kids are our responsibility and not hers so all in one room with the old dear as far away from my ears as possible
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snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
snowHeads are a friendly bunch.
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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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| poe wrote: |
| as for the sticker, I have a welsh one, will that do ? |
No.
Radar Detectors like Snooper are very illegal too.
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Don't think Redbull is 'legal' in France, IIRC you can't buy it out there.
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You know it makes sense.
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allanm, yeah you can. It's everywhere, have seen (but not bought, who would buy redbull when it's so easy to get free?) it in supermarkets and around resorts.
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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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I thought I had read somewhere the rules about Redbull had changed. I certainly saw it for sale in the autoroute services.
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Poster: A snowHead
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| Spyderman wrote: |
If you wear glasses you must have a spare pair with you.
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Well, I never knew that! What about contact lens wearers 
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Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
Obviously A snowHead isn't a real person
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gsb, yes 4-5 posts up, follow the link...Red bull is up there with being caught at the tolls for an average speed between them. A myth 
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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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Spikyhedgehog, Yes, see that you can now... since June 2008. Don't drink the stuff myself so never noticed this year
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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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| genepi wrote: |
| Spyderman wrote: |
If you wear glasses you must have a spare pair with you.
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Well, I never knew that! What about contact lens wearers |
I wear contact lens. I'm not sure if a spare set of lenses is OK or if it must be spectacles. I carry both anyway, lenses in case I lose some and specs in case I get an eye infection or need them in the night.
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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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| thefatcontroller wrote: |
| gsb, yes 4-5 posts up, follow the link...Red bull is up there with being caught at the tolls for an average speed between them. A myth |
Being caught for average times is a myth, but Red Bull wasn't, it was illegal in France. I hadn't realised the ban had been lifted. Haven't driven to the Alps in a couple of years.
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You'll need to Register first of course.
You'll need to Register first of course.
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Spyderman, I asked our driver why as the business was so well established in France they still used English reg and right hand drive vans, he said that while they were cheaper the MD preferred the transfer drivers to use right hand side drive as it was harder for them to overtake which he didn't like them doing.
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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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thefatcontroller, Our driver just used the force. Didn't stop him overtaking everything.
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| Quote: |
| If you wear glasses you must have a spare pair with you. |
Is that the case in France? I know it is in Spain.
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FAQ
Its on sale in shops now? 
