I know I’ve ONLY just got back from leave, but those two flights clearly tired me out and it was time for me to go and crash my parents ski trip again. I was landing in the early hours from Frankfurt, so I had the whole of Saturday to catch a flight hopefully to either Munich or Vienna and then have the following five days off for skiing. However, upon checking the flight loads as we get great discount flights but these are then of course on standby, all Munich and Vienna flights were full that day. It seemed as though every man and his dog was travelling through Dubai airport that weekend as even when I looked into surrounding airports, which would be even further out for me, they too were full.

However, I like to keep a positive mindset and landing from Frankfurt I changed quickly at HQ and made my way across to staff travel in the airport to await my fate for the morning Munich flight. I was sadly rejected from the flight with every passenger showing up, the first time this has happened to me in my flying career and I’ve gotta say it really is gutting! Quickly checking the Vienna flight which was departing 25 minutes later, I could already see that all passengers had been accepted for the flight and there was no chance in me making that one either. Not letting it deter me, I made my way home to try and sleep a little after my night flight to see if I might make the afternoon flights. And on the way I looked into all other options that were available to me.

I am not exaggerating here, I looked into EVERY European option, as in I even considered flying all the way into the UK and back out to Austria. But all these flights were soooo full! Not even a couple of spare seats here and there. Starting to feel a little deflated, I looked for an early morning departure on the Sunday morning. It would cut my ski trip by a half day but it was better than not at all. I could see there were plenty of seats on the Prague flight the following morning, so I once more tried my luck at the airport that day for both Munich and Vienna afternoon flights again, to which I was rejected from both before it was back to bed again ready to go to the airport AGAIN for 6am.

So, it was FINALLY time to head skiing but via Prague and from there I would take an international 7 hour train to Salzburg Hbf where my parents would collect me and we would drive an hour to our place.

20 hours of travelling down, I’ve never been so happy to crash out on the sofa and me, my mum and dad enjoyed a glass of wine and some tv before it was off to bed for an early start of skiing the next morning. I was only going to get 2 and a half days of skiing now, but better than nothing I guess!

We woke up at 8am the next morning and had some poached eggs on toast before we gathered our ski gear and jumped in the car to go to the ski resort Dienten. A favourite of ours as it has a lot of lovely runs and great lunch stop with roaring fires up the top of the mountain.

But first, the dreaded task of trying to get my ski boots on after a year of them being sat in a cold basement. Always a challenge, but we were soon on the chairlift up the mountain heading towards the gorgeous blue skies in the fresh morning air.

Nothing beats the feeling as you push off down the slope with your music playing in your ears, the winding running through your hair and smooth glide of the skis over the freshly prepared snow.

After an hour or so though it was time for a hot chocolate stop outside in the sunshine.

When lunch time finally arrived a few long runs later, I was starving and couldn’t wait to order some of my favourite German dishes washed down with a well earned radler! I opted for goulash soup with chips, and afterwards me and my dad shared a warm germknödel. For those of you not sure what it is, it’s a sort of sweet sponge dumpling filled with jam, topped with cocoa and poppy seeds and served with piping hot vanilla sauce. They’re SO good, and I was fully prepared to put the January diet on hold for a few days as I indulged in some of my favourite foods.

Feeling like we were in a serious food coma after lots of good eats, some beer and the warmth of the fire, we managed a couple more runs before we skied down to the bottom and took off our ski gear to go back home. There seriously is not many better feelings than that of taking your ski boots off after a long hard day of skiing.

That afternoon we were so tired we weren’t even that bothered for aprés ski and we slouched in front of the tv with cups of tea before we made tracks and went out for dinner that evening. Not overly hungry after our big lunch, we shared lasagna, pizza and salad between us at a restaurant in the village washed down with Aperol Spritz before we passed out in bed after a hectic day.

Sadly, the next morning I woke up to the sound of rain hammering against the roof which didn’t give me much hope for the day. Dragging myself out of bed with a cup of tea brought to my bedside (thanks Dad) I went to look out on the balcony at the absolute downpour which stood before me. This was my last full day of skiing and I was gutted to be potentially losing a morning or even a whole day! Checking all resorts around us on the ski cams on the television it seemed most were doomed with rain for the entire day. However, we saw a glimmer of sunshine at the other side of the mountain side and we were determined to ski so jumped in the car and made our away across to Alpendorf, a resort we hadn’t tried before.

30 minutes in the car later, the rain was just getting heavier. Admitting defeat, it was back home for a lazy morning before we ventured out for some lunch at the bottom of the mountain in the village.

Despite it being only a few minutes walk across the road we got absolutely SOAKED. It’s scary how unseasonably warm it is, to be causing this much rain. It should have been much colder resulting in an absolutely insane snow day. Climate change is real guys!

Anyway, I tucked into a big plate of spaghetti bolognese for lunch and warmed up with a steaming hot mug of glüwein. The food was great and it was nice to get out for a short while before we met up with some friends who were also on holiday for some much needed cheer up aprés.

That evening we went straight from the smoke filled aprés ski bar to the restaurant where I had a wonderful meal of sliced steak in mushroom sauce with tagliatelle. The food was amazing, and I will most definitely head back here again!

The next morning was my final day sadly before I had to make my way back to Dubai, and with me only being able to ski for a half day, we set out to catch the first lift of the day up just in the local resort of Rauris.

Despite having to drag yourself out of bed at the crack of dawn, you do get the perks of incredibly quiet runs but the beautiful prepared slopes. It was an incredibly misty morning in the valley, but as we sat on the chairlift, we lifted out of the mist and it left a great view below us.

Making the most of the empty slopes we were up and down on the lifts and slopes before it was the all important and well deserved morning hot chocolate stop.

A few more runs and mountain side pictures as it was such a lovely clear day. Much cooler today but crisp skies, and it was time for one final lunch before I put my ski’s back up. I went for Wiener schnitzel, which we had hoped to sit outside and enjoy in the sunshine but it was so busy at this mountain side restaurant that we actually had to sit inside whilst we ate our lunch.

Sadly my little holiday had come to an end  and I went back to grab my things and my parents drove me back to Salzburg Hbf where I took a train to Munich Airport (thankfully) and took the overnight flight back to the sunshine in Dubai.

Thanks for a great holiday Mum and Dad, I had a fabulous time despite it being cut short and the rain showers. Hopefully we can get a few more ski days later on in the year together.

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