I have been
so busy (working, socialising, travelling, and just enjoying London) that its fair to say I've kind of neglected my poor little blog. So I will try to do a catch up of the last 2 months in the next few posts (lots of reading ahead!). I promise not to get so far behind next time. First of all, my snowboarding trip to Tignes, which I think has to be my favourite trip to date - every day was just
so much fun!
The people: Went to the French Alps with a tour group called the Fanatics (www.thefanatics.com) who generally do sport-based or major event trips like Running of the Bulls, World Cup etc. There were about 50 people on the trip, loads of teachers because it was school holidays! We had one main tour leader, Lee, a crazy girl from Perth who is a school teacher and then there were 4 other tour leaders there to help out, all boys. Disco (Co-owner of the company and like a cool Dad); VB (2nd in charge); TK (who was there till Wednesday morning helping out) and Longy (who was working in the Alps at the time). They do have real names but we literally always called them by their nicknames! Really cool bunch of guys who were lots of fun.
The place: Tignes is divided into 3 smaller villages, we were based in the central (main) village of Le Lac (the one in the picture below). The snow was incredible, everyone was always asking me if there was going to be any snow when I told them I was going and it totally blew me away. The weather was gorgeous for the first 3 or 4 days but then became a little bit overcast and cloudy. There were heaps of pubs and bars around the village, including one that had a pole, which the guys loved! We mainly partied in the Yeti Bar because its where we had our breakfasts/dinners every day and Longy worked at the bar and gave us free drinks and discounts (which we took advantage of!).
The partying: We partied (mainly meaning me, Lexie, Donna and the tour leaders) every night till about 4am, I don’t actually know how my liver coped but I think as soon as you back up the first night your body gets used to it! The villages’ party every night so each pub/bar was packed no matter what night it was. Every afternoon at about 4pm we would finish boarding and head somewhere for Apres sessions (afternoon drinks). There was one bar that was really cool, called the Loop Bar. There was even a crazy bar halfway up one of the mountains, so you’d drink and then have to board down to the bottom(half-tanked!). We also had organised party nights, like Easter Sunday. We had a pub crawl organised and all had to wear our cute Ski Bunny t-shirts, then we got bunny faces (courtesy of Lee, lipstick on the nose and eyeliner whiskers). We went to about 5 different pubs around the village and VB and TK also hid Easter eggs in the snow between 2 of the pubs – so imagine 50 of us, tipsy, running through the snow in our bunny faces squealing as we found eggs! Other nights included a Black Friday party (Friday the 13th); 80s night with disco bowling; band night; trivia night etc. etc.
The pain: Don’t be fooled, snowboarding is NOT easy! It is the most physically demanding sport, after a long day of boarding I felt like I had played 5 netball games back to back! Your arms ache from pushing yourself up off the snow to stand up, your stomach muscles ache from all the movement, your legs ache from trudging around in the snow and constantly clipping/unclipping your board. But it is SO addictive! Even though I wasn’t crash hot at boarding, I loved every second of it! Next time I think I will try skiing (which is easier to pick up).
Photos next!
