The Reunification - Austria Style
Like last year, this year's adventure starts with Pete and I in separate cities, me in Leeds, and Pete in Wakefield. I managed to get three loads of washing done, my hair cut, ironing done, flapjack made, kitchen cleaned, 2 dishwasher loads run, car charged, and 2 suitcases crammed before setting off to pick Pete up at Pinders at 20:10 outside.
We set off Gatwick bound, Pete having been unable to find a swap for this late shift, meaning we needed to simply brave the night to get down to start our holiday. As it happened, it wasn't too bad, traffic mercifully light on the way past Birmingham's snow trouble, and down to Gatwick via a 22 minute charge in Northampton services.
We had booked a Bloc hotel in Gatwick airport, literally in the terminal, so we arrive,d parked the car, got on a shuttle bus about 6 minutes later, and then walked into our room in Gatwick terminal South (we're flying from the North terminal but that doesn't matter!!).
The room was a bed, shower, full wall mirror, and toilet, but all you need when checking in a 00:30 and getting up at 06:30 for a quick shower and shuttle bus to the North Terminal, still somehow beating Colin, Chris and Jon through security who had woken up 45 minutes earlier IN THE SAME TERMINAL (ignore the full English they might have had...).
We enjoyed a coffee and croissant and then boarded EasyJet to Bodensee airport, via Gate 45M which we're all pretty sure was the exact same holding pen described in Episode 1 of my last blog on Skiing!!
The flight was still only 3/4 full, and Pete and I enjoyed our own row, downloaded episodes of the Traitors, and an "Americano" (read - brave description of sachet instant coffee... EastJet...) and a 1:40 flight before landing in a familiar Friedrichshafen airport.
Groundhog day vibes definitely present as we arrived at the Sixt airport car hire desk to fine the EXACT SAME car hire lady as last year, with the same joke about "I hope all 5 of you don't want to hire a car at the same time!" Sixt were a bit disingenousous with the sizing of the car offered to Colin - sold as a Toureg-size car, when we got an X4, with a "moderate-at-best" boot.
After 5 attempts at packing the suitcases we did manage to load all the big cases in the boot and set off for Haus Martin Tschol where we are bound for the exact same room as last year, in the exact same week! The journey was easy, and Spotify Jam provided Pete and Colin some nice tunes in the front while Jon, Chris and I caught muffled sounds from the back of the car (no speakers...?)
We were checked in an unpacked in a matter of a few minutes, then back in the car on the way to pickup Ski Passes (25 seconds), Ski Boots, Poles and Helmets (22 minutes 30 seconds.. who said we've been here before??), and then deposited these in the car for Colin and Pete to run back to the ranch while Jon, Chris and I tackled Billa the supermarket, collecting ingredients for breakfasts, fajitas, chilli, pasta and snacks.
Colin collected us, to take us back to the house and get ready for the Apres... I think one can still Apres even if we haven't actually Skied today!
We headed down in full regalia to Mooser Wirt (more of this later) for an introductory beverage, before once again scrambling up the hill to our house for an ourfit change before dinner.
We got the bus down to town for tea, no tickets... the bus driver did NOT care, to the town centre, where we decided to revisit the Tapas restaurant from last year, and to our delight we once again met the same waitress as last year! Truly not a lot changes in a year! We had 15 dishes between the 5 of us, with some nice Temperanillo, and then decided a 23EUR taxi was better than a 45 minute wait for a bus back home.
You find me here, re-launching last year's blog, finding it reassuring that we're now seasoned pros in St Anton, looking forwards to tomorrow - I wonder if I'll also see Martin, my Ski instructor from last year!!
