• Claire Booker
  • Chris Booker
  • Jonah Booker
  • Claire Booker
  • Chris Booker
  • Jonah Booker
  • Suzanne Booker
  • Holly Booker

Happy New Year - Sestriere 🎊

We're taking advantage of Chris not working and everyone being off at the same time, over a school holiday and no sporting activities! So, New Year skiing in Sestriere, Italy it is, and Granny Suzanne has joined us 😃 Read more
  • Trip start
    December 29, 2024

    Here we go ...

    December 29, 2024 in England ⋅ ⛅ 4 °C

    The obligatory early morning start 😭 was a taxi from the Rawlett School, having done shuttle runs from home to drop off bags and people then walk down to school. Why you may ask? Well, it was £10 more to be picked up from home (approximately 300M away), because our house is technically in Lichfield and the taxi fare goes up when it leaves the Tamworth boundary!

    Check in was amazingly smooth, but how do you tell you're travelling with a military family? Black holdalls all round, except Granny, who appears to have more luggage than everyone else despite not having any ski gear 🤔. I personally think she has a suitcase full of craft projects.
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  • The lonely bag

    December 29, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 9 °C

    Top tip to travelers, don't forget to pick up ALL of your luggage from the carousel, because the second you go through that door , there's no going back!

    When we checked in at Birmingham I had my ski boot bag with me as hand luggage. They wouldn't let me take it on as hand luggage but checked it into the hold for free. However, at the other end I completely forgot that I had 2 pieces of hold luggage not one 🤦🏽‍♀️

    Despite it merrily going around on its own, getting it back was just far too difficult. The Crystal reps have assured me that they will collect it and bring it up to the resort with them . With a bus load of people waiting on me I need to trust them🤞🏽
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  • Ponty Pandy Hotel

    December 29, 2024 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 0 °C

    Ok, not Ponty Pandy but Principi di Piemonte Hotel is our residence for the week, and very nice it is too. Our rooms are on the 6th floor, with one room like Rapunzel right up near the tower. The selection of toiletries is impressive and our rooms have whirlpool baths. The Wellbeing Spa and swimming pool also looks very inviting after a day on the slopes.

    An Alpine Ski resort hotel just isn't complete without some taxidermy, and this hotel does not disappoint in that note. The stairway is like walking through the woods.

    Our stay is half board so no doubt there will be a post at some point focusing on the food, lots of pasta! 😃

    The final photo of this post shows how granny was a rubbish person to sit next to on the drive up, The view out of the window was far too inviting 🏔️🏔️🏔️
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  • Coffee on the Mountain

    December 30, 2024 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 3 °C

    Happy to report that my boot bag with ski boots, helmet, gloves and goggles turned up this morning so the first day on the hill, went well. We've had a variety of lifts and runs, a few crashes but nothing too serious that meant we couldn't take a photo before any assistance was offered! Smiles all round and coffee in the sun before heading back ☺️Read more

  • I didn’t go skiing!

    December 30, 2024 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 1 °C

    Well, I didn’t go skiing but had a lovely trip to the village centre and a nice, steady, walk back. Had coffee at my favourite coffee shop and spent a lovely, lazy afternoon reading and knitting. Just had a glass of wine (I know, that’s not like me) and now looking forward to dinner and a torchlight procession by ski instructors holding coloured torches skiing down one of the mountains (there’s plenty of mountains).Read more

  • Torchlight Ski

    December 30, 2024 in Italy ⋅ 🌙 -3 °C

    A tradition at this time of year is the torchlight ski run by the Ski Instructors, we had the Italian National anthem and a fabulous display of night skiing carrying burning torches down the black runs. The photos don't do it justice 🇮🇹Read more

  • Happy New Year 🎊

    January 1, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☀️ 2 °C

    The food in this hotel is totally stunning, last night for New Year we had a buffet dinner, but this is like no buffet that you would get in even the poshest UK 'do' , zoom in to the menu and take a look at the 4 courses! The photos are just the smallest selection of the deserts available.

    Today we got a pedestrian lift pass and Granny Suzanne came up to the top of the mountain in the gondola with us. We had a brew and enjoyed the views then came back down again.

    What a fabulous start to 2025, Happy New Year 🎊
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  • Turin

    January 2, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 6 °C

    The first thing I need to say is that you have to watch the video in this post with sound.

    Today we took a break from the slopes and caught a bus/train combo to Turin. A chance for a change of scene, to visit a variety of shops, including the one at Torino FC and enjoy the food & culture.Read more

  • The Italian Job

    January 2, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ 7 °C

    On our day trip to Turin we visited the coolest place - the old FIAT factory, complete with rooftop test track, which has now been turned into a giant art gallery (plus a shopping mall downstairs). The rooftop is now home to contemporary art exhibits and extensive gardens, intertwined with the old tarmac, while the Renzo Piano designed gallery, home to many millions of pounds worth of 'proper' paintings, sits on stilts above it all. Main takeaways - those old FIAT test drivers must have had balls of steel and, while Canaletto was the man, Henri Matisse paints like me...Read more

  • France! 🇫🇷

    January 3, 2025 in France ⋅ ☀️ -3 °C

    Today was a full-on jaunt across the whole Ski Area. Our mission, to Ski to France. It's only 7 .5 miles as the crow flies, 32 minutes and 21 miles to drive or 18 lifts and 15Km of piste (round trip) to ski/board. Last night we got a dusting of snow which made it even more beautiful.

    We're not quite sure how Holly managed to fall of the slowest moving travelator, it was a tad embarrassing as a bunch of 3 year olds managed to get to the top!

    Holly and Jonah had a bit of creative fun as we came back on the final stretch.
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  • Crafts!

    January 3, 2025 in Italy ⋅ ☁️ -6 °C

    Well, work on a variety of crafts continued today, just knitted the donkey's nose, couple of rounds of sock knitting, cross stitched William Shakespeare's legs in a fetching shade of red, couple of sudoku puzzles and a bit more reading of David Mitchell's 'Unruly'. This all sounds very leisurely and lazy and in fact, it has been! ☺️Read more

  • Trip end
    January 5, 2025