J2Ski Forum Posts and Replies by msej449

This is all very misleading. The £ is down 13% against the Euro as it was in January, when I took my last ski holiday. It has been down at -18% so yes, that's something of an improvement. But I wouldn't make a big deal of it and certainly wouldn't call it 'a boost'. Of course, if you are highly selective about the time-window you choose, you can get quite impressive 'rebounds'. A better title would be 'not quite as catastrophic as it had been looking, but still more expensive.' You should only use the term 'regains value' when it actually gets back to where it was in January, which would indeed be very good news ....

Had you considered buying in the resort? My sister-in-law bought at a mainstream store and spent the next three years getting them right. Not the fault of the store - but she skied in agony the first winter; brought them back and got them adjusted; skied in discomfort the next year; brought them back and got them adjusted; had a couple of days of discomfort the third year; brought them back and got them adjusted - and fine thereafter. This would have been three visits to a shop in the resort in the first week. I appreciate that resort shops can be manic in school holidays and you may not get the attention that you need. And that you are unlikely to get a bargain up a mountain. But this worked for us.

So, comparing rates today verses 4th. January 2016 the GBP£ is down -17% against the US$, -14% against the Swiss Franc and -18% against the €. There's an obvious drop after the Brexit vote, but this was on top of an already downward trend. My analysis - and no one can be certain - is that winter 2016/17 won't be that bad because there will be a lot of forward, pre-agreed pricing between parties and/or currency traders. However, if you're a TO you will still be tempted to slap surcharges on (a) just as opportunism and (b) to get income into a reserve for 2017/18 trading, when forward price agreements will have expired. And for those paying directly either for accommodation or incidentals then the above numbers don't at this point seem likely to improve. But that's just an opinion.

Pierre Avoi, 4 Valleys, Switzerland Looking West to Les Diabrerets, with the Rhone Valley under cloud. Note the two nutters walking up along the overhang. It is a 1,200m drop to the valley below.

We have a place in Switzerland and I'd echo that you just can't be sure. We've cancelled a trip out one week because of it being warm with thin snow cover, and then 10 days later my daughter went out and it was one of her best ski trip in terms of conditions. We tend to go out end Jan/start Feb and seen it -19°C one year and +18°C another. It can be great in SW Alps and terrible in NE Alps, and vice-versa.

So if you can go in term-time, then the advice to leave it 'till late is sound and if you rent an apartment, then I'd say that there are always places available outside of school hols. Going to the Tourist Office or direct to agencies in your chosen resort will usually be successful. This is what a lot of mainland Europeans seem to do - I suppose they just jump in their cars and drive down - no Eurotunnel/ferry or flight/carhire to worry about.

Having a place over there, I always found that the biggest problem in leaving it late was finding the time off work. Between the two of us, there'd always be something in the diary that meant we ended up going for less time than we'd like. Nowadays, we put a 2-week holiday slot in the diary end Jan./start Feb., but only take 5-6 work days out and travel weekday-to-weekday across the middle Weekend. This means that we don't take an entire week off work; air fares are much cheaper than on Saturdays; and we have some leeway to accommodate important work appointments.

Obviously, we have the luxury of our own place and a weekday-to-weekday booking is difficult for a TO and can be tricky even for apartment rentals. However, as owners we're often approached by our agency to accommodate a weekday booking and we're happy to do so. In fact, I suspect that most agencies have someone like us on their books who actively accommodates weekday bookings and who is their first port of call when someone enquires.

Aside from winter tyres, I'd recommend you think carefully about an overnight stop southbound e.g. If you're going via Geneva or Lausanne, somewhere around Troyes. This is about 4 hours south of Calais and where we stop, even though we're only 90 mins from Ashford. It's perhaps an age thing, and when younger we've done plenty of journeys to the Alps in one go, but it's only when we stop that we realise how tired we actually are. We stop at a motel near theautoroute and are in the indoor pool by 5pm and sat down to dinner 7pm then a welcome early night. If the weather is bad then it's a nightmare to have to press on and on when you know you could be comfortably relaxing or asleep. Having a stop also means any delays at Eurotunnel don't throw your timetable out.

Coming home I think an overnight is more borderline because you get an hour back on the clock and there seems to be a positive psychology to pressing on. Although we still stop over.

I know it sound obvious but having a Thermos or two and some decent food helps a lot and means you can snack at an aire while you change drivers etc. Nowadays we do this more than stop at a service area.

And we have a liberT toll tag which is great. Not so much for avoiding queues but more so that the passenger can sleep without having to wake at the toll. And there are no panic searches for the ticket that you dropped somewhere on the floor. And it's fun watching French drivers behind you getting all nervous about whether you really do have a tag .....

Brucie wrote:I'm afraid you will find that Andorra is not included in Euro bundles.

I stand corrected and you're absolutely right. Seems to be the same situation with O2 Pay and Go Abroad Bundle as well. Quite amazing that you can get it in Spain and France but not little Andorra in-between ....