Alps to All-inclusive

So, for this blog we are going to break with tradition, which, in case you haven’t noticed, was to publish blogs covering Monday to Sunday, this blog covers the period from Monday 27 February until today Wednesday 8 March. 

Monday 27 February was our last full day in Morillon, in the French Alps, so it was a day of cleaning the flat and packing. We have never flown with so much luggage, we have three check-in bags, but in our defence, we had to bring our own bedding and towels, together with ski boots, snow blades, and the rest of the paraphernalia around skiing. Rog did throw out his ski boots as they had started to split due to plastic fatigue, and at £12.50 didn’t owe us anything!

After a couple of slightly eclectic meals as we finished everything in the fridge and cupboards, we went out to local Restaurant “Yeti” for dinner, Rog had pizza, with goats cheese and honey, Nic had venison, another lovely meal sitting at the same table we sat at last time!

Tuesday, a travel day, to start a bus from Morillon to Cluses, there was also a bus to Annemasse, which would have been a quickest route back to Geneva, but the one we wanted at around 10amwas a request bus, you had to ring the day before and request it …. In French presumably?!? We decided to stick to the Cluses bus, timetabled for 9.30am at the local stop, and so we did the journey we did on 1 January in reverse. From Cluses a train to Geneva, then change train for the airport, all worked well, Swiss trains are reliable. 

At the Airport we needed to queue to check the bags in with EasyJet, a less satisfactory process, as the queue grew it appeared that EasyJet decided that less, rather than more staff, to check people in was the answer. We expected to see people checking in skis and snow boards, what we didn’t expect was a large number of surf boards being checked in.  (going to Agadir apparently). The other chap who confused us was drinking 2 cans of beer whilst stood in the queue to check bags in, however the beer was not causing the confusion, it was the fact that he didn’t appear to have any bags to check in, he was not even carrying hand luggage.

The flight back to Manchester left a few minutes late, nothing to worry about, it landed on time, the passport queue was ok, and the bags were delivered in good time. We already had a train booking that gave us loads of time after landing, as everything was on time we were resigned to wasting a couple of hours in the airport, however on checking our Trans-Pennine Express train was cancelled, we think the ticketing rules say you can get the next available train, but there was one in 30mins, so we boarded that, saving us 1hr 30m in Manchester. Rog was expecting a ‘discussion’ with a ticket inspector; however, the train was so busy we never saw a ticket inspector. Rog’s brother picked us up at York station. 

First job in Pocklington was that Rog had to set up his new (reconditioned) phone, after dropping his again whilst we were skiing and cracking the screen (yes, the new screen which was installed in Thailand). 

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday were days of unpacking the bags from France, but also everything stored in lofts/garages, washing, then repacking bags for our various future trips (watch this space!).

Thursday, we did manage a trip out to Beverley, as Rog ‘needed’(wanted) a new bag, and Nic (really) needed a new fleece. We also spend time catching up with family, which was lovely.

Saturday, we took our niece and nephew out for brunch, as we had not managed to see both of them together, given sports training working, school etc. 

Then it was back to York station for a train (or three) back to Manchester, yes you guessed it our train was cancelled, Northern rail this time, so we had to buy a replacement ticket for Trans Pennine express. Got to Manchester airport in good time, we stayed in a hotel overnight, then flew out to Marrakesh (Morocco) on Sunday, to stay at the Medina Gardens Hotel (Adult only) on an all-inclusive basis for 13 nights! A little bit of luxury!

By the time we got the transfer from the Airport, we got to the hotel at 9:25pm, the first thing reception did was to chase us in to the restaurant, which stopped serving at 9:30pm.  So, after dinner we completed the check in process. 

Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday, we haven’t done a lot, apart from eat and drink, to tell the truth we have not left the hotel yet! Nic is still resting her knee, so the sights and sounds of Marrakesh can wait until next week. Rog has been to the Gym, a little bit of cycling and running on the treadmill, something to replace the skiing. Nic has been doing her own version of hydrotherapy in the heated pool.

Rog has also spent a lot of time, planning our interrail trip from 1 April, booking trains, hotels, Airbnbs etc. working out when we need to leave “Schengen visa area’ and the EU, if visas are required etc. Good job he enjoys it really!