We had the choice this holiday season to return home for four days, or spend all six days in Europe. If we returned home we would suffer from jet lag all four days, and would once again have to readjust to European time soon after. I decided to avoid the jet lag all together and spend Christmas in Crans-Montana, Switzerland.

Stan and I hitched a ride from San Candido with our Suisse friend Emilie to her home town of Aigle. From Aigle we hopped on the train and arrived in Sierre. From Sierre we took a 20min bus ride up into the mountains and finished at Rene Rey’s Sport Shop.

We took full advantage of the time off, reserving the first few days to do absolutely nothing. Each night we would join Stan’s family for dinner. My contribution to the dinner time chatter was left to a minimum as I could barely understand the quick tongue of the french language. Sad to say, Christmas didn’t feel like Christmas in the slightest. None the less, The holiday spirit managed to find me as it came in a package my mom had sent in the mail. Inside was my stocking full of treats and goodies, THANKS MOM! Being away from home was sad knowing that everyone was coming together for the holidays. Although I didn’t get to spend Christmas with my family, I was able to spend it with another and that was the next best thing.

After enough time had passed and Stan and I were both well rested, we decided to venture up the mountain to hit the slopes. Up the first gondola we went and a whole new world opened before us. The resort seemed to cover five different peaks and the skiing was endless. Having timed our arrival perfectly, we managed to be one of the first people to ascend to the very top of one of the mountain on a tram. Due to avalanche dangers, the tram had not been open for the few days before, which meant untouched powder. This was a pleasant surprise as we were expecting to ski the groomers all day. Lucky for us, very few people ski off piste in Europe so the powder remained untracked for the rest of the day.

Our holiday is now over and it is time to head back to Italy to meet with the rest of the team. In order to do this we must travel by train. Our trip will take us eight hours and we will need to travel on four different trains. We are planning on meeting the team in Bolzano, Italy, and from there we will hitch a ride with them the rest of the way. Luckily it is only an hour away from Cavalese because the vehicles will be packed full with both people and luggage.

Bon Voyage!