A Short Break in Les Arcs

Diary of Derek Kennedy aged 69 3/4

Saturday 14th March 2020
07:35 Flight to Geneva from Manchester 3/4 hours late leaving
10:30 waiting on bus for half hour in Geneva for a party of 4 no shows
16:00 arrived at hotel and told rooms not available until 18:00
18:00 We found out that all rooms were just single sized with 2 small beds therein
18:05 – 19:15 unpacked and took skis to boot room
19:15 Dinner #decent!
20:00 We were told Macron was shutting France from midnight
22:30 Hotel bar closed without warning
22:31 to midnight — cursed the French and especially Macron

Sunday 15th March 2020
00:10 Went to bed
08:00 breakfast and found out we we leaving by coach and Ferry between 11am and noon!
08:45 water and plenty of food available for a packed lunch etc
09:00 to 10:15 collected skis from boot room and repacked whilst cursing Macron some more!
10:25 taking a few photos as it was a beautiful sunny day Grrrr!
10:30 had to walk a quarter of a mile with skis and luggage to lift station to get the coach but forgot to curse Macron!
12:22 our party left Les Arcs on 2 separate buses with plenty of empty seats and Graham Ensell got a round of applause, as the first person called by a Crystal rep to respond, because so many named before had obviously not even made it to the resort
17:00 our coach stopped for a loo break
21:25 – 21:50 comfort break and more food and drink taken onboard

Monday 16th March 2020
01:09 arrived at transit car park near Calais and changed buses
01:40 got off bus at Border Control
01:48 got back on bus
01:53 waiting at port for 03:10 ferry
03:15 beer then breakfast onboard
03:50 (Greenwich Mean Time) arrived in Dover & noticed a bloke looking hot and sweaty near top of the stairs, on way down to coach deck, so may have to self isolate
04:15 arrived in Folkestone with thousands of others and then waited 3 hours for a bus to Manchester (yes a 3rd different one!)
06:00 of course the southerners were looked after better, because as usual and they went first!
06:20 Got on first bus to arrive for Mcr
06:21 got off bus as no room for big Tony’s enormous 30kg ski etc bag
06:22 waited in the cold morning air for nearly an hour for the next Mcr bus
07:20 squashed into 2/3rds of a seat next to Big Tony
07:35 bus leaves Folkestone, it would have been earlier but because the driver was not allowed to unlock the toilet 4 people got off the bus to go to the terminal loo 200 yards away.
08:00 Held up in very slow moving traffic on M20 due to an accident that happened just 4 minutes ago!
08:25 traffic moving freely again but Big T, on going to sleep, has spread out further and now I’ve only got half a seat!!!
10:00 comfort break and more food and drink at Oxford Services on M40
10:45 on the road again
13:35 arrived back at T2
14:30 fell in through my front door
C’EST LA VIE! (Can’t wait for next year’s trips)!!!