Why is it that whatever is supposed to be an easy day never quite turns out that way?
After a bit of an early start getting the girls on the bus to Geneva airport I went back to bed to dose for an hour before calling a taxi, nipping around the corner to pick up keys to the new apartment and then having a very chilled errand day before my sister, brother in-law and 1 year old nephew arrived for a long weekend skiing...
So simple we are all thinking, but trust me this was NOT the case.
It all started with suffering yet another ice cold shower, followed by calling every taxi company in Chamonix utilising my very best French accent in a hope that they may understand me better, this was not the case and regardless they either didn't start work till midday (it was 9:30am at the time) or they were doing airport runs.
Now this may not sound like too much of a problem and be asking why on earth I didn't just catch the ski bus, but if you could only see the ridiculous amount of gear I had (skis, snowboard, suitcase, backpack, vodka and the all essential toilet roll) you would have appreciated my predicament.
All of this combined with the fact that 'check-out' is at 10am and that I have a rep meeting me at 10:30am... the situation is gradually looking worse... What topped this off was that a French cleaner came into the apartment to clean only to find me & all my stuff still there and started yelling at me... I couldn't actually understand a word she was saying but figured she didn't want me there so dragged all my stuff onto the side of the street and just sort of stood there wondering what on earth to do... i couldn't move anywhere because I couldn't physically carry all my stuff, I was getting a bit desperate by this point.
This is when my first saviour arrived, an elderly lady who lived next door came home in her very crusty van only to find a rather dishevelled girl pretty much camped on her doorstep and with much gesticulating and a combination of bad French and English she decided she wanted to lend me her van to get my stuff to town, how truly amazing! So, after 20mins of instruction on how to jump start the van using a spare battery and a rather clever wiring system, off I trundled up to town, met the key lady dropped my stuff off at the apartment and made my way back to Les Praz to return the van. Oh the kindness of strangers shows itself once again...
You would think my day would now get easier??? You couldn't be more wrong!
My sister, brother in-law and 1 year old nephew arrived early evening and in a panic to get my nephew fed, into the bath and off to bed they burst into the apartment with a little hello and got on with the routine. Once fed the little monkey was popped into the bath and my sister went off to get his pyjamas and bedding out of his suitcase... Opened the suitcase to find nothing that resembled baby items at all... in fact there was a strangers things inside what was an identical bag. If you haven't guessed it already, my sister had picked up the wrong bag from the airport conveyor belt...
Panic quickly followed, no clothes, no bedding, no nappies, in fact nothing as they only had the flight essentials in their carryon luggage. Now if you know babies, you will also know that routine is absolutely essential... So being put to bed on a plastic mattress in your cords and jumper without your favourite teddy bear is NOT a realistic option. Combined with this, the idea of doing it for more than one night is also NOT an option.
In an attempt to calm the parental nerves I made a 15 phone call marathon in an attempt to track down their bag at Geneva airport...thank goodness it was still there... and the lady whose bag we had was also still there....Oops...!
Next question is how to get back to the airport, car rental companies are closed, taxi firms all say no and there are no airport transfers leaving in the next 24hours...agghh.
Last resort, I ring a girl I have met a total of 3 times who I know has a car and bribe her to take me to the airport (it is nearly 10pm by now). Running down the freezing streets of Chamonix with the stranger’s bag in tow I manage to locate the car park, a very irritated looking second saviour and a very small Renault Clio which is to be our speedy transport for the evening. With the fuel light already on as we sped out of town along the icy roads. Stifled conversation took place for the next hour until we got to the French/Swiss border, suddenly then realising that we had a strangers bag in the boot that could literally contain ANYTHING (drugs, weapons..) we held our breath and smiled innocently at the Gendarmerie and made a rapid escape (well as rapid as you can be in a 1.2L Clio).
On arrival at the airport I was promptly ejected from the car, dashed into lost and found to bump straight into a lady called Claire Alder whose bag I had in tow... what was great was that she was no longer irritated, infact she was incredibly reasonable down to the fact that she had opened the bad and seen all the baby items!
Enroute through customs, with the correct bags in tow we started chatting and I found out what could be the most annoying news possible...
Guess where she was on her way to that evening for a long weekend?
Chamonix.....
After a bit of an early start getting the girls on the bus to Geneva airport I went back to bed to dose for an hour before calling a taxi, nipping around the corner to pick up keys to the new apartment and then having a very chilled errand day before my sister, brother in-law and 1 year old nephew arrived for a long weekend skiing...
So simple we are all thinking, but trust me this was NOT the case.
It all started with suffering yet another ice cold shower, followed by calling every taxi company in Chamonix utilising my very best French accent in a hope that they may understand me better, this was not the case and regardless they either didn't start work till midday (it was 9:30am at the time) or they were doing airport runs.
Now this may not sound like too much of a problem and be asking why on earth I didn't just catch the ski bus, but if you could only see the ridiculous amount of gear I had (skis, snowboard, suitcase, backpack, vodka and the all essential toilet roll) you would have appreciated my predicament.
All of this combined with the fact that 'check-out' is at 10am and that I have a rep meeting me at 10:30am... the situation is gradually looking worse... What topped this off was that a French cleaner came into the apartment to clean only to find me & all my stuff still there and started yelling at me... I couldn't actually understand a word she was saying but figured she didn't want me there so dragged all my stuff onto the side of the street and just sort of stood there wondering what on earth to do... i couldn't move anywhere because I couldn't physically carry all my stuff, I was getting a bit desperate by this point.
This is when my first saviour arrived, an elderly lady who lived next door came home in her very crusty van only to find a rather dishevelled girl pretty much camped on her doorstep and with much gesticulating and a combination of bad French and English she decided she wanted to lend me her van to get my stuff to town, how truly amazing! So, after 20mins of instruction on how to jump start the van using a spare battery and a rather clever wiring system, off I trundled up to town, met the key lady dropped my stuff off at the apartment and made my way back to Les Praz to return the van. Oh the kindness of strangers shows itself once again...
You would think my day would now get easier??? You couldn't be more wrong!
My sister, brother in-law and 1 year old nephew arrived early evening and in a panic to get my nephew fed, into the bath and off to bed they burst into the apartment with a little hello and got on with the routine. Once fed the little monkey was popped into the bath and my sister went off to get his pyjamas and bedding out of his suitcase... Opened the suitcase to find nothing that resembled baby items at all... in fact there was a strangers things inside what was an identical bag. If you haven't guessed it already, my sister had picked up the wrong bag from the airport conveyor belt...
Panic quickly followed, no clothes, no bedding, no nappies, in fact nothing as they only had the flight essentials in their carryon luggage. Now if you know babies, you will also know that routine is absolutely essential... So being put to bed on a plastic mattress in your cords and jumper without your favourite teddy bear is NOT a realistic option. Combined with this, the idea of doing it for more than one night is also NOT an option.
In an attempt to calm the parental nerves I made a 15 phone call marathon in an attempt to track down their bag at Geneva airport...thank goodness it was still there... and the lady whose bag we had was also still there....Oops...!
Next question is how to get back to the airport, car rental companies are closed, taxi firms all say no and there are no airport transfers leaving in the next 24hours...agghh.
Last resort, I ring a girl I have met a total of 3 times who I know has a car and bribe her to take me to the airport (it is nearly 10pm by now). Running down the freezing streets of Chamonix with the stranger’s bag in tow I manage to locate the car park, a very irritated looking second saviour and a very small Renault Clio which is to be our speedy transport for the evening. With the fuel light already on as we sped out of town along the icy roads. Stifled conversation took place for the next hour until we got to the French/Swiss border, suddenly then realising that we had a strangers bag in the boot that could literally contain ANYTHING (drugs, weapons..) we held our breath and smiled innocently at the Gendarmerie and made a rapid escape (well as rapid as you can be in a 1.2L Clio).
On arrival at the airport I was promptly ejected from the car, dashed into lost and found to bump straight into a lady called Claire Alder whose bag I had in tow... what was great was that she was no longer irritated, infact she was incredibly reasonable down to the fact that she had opened the bad and seen all the baby items!
Enroute through customs, with the correct bags in tow we started chatting and I found out what could be the most annoying news possible...
Guess where she was on her way to that evening for a long weekend?
Chamonix.....
Accommodation providers in Chamonix, France http://www.bigfoot-travel.co.uk/
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