A very relaxing day's travel

We travelled in the daytime, taking the Eurostar at 7.25am from St Pancras and then transferred from the Gare du Nord to the Gare du Lyon via the RER. We then caught the TGV to Bourg St Maurice, funicular to Arc 1600 and free bus shuttle to Arc 2000. We returned in the daytime the following Saturday.

It was a very relaxing day's travel, if a rather long one. It was great to avoid the airport scrum but also see France from the ground. You get a real sense of how rural much of the country is when compared to England. It also gave me time to catch up on some reading and to watch some DVDs (we took a portable player with us).

We took a lot of food and drink with us (sandwiches, crisps, tea etc), mainly to cut down on cost. This was a recession-busting holiday! We did top up with a couple of baguettes from Brioche Doree at the Gare du Lyon and treated ourselves to a few beers (£5 a can) on the return Eurostar leg.

We booked a self catering apartment in the Varet which did the job adequately. As I spent a season in Arc 2000 (2002/2003) I was familiar with the ski area, which is varied and vast. It's normally a brilliant place to ski and board, however, poor snow conditions took away some of the enjoyment because off piste was tracked out.

I would definitely consider going by train again – I would consider taking my wife and three-year-old daughter as it would be easier to entertain a youngster on a train than in a crowded airport.