A wonderful family adventure!

Our half term ski week began with our group all meeting up at st Pancras to take the 6pm Eurostar train to Paris.  The children were super excited to finish school and jump on the tube to immediately begin their holiday adventure!  We breezed through the station passport control with kids ranging from a 1 year old through to a teen...pushchair and ski equipment in tow, it was remarkably easy and simple in comparison to airport travel.

The Eurostar journey was fun.  Spirits were high, with the kids on their own table animatedly engrossed in various games, only looking up for the occasional snack, leaving the adults free to relax and enjoy a glass or two of wine.  Before we knew it we'd arrived at Gare Du Nord.  It was reassuring to know that the people carrier taxi to transport us to Austerlitz had been pre arranged, complete with a baby seat for the 1 year old.  We were whisked out of the station following our driver, who was dutifully waiting for us, with my name on a card.   

Upon arrival at Austerlitz there was just enough time to grab some food from a bistro outside the station, before boarding the sleeper train.  The children's excitement levels were at fever pitch by this point!  They were utterly delighted with their sleeping arrangements for the evening and happily took claims over which bunks they wanted. 

I was pleased to note that there was little room in the carriage for anything other than sleep.  Perfect!  The excitable kids realised very quickly it was time for bed, lights went out and the gentle movement of the train seemed to lull all of us to sleep, aside from the 1 year old unfortunately.  His parents didn't enjoy a relaxing and easy night.  The 11pm boarding time had meant Michael was really over tired and they struggled to get him off to sleep. (The journey home was far better.  We boarded our sleeper train at 9pm and Michael went out like a light - as did we all after a strenuous week of skiing!).

Waking up at 7am in the mountains was exhilarating!  Our host from Venture Ski was waiting for us at Bourg St Maurice station and we were unpacking our bags at our Chalet in Sainte Foy 30 mins later.  
Travelling by train to the Alps not only turned our journey into wonderful family adventure that our kids will always remember, it also gave us two full extra ski days.  We all hit the slopes by lunchtime on day 1 and didn't get off them until late afternoon on day 8.  I felt like we'd achieved a massive cheeky freebie bonus - and we had!  

Venture Ski were absolutely brilliant.  Nothing at all was too much trouble and quality and customer satisfaction is clearly supremely important to them.  We were so well taken care of in every way, even to the extent that we suggested our Chalet girl, Louise, ought to compete in the next junior master chef contest!
Every Thursday Venture Ski throw a picnic party up the mountain for their 100 or so guests, so a great opportunity to mingle with the other skiers, swap stories etc.  We had the most amazing day for it, the pic shows it off sublimely, bright blue skies and blazing hot sunshine.  The children were even lying in the snow 'sunbathing'!  It was a fun party and a really lovely gesture by Venture ski.   The lunchtime picnic bash was topped off by Mark, the Venture sKi owner taking  a group of guests off to tour the off piste slopes; it was definitely one of the highlights of the holiday.

Sainte Foy is the perfect family resort; unspoiled, very pretty, small and quiet and only 20mins from Bourg St Mauritz.  I'd highly recommend it to any skiers wanting to avoid the crowds and not necessarily looking for bustling nightlife.  

All in all we had what can only be described as a near perfect family/group holiday ski experience!  Even the weather didn't let us down; clear blue skies and blazing hot sunshine, followed by fresh dumps of snow overnight.

I feel we hit on a winning formula with regards to travelling with kids to a ski resort and the train will always be my first option from now. School holidays tend to get booked up way in advance, so it'll mean having to be super organised with regards to planning in advance, but the pay off for this is well worth it.  We are already researching our next trip!