As I had mentioned in an earlier post, we had planned this ski trip to take place from 11th to 18th of February. Due to bad luck, misunderstandings, unfortunate coincidence, mis-communication or however you wanna call it, my company managed to set our annual company trip on exactly the weekend of 17-19/02... though I had announced it before that I would be on holidays then :-(
Anyways, our family ski trip had been a long time wish of all of us; we were all so happy that it would finally bring us all together on the slopes again. The accomodation was booked and there was no way of changing dates. So I was going to leave on these skiing holidays, no matter what my company was doing - and I was looking forward to it.
After so many years of skiing in the French Alps, we had opted for some place in Italy, which would make it easier for Marco to join as well: Livigno, a town in the region of Lombardy in the Italian Alps, about 220 km north of Milano, right at the border to Switzerland.
Arrival date in Livigno was only on Saturday 11/02, but I already took a flight on Thursday evening to Bologna, so I could stay a couple of days with Marco before heading to the mountains. While Marco still had to work on Friday, I went a bit around town and also visited a client. In the evening we went out with some friends from Sicily that were in Bologna for business purposes.
While my father, his wife Andrea, and my brother Max would reach Livigno on Saturday from Germany, Marco and I would come from Bologna. The initial plan was to get there by car, but Italy experienced in those days some "severe" winter conditions - "severe" as defined by Italians, "totally normal/a joke" as defined by Scandinavians or Germans! That little bit of snow - ok, I admit for Bologna these few centimetres were pretty much - totally paralysed the daily life, including all means of transportation, of public or private kind. With the temperatures just slightly below 0°C and a depth of snow-mud-mix in the city centre of 2 cm, many Italians were running around with moonboots, their heaviest/thickest winter gear and as many layers of warming clothes they could possibly fit. LOL LOL LOL!
Marco's car was totally covered with snow. So instead of just shovelling it free - as every person living in a country North of Italy would do it - and buying snow chains, we had to leave the car where it was and try to catch some train. Yes, you read correctly: the focus is on TRY!!! Due to these "extreeeeeeeeeeeme" winter conditions, the national railway was running on an emergency schedule!?!?! No, this is not a joke! Many trains were cancelled or super delayed (don't ask me why they are not able to run trains at a few minus degrees); thus no reliable public transportation.
Our problem was that - since we weren't taking the car - we had booked a shuttle bus from Milano Malpensa airport straight to Livigno which was leaving at 12 p.m. sharp! So we had to be in Malpensa at noon latest. Luckily Marco and I managed to catch an earlier train from Bologna central station which was delayed and thus allowed us to reach the Milano airport on time and eventually also to catch our shuttle to the Alps :-)
Somewhere in between we had a stop and bought this hot chocolate - which was rather a pudding than a drink :-)
Upon arrival my father and brother had already arrived and picked us up by car. Still before heading to the apartment we went straight to get our ski passes and Marco's ski equipment at the rental shop, so we wouldn't lose time on all those things the next morning.
Our apartment was located pretty much at the end of the long village, but it was a very nice and big one.
Luckily Marco had borrowed some skiing clothes from his brother as I would never have let him out like this on the slopes!
After that short fashion show we had some quick dinner. I can't remember if we also played some board game still that day or if that was only the following evenings.
Anyways, I don't think we went to bed too late as we wanted to get up early for not starting our first skiing day with delay.
So, the following days were pretty much dominated by skiing, partially with some greyish weather, partially with super nice and sunny days. The ski area was pretty big and varied and we went skiing on both sides of the valley.
As it was more or less the first time for Marco on skis - or let's say after a couple of short ski trips when he was a kid he isn't an experienced skier like me and my family - Marco and I took it slowly the first day. While my father, his wife Andrea and my brother Max started straight away at full speed, I took some time in the beginning in teaching Marco and getting him down the first few easy slopes. By the time he got better and better...and quicker :-) And I was really impressed on how he advanced in such short time! So we managed to do some slopes all five together from time to time, especially around lunch time when we all met up for some snack at some ski lodge.
Unfortunately, the third day skiing was nearly impossible. The weather was so bad, it was so windy and foggy that most of the lifts were actually closed :-( So, except for my brother we all remained at home or used the time for a stroll in the village.
During all the days I only took a few pictures which can be explained and excused by two reasons:
1. It was freeeeeeeeeeeeeezingly cold! At temperatures of -7°C to -16°C you're not too eager to take the hands out of your gloves.
2. Due to those temperatures the camera got well wrapped in clothes in the backpack. So it's often not worth the effort to stop in the middle of the slope right while rushing down, taking the camera out, unwrapping it, taking the picture, restoring it and get the gloves back on.
Well, afterall you might just as well be happy for once in while not getting bombarded with loads of pictures as usual :-)
Friday 17th of Feburary
The day of departure - this day is actually quite a special one with a lot happening. I'll explain...
As mentioned above, my company had set our annual company trip on the weekend 17th-19th of February. It is not 100% mandatory to be present at this trip, but it is always good to do so, both for the social and for the professional aspect, not to mention for the fun part coming along with it.
Thus, as I absolutely wanted to take part in it, I tried to find a way to be there as well. The result was finishing the skiing holidays in Livigno a day earlier, already on Friday, and getting straight to the company kick-off place. Unfortunately this year the location chosen was not as central as in previous years when it was major European cities. For 2012 the kick-off organising committee had chosen Norway's largest ski resort, Trysil, as destination... which is definitely not the most central and accessible place. Having to get there from a likewise remote Livigno didn't really make things easier.
Still, in order to get from one "middle-of-nowhere" place to the other as quick as possible, I wanted to do my own research to really check all possibilities. Unfortunately the kick-off organisizers wanted to keep the destination a secret as usual until last minute. Letting me do my own research would have required me to know where we were going. Instead they preferred to spend time themselves on my itinerary planning. So in October I already gave them approximate times of when I could possibly manage to be at which airport around Livigno. For example I had indicated 2 p.m. from Milano Malpensa or Bergamo which I would have reached again by this Livigno Express shuttle Marco and I had already taken on the way going.
The outcome of all the planning combined with unforeseen incidents was a total odyssey that day:
The day, Friday 17/02, was supposed to start by me taking the Livigno Express shuttle bus at 7 a.m. from Livigno to Milano Bergamo airport. This bus had to be booked 3 days in advance to guarantee service. As there was no internet at our apartment we used Marco's iphone to connect. Unfortunately we experienced problems and weren't able to reserve that evening. So straight the next morning, as soon as that bus company would open, I called them to immediately make the reservation. Anyway, what would have changed in those hours over night? If they had bookings coming in that evening they would only find them and work on them when opening the next morning and that's why I had called straight away then. However, these idiots wouldn't let me make the reservation on the phone anymore. I would have had to do that until midnight the evening before. Since I didn't do that until midnight and since I was the only one so far needing this transfer they just neglected my order and said they wouldn't operate on Friday. Means: no way - as planned - to get on Friday from Livigno to Bergamo. Since my flight from there was in the afternoon, I had to find an alternative way of getting there on time... which wasn't actually that easy as there were some other options, but they would all have arrived too late for catching my flight.
- Thus, the alternative was to take a taxi from Livigno to the nearest town connected to the railway network, to Tirano. A 1,5 hours drive at 100,-€ from Livigno! Actually Marco wanted to stay that one more day in Livigno with my parents to continue skiing. However, in order to reduce the per person costs of getting to Milano (also for Marco the day after), we decided that also he would leave together with me on that Friday. So we both left Livigno in the morning of 17/02.
- Successfully arrived in Tirano the plan was to take a train first to a place called Lecco (at the Lake Como on the line to Milano) and from there a local train further on to Bergamo. Only problem was that the Italians were once more striking! Yes, striking! What else!?! Italians strike more than operating at normal. So why were I actually surprised? Well, they could do "sciopero" any day, but NOT THIS ONE when I urgently had take some trains! As there was absolutely no guarantee for the local trains, I abandonned my plan to change trains in Lecco and hoped the EuroStar would at least arrive on time to bring me to Milano Central Station. And yes, eventually that train showed up after some delay and departed in direction Milano.
On the way to Milano we had the pleasure of enjoying a nice ride along the shore of the Lago di Como :-)
- Arrived at Milano Central Station I had to say goodbye to Marco :-( He was going to continue with a train back to Bologna while I caught a shuttle bus to Bergamo airport.
- Unbelievably I made it to Bergamo airport still on time to get my flight that my company had booked for me at 5.20 p.m. So ahead lay a 2,5 hours flight to Oslo Sandefjord Torp, the remote tertiary airport of Oslo.
- Usually when I had to arrive at this shitty far-off airport I took the Torp-Ekspressen shuttle bus back to Oslo as it leaves conveniently from in front the terminal. As my Stockholm colleagues who organised the kick-off didn't know this (and didn't want to let me get involved in the planning) they had booked a non-refundable train ticket for me. This meant getting on a shuttle bus from the terminal to the train station in Sandefjord - just another change of transportation for today!
- Finally on the train I thought "Oh, how nice, this was now the last change for today. Finally on my way to Oslo!" No such luck! As if I hadn't changed already a felt hundred times that day, after only 5 minutes on the train they announced that all passengers had to get off at the next station as a stretch was closed due to a previous accident. The stretch would be replaced by a bus.
- So after only 10 minutes on the train, I got off it again and went on a bus.
- As it would have been too nice for me that this bus would drive all the way through to Oslo, we were all allowed to go on board the train again later on. And it was the train that finally brought me to my apartment in Oslo by somewhat around midnight.
So, after just a little bit of hassle I finished my skiing holidays and was back in Oslo... but not yet in Trysil! The kick-off organising team got my flight only in January when earlier flights that day back to Oslo were already too expensive. That's why I had that flight back to Oslo only in the late afternoon and to this far-away airport. If they had booked my flights earlier there would have been a chance of getting a flight earlier that day, and to Oslo international airport from which I would have been able to catch a shuttle bus to Trysil to join my colleagues still in the evening of that Friday. But at this time of arrival in Oslo there was no way anymore for me to get to Trysil on this same day. Thus I was forced to stay overnight at my place in Oslo and get to Trysil the next day only.
To be honest, due to those unexpectedly arising problems with the itinerary for getting to Bergamo, I finally wouldn't have made it to take an earlier flight! So eventually it was fine like that :-)
I know it was a total mess of travelling and I would have avoided it if I had been able to. When I was told the itineary that was booked for me with an arrival in Trysil only the next day, I wanted to cancel this whole kick-off thing and at least properly finish the skiing holidays with my parents, staying with them until the last day on Saturday. However, I was told so late about my travel plans that all alternative flights back to Oslo that would have allowed me to stay with my family until the end were far too expensive by that time. So I had no other option than to take what was booked.
So, how I finally made my way to Trysil and what was going on there you'll find on my next post :-)
Despite all the hassle with travelling, I really enjoyed the holidays with my family! It was so great to be skiing again all together as we used to do it!
Thanks a lot dad for having organised it all! Looking forward to a next time :-)
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