I'm off to Salzburg, Austria on Friday for skiing!

Hi guys, I'm off to Salzburg on Friday for a long weekend of skiing! Yeah I toyed with the idea of going to Italy and flying through Verona airport where I would be able to do Verona along with Padua and Mantua as well (ie. the Romeo & Juliet tour of Italy) but given the short window period that appeared (Friday to Tuesday) it would have been crazy to try to do Verona, Padua, Mantua and then get up to the Dolomites for 3 days of skiing and it just cannot be done in 5 days. Ideally, I needed at least a week to do those four places justice given the distances between them.

So it's off to Salzburg, where the Sound of Music was shot all those years ago. You can't beat the Austrians for their Germanic efficiency when it comes to organizing everything to do with skiing - on time ski buses, ski lifts that run like clockwork and after my experience traveling through Indonesia last year, it is just nice to go to a modern, first world European country for a change. Sure everything is going to be pretty expensive (I'm bringing my own skis this time and not renting them there) but you get what you pay for. I do hope the food is slightly better though, I remember how dining options were pretty limited and expensive in Innsbruck when I was there 2 years ago and when I was in St Anton last year, it sucked pretty bad too - so that's me skiing in Austria three years in a row (and I was there in 2006 as well...)

So I will fly into Salzburg on Friday, ski on Saturday, Sunday and Monday then return to London on Tuesday - things are pretty quiet at work at the moment anyway so I am taking advantage of the low prices and got me a pretty darn good deal on British Airways holidays. I could still do my Romeo & Juliet trip to Italy at some stage, but it is probably best done without having to carry heavy ski equipment and a big bag full of winter clothing. I'll leave that for the warmer months. If you are tempted by the idea of skiing, then do check out my beginner's guide to skiing.