Zero dark thirty again

As it was in Morzine last year we had to rise at an ungodly hour to start our skiing holiday. Roy arrived at 3.30, which was really 2.30 due to the clocks going forward, and picked us all up to go to Manchester airport. We arrived well on time, in fact we arrived three hours before the flight, to find the desks open. The problem was that all the tomson flights were at the same desk meaning the queue was horrendous, and heinously slow moving. People from the earlier flights were getting fractious, and we were tired, and Chris was annoyed because he was looking forward to breakfast. Two hours later we arrived at the desk to be presented by the very pleasant lady with a letter explaining that we would not be flying to Toulouse. The road to Andorra was blocked due to an avalanche so we were going to Barcelona instead. Okay. Booked in we hotfooted to the deposit for the skis, only to find it closed. We still had a little time, but some people were due to fly in 15mins and were very annoyed. At last they directed us down the other end of the airport , we deposited the skis and were off. On the plus side we went through security really quickly, everyone else was still queuing, and with no searches or holdups. Our flight was showing go to gate, so we went to gate, where there was a small food and coffee cart. Pastries and coffee were purchased, but almost immediately the flight was called. No worries though, because straight away they declared a technical hitch and suspended boarding. That gave us time to finish breakfast. At last we were in the plane, and departed for Barcelona only an hour late. The pilot elected not to crash into a mountain side and we arrived less than two hours later. The transfer bus was waiting and we set off for a four hour drive.  We stopped for a snack at what can only be described as a truck stop, where we were chased away from some outside chairs by a guy shouting at us in Spanish. So we settled in a very salubrious slab of concrete.

A couple of hours later and we at last arrived in Pas de la Casa, at 4pm, eleven and a half hours after leaving Rotherham. 

Our bags were loaded into a van and we walked up to the hotel de la Piste. Much to my chagrin the English guy at the desk announced that the kids had been upgraded to mountain view rooms, while we had paid extra! Cheek. The rooms were standard ski hotel fair, cheap and cheerful. We had paid extra to avoid the back of the hotel which is allegedly very noisy due to clubbers. However, just below on the terrace a guy was playing the biggest boom box at max volume. Great. We had our welcome meeting where they explained tea was at the restaurant next door.  So we mosied on round. 

After tea we were dead on our feet so retired back to the hotel for brandy and bed. The French guy, Pascal, and Kathy had a conversation, then he poured our Brandy. They were each half a large tumbler, for €1.50. No chance I could drink it and live, so I saved most for later and went to bed.