Skiing Adventure
Trip Start
Sep 01, 2007
1
29
44
Trip End
Nov 23, 2008
Dolomites,
Trentino-Alto Adige,
Italy
Saturday, February 23, 2008
After an early start we all met up at Gatwick and due to a fairly empty flight were all able to get 2 seats to ourselves - good for some as they were still drunk from the night before!! I can safely say that the smell of alcohol drifted through the plane at times! A comfortable 2 hours later and we arrived in Venice where we waited for a couple of hours for our transfer to Araba.
Upon arriving in Araba we were met by our guides Sue (Suuuuueeee!) and Ingrid who gave us beers and lunch before taking us to our lovely accommodation for the next week
The Airport Wait in Venice
. As Damo and I were the only couple on the trip we had the "honeymoon" suite which was a room on the top floor with wooden ceilings and ensuite (everyone had ensuites but I reckon we had the nicest room! We didn't have a balcony though which everyone else had). Days were spent skiing, eating and then drinking - 2 nights were spent in another little village (can't remember the name of it) where we hit the apres-ski bars (which were only open until 6pm!). The local drink were champagne cocktails which after one you were happily dancing, after 2 you were extremely confident of yourself and after 3 you were no longer standing. Damo and I managed 2 on the first night before heading off to another bar where all of us continued on drinking (mostly rum and vodkas) and dancing on a little ledge near where we were standing. Damo also had a lovely fall off the ledge whilst pulling a move and proceeded to knock over a whole table of drinks (luckily the glasses were mostly empty). Unfortunately for him glass and human skin don't go well and I didn't think he had hurt himself until I saw his shirt covered in blood. No more dancing for him!
The second night out at these bars ended up being a little adventure where half of us had a near-death experience. After calling cabs to go home a taxi driver took half of our group home (we put the loud drunken revellers in the first cab!) and returned about 30mins later (must of realised at this stage he was a fast driver as usually takes 25mins to go one way) to collect the rest of us
The Bus Trip
. So in we jumped and as I get car sick I lay down on Damo's lap only to enquire about 10mins later if the driver was going a little fast for dark, winding, icy roads. Damo asked him to slow down and even though reassured by Jay that he knows what he is doing I still felt sick! So after about another 5 mins I think everyone else started to realise that he was driving a little fast as every time another car approached he seemed to swerve. Then when things couldn't get any worse he started talking on his mobile phone! At this stage we all started telling him to slow down and not to use the mobile and the next thing we knew he slammed on the brakes and the car slid 20 metres closer to a vertical drop on the edge of the road. Lights came on the car, I undid my seatbelt and yelled to let me out! At this stage everyone is yelling and after calming down we continued the drive to Araba as we were only about 2 mins away. As soon as the cab was stopped some of the guys were out like a flash and at the cabbie's door. We think at this stage he freaked and just took off at high speeds afraid he was going to get the s**t kicked out of him. Unfortunately he took off with one of the girls still in the back seat. All I can remember is seeing her waving her arms about and screaming - felt like we were in a movie. So at 2am in the morning, 6 of us are chasing this van down the road (which we lost) and calling the others frantically on mobiles. As we headed to our hotel we found the girl sitting on the front bench in an absolute state. Coincidentally the cab driver had let her out in front of our hotel - we think this is when he realised she was still in the back. All I can say is that we all extremely relieved to see her there.
This happened on our second last night and the next night some of the boys still continued to drink till the early hours (closer to home though so no cabs needed!). An early start on the last day as we headed back to Venice where we said our goodbyes to everyone as we were staying a night in Venice as they all headed back to London.
