So we are finally home.  We left at 9:19am yesterday from Grindelwald station (that was 10:19am SA time) and arrived home at 6:10pm.  The flight from Doha to Cape Town was pretty uneventful. We ate breakfast, slept, watched some movies, ate some more, landed in Johannesburg, waited for the change of crew and then flew to Cape Town.  The plane was pretty empty (our cabin was not more than 50% occupied) and at Johannesburg most people...

We left (what is now) yesterday from Grindelwald for our 36 hours of travel home.  It was pretty much a reversing our of journey here except we had a 8 hour lay over in Doha. We had to take 3 trains from Grindelwald with the first one leaving at 9:19am. And as this is Switzerland, you can bet it will definitely leave at 9:19am. We walked down to the station and managed not to slip on...

So today was our last full day in Switzerland. And when we woke up it was a beautiful clear day with bright blue sky. As no-one was skiing we all slept in a little and had a late and leisurely breakfast. Helen and I wanted to go to Lauterbrunnen which is where we stayed when we came to Switzerland the first time 19.5 years ago. It is in the next valley and while we could take...

We woke up this morning to find about an inch of fresh snow had fallen overnight in the town. It was the last day of skiing for the boys. I took them to the cable car station again and drove a little more carefully down the hill because the road was a combination of snow and ice. It stayed overcast the whole day but it didn't rain at all and we saw the odd snowflake fall...

The weather overnight had changed from clear to raining when we woke this morning. The boys again were off with their instructor to go skiing on at First. Everyone else was sleeping in and so I took them to the cable car station (which is only about a 2 minute drive). Most people walk to the station but it isn't the easiest thing in the world to walk with ski boots on and carrying your ski's...

We have a Stephen with us but we know he isn't a Saint (even though there are a bunch of Moyles' who think he is). But it is his name day (as they would say here in Europe). He didn't get any special treatment today except that he was able to go skiing. When we woke up this morning it was evident that it had snowed overnight higher up in the mountains as all the trees...

What do you do on Xmas day in Switzerland? You go skiing and tobogganing. That is what we did this morning. My Dad first took Helen and the boys up to Bodmi for skiing and then came back to fetch Chloe and me and the toboggans. At Bodmi there is a toboggan run and so while the three of them practiced their skiing and continued their lessons, Chloe and I tobogganed.  My Dad has some fancy...

We were up this morning at about 8am to get ready for skiing. It was a beautiful clear day and again relatively warm at about 5 degrees C.  After breakfast we left for the ski school which is at a place called Bodmi which is about 10 minutes away from chalet by car. Most of the roads are now clear of snow as it has just melted away as it is quite warm but there is...

Last night we left for a quick 7-day skiing trip.  We flew on Qatar via Doha.  My in-laws asked why we would fly via Doha given all the air miles I have and the answer is quite simple.  I could not get any bookings at this time of the year on air miles and so we went with the cheapest flight option which was Qatar (at roughly 50% of the price of the other options).  There...