It's not skiing yesterday I just bought the air tickets for next April: LAX - Broome April 11-13, Broome - Perth April 25, Perth - LAX May 1. They are only one stoppers, Sydney April 13 and Melbourne May 1. Price is $2,112pp. Sbooker can comment whether that's reasonable.
That's very very reasonable. Nice buy.
This morning I booked our Canada flights. It will be similar to last year, WestJet (Skyteam partner) nonstops from LAX for 25K miles + $61 vs. cash being $550. We will do a longer Calgary loop trip through Panorama and Banff from Feb. 17 - Mar. 1 because this is the year Iron Blosam Week jumps forward (March 11-18), while the last few years I would be driving to Utah within a week of returning home from Canada.
You live a tough life Tony.
As for Trois Vallees, that daytrip sounds masochistic. You have:
1) Transfer from Arc 1800 to top of funicular
2) Funicular down to Bourg St. Maurice
3) Train to Moutiers
4) Bus to Brides Le Bains
5) 3 lift rides before you get as high as the Val Thorens base.
You'll be lucky to get there by noon.
One person's masochism is another person's pleasure.
I'll get an early taxi from our lodging to get the first train from Bourg. I'll have breakfast in Moutiers. The first gondola from Brides is 8.30am. The kids will no doubt spend that time in the gondola doing their Insta and whatever else they put selfies on. We'll be catching the first lift in Meribel. I'll be sure to post a report.
Liz wandered by and she believes Trois Vallees has better skiing than Les Arcs/La Plagne. Sbooker and family have never been there. She thinks it's an easy call to relocate to a Val Thorens (or maybe Les Menuires if price is much lower) apartment for up to a week out of those 18 days. FYI Liz thought the farmer's market and shopping in Val Thorens were pretty good. She found my new ski jacket there. So there's no reason to think the non-ski aspects for your kids and their friends would be in any way inferior to Les Arcs.
The dollars aren't a huge consideration really. If I was trying to stick to a budget I would have taken the group of 6 to Caloundra for the holidays.
Firstly I'm one of six. My wife is one of the other 5. Her preferences are important.
1. Packing up for 6 people is a chore (for her primarily). Checking into new accommodation is a pain. Restocking groceries in the new accommodation etc etc
2. Easy proximity to the train station is the big advantage in Les Arcs.
3. Les Arcs has more tree lined runs and tree skiing than anywhere else in that region. I'll have newbies who will really struggle on snow days if above the tree line.
Liz wandered by and she believes Trois Vallees has better skiing than Les Arcs/La Plagne. Sbooker and family have never been there. She thinks it's an easy call to relocate to a Val Thorens (or maybe Les Menuires if price is much lower) apartment for up to a week out of those 18 days. FYI Liz thought the farmer's market and shopping in Val Thorens were pretty good. She found my new ski jacket there. So there's no reason to think the non-ski aspects for your kids and their friends would be in any way inferior to Les Arcs.
I respect the opinions of you and Liz. Obviously. If it was just me or just me and Kylie I would be moving about as we have many times in the past. I have not committed to lodging but have a couple of places on hold and have to make a call by December 30 from memory. I am open to the idea of spending half the time in Tignes/Val (my preference) or somewhere in the Three Valleys. We'll see. I have to fit in Kylie's planned train trip to Lyon into plans too.
Even if you are insistent on spending the 18 days in one place, you should not be committing non-refundable $$$ to lodging now due to the usual early season snow caveats.
Fair point I guess.
We're flying into France. I can't see us changing to Austria at a late stage though. If snow is questionable we'll know by late December and can probably move to Tignes/Val that is apparently the best bet early season in most years. I don't know that anywhere else in France is likely to have more snow if they don't??