Many schools are struggling with ski holiday stress: parents keep children at home a day before spring break because the trip to the snow turns out to be cheaper. Others leave during the weekend and go on a relaxed trip.
,,My vacation started on Sunday morning!”, says Gerry Wezeman-Boddé (,,I’m proud of the dash”) from Delfzijl. It is Sunday afternoon around 4 pm and she is not calling from the snow, but is still waiting at P+R Hoogkerk for the ski bus that will take her to South Tyrol in Austria.
“A wonderfully relaxed start to the holiday,” she says. And so will the rest of the journey. Yes, I already know that. I’ve been there often enough. Sleeping is fine, such a trip always goes pico bello. Once we ended up in a long traffic jam after an accident. Then it is better to sit in the bus than in the car. The motorists went to the toilet with us in the bus.
Matching weather
The sun and the at times quite fresh wind provide a matching weather. If the next few days, with snow, are just as beautiful, the company should not grumble. Hein Dijkstra and Bert Langbeek have high hopes for that. “A little snow along the way and more sun as the week progresses.”
Around half past eight on Monday morning, roughly 15 hours after departure, the two drivers-cum-weathermen of Paulusma Reizen will park their full double-decker (57 passengers) neatly in front of the Gasthof Larch hotel, they expect. They don’t have to fill up on the road and they avoid traffic problems by driving at night. They stay with the group all week by bus.
Family event
,,On Thursday we are still on the long slats and then we go back at night”, says Lucy Bakker, who also comes from Delfzijl and was brought by her husband. Wezeman (,,We don’t travel together, but we do know each other by chance”) was brought by her son and is joined on the way by her brother who is boarding in Apeldoorn.”
Only members of the Veldman family from Assen and Bedum join the Delfzijlster duo in Hoogkerk. Wife/sister-in-law Ciska, the only woman in that group, organized the trip for twin brothers Peter and Gert as an alternative to a fully booked flight to the Scandinavian Mountains.
The bus is new to them. There are six of them, including two children and a friend, and they are waved off by two more members of the family who are less enthusiastic about skiing due to a fear of heights.
Rent skis
The group leaves the ski box on the back of the bus unused (,,We do rent skis there”), but in Leek, Drachten, Heerenveen and Apeldoorn, travel companions will probably board who do bring their own equipment.
“Tomorrow we’ll be on the road right away! I’m looking forward to it”, says Peter, who has not prepared for the descent on an indoor ski slope. ,,We are sporty enough to dare to do it.”
And the apres ski? ,,No, it’s really about the sport and being outside for a few days. Although I understand that an aperol spritz is part of it in South Tyrol. Should be possible. And it’s only four days. Thursday after skiing we leave again. Back on Friday, good for the weekend.”