I’ve always been an avid skier. In my younger years friends and I trekked to New Zealand multiple times to experience ‘real snow’, as well as undertaking yearly mandatory trips to nearby (ok frigging 5 hours away) mountains.
When I moved to Austria and realised I’d hooked up with the only Austrian who couldn’t be bothered going skiing anymore, he put aside his prejudices and organised a number of trips for me.
And that’s when I realised.
I’d become a social skier.
I have a friend who is a seasoned solo traveller, and only recently embarked on her first group tour. While most people are anxious about the thought of travelling alone, she was more concerned about problems that might arise from being stuck in a group!
Group travel can be wonderful (Jorden/Syria/Turkey 2011… unforgettable), but it can also be challenging (Egypt 2011 shortly after the revolution). Whether you’re put in a group you feel you have nothing in common with, your roomie is particularly annoying, or when group dynamics just don’t work. Tours are the perfect solution for places that are a little more difficult to navigate, or if you just want guaranteed company. But they’re not always peachy. So here’s some tips on how to make the best of one.
Arnold Schwarzenegger is renowned as an international body builder, acclaimed actor and politician, but what you may not know is that he grew up in a very small village just outside Graz in Austria. So when I had a keen friend visiting from Australia, we decided to take a trip to the Arnold Schwarzenegger Museum.
My husband loves cooking, and he loves India… what a great combination! When I first moved to Austria we started a tradition of Indian curry afternoons. Sometimes it’s just the two of us, filling the apartment with sweet and spicy aromas and eating on the balcony, and sometimes it involves the whole family, all bustling around my in-laws kitchen, drinking wine and tasting multiple dishes in an afternoon that ends with us fully stuffed and goes long into the evening.
an aussie in austria 