Austrian Ski Trip

This trip is mainly in Austria and centred on Skiing the Spectacular mountains as well as visiting some of the beautiful cities from one end of Austria to the other.

The trip begins in London as the flight with Qantas in a A380 Business Class was well priced and we needed to be in the UK to pick up another package deal for skiing.

As we were going to ski at many different resorts and didn't want to continually find and hire equipment, the decision to bring all our gear including skis was made. The first step was to work out the luggage. The ski bag we decided on has wheels so that we were able to drag it along without having to carry them. Due to restrictions on internal flights we had limits on what we could pack.
Ski gear and winter clothes do take up a lot of room in your luggage. Boots & helmets, ski equipment and your everyday winter clothes quickly add weight and take up room.

My tip if you're packing for winter regardless of whether it's a sightseeing trip or a ski trip is that you pack everything and I mean everything, that is interchangeable, so that it can be layered and worn whether skiing or just sightseeing. Also, as outer ski gear takes up space, it's easier if you put then in space saver bags to get all the puffiness out of them to allow room for other essentials.  Pack items like socks, or thermals in bags inside your shoes or ski-boots to save room, do this for your helmets too.

Advise the airline that you will have your skis with you, this can be done online under sports equipment with the airline you have booked. You will need to take any oversized baggage to different bag drop then your luggage but it will be at the carousel when you arrive.  Depending on the airline the skis can be part of your 23 Kg weight and with others, it's another piece of luggage and charged extra. It's best to determine this before booking so you know what to expect. With British Airways, even though we were well underweight and the skis combined with our suitcases were within weight range, we were charged 70Euro for the skis as an extra bag.

The map below shows the road trip that we took. This trip took 4 1/2 weeks or a calendar month.

Road Trip

Next post is on arriving in London.