A snowy break in Austria

After my flight from Paris I decided to use the lovely string of 5 days off that had appeared on my roster and go home. I still had my annual leave ticket to use up, so even though the flights weren’t too full, I thought I may as well use my free ticket before it ran out!

After a quick flight to Vienna (where I somehow managed to sleep the whole way!) and a few hours hanging around in the airport, I was on my way to Klagenfurt.

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After a lovely relaxed evening at home, spent eating baked Camembert brought with me from Paris, and catching up on episodes of Downton Abbey, I had an early night.

The next day I met up with my friends Iris and Claudio, who were home for the Christmas holidays.

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We spent a good few hours drinking coffee, browsing the shops, then wandered on down to the last of the Glühwein stands for a hot mulled wine outside!

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The centre of the old town still had all of the Christmas lights up, and as it got dark they lit up and looked very pretty.

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The next day my brothers Harry and Matt and I drove to a ski area called Nassfeld. It’s only about an hour’s drive from the house, but we set off early to make sure we still got some of the good snow. Harry is a ski instructor there (mostly during the holidays) but they hadn’t had any fresh snow for a while so the pistes were a little icy and he didn’t have much work.

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Luckily the weather was great and it was a beautiful sunny day. Still no fresh snow but the pistes were nice and empty for the first few hours!

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We stopped for a hot chocolate break and shared something called “Germknödel”. It’s a traditional Austrian dessert, usually eaten on the ski slopes! It’s made from a yeast dough and has plum puree in the middle, and is served with vanilla sauce and ground up poppy seeds. If you ever go skiing in Austria, try it!

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After our break we were nicely warmed up and ready to hit the slopes again.

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By now it was getting pretty icy and also quite busy, so we only did another 2 hours or so before having some lunch and making our way home. I wish I could go skiing more often!

The next day mum and I drove up to our house in the mountains for a nice walk. I really just wanted to see some more snow before going back to the giant sandpit that is Dubai!

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We walked up through the forest and towards a little ski slope that is nearby.

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It was freezing cold but the sun was out for most of the way!

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On the way back we took a shortcut through the fields. Usually they are filled with cows in the summer but now there was nothing but snow and a few animal tracks.

I spent the rest of my days off relaxing at home and eating mum’s yummy food!

All too soon it was time to fly back to Dubai, ready for my next adventure – Los Angeles! Of course a blog post all about that will be coming very shortly 🙂

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14 Comments

  1. October 28, 2015 / 9:54 pm

    I do not remember seeing a picture of food that made my mouth water so much as right now seeing the pic of your traditional dessert!!! I must eat that 🙂

    • November 3, 2015 / 5:53 pm

      It’s so yummy! If you ever go to Austria make sure you try it 🙂

  2. Anonymous
    January 22, 2015 / 6:13 pm

    BTW YOU’RE BROTHER IS SUPER CUTE!

  3. Anonymous
    January 22, 2015 / 6:10 pm

    Hey Rachel glad you enjoyed your time in Austria, i wondering what is your makeup routine?

    • January 24, 2015 / 11:25 am

      I don’t really have a specific make up routine! For work we have to wear foundation, blusher, bronzer, eye shadow/ eyeliner, mascara! When I’m not working I generally wear a bit less though.

  4. Rosa
    January 15, 2015 / 7:30 pm

    I came across your blog some months ago and I love reading it. I would like to ask you a question about the recruitment in Emirates; I already went twice to open days in Portugal but was never successful and I wonder if they have some issues with age because I have already 36 and although they say that there are no age limits, perhaps they prefer younger people to join their crew. What do you think?

    • January 24, 2015 / 11:05 am

      Glad you enjoy my blog 🙂 To be honest I don’t know of any age limit, I’ve flown with people 30+ before! Give it another go and you never know, maybe it’ll be 3rd time lucky 🙂

  5. January 15, 2015 / 1:00 pm

    We fly to all of those places 🙂 However as most of them are only a short flight from Dubai (say under 4 hours) we fly there and back in the same day. These flights are known as “turnarounds”. Hope this helps 🙂

  6. Anonymous
    January 14, 2015 / 1:54 am

    WOw, this is an amazing blog! I have read nearly all of it! I am in the process of deciding what am I going to do! I will be graduating in June and I am seriously thinking of becoming a Pilot or a Crew Member… Either way is OK for me. As I love to itreact with people and help them, love cross-cultural situations, contexts etc. and I love to travel… This right now seems to be a perfect job opportunity for me! Thank you for sharing your amazing advandures.. And keep us posted 🙂

    • January 15, 2015 / 1:01 pm

      Thanks for reading 🙂 If you want to travel as much as possible I’d definitely recommend becoming cabin crew, it’s the best way to see the world and get paid for it 🙂

  7. Karam
    January 11, 2015 / 12:01 am

    hello Rachel!!
    Happy holidays and I wish that 2015 brings you your favorite destinations 🙂
    I am a Lebanese immigration officer and Emirates is my dream and your blog is the reason why i’m not giving up on my dream.. At work, I meet a lot of Emirates crew coming or going back from their vacation. They are all helpful, kind and ready to answer any question or give me a quick tip for the open day.
    I wish BEY is an Emirates layover spot, so I can see the crew with their amazing uniform.

    • January 15, 2015 / 1:01 pm

      Hi there! I also wish we stayed in Beirut! I’ve heard so many good things about your country, I’ll have to come and visit one day, luckily it’s only a short flight 🙂

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