What am I doing when I am not cruising??

This half term sees the annual Telegraph ski and snowboard show in Battersea London and with our weather taking a little turn cooler this week this has certainly put me in winter mode.

Now if I’m not working, if you dont find me on a cruise ship, I will be on a skip slope.

As you may well know this is my second passion going away each xmas for a ski holiday.

We are now counting down the 8 weeks until we head off to Banff in the Canadian Rockies, from here you can ski Sunshine Village, Mount Norquay and Lake Louise, known as the Big3.

So with it being close now it is time to dust off the ski goggles and see what new clothing or equipment we may need. The ski and Snowboard show might be just the place to get any bits we need before we go, British Olympian Snowboarder Jenny Jones will also be there hosting a talk so could be quite interesting.

Now it can get proper chilly in Canada – last time we went to Banff it was a brisk -38, so last year we thought we would head to the warmer east coast to Quebec for a delightful -44. So this year we thought, OK lets head back too Banff. Clothing is very important in these temperatures so we have the best gloves possible, breathable balaclavas, hand and feet warmers and as many layers as one can wear on a plane seat.

So you might wonder why we do we endure these temperatures. Its all about the apres ski, which is a little different in Canada or North America to what it is in Europe. I’m talking Ice canyon glacier walking, natural hot springs, dog sledding, snow mobiles, Calgary shopping and the Ice hockey team Calgary Flames. It is just endless and to be honest this is just as much the holiday as the skiing is – but you cannot get the views of the Rockies quite like you can without heading up the chairlifts- breathtking!!

Most people, unless skiers like us, tend to do Banff and Lake Louise in the summer when combining it with an Alaska cruise and I would say this is absolutely a must along with the Rocky Mountaineer train.

So I realised with it being only 8 weeks away, better get a move on with the planning and all the xmas shopping to be done between now and then.