I’ve got a book coming out in the fall, with a long-winded title I won’t bore you with yet, about being a contrarian traveler. The idea is, if you ying when others yang and don’t follow the sheep, you’ll almost always get a better deal. There are no magic checklists or insider secrets to this really, it’s just questioning the way things are done and questioning conventional wisdom.
Case in point is this fine article by Charles Leocha, a man who knows more than a little about skiing in the US and Europe. No matter how you do it, this is an expensive sport. But despite the dollar’s pounding against the Euro and the already high prices there, it’s actually cheaper to ski in the Alps than it is in the U.S. And the food is better. So are the drinks, it sounds like. And more often than not, you’re in a village where you can walk, not worrying about how many beers you’ve had because you have to drive back to the condo.
Now take it one step further, and how could you really think differently? Well, I went skiing in Turkey once, which was definitely not Killington. A llift took me to the top of the mountain and I came down wherever I felt like skiing-no pistes, no trails. The “lodge” was a hut and some plastic chairs. But you couldn’t beat the price: I skiied all day for $8. At Vail it’s about $80…
