The 6 months eventually had to come to an end...
The last week of guests
A monumental moment! you realize you don't have to cook that beef tagine every Sunday again for the rest of your life, unless you for some crazy reason decide it could be fun to reminisce. No transfer day, no preparation for another set of guests to arrive, no more cleaning! I have to say after 6 months of chalet hosting, we were all in the same boat - ready to stop!
My last week of guests was a bit unusual - The owner of the company(!) was planning to stay in the top floor penthouse chalets with his friends and family. We were slightly apprehensive but the week actually turned out to be a perfect last week!
Me and hannah were in charge of the childrens food - they were adorable might i add! - this meant no more 3 course meals, but gourmet lasagne, chicken pie, all comfort food! we were then in charge of the children until they went to bed which meant me and hannah were able to watch all the films that had been in our chalets throughout the season but we had never had the chance to sit down and watch them properly! Imy was then in charge of the adults food, with the help of our executive chefs preparing the food.
The guests were lovely - and it was great seeing the owner of the company relax with his friends and family and seeing how down to earth he was - nothing to worry about at al1! We even got an invitation to folie and rose blanche and had a few too many shots (hannah passed out!)....... safe to say a morning hangover was imminent.
Even though it was such a great week - we were still ready to finish having guests! And we celebrated the last farewell with champagne and a cooked breakfast!
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| 4th floor celebrations! |
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| Penthouse girls. |
Deep Clean
The dreaded word - we did it at the beginning of the season, it was hell, the middle of the season, it was hell and now the end. Closing down our chalets until winter when the poor unfortunate soul who has volunteered to work in my chalet arrives. It involves intense full day cleaning including things like toothbrushing grouting, toothpicking dirt out of telephone buttons and things never being quite clean enough! Threats of no days off, no going to the folie closing party were used to make sure we cleaned like crazy people - and it worked! We managed to close down our chalets in record time and even managed to feature in the official folie closing party video - an accomplishment!
You would think we were done, but the next step was packing up our bags and deep cleaning our accommodation which wasn't cared for in the same ways our chalets had been throughout the season and an insane amount of dirt was cleaned up!
Our goodbyes
Suddenly we were all siting on the coach on our way back home. It was surreal. It felt like it was only yesterday that we were heading out to start out 6 months. Making new friends, excited about what was to come. Leaving val d'isere and all the friends i had made there was emotional. I cried at dover, held it in for clacket lane stop and cried again at our final destination of London Victoria.
I can only conclude that a season may not be 'living the dream' as I first set out thinking it would be. It's one emotional roller coaster where you make unforgettable memories, life long friends and embrace a new set of cooking, cleaning and customer service skills.
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| Gorgeous Room 22 <3 |
So would I do it again?
This is a hard question. And I've thought about it multiple times. On one hand, yes i would! Despite the work, its an amazing experience with the availability of a mountain to ski on every day! On the other hand, I've had my experience of a season and I wouldn't want to compare it to anything. So i think i've come to the conclusion that I will cherish what I've done, as it was unforgettable.
Now - back to the real world!
