How I left 2017 behind me // Wie ich 2017 hinter mir ließ

To end the year 2017 with a postive adventure, three friends and I decided to go on a skiing holiday. Since me and my family had been to the same place every year before, I only knew like one ski resort. Obviously I did not want to go skiing at the same area like I always did, so I booked an accommodation located in Saalbach (Austria), the first skiing area that came to my mind. A careless act of mine. Although I was slightly familiar with this area because I have already been there once, five years ago, organized as a school trip. However I wasn't aware of the pricing situation there which I am going to describe later. 

Our journey started at 3 a.m. after my friends had picked me up with their car. Even though I had been awake for 19 hours at this time, I wasn't really tired. Either way, I would't be able to fall asleep because I can't come to rest in cars. Luckily, my friends stayed awake, too because they had been sleeping before. So we talked together during the whole car ride to pass the time. Shortly after we left Munich behind us, we took our first but also last break. From there we could finally see the Alps for the first time. 

Despite a 4-year breake, snowboarding went as well as if the break had never existed. That I had to wait for my friends, because they were beginners and therefore slower than me, didn't bother me at all - just like my boots which were two sizes too small. I enjoyed every single second. Even though it was a short visit, not far away from home town, I completely forgot about my home and its associated ennui during those few days. 

Although we had enquired about the ski lift periods, we were left alone in the valley at the end of the day. We were wondering why the ski lifts aren't running anymore, so we asked a worker who told us that the lifts were closed regularly. It must mean that the periods we have covered before were outdated, thus false. For us, that meant that we had to walk to our accommodation. The guest house was only one kilometre away, however the path leading to it was a steep slope. Wearing ski-clothes and carrying a snowboard made it extremely strenuous, so it took a while until we got there, not least because I had been awake for 30 hours at that time. Due to the late arrival we got ready asap to go eating. To go eating we had to walk down a 3 kilometre long street which was slippery. As smart as I am I had no weather-suitable shoes with me, of course not, so I slipped on the icy road and fell down a couple times. Arrived at the village, we were searching for an affordable restaurant. Since a small pizza Margherita cost 16$ at the most places, it wasn't easy at all to find an affordable one. After we had dealt with small disputes, we decided to go eating in a burger restaurant where a burger cost around 15$ - relatively cheap compared to other restaurants. 

 Subsequently, we resolved to buy some food for the next day. Unfortunately, most of the grocery stores had already locked the doors, so we had to walk five more kilometres to find an open one. At the end of the day we walked about 17 kilometres which sounds not that much but after all more than half of the distance led upward. When we finally reached our guest house again, I immediately fell asleep because I was tired to death and exhausted. I really have never felt that tired before. Through the night a blizzard gadded around which led to 30 centimetres fresh snow but it didn't stop during the day, which is why you could barely see anything. Well at least I couldn't because my eyesight isn't the best, too. As a result of the poor visibility I fell a few times, landed in a brook twice and I got lost frequently because I am snowboarding off track most of the time. 

Not only me got lost, my friends and I went astray, too when we tried to take a shortcut which should have led right to our accommodation. Thereupon we still stood on track, while it got darker and darker. 

Thankfully, the weather improved during the night, so that the blue sky revealed itself again.

I am wondering if I annoyed any foreign skiers because I stopped all the time in the middle of the ski slope to take photos. Overall I took more than 100 pictures and all of them look nearly identical hahah...

Foolishly, I scratched my snowboard on the last few metres of the last day when I rode down an alleged ski slope to our guest house. It turned out that the 'ski slope' was nothing more than a snow covered, asphalted road which I could't recognize due to the blizzard the day before. Blessing in disguise because I'd rather have a broken snowboard at the end of a skiing holiday than at the beginning. In the evening we walked down the road for the last time to go eating. We decided to go in a more expensive pizzeria because it was our last day, so we were generous.As we didn't have to move out of the room early in the morning, we allowed us to take time to pack our bags, so that we went to our way back home laid-back. 

Despite the expensive prices and some small troubles I can only say that this little holiday was definitely worth it! It's no use renouncing adventures just to save some money because there is nothing more valuable than having a good time with or without friends. This should be the plea of this post. Go on journeys, have adventures and have fun! 

This small distraction from my daily life, as well as other steem posts opened my eyes and inspired me to do more journeys. In case anyone really read this article up to here, then let me know it and respect of course hahah!

Um das Jahr 2017 mit einem positiven Erlebnis abzuschließen, entschied ich mich dazu einen kurzen Skiurlaub, zusammen mit drei Freunden, zu unternehmen. Da ich zuvor fast nur mit meiner Familie jedes Jahr im selben Ski-Gebiet fahren war, hatte ich kaum Ahnung von anderen Gebieten. Natürlich wollte ich nicht wieder im selben Ort fahren wie jedes Jahr, daher buchte ich eine Unterkunft in Saalbach, das erst beste Ski-Gebiet, welches mir in den Sinn kam. Eine sehr leichtsinnige Aktion von mir. Zwar kannte ich dieses Gebiet etwas, da ich dort bereits vor 5 Jahren war, als meine Schule einen Ski-Ausflug dorthin organisiert hatte, jedoch war ich mir nicht im Klaren über die preisliche Lage dort, doch dazu komme ich später.

Obwohl wir uns über die Liftfahrt-Zeiten erkundigt hatten, standen wir gegen Ende des ersten Tages alleine im Tal und wunderten uns, warum die Lift nichtmehr laufen. Uns wurde gesagt, dass diese zur regulären Uhrzeit geschlossen wurden. Die Zeiten, über die wir uns vorher erkundigt hatten, waren veraltet und stimmten nichtmehr, was für uns bedeutete, dass wir zu unserer Unterkunft laufen mussten. Das Gasthaus war zwar nur einen Kilometer entfernt, jedoch führte der Weg dorthin die Skipiste hinauf. In Ski-Klamotten und einem Snowboard auf der Schulter war dieser weg extrem anstrengend und zog sich in die Länge, nicht zuletzt da ich zu diesem Zeitpunkt nun schon seit über 30 Stunden wach war. Aufgrund der späten Uhrzeit, zu der wir schlussendlich ankamen, machten wir uns schnellstmöglich fertig, da uns ein 3 Kilometer langer Weg, welcher runter in den Ort führte, bevorstand. Dieser Weg bestand aus einer verschneiten und vereisten Straße, welche wohl nicht allzu häufig geräumt wird, weshalb ich einige Male ausrutschte und hinfiel, da ,so schlau wie ich war, ich natürlich keine wettergerechten Schuhe eingepackt hatte. Im Ort angekommen, machten wir uns auf die Suche nach einem bezahlbaren Restaurant, was garnicht so einfach war, da in den meisten schon eine kleine Pizza Margherita 13€ kostete. Nach kleinen Streitigkeiten einigten wir uns darauf in einem Burgerladen, welcher mit 12€ im Verhältnis zu anderen Restaurants relativ billig war, essen zu gehen.

Trotz der teuren Preise und einigen kleinen Schwierigkeiten kann ich nur sagen, dass es dieser kleine Urlaub definitiv wert war! Es bringt nichts auf solche Urlaube zu verzichten, nur um Geld sparen zu können, denn nicht ist wertvoller, als eine tolle Zeit mit Freunden (natürlich auch ohne) zu haben. Das soll der Appell dieses Artikels sein, auf Reisen oder Urlaube zu gehen und Spaß haben!

Diese kleine Ablenkung von meinem alltäglichen Leben, sowie andere Steemit-Artikel haben mir die Augen geöffnet und mich inspiriert mehr Reisen zu unternehmen. Falls tatsächlich jemand diesen Eintrag gelesen hat, dann lass es mich wissen und aufjedenfall Respekt hahah!