My youngest son, Ben, who you may know from appearing in this blog from time to time, thinks my titles are a little nauseating, he isn’t a fan of the puns, and feels I should get a job at The Sun writing the story titles. SO this blog is dedicated to him this week…he came up with the title after all.
We had a cracking time…
Let’s discuss;
I think skiing is a silly, way too energetic, and ridiculously dangerous pastime. I stand by this statement.
Some will whole heartedly disagree, and that’s fine, you do you babes. But I saw so many broken people on this trip, it only served to strengthen my opinion.
I can ski ~ I choose not to. For me the risk/fun ratio is off.
That said, I do very much enjoy the snow, the mountains, the hot chocolate, the apple cakes, be they pie or strudel. I’m all in for that.
Which is why I tag along, even though I have no intention of participating in throwing myself off the side of a mountain.
(If I’m being totally honest, having a fear of heights, chairlifts and gondolas did stunt my ski progression too).
What do I do on ski holidays?
I walk around in the snow, looking cute in my specially curated snow wardrobe, I sit in cafes drinking hot chocolate, I take the photos of the skiers, I go to the spa.
So off we went, a family of seven, off for an adventure in the mountains of Bulgaria.
Why Bulgaria?
Well, Chris pays for all seven of us, which means we want the best value, and Bulgaria really is fabulously priced.
Is it fancy? No
Is it even slightly fancy? No, this is not Zermatt, Val d'Isère or Aspen.
Are the locals friendly? Well, when you first arrive you think they’re incredibly unfriendly, and possibly a little bit stabby, but actually, although culturally they’re not massively into smiling, they are in fact incredibly warm, welcoming people. I really enjoy it there, now I’m used to it.
Is the skiing good? How would I know? This is not my area of expertise. But it’s enough for most people apparently. Not massive, not extensive, but enough to keep you busy.
The spa is usually very good… but I experienced the most brutal reflexology of my life, which I can still feel on my poor brutalised feet, so I’m not sure how I feel about it. But if you like firm, they got you, you are sorted.
So this trip started off strong, and if you follow me on social media, you will already know it didn’t stay strong, but let’s not skip ahead too far.
The outfits I chose were for a very casual ski resort in the middle of the Bulgarian mountain range in Borovets, are, as you can imagine, really really very very casual.
There are no fancy pants shops, there aren’t many other kinds of shops either.
You do not need to get dolled up, although some do, the Mob Wife look is quite a popular fashion trend across Eastern Europe, even when it’s not trending on TikTok.
I tend to stick with nice, but casual. Warm, but casual.
Tracksuit from Ralph Lauren, Boots from Moonboot x Jimmy Choo
Fly for comfort, especially when you have a stoma. They can be known to expand with air. Mine never has, well, it hasn’t ever so far. But I still plan my outfits for the possibility.
I don’t love skiing, but I do love snow.
This time was no different to any previous ski holiday to start with.
The others went off to ski, which is normal, the thing that was different this time is, I’m trying to exercise more, so I went to the hotel gym, yes, me!!
Mainly because I like a nice walk, but it was ridiculously slippery out and I didn’t want to break a hip. So I went to the gym to walk and cycle.
The gym is not my natural habitat. I am not a gym bunny… I’m more the Easter bunny. :)
Oooh, get a load of her at a gym!!
Top from Holland Cooper, Jeans from Tesco, Shoes from Ugg.
Once I’d got my brisk walk and cycle in I washed and dressed, and headed to meet the others for lunch.
Zak didn’t feel very well for the entire holiday, god love him, and I imagine the altitude didn’t help with that much. Last year we spent a lot of time together, but he didn’t want to this year.
He didn’t fancy skiing either, but he very much enjoyed swimming, and sledging, which is one of my favourite things to do too.
Where I lack motivation to go on a ski lift, I do manage to walk up a slight incline to sled down. At great speed…I am undefeated in this pursuit too.
Coat from Moncler, Hat from Aimee Leon Dore
I did my own thing in the mornings, and met the others for lunch. It’s nice, it works for us. And as I hate staying home alone, it’s the only alternative.
The others were finished by mid afternoon anyway, the slopes were far busier by then, and less fun. So it’s back to the hotel for swimming, and lounging about.
Bikini from Tesco
What to wear in the evenings? Casual, cas-u-al…
Top from Ralph Lauren, Jeans from M&S, Boots from Christian Dior
Then all wrapped up warm for an after dinner stroll…
A fine balance of eat, sleep, ski, repeat for some and eat, eat, eat for others (me mainly).
I’m not sporty, I’m not naturally gifted in any sporting sense, or any other sense come to that. I am probably the least naturally talented human on the planet.
But I do love hurtling down a mild incline on a sledge. Which my family thinks is really dangerous…I’m almost at ground level, how can it possibly be dangerous compared to trying to stand up to come down an actual mountain? Make it make sense.
From mountain sledding to dressing for dinner. Not dressing up. It’s just not necessary.
The first time I went to a ski resort I was all dolled up in high heel boots and nice clothes. But I quickly realised that skiing is not a fancy clothing event. Well, not at the resorts we’ve been to anyway. Even though it’s a luxury sport.
Top from N.Peal, Jeans from M&S, Boots from Jimmy Choo
Casual for the win.
This is my forte…forest walks with my favourite human.
Coat and Boots from Moncler.
And spa-ing…
Swimsuit from Tesco
Is this a holiday I’d choose to go on? Nope, it really isn’t, I’d much rather be on some far flung beach. But Chris absolutely loved it, and I’m really very fond of him. ;)
Knowing we’d be all going on this holiday Chris and I were out shopping just before Christmas, and saw some cute coordinated clothing.
So Chris bought himself this jumper, I bought myself (with Chris’s money) this hoodie, and we bought Zak some matching bits to go with it.
Zak’s jumper is the same as the one the bear on my hoodie is wearing. Honestly too cute.
Zak wasn’t in the mood for a photo shoot with us, but I have some lovely shots of him dashing past Chris and I posing. ;)
We looked adorable.
Outfits all from Ralph Lauren. My boots from Jimmy Choo, Chris’s shoes from Gucci
Bikini from Tesco
Top from Spyder
This is where the holiday takes a bit of a turn.
So far, Zak had been under the weather, I’d had a crippling bout of Labrynthitis/vertigo to the point the room was spinning, the world was spinning. I couldn’t stand up, or walk at one point. So it had had its challenges, then…
Chris text me to say he’d had a fall and was now on his way back to the village.
I saw the colour of him and knew something was off. He said he’d hurt his arm.
A snowboarder had come from nowhere and collided with him, sending him flying, and landing hard.
He insisted on having a hot chocolate before heading to the village medical center. Thats the spirit!! :)
It was at this point I knew he was in a bad way as he was shaking, in shock.
Off we go to the most antiquated “hospital” you have ever seen. Where we were greeted by two very efficient people. I have no idea to this day if one, or either was actually a trained medical professional. But they knew how to use the machines, which is all you need really.
The X-ray machine was at least 50 years old (funny story, an English lady with a leg injury we started chatting with at our hotel was barred from having an x ray on this particular machine…by her husband…a doctor, who said he would absolutely not let her have an x ray from that machine).
Anyway, the “doctor” treating Chris took him off to have his X ray. I went into a different room to complete the paperwork. Me?! A dyslexic who doesn’t do paperwork in her native country, for herself, is being asked to fill out paperwork for someone else, in a foreign land. Great idea. I took Erin with me for moral support.
I was filling it all out, when the doc came back into the room, I said “how is he?” He replied “oh he’s absolutely fine”
“Oh fantastic!” I say “he’s not broken anything then?!”
…”oh yes, it’s definitely broken, but he’ll be fine in 5 weeks” he says!!
We have very differing views on the definition of “fine”.
Long story short, he’s got a broken shoulder. They sent on his way with a sling and the good drugs.
Is it ideal? No, far from it. But is it a big problem? Well, apart from pain and the inconvenience, no not really. Chris has an office job, so as long as his chauffeur (me!! God help us both!!) takes him everywhere he needs to go, and picks him up again after, nothing really changes.
*side note; I do all the blue jobs in our house anyway. It’s my job to run the home. And his job to pay me to.
Which is why I say the ski fun/risk ratio doesn’t work for me, because the house would grind to a halt if I was laid up. And they would drive me to distraction.
So the holiday took a bit of a turn after that. He was in agony. And somewhat reticent to go outside on the slidey streets.
Top from Ralph Lauren, Trousers from Ralph Lauren, Shoes from Ugg.
We did manage to get him out for dinner. But his outside fun was drastically reduced.
I left him to rest, and went out in the snow to play with Zak, Milly and Sam.
Because sledging is sooooo dangerous…
Jumper and Jeans from M&S,
Shall I let you in on a little secret, I am one of life’s passenger princess’s. I don’t do anything admin wise, I don’t drive very far. I am driven. I am completely and utterly comfortable, and committed to being looked after in every aspect of life.
So I went out for a hot chocolate whilst Chris slept, and it was only when it came time to pay for said hot chocolate, that I realised I hadn’t taken any form of payment for it with me. I am paid for. Hahaha.
Thankfully, having been to the resort 3 years running, and many times to this restaurant this particular trip, I explained the situation and the waiter said don’t worry, come and pay later. :)
Which was very helpful. And very kind. Like I said, they are really lovely people.
I took my personal ATM back with me once he’d woken from his drugged up sleep. ;)
The other downside came when both Chris and I went down with chest infections. Literally out of the blue. We went from fine to really not fine at all instantly.
Two years ago we’d have been hauled off to a quarantine camp. So thank goodness for fortunate timing, for an unfortunate bug.
Then Chris started getting phone calls from our holiday insurance company.
And life became very tricky.
We didn’t really give any thought to the phone calls to start with, Chris had missed a few. We assumed it was something paperwork related.
We knew we’d have to pay the excess on the policy.
But that wasn’t the issue. The issue was, the insurance company didn’t want Chris to fly home. Even though he had a fit to fly certificate from the medical center.
Their proposal was that a paramedic would fly out to us, he would then rest for one night, and fly back with us the following day. Whilst constantly monitoring Chris’s vitals.
Chris laughed and said “no thanks, I’m fine to come home on our pre booked flights”.
To which the insurance company doctor responded “I have to inform you that if you do not accept our medical repatriation, as soon as you step into that airport we will cancel your policy. You will be on your own. You are at risk of a fat embolism and the risk will be up to you”.
Errrrr, sorry, what??!
Chris and I discussed it, and agreed that we’d stay until the medic could be sent out. The insurance company said the whole group could stay until then if we wanted, but that seemed unnecessary. Zak had not been well all holiday, so he needed to be in his own bed, and the others needed to be home for their jobs anyway.
So they left, and Chris and I stayed. We were told we’d be able to stay in our hotel room. But as it turns out that wasn’t possible, due to it being fully booked.
So the insurance company found us a different hotel.
Let me explain a thing about Bulgaria. It’s very basic. Especially in terms of hotels. We stay at the absolute best in the resort. It’s not massively expensive, but it’s the best one there.
We asked if we had to be moved could we go to Sofia, the capital of Bulgaria, where we fly into. Firstly there would be more choice of hotels, and secondly there wouldn’t be any snow or ice, and therefore safer for Chris.
But they said no, so they found us one miles away from the resort, deep in the forest, miles from the village we know so well, miles from anywhere really.
It wasn’t awful, but it also wasn’t great. It was a bit stressful (in a first world problem type of way. Our hiccup does not compare to actual problems in the real world).
It was a huge open plan hotel complex, eerily quiet, and had the feel of a detox facility about it. Being in the middle of nowhere was somewhat of a shock to the system for us.
I kept referring to it as The Betty Ford clinic.
The hotel we booked for the week is literally at the end of the piste. This place could not have been any more opposite of it tried.
But it was only until the medic was able to get out there to bring him home. Well, that’s what I kept telling myself.
They did however book us a suite type thing. Which had a little kitchenette, living, dining and bedroom. A large bathroom, and a nice size balcony. But it was basic, really basic, and a bit tatty, with peeling paint and chipped walls. BUT, I will give credit where it’s due, the bed and bedding were far superior than the nice hotel we’d been staying in.
There was a kettle to make tea, but no tea or coffee. So we had boiling water to sooth our sore throats and pained chests, as there wasn’t a shop for miles so I couldn’t just go and buy some tea. And as far as we could tell, no room service.
We went for a walk outside but there wasn’t really anywhere to go.
And the hotel itself was wholly unsuitable for Chris particularly, because to reach the restaurant you had to walk across ice covered paths, so he was slipping and sliding all over the place, and quite honestly, that was a bit unsettling, as neither of us wanted him to break any more than he already was.
Anyway, the medic arrived, came and check on Chris, took his vitals. Then he left to get some rest. He was housed in a different hotel.
We then decided to get a cab back to the resort for lunch. We felt dreadful, but we needed food.
It was so nice to be back in the resort. We were greeted like long lost friends by the restaurant touts and village workers. Like I said, the people are really very friendly when you get to know them.
10 days in a ski resort is too long for me, 7 was a bit of a stretch to start with. But having to stay longer was too much.
My special brew…
I vote for a long ski weekend next year. 4 nights would be perfect.
Dress from Matalan.
I took plenty of clothes thank goodness. I always pack enough knickers that I could shit myself 3 times a day, every day…even though I technically can’t!!
I took a variety of clothes too. Dresses might seem like a weird thing to wear on a ski holiday, but I need to make sure my output can flow freely.
The day for us to leave finally came!! God I was so happy. I felt like death warmed up at this point with the chest infection extravaganza. And Chris was in so much pain with his shoulder and now his chest. It was time for our own bed.
The flight was hilarious of sorts. Chris was hooked up to monitors and machines. They had booked him 2 seats just for him, then the medic had to sit with him to monitor him.
I sat on my own like Billy no mates
There were far more injured people on the flight, but clearly none had bought quite as comprehensive an insurance policy package as Chris must have paid for. Because they were not treated like he was.
I can’t complain about the quality of treatment he was given. It was outstanding. But I do feel it might have been a bit over the top and unnecessary. But if they want to spend thousands looking after my wonderful husband then so be it. Crack on I say.
I am aware of the complications that a bone break can have. But that risk is usually associated with a big bone.
Once we arrived in the UK Chris and all the other injured were taken down in that special lift off the plane. Then we were put in the little airport golf cart.
Our luggage was collected for us, we were taken through passport control in the golf cart. We didn’t have to move a muscle.
Then we were loaded into the awaiting ambulance car. Which then took us the whole way home, stopping at M&S food, because the driver reminded me that I’d need to get some essentials in as we’d been away for 10 days.
Seriously, this was platinum tier insurance coverage. I’ve never seen anything like it.
Back to our own bed. Is there any better feeling?
Early the next morning I dropped Chris off at A&E to be referred to the fracture clinic. There isn’t any other way to get on the list.
We obviously didn’t want to burden the staff at accident and emergency, but having tried to get a referral via our NHS GP practice, 2 private GPs and a private hospital, and all of which said the same “go to A&E” , we had no other choice.
We expected him to be there hours and hours and hours, he took snacks, fruit and drinks to keep him going, plus his laptop to work from.
He rang me less than a hour after I dropped him off to say he was all done, including X rays, and now he just had to wait for a fracture clinic and physio appointments.
I couldn’t believe it. I’d taken his car to be valeted, as I was his chauffeur now I wanted it all clean and shiny for him.
He was in and out so quickly. Probably only 45 minutes. He had to wait for me to finish at the car wash to get back to him.
I brought him home, helped him get changed for work, then dropped him into the office, all by 10.50am.
The new X rays show that his shoulder has 3 breaks, rather than the one break the mountain machine picked up. But the treatment is the same so it’s not an issue.
It was very funny when Chris got out the actual X ray the mountain doctor sent him home with, because A&E no longer have light boxes with which to view said X rays. hahahah
These modern times. :)
I picked him up from the office tonight. Like I said, Chris can still work with a broken shoulder, his is an office based job. And it’s good to see he’s being so looked after by his kind and sympathetic colleagues …
🤣🤣🤣
Things I’d advise;
Buy holiday insurance. Buy a really really good one.
I’m surprised the package Chris bought didn’t come with a nurse to mop his brow all the way home. He was so well taken care of.
The thought of having to pay a medical bill sends shivers down my spine. We’re Brits, we get free healthcare. And I think sometimes people forget that isn’t a world wide benefit.
Better safe than sorry. All Chris has had to pay for is the policy itself and the £50 excess to the mountain clinic. That’s it. For thousands of pounds worth of treatment and services.
Places we love in Borovets;
Stay at the Hotel Rila.
Eat at;
Katina
Papa Mia’s
Malina
Shops;
The pharmacy by the Rila is fabulous! I buy all my drugstore needs from the very friendly pharmacist there.