So we know that everyone thinks we are on holiday for the whole time in Japan but believe me, it is no holiday working from 8am to 11pm, 6 days a week. Don’t get me wrong, some days you have students who are a great laugh, lovely ski conditions and you feel really lucky to be doing this. But some days when it is minus 30, freezing cold, you have never seen your students’ faces behind masks and goggles, you just want an early night instead of talking to random guests during dinner, supporting the show for the gazillionth time and going to the bar.
However, this week we got our 4 days holiday plus our day off and headed off to Furano – another ski resort which is 1 hour 45 minutes away.
I know it might seem mad to pack our skis and snowboards and head somewhere else to do the same but it has been so nice to ski and board at our level with no time schedule or rules to keep to. Bliss!
While here we met up with two former guests (one was Pete’s student) who had moved on to carry on their holidaying in Japan. It was nice to socialise with them and try a couple of restaurants with Justin.
So what is Furano like? On a clear day it has amazing views down over the town and the whole valley floor.
It is bigger than Sahoro Resort and has huge off piste areas. We loved exploring the powder and tree runs. Even the moguls were fun.
The town of Furano has many small restaurants so we tried a Japanese country restaurant and a Korean BBQ with Justin.
There are also a few bars so we tried them out too. Our hotel ( Chalet Burlap with its very friendly and helpful staff ) had a nice bar/lounge area to meet fellow travellers and served great 1 litres of beer for only 750 yen (which is pretty cheap for Japan).
It also had a nice thermal hot spring which we needed to use to help see us through the rest of the season.
Despite a sprinkling of snow down in town on our last morning, we decided to be sensible and take our last day off the slopes. Try to rest our legs ready for another 6 weeks on the slopes! So we had a lazy breakfast, did a bit of shopping, followed by a shiatsu massage each. I’m currently waiting my turn sitting here watching Pete be twisted into strange shapes. I can’t wait for mine 😍
