Brexit: UK travellers to EU face end of free roaming and pet travel from 2021

Dogs are running through the snow- Photo Patrick Hendry. Unsplash. Brexit: UK travellers to EU face end of free roaming and pet travel from 2021

Brexit: UK travellers to EU face end of free roaming and pet travel from 2021

From the Independent. By Simon Calder

New government advice confirms extra red tape and expense for British travellers to Europe

One day before the UK leaves the European Union, the government has revealed that British holidaymakers and business travellers to the EU face onerous changes when the transition agreement expires on 31 December.

Many aspects of travel were previously uncertain, but it appears that the government has already made up its mind that, for visitors to the remaining 27 European Union countries, it will be a hard Brexit.

For the remainder of 2020, no rules on travel will change. But once the transition ends, visitors to Europe will face much more red tape and expense than the travel industry had previously hoped.

The new online advice says the guarantee of free mobile phone roaming throughout the EU will end.

Motorists will need a “green card” – a certificate extending their travel insurance to Europe.

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A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.

Maison Vielle with the Mont Blanc in the backdrop - the place to eat in the mountain- Photo credit: The-Ski-Guru. A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.

A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.

Courmayeur Mont Blanc is a well renown ski resort for its vistas and also for its food! Stopping while skiing or boarding for coffee, hot chocolate or an aperitivo, plus having lunch, is part of what makes Courmayeur so special. However, with so much offer, you have to think where you want to go, and if not lining up for a sandwich, then you need to make a reservation early on if you want to eat in a specific restaurant! This is more so if you are visiting when it is high season. You can attempt to ski into the restaurant early morning and reserve a table there or do so over the phone. I’ve seen that also some restaurants are accepting reservations online.  In very high season, it would not be a bad idea to book your table even a day or more in advance.

Restaurant Christiana in the base of Plan Chécrouit. A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.
Restaurant Christiana in the base of Plan Chécrouit. A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.

As you know, the mountain of Courmayeur is divided in two sides: The Plan Chécrouit side – accessed from the centre of Courmayeur with the Armani funicular or from Dolonne with the cable car, and the Val Veny side, reached by the Courmayeur funicular from the parking lot of Val Veny, located just before the start of the Mont Blanc Tunnel, and across from the Skyway rotating gondola parking lot. I am only focusing on the restaurants in the mountain in this post, not on Skyway (maybe on another post in the future I’ll do that!)

Plan Chécrouit Side:

Bar du Soleil – As soon as you get up the funicular or gondola, you go towards the ski schools in Plan Chécrouit and you’ll find it on the left-hand side, across from the ski schools. Mario and Luisa are your hosts. It is a place of good value for money, a typical quick place for a coffee before dropping your kids at ski school and to grab a good pizza and pasta for decent prices. It has a big terrace to eat outside. Dogs are allowed.

Cafe Bar du Soleil in Plan Chécrouit.A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.
Cafe Bar du Soleil in Plan Chécrouit.A Foodie Guide to on-Mountain Dining in Courmayeur.

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Review of the new RS1 Panda Optics goggles.

Review of the new RS1 Panda Optics goggles.

Review of the new RS1 Panda Optics goggles.

This article may contain affiliate/compensated links. For full information, please see our disclaimer here.

Just after returning from Courmayeur, I had a late ‘Christmas gift’ delivered home. It was a brand-new Panda Optics goggles. I was just thinking that I wanted to upgrade from my Oakley goggles, that are not bad at all, but I find them to have a small lens for my face.

Trying the goggles to Ozzy. Review of the new RS1 Panda Optics goggles.
Trying the goggles to Ozzy. Review of the new RS1 Panda Optics goggles.

Also, my eldest has a pair of goggles with a wide lens which you could exchange using a magnetic system, which I love…so I wanted one something like that for me! I tend to use goggles mostly when light is flat, but I like the versatility of maybe using them all the time instead of sunglasses.

I’ve packed my Panda goggles with my helmet on my suitcase for last week’s trip to Morzine with some mum’s friends. We had four days skiing in Morzine, three with lovely weather and one with a bit of foul weather, snow on top and lots of rain on the lower pistes!

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Our Christmas holidays in the mountains with the kids and our dog! Courmayeur, Aosta.

The boys waiting for the funicular of Val Veny to take us back to Courmayeur. Photo: The-Ski-Guru.

Our Christmas holidays in the mountains with the kids and our dog! Courmayeur, Aosta.

This article may contain affiliate/compensated links. For full information, please see our disclaimer here.

So now that we are happy homeowners of a lovely flat in the mountains, we’ll be there on every possible occasion. To do it cheap and more environmentally friendly, we drive with a full car going through the Eurotunnel and sleeping over in Chaumont on our way up, staying at the Ibis Chaumont Centre Gare, and in Reims coming back.

And as leaving your dog in care in the UK is super expensive, more in Christmas, we decided to take him with us and try our ski holiday with a dog! We have already travelled with him when we went to equip the flat in October, and I’ve realised, that if Ozzy had his sleeping crate, he is fine. That is his safe place. So, I’ve ordered one in Amazon to be delivered in Italy. That made the trick.

We arrived in Morgex with some foul weather. Still so pretty that we went out every day! Our Christmas holidays in the mountains with the kids and our dog! Courmayeur, Aosta.
We arrived in Morgex with some foul weather. Still so pretty that we went out every day! Our Christmas holidays in the mountains with the kids and our dog! Courmayeur, Aosta.

When we go and stay over in a hotel, there is no way that Ozzy will stay happy at a hotel room, even with his best filled bone. He starts crying first and the noise turns into a bark- therefore that is not an option! We have learnt to go to eat in two halves. Usually my husband and my eldest take Ozzy for a walk and I have a quick dinner with my youngest, and then we go to the room and stay with Ozzy while they have dinner. Same in the morning for breakfast. It is not ideal, but that seems to work fine for us.

The trip to the mountains is always amazing. I was expecting it to be much busier, as we’ve left the day after school broke up, on 21st December. I was glad to see that the route was pretty empty, even if France was having transport strikes at the time.

We arrived in our home in Morgex, just 10’ down the road from Courmayeur, in the Aosta Valley, with good light and with time to bring all the goodies we were bringing to the flat to finish decorating it. As the car was really full, we will need to bring more boxes in our next February trip.

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