At the beginning of the winter break my hostfamily and I packed our bags and flew to Calgary in Canada to spend a few days in the Banff Nationalpark area.
21.December 2019
Despite our record we made it on time to airport on Saturday with an 8:30am flight. We all got TSA-Pre Check and the airport was almost completely empty. Our flight was not fully booked so that we got 3 rows to ourselves. The immigration int Calgary was a bit faster for me than my hostfamily, so I decided to wait at baggage claim for them and our luggage. Which all arrived, but one bag. So we headed to the counter to fill out the lost bag claim. In the meantime my host mum also got a call that the dog sledding tour that we had planned for the afternoon was canceled due to too much snow. While we were a little bit sad, it was also not too bad, because the lost suitcase had all our snow pants, gloves… in it.
So we went to pick up our rental car and headed towards Canmore, where we had our apartment for the next few days. Since our plans fell through anyways we had a super relaxed first day and got all the grocery shopping and stuff done. And even my suitcase arrived around 2am.
22.December 2019
We started the day kind of early, but the am passed by really quickly when we took a trip into Canmore for some more shopping and after lunch we got picked up for our tour to the Lower Falls in the Johnston Canyon. The hike wasn’t super hard and we could’ve easily done it by ourselves, but the tour guide pointed out a lot of things, that we would’ve missed otherwise. We went straight back to the apartment and after dinner and a bath (in a bathtub big enough for an adult) we went straight to bed.
23.December 2019
We all got super early but our departure from the apartment got delayed by 2 hours, so that by the time we got to Lake Louise we had to decide between Tubing or Ice Skating on Lake Louise. We went with the Ice Skating as this is supposed to be one of the Top 10 ice skating places. We rented some ice skates at the Fairmont and off we went on the ice. Due the heavy snowfall the days prior they didn’t get the ice as clean as usual, but it was still a lot of fun. Before we returned our skates we got some hot chocolate from the ice bar in front of the hotel.
On the way back to Canmore we decided to at least stop at the Upper Hot Springs in Banff (luckily we packed our swim stuff). The hot springs turned out to be one big pool with tons of people in and apparently you are not supposed to use Go-Pros into and especially under water. The bath helped us warm up for sure and we ended up eating dinner in a nice steak restaurant that we got recommended by a local. Back at home we all went straight to bed to be prepared for the next day.
24.December 2019
We managed to leave the house on time and got to Lake Louise Ski Resort shortly after the lifts were opened. The girls got a spot for a full day ski class and after their rental was done they went off with their teacher. While my host parents and I got our stuff rented (and I bought myself some new ski goggles *yeay*). My host parents and I skied only once together before we separated so that I could go as fast as I wanted to and where I wanted to. I managed to ski down the ladies downhill World Cup course, which turned out to be a black diamond mogul slope. But after that I needed a lunch break and met my host parents at the lodge.
The lunch helped me to get more energy and so I went back on the lifts and headed over to the mens downhill World Cup slope, which was a black diamond as well, but a bit easier than the women (no moguls…). After that I just explored the resort and skied different slopes and took different lifts up the hill. I even crossed paths with my hostkids ski group and my hostdad once. After the girls ski course was over they wanted to go one last time with us. My host parents had already returned their stuff, so I went all by myself with those two little girls and it was the most exhausting time of the entire day… But we had so much fun and they really enjoyed it. Once we returned our stuff we went back to the apartment for our Christmas Eve dinner (hotdogs, Käsekrainer without cheese…). We finished packing our suitcases before I went into the bathtub one last time and then straight to bed.
25.December 2019
Well instead of unwrapping presents on Christmas morning, we put all our stuff into the car and headed to the airport. We had to check-in at the counter, because it wouldn’t let us do it online thanks to my US-visa. We got lounge access which made the wait time at the airport a little bit nicer.
My hostdad volunteered to take care of the girls on the flight home, so that my host mum and I got to relax and sleep for a little bit. All our suitcases made their way to Phoenix and we got to enjoy some dinner at the airport before heading home.
I am forever grateful for all the memories and experiences I got to made thanks to my hostfamily.
Kathi's Travel Adventure 