We've sold our house and moved our whole lives to Alpe D 'Huez, but now our workplace has gone bankrupt,
So what should happen now? How do we move on from this unpleasant situation where all one's plans and dreams are based on working as Hotel Managers and having daily contact with our guests? Have a team of cool colleagues both in Denmark but also here in the Alps, where you have to help develop young people who come directly from high school, primary school or other to have a winter in the Alps.
We have been asked many times, over the last few years, what it is that drives us. The answer is simple. People. Differences. Challenges.
Yesterday, December 6, 10 days after it all broke down, we moved into a lovely apartment in Quartier Eclose, here in Alpe d'huez. It is approx. 10 min walk from Hotel Refuge, which we have lived on until now and should have worked on. Then it is also only 5 min. Walk from Noah's school and not least, with the most wonderful views!

Now we just need a job, or two, so that it can all run around and be fun! Which suits me (Signe) perfectly, because I MISS and work. I have not had a real job since we were laid off in La Rosiere in March. It must have been a bit boring in the long run…
So now the search is on for life loose. In Alpe d'huez at various hotels, restaurants, bars (yes even though the prospect of them opening is laaaaange) and online remote jobs I have also applied. Besides that, thoughts roll out of there with how we can create our own business. Either here or maybe remote.
Thanks to Freeliving.dk for lots of inspiration for this.
The prospect down here in France is that at the end of January, when the resort hopefully opens, it will be flooded with jobs. However, it is still very uncertain when it all opens and therefore, no one can know for sure when and how a job will come.
The hardest part of the process is that Noah is going on and being well integrated in the French school and really enjoying it. He makes a lot of new friends, learns French and not least a completely different culture. That's why it's what makes it so absurdly difficult to move it all up again.
Basically, for us, it is about not giving up on our dreams despite a pandemic, bankruptcy and various needs.
There are different needs in all conditions. Also in our. It has been a huge roller coaster the last many weeks, where the prospects for opening have been long, the prospect of getting staff down, guests down and last but not least the bankruptcy that hit us hard on the head. Four days after the bankruptcy, there was suddenly light again. Primo Tours announced that they had bought Skinetworks, which was absolutely fantastic for the industry. Now the big trick question is so just; choose Primo Tours and keep the hotels? …. It's a huge question mark with us and we have no idea.
So if you, are used to traveling with Danski or Nortlander on their OWN hotels with Scandinavian staff, so just be a giant star and demand it! In our eyes, the Scandinavian-run hotels at Danski and Nortlander are some very special hotels. It gives a completely different atmosphere as a guest and even if you are on holiday, you can feel at home, because there is that Danish "cosiness" that no one else knows about.
So for God's sake, if you're reading this and you're a guest who've tried these hotels, please speak up. Ask for it. write to Primo Tours. Get it out! Even though, it may not be this winter, due to the stupid corona. But what does your next ski holiday look like?
Well yes, and then back to this with different needs in every relationship. Because it has given rise to a huge number of discussions over the last few weeks, not least days since it all fell apart. Who wants what and why.
Jacob, has ALWAYS dreamed of living abroad. When we met in Val d'Isere, he almost did not want to go home to Denmark. I had to "force" him home, to complete his education, now that there were only 6 months left. Since then, for many, many years, he has been talking about us going out again.
It actually ended up being me who raised the handbrake, that day in February 2019 and said now it is now. Next winter we're leaving!
And now we stand here. Slightly split.
I liked the idea of being Hotel Manager at the Danish-run hotels, having one "Season family" with Scandinavian staff, we together could form from young people to adults, with responsibilities and challenges in their everyday lives. That thought is gone now. I do not see it happening. Not this season. Maybe next season, but it is not to know…
Jacob wants to be here. In Alpe d'huez, with the few new friends we have made, in a nice alpine town, with fresh air, skiing (when the lifts open), etc., etc.
We both agree that Noah is now integrated and through his 3.5 years short life has already changed from nursery in Farum, to Nursery in Blovstrød, to Children's Club in La Rosiere, back in the Children's Home in Blovstrød and now to School in the Alps d'huez.
Is it healthy? Is he just happy as long as we are happy?
Google says a million things. Our gut feeling tells us many different things. What is right?
It's so absurdly difficult. There is good and bad about it all. When you make a For / Against list, both points become equal in length…
One thing is for sure - now we're going home. To celebrate Christmas.
We take a staggered home. There are several reasons for this. I wanted to go home as soon as possible, on top of it all. Jacob would rather stay. So we made a compromise. A week away from each other, was maybe very good. Now I am going home, with Noah, on Sunday the 13th of December and I AM LOOKING FORWARD, like a little child. It will be SO amazing to come home for Christmas! We have not celebrated Christmas in Denmark since Noah was 6 months old, which means the last 3 years. It will be good for the WHOLE family that we can be together, even in this time.
Jacob flies to Denmark on December 20 and then 10 days of family fun are planned until the new year…
And yes, just calm down. Of course, we are tested as soon as we land at Copenhagen Airport, so we do not take even more infection home.
I had probably dreamed of a week of cosiness, restaurant visits, delicious cocktails until kl. 22.00 with the girlfriends, but no .. Mette F. had to put an end to that today. And the swim neck trip I came to promise Noah the day before yesterday. Yes, we can forget it too. I hope his insane memory is not so good when we get home so he can remember it.
Enough about that. Now we just have to go home and enjoy the Danish Christmas with all the Danish Christmas fun it can pull!
“You must dare to fall freely until you land on both legs again.“
Thank you for reading our story! 🙂