Hello World!
Welcome to Alpin Luxe!
The culmination of years traveling the world to ski, compete, coach and embrace what the rest of the world has to offer – is finally about to be revealed.
But first, a little history.
At age 5, I bloody hated skiing – wanted no part of it. Leave me home, please – which is exactly what my parents did. Cleverly, they hired a really mean babysitter and a few ski weekends later, I decided to choose the “lesser of two evils.” Sensing my displeasure for the sport, my parents took a more nurturing approach and pretty soon I was making friends and having fun. What began as a grudge match, soon became a passion!
At 15, I took my first international trip to Bariloche, Argentina to ski race and train for the month of August (where it’s winter during our summer). Talk about an eye opener! An 11-hour flight from NYC to Buenos Aires that I thought would never end, two types of currency (due to severe inflation) – old money with more zeros and new money with fewer zeros, two airports (one for international flights, one for domestic only flights – who does that?), the most incredible steak I’ve ever eaten anywhere and don’t drink the water – drink Coca-Cola or Malbec (the latter wasn’t all that tasty at 15, but it is now). Since this was before computers, the internet, mobile phones, etc. I called home only once that month. I placed a “collect call” when I left the hotel in the morning and it came in about the time I returned from skiing. Talked to my mom for only a couple minutes (because it cost a fortune) and could barely understand anything due to the lag in transmission. Think about it – that call zigzagged from Bariloche, all day via telephone lines, through South America, Central America and North America before arriving at our home in Midwest.
A passion too strong not to share.
Thankfully, the world today has become much smaller through technology and modern conveniences. However, the one thing that has never changed is our zeal for adventure travel. Ever since that first overseas trip, I was hooked. I worked two jobs every summer just so I could go back to Argentina. It’s the simple things that I remember; the beauty of the Andes’ and the Nahuel Huapi Lake, the incredible cuisine and chocolates, the leather products and playing soccer with local Argentinian kids, barefoot on a dirt field. We couldn’t communicate very well, but it didn’t matter – we were just kids playing a sport and having fun together.
I’ve been fortunate, but also determined to choose careers that allow me to travel. I’ve always believed that travel abroad is the best education money can buy. It encourages us to be more understanding and accepting of other people and their cultures. Its humbling to see how lucky we really are and how important it is to give back. The world will never be perfect, but through travel we can all learn to share a little more of ourselves with others and truly understand that Life is too short to say ‘I should have’!
