SKIING HOLIDAY!

Some dreams have a specific postcode. Mine is 73150 — Val d’Isère, French Alps. A week in the mountains with the family, skis on, the Espace Killy spread out in front of us with more terrain than we could cover in a fortnight. I’ve skied before. The others haven’t. Which means part of the dream is watching that moment — the one where it clicks, where someone who was terrified on a nursery slope at 9am is linking turns by 3pm and doesn’t want to stop. Good ski schools make that happen. Val d’Isère has exceptional ones.

The après-ski is non-negotiable. La Folie Douce if we’re doing it properly. A chalet rather than a hotel — the kind where you come in off the mountain, boots off at the door, something warm already on the stove. This is the aspirational version, so yes, ski-in ski-out. Four people, one week, the French Alps in winter. It belongs on this list.