My first smoke-free holiday?

I’ve had a busy day today – trying to get everything sorted before I go on holiday next week.

On Monday, my mate and I plan to go snowboarding in the Alps What could be a nicer way to start off the season? Snowy slopes, nice wine, warm fires and good company. I’ve been watching the snow forecast, and they’re finally predicting some of the white stuff.

For those of you who have been following my blog previously, you’ll know that last March I made a conscientious decision to stop smoking.

However, I’ve also made myself a loophole – when I go abroad, it doesn’t count. I can smoke as much as I like whenever I’m out of the country, but the moment I’m back on home turf, I pack it in.

It’s worked ok so far; my last two holidays were spent in warmer climes, soaking up the sun around a pool, with a fag in my hand – in other words, in sheer bliss.

But this time, it’ll be too cold to smoke outside, and the smoking bans throughout most of Europe have made it illegal to smoke in restaurants and bars.

So, it should be easy for me to break with tradition, and, for the first time, have a smoke-free holiday. Right?

Except for two things; first of all, as soon as that ferry lands in Dunkirk, my mate will light up a smoke, and I guarantee I’m going to want one.

And the second thing? Well, we’re going to be in the Alps, in either France or Austria; we haven’t decided which. And if we go to Austria, the temptation will be stronger – it’s not illegal to smoke indoors there. Bars and restaurants have ‘smoking rooms’ instead.

So I’ve got a decision to make – do I or don’t I? I can’t make up my mind yet.

What I can say is that I won’t pick my holiday destination based on whether or not I’m allowed to smoke inside.

And actually, I’ve reached a point now where, even when I crave one, I just tell myself to think about something else, and in no time, the craving has passed. Not to mention that smokes have now gone up to £7.25 a pack, and in the current economic climate, not smoking is saving me quite a bit of cash!

So I guess I’ll work it out when I get there. In the meantime, I’m going to keep watching the forecasts and web-cams and cross my fingers for snowy slopes!