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Rather than making conscious decisions over where we travel, what pictures we take, what we eat, what we wear and when we go online, it seems humanity is now ruled by Instagram and social media. All the articles, blogs and social media posts about how people are booking travel purely for the Instagram opportunities. The ‘Instagram effect’ is influencing the way people travel, dress, interact, eat, live. I’m aware there are many more travel bloggers than there ever have been, and travel bloggers that are more hungry and more content to run the Instagram gauntlet than I am, and I’m happy to take a back seat and watch them flourish.

Our accommodation was an Airbnb apartment towards the South of the main town of Alpe d’Huez, close to the blue Village run, and a 20 minute walk uphill to the centre of town. In no particular order, these are my favourite runs in the Alpe d’Huez ski area: Balcons – a black run that starts at the top of the Marmottes 2 chairlift, this is usually steep and mogully, and have a few pine trees thrown in for good measure. WHAT’S THE APRES SKI LIKE IN ALPE D’HUEZ? The ski area has some challenging runs, some nice wide reds, tree runs, the longest black run in Europe and loads of green nursery slopes for those wanting to visit with kids, or those who aren’t ready for blues and reds yet.

There were people from the UK, people from Canada, people from the USA, Switzerland…it was a great group, but there were only two guys: me, and one other Canadian fellow, in his 60’s, who was travelling with his wife. It looks like a giant grey ant hill, but it’s basically a small mound filled with warm, clay-like mud ( After a relaxing time bathing in volcanic mud with the travellers from my tour group, I was first out of the mud bath, and was led down to a river by an old Colombian lady to wash the mud off. This is me exiting the volcanic mud bath: As I waddled down the cobbled street, trying not to step on any loose stones in my bare feet, whilst covered in head to toe by smelly volcanic mud, we eventually reached the river.

I’ve been on the hunt for a new ski jacket for a while, so I decided I’d take their red Daredevil jacket for a spin when I went skiing in Alpe d’Huez in France, earlier this month. I’m 6ft 1, and my brother is 6ft 3, so after his feedback I can confirm the jacket suits taller people. In fact he only had two negative comments about the jacket: 1) It’s not particularly stylist – the badges velcro’d to the left sleeve is a little weird, but if style doesn’t bother you, then neither will his comment, and 2) the lift pass pocket in on the inside left, lower down towards the bottom of the jacket. You won’t find many ski jackets with 20k/20k waterproof and breathability for less than £250, and the Daredevil comes in at £260 (prices correct as of February 2019).