2008 has already held many surprises all over the globe, however businesses in the mountainous region of the Southern Alps will certainly being sighing in relief. For all winter sport fans, this winter’s snow fall has been superb!What has been quite a surprise, and mainly the point behind this blog, is that visitors to the region don’t seem to realise how close they are to all these major ski resorts. British tourists for example will come to the South of France to escape the late coming slushy snow blizzards and instead dip their toes in the Mediterranean sea. Fair enough there are, of course, thousands who do know about the ski slopes, however, they most likely go through the trouble and expense of hiring a car, plus a GPS to guide them full-pace up into the mountains. The sad truth is when you do this, you’re skipping the wine or beer at lunch and then falling half asleep at the wheel on the way back down to dine and party. What the flock of tourists don’t seem to pick up on is the fantastic transport services that the Alpes Maritime department has on offer.Believe it or not, a top recommendation would simply be to spend €30 return using the local coach service. This includes, from Nice, the voyage up there (1hr 30mins) and back, plus a day pass skiing. I have personally done this a number of times with friends, and found myself nodding-off just two minutes after sitting down in a warm bus…partially thanks to a couple of glasses of wine and the spitting hot Tartiflette I gobbled down earlier that late afternoon.There is some amazing satisfaction in falling asleep at the start of a long trip back home and waking up just 10mins before arriving as if the driver has discreetly put chloroform in the air conditioning, just to make his job easier. I’m not complaining.At the time of posting this blog, the ski season has in-fact finished completely finished. However, this is not just the one off bonus about French transport. If tomorrow I decided to bus up to the mountains to refill the lungs with pure air, I would be faced with only a two euro fare (yes, that is there and back again)! For those who are kicking themselves for spending so much on car hire and on increasingly expensive fuel, just don’t forget the next time what excellent transport services France does have to offer. Don’t compare it with Britain’s systems and costs, you’ll only depress yourself.