Mountain-top Proposal

The Claude brothers always come up with special holidays, like Emilien and girlfriend Anna Gandler’s African safari, but older brother Fabien won the prize with his fourth-of-a-year holiday that went from the Maldives to Indonesia and is now ending in New Zealand. “It was important to take a proper break before starting again, because the objective is to keep performing over the next four years, with the 2030 Olympics already in mind. I wanted to approach the next preparation period in a different way, starting with a fresh mindset…New Zealand is a great place for training because there are so many open spaces and opportunities to combine travel and preparation.” There, a couple of weeks ago, Fabien proposed to his long-time girlfriend Maria Fabregat atop the Mount Tongariro Volcano.

Swimming with Dolphins

He elaborated, “There have been so many incredible places, but Indonesia was definitely the most eye-opening and different experience. My best day and best experience was definitely in Nusa Lembongan, Bali, when we swam with dolphins. We were having a cocktail at sunset with my fiancée from a floating bar, and I spotted dolphins in the distance. I asked the boat driver to take us there; we ended up spending 40 minutes alone with around 20 dolphins, including some babies, in 5–7 meters of water with perfect visibility. It wasn’t planned just a completely unexpected, incredible moment!”

Eloping and a Big Mountain

On the other side of the world, Deedra Irwin spent part of her holiday getting married, but not in a traditional manner. “The best part of my post-Olympic holiday was getting married!! My husband and I decided to elope near our home in Stowe, Vermont.”

As part of their celebratory honeymoon, it was back to the snow. “The most fun, memorable thing was climbing Mount Shasta in California. It was definitely type-2 fun. It's the biggest summit I've done so far. 7,400ft (2,255m) elevation gain and summit at 14,179 feet (4,322m).”

Golfing in Spain

Elvira Oeberg settled for a bit less adventurous activity on her time off, golf. “I firstly spent some time with family in the mountains, taking advantage of the best season: spring-winter. After that, my boyfriend and I headed for Spain for some warmth, good food and golf! Of course, pretending to be a golf pro at these nice courses while being a complete rookie!”

“My golf game is a true roller coaster at the moment; sometimes it’s so easy. Then when you think you’ve figured it out you can barely hit the ball. But it’s fun to learn something new!” It sounds like Elvira should stick with hitting those targets at 50 metres.

Under the Tuscan Sun

Unlike her other peers, Regina Ermits went for the “do little” holiday with family “to Tuscany and it was THE nicest ever. With family-friends, the whole atmosphere was cozy, nice and total holiday. We had an amazing place rented by my brother with pool and got super lucky with weather. For me, it was just a time to chill and recover from season. We touristed a bit, saw some beautiful places and ate good food. I read my book and honestly, as boring as it may sound, I didn’t do much(??) Still, it was the best!”