Mauritius, here we come!

Not much to report, the trip to Mauritius takes far longer than the 4 hours flying time that one expects.

We woke up late i.e. after 06:00 and had a relaxed breakfast and left for the airport at 09:30. For some reason they want people at the airport 3 hours before flights. I can understand an hour or two but 3 hours is getting a little bit ridiculous. It did however give me tons on time to break some plastic in the 'duty free' which is supposed to actually be cheaper than buying the same goods on the landside. Not so much. All that happens is that the retailers pocket the duty they would have had to pay to customs. You do get a slight discount because you don't have to pay VAT but other than that, it's just more profit for the retailers. I think they should change the name because 'Duty Free' it isn't. Nevertheless, I now have a new phone and a new pair of sunglasses to replace the stolen ones. It only took close to 4 months to get the payout from the insurance company. They were pretty good about it, i.e. they didn't squabble about valuations but it did take a long time.

Seeing as we are flying against the rotation of the earth, we landed in darkness and by the time we made it to the hotel is was 21:00 Mauritian time. By the time we finally made it to bed it was 01:30 Mauritian time by which time we, read I, was starting to get a bit ratty. If they could just have delivered our bags to our room without having to encourage them to do so, three times.

The hotel looks beautiful, this is the view as you walk into the front entrance:

and another view, the night was warm at 30 deg C but not that stifling heat of Dubai, probably thanks to a bit of a breeze.


I always judge rooms by whether they are more or less comfortable than home and I have to say that for the first time that I can remember this room cuts the cake. No hotel room that I have stayed at in europe comes close and neither does any of the south african hotels I have stayed in. Hope Caron doesn't take to this too much because we would have to knock half our house down to create something similar.


While we were waiting for the bags we went and had some supper on the terrace which is just visually superb and is complimented by the cuisine. I'm not much of a gastronaut (gastronome) but I am definitely going to enjoy the fine dining to be had here.

Bags finally arrived so after a shower in the 'wet room' we were off to bed. Did I mention that the room as a study attached? How convenient. The hotel does not have wireless internet access which, in my book, is a particularly black mark.