An Early Christmas Getaway
It took me around 1 year to save for a holiday to my dream destination, Mauritius. Hot, tropical, and far away from home, sounded ideal to me. As the months came nearer, I couldn't see how I was going to be able to make it financially for Christmas.
I made the sacrifice to push the holiday forward by two weeks, saving me over £2000. I just had to. Yes, it meant my son was going to miss 8 days of school- but this was something I had to do for both of us.
I chose to holiday in the Mauritian town of Flic-En-Flac. Flic-En-Flac was nice, quiet and bustling all at the same time. Before booking our resort, I ensured my research was complete, which made it easier for me to make decisions based on our location. I aimed to ensure we were local to the beach, supermarket, and at least a local high street. I believe I had chosen the perfect location. I booked 13 nights in Flic-En-Flac for some good old vitamin D.
Before travelling, I also prepared an itinerary of all the places I wanted to visit.
After arriving in Flic-En-Flac, we took a walk to familiarise ourselves with the area, the local supermarket, transport, beach etc. Everything seemed like it was within a good travel distance of 10-12 minutes max. Along the high street, there was a variety of restaurants and souvenir shops. The restaurants ranged from traditional Mauritian cuisine, Indian, European to Chinese. Before we knew it, we were eating street food along the beach every other day.
We visited Flic-En-Flac beach at various times, every other day. We got to meet a few locals and a significant amount of French People. We expected to meet numerous English tourists but only met one English family during our stay.
While this wasn't a problem, it gave us a deeper insight into the Flic-En-Flac area and allowed us to understand there were a fair amount of residents to tourists. During our two-week stay, we had planned to do three major trips. Our first trip was to Casela Nature Park which was about 20-25 minutes away from where we were staying. Our second trip was a visit to the South of Mauritius by private Taxi, and (talk about saving the best until last...) our third trip was a boat trip to the island of Il Aux Beniters.
During our visit to the South of Mauritius, we visited Grand Bassin to see the infamous beautiful Hindu temple. We removed our shoes and entered while visitors were praying. We were shown around by our local guide and taught the history of the Hindu religion. While we wanted to customise our South Tour, we asked our driver if he could take us to The Slave Monument- somewhere we had initially planned to visit.
Upon arriving at The Slave Monument in Le Morne, we felt extremely emotional while reading and learning about the slaves, their planned escapes, and what each monument represented. We had a real connection and emotional moment, hanging on to this piece of our history that so many prefer to block out.
Turning our back to the Slave Monument, meant we were facing one of Mauritius' most beautiful beaches, Le Morne beach.
With crystal clear waters, this beach had the most perfect, serene and breathtaking views. We then visited Chamarel, where the 7 coloured Earth was. This geological formation was absolutely mesmerising. As it is one of Mauritius' most popular attractions, there is an entry fee for both adults and children. Adults were priced at 500 MUR, and children were 250 MUR. So that was roughly about £25 for two adults and one child.
We visited a local restaurant and had traditional Mauritian food, which we all enjoyed.
This tour allowed us to see something only our minds could dream of.
We were up at 6.00 am, to shower, get dressed and have breakfast by 7.00 am. We left our villa at 7.20 am to meet our boat on Flic-En-Flac beach at 7.45 am. We boarded our speedboat with a few others and set off for a full day of fun.
We sailed for a few hours before swimming with the dolphins and snorkelling around the crystal rock. After this, we were taken to the island, Il aux Benitiers where we had lunch, dessert and drinks. We had the opportunity to shop and support small businesses on the island as well as swim and tan some more!
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With Love,
Siobhan-Patrina
Pink Skies and Paradise xox