Day 9 (March 20, 2016): Rough Trip Home

Welcome to the dullest entry in the blog: the logistical details of the trek home. If I wasn't such an airplane buff, I'd have probably ended with yesterday's entry. But an airplane buff I am, so here we go! 

We were supposed to fly nonstop from Reinion to Paris Orly, get a train across the city to Charles de Gaulle, then fly nonstop to Montreal. A few days ago, Air France changed its schedule, making it necessary to rebook our flights, via Mauritius. 

At 9 PM last night, we flew on a packed AirFrance Boeing 777 from Mauritius, direct to Charles de Gaulle. Surprisingly, we slept for much of the flight. 

Our AirFance Boeing 777-300 from Mauritius to Paris, painted in a special Skyteam livery.

Breakfast #1: The French love their bread and cheese for breakfast, and AirFance upheld the tradition!

We arrived half an hour early, quickly cleared immigration, picked up our bags, and rechecked them to Montreal. (For some reason, the AirFrance computer wouldn't let them check the bags all the way through for us.). Since we were outside immigration, we decided to trek from terminal 2 to terminal 1, where we had access to a business lounge. Charles de Gaulle is simply massive. So big, that getting from T2 to T1 took almost an hour!  But it was worth the lounge access. We are big fans of "pain au chocolate" (French pastry filled with chocolate) and croissants. So we had a great second breakfast consisting of both, along with a French cappuccino. 

Breakfast #2: French pastries at the ICare Lounge. 

After a couple of hours chilling out, we headed back to T2, this time using a bus shuttle that stays within secured zones, making it unnecessary to re-clear security. The ride took a full hour, but it gave us the chance to view some amazing aircraft from all over the world. A highlight was seeing the (relatively new) Airbus A380 full double-deckers from Thai Airways, AirFrance, Emirates Airlines and Singapore Airlines. There are only a few places on Earth where you can get to see such a conglomeration of A380s!  

The other highlight was seeing one of the last surviving examples of an AirFrance Concorde, which is permanently mounted in the middle of the Charles de Gaulle airfield. 

One of the last Concordes, on permanent display at Charles de Gaulle's airfield.

We made it to our gate just as boarding was starting. Unfortunately, our Airbus A340 was parked at a remote stand and we had to take a 25-minute bus ride to reach it. 

Our AirFrance Airbus A340 from Paris to Montreal, parked at a remote stand. 

We were all ready to depart on time when the captain announced that a passenger was ill and needed to be removed by ambulance. That added a one-hour delay. Then he announced that, due to the Air Traffic Control strike, we had lost our take-off slot and would have to wait another hour!  We ended up leaving over two hours late. 

I won't bore you with the details but, long story short, we missed our Halifax flight. As it was a separate ticket and as all the flights were packed due to March Break, it was only a lot of begging and the compassion of a very kind Air Canada agent that got us on standby for the next flight. A couple of no-shows at the last minute enabled us to get seats. We made it home by 10 PM. 

What a rich nine days it has been. Both islands - and the Paris stop - were beyond expectations. The weather was perfect. And most logistics went smoothly. All ingredients of a great holiday. Thanks for tuning in!

Day 8 (March 19, 2016): Chopper and Farewell...

Today held an extra special element for us on this trip -- actually, among all our travels, we have never done what we did today: a helicopter tour. And there have been two main reasons why we haven't, until today: (a) they don't come cheaply, and (b) when I was 12, my dad's cousin lost her three kids and her brother in a horrible helicopter crash in Newfoundland. That has always made me wary of 'choppers'. 

Anyway, this island and its volcanoes presented a perfect opportunity to throw caution to the wind and to take a ride. 

We were up at 5 AM and met the Helilagon folks at the entrance to our resort at 6:20. Each chopper seats six people, and today was a busy day for Helilagon's four aircraft. A young French family of four did the tour with Pam and I. Their two young kids were less anxious than we were!  I guess naïveté is bliss, as they say!

Our Helilagon aircraft

We were briefed and secured in our seats for a prompt 7 AM take-off. Our female pilot was extremely kind and competent, and we had total confidence in her experience. 

Buckled in and ready to fly!

We left the heliport in Saint-Gilles, which is located in "Les Hauts" (the heights), and started our 45-minute tour with a quick view of the west coast. As I mentioned yesterday, the island has three "cirques" -- essentially three massive volcanic craters, named Mafate, Salazie and Cilaos. And then there is "Le Piton de la Fournaise", which is the active volcano, last erupting in 2010,but still   spewing steam. 

Our pilot told us we had picked the perfect day weather-wise. Unlike the day before, when we drove up to see the Mafate crater and found it socked in with fog, today there wasn't a cloud to be found. Flying over the first razor-back mountain edge and into the canyon below was an other-worldly experience. We flew into crevices containing waterfalls, saw tiny villages in the craters accessible only by foot, and on and on it went. "Breath-taking" is an understatement. And photos don't show the magnitude or grandeur of what we saw. But a feeble attempt to describe a few scenes follows.

Waterfalls in the Cique de Silazie

Lava fields resembling Mars, from the Plaine des Sables, near Le Piton de la Fournaise

The steaming "Piton de la Fournaise"

The west coast lagoon - the white shows the coral reef which ensures sharks stay outside!

We landed at 7:50, said farewell to our pilot, and headed back to the Lux to enjoy a breakfast buffet and to spend our last couple of hours on the beach and snorkel. By 11, we were back in our room, getting cleaned up and ready to leave. 

At noon on the mark, we said farewell to the Lux and headed out to explore the capital, Saint-Denis, before heading to the airport. Saint-Denis has a very walkable city centre which allows one to see many examples of restored Creole architecture. 

Pam loved this fan palm near our room!

The French "prefecture", which is the local hub of government for the "Department of Reunion"

The cathedral in Saint-Denis

This house, as well as the following three, are all fine examples of Creole architecture from the 1800s, from our walking tour of Saint-Denis

Protective canon in Saint-Denis' Barachois Park 

Saint-Denis' war memorial

By 3:30, we headed to the airport to return our tiny Pugeot rental car and check in for our Air Mauritius flight back to Mauritius. We had originally planned to fly direct from Reunion to Paris, but had to rebook via Mauritius due to a scheduling change by Air France that would have seen us miss our connection to Canada. 

We departed Reunion at 5:30, landed early in Mauritius, got dinner and a shower at the lounge there, and our Air France flight departed for Charles de Gaulle right on time at 9 PM. 

It has been an amazing week filled with wonderful experiences, sights, beaches and food in these two Indian Ocean island gems. I'll check in once more to conclude the journey home, as anyone who knows me knows that the fun is as much about the flights as it is about the destination. 

Bonsoir from 35,000 feet!

Day 7 (March 18, 2016): "Did anyone say, 'Hairpin turn ahead?!' "

I don't know what it is about early mornings on this vacation, but we really seem to have gotten into the early-morning mode. Up again at 6 AM, and by seven we were at the hotel restaurant. The buffet breakfast here is among the better ones I have ever had at a hotel.

There are a handful of "circuits" that you can drive up in the mountains to see the highest peaks and craters on Reunion. We chose the "cirque de Mafate" to undertake today.  This particular circuit is crowned by the Maido crater, at a height of 2205 meters. They suggest you arrive at the summit by 7 AM to avoid the all-too-frequent fog that can roll in. Despite being on the road early, we didn't arrive at the summit until 9:30. Sure enough, it was socked in. We were disappointed, but enjoyed it all the same.

La Cirque de Mafate is within the Reunion National Park

Imagine our disappointment after such a hairpin drive to find the view of the caldera socked in!

We enjoyed it nonetheless

Pam with the coastal view behind her. 

The drive to the summit took two hours, all in second gear! It is filled with never-ending hairpin turns - my GPS screen map tells the tale. 

The GPS shows a very twisty route

The route up the mountain goes through many tiny villages. You wonder how the inhabitants do the drive on a regular basis - or whether they just "stay put" at home. 

We were impressed at the plethora of foliage and varieties of wild flowers everywhere. Testament to the amount of rain, no doubt. 

Morning Glory blooms filled the route to the summit

The route was so lush, these chopping / mowing machines have to fight back against nature

Surprised to find a small herd of cows protecting the summit

On the way back down, we stopped for a luge run

The French are so clever! The villages' cell towers were disguised as palms

We got back down to the coast by 12:30 and went to Bucan Canot - the designer clad "St Tropez" beach of Reunion Island, where it's all about image and fashion. From there, we found a patisserie in the center of Saint-Gilles-les-bains and enjoyed a light lunch. 

On the trendy beach at Bucan Canot

Trying to look sauve and fashionable on the volcanic rocks at uber-trendy Bucan Canot!

For the rest of the day, we felt we had earned another afternoon of beach, pool and snorkelling at the resort. The wind was strong, as was the current on the lagoon, but we managed to enjoy the fish and coral viewing again 

The serenity of the Lux's pool after a long morning of driving

Just before 7 PM, we ventured into neighbouring L'Ermitage-les-bains, where one goes for nightlife if one is so inclined, and found a nice garden restaurant for our last real dinner on this vacation. (Airplane food doesn't count as a real dinner!)  

Tomorrow morning brings a whole new experience for us, along with another 6 AM rise. Check back to hear about our Saturday morning trip of a lifetime - we are both nervous and excited about it!  Good night from Reunion. 

Day 6 (March 17, 2016): Farewell, Mauritius. Bonjour, Reunion Island!

First things first: Happy St Patrick's Day from the Indian Ocean! We haven't seen anyone wearing green here, but I'm sure there are Irish even in these parts and celebrations will happen in various pockets tonight.

Today was the day to transition from Mauritius to Reunion Island. We were up at 5 AM and in the lime green mini car at 6 AM for the drive to the airport in the South. For once, the traffic was a breeze and we made it to the airport by 7:30, returned the rental car, and checked in for our 9:45 Air Mauritius flight.  

We enjoyed a nice breakfast in their business lounge, which gave me the opportunity to work out a new routing home with Air France's call center, as they cancelled our Saturday evening flight!  It all worked out in the end - it means an earlier departure and an extra connecting flight, but we'll still make it home at the same time as planned. 

Glorious sunrise effect on the clouds, on our last morning in Mauritius. 

Like a good-bye sign, a rainbow appeared over a sugar cane field as we left our hotel. 

Our Air Mauritius Airbus A340 from Mauritius to Reunion Island. 

It's a 45-minute flight over to Reunion, which is located west of Mauritius, toward Madagascar.  As we descended towards Reunion, we could tell the geography was different -- more mountainous, more dramatic cliffs along the coast. 

On descent to Reunion Island

The airport is located just east of the capital, Saint-Denis, on the north of the island. It was instantly obvious that this is indeed a "Department" of France, as it is called. The level of prosperity and infrastructure seemed identical to that of France. It almost feels like the Côte d'Azur in Europe. 

With the cliffs and mountains, you can tell that French engineering has been put to work to make everything very accessible and orderly. Driving is on the right, unlike Mauritius, and there are no weaving motorcycles, stray dogs or pedestrians prancing all over to create chaos. 

Fortress enroute to Saint Gilles-les-bains, where we are staying. 

Amazing French road engineering to navigate the terrain

By 12:30 we were pulling into our hotel, the Lux Saint-Gilles. At first, it had a snooty air to it, but the staff have turned out to be extremely kind and helpful. 

The wonderful thing about the hotel is that it is one of a few nice hotels on the beach. And not only is it on he beach, it is on the lagoon.  Now let me explain why that is critical...  A few years ago, Reunion created a large aquatic conservation area. It has rejuvenated fish stocks dramatically. And where there are lots of fish, there are lots of sharks. In this case, bull and tiger sharks - right up with the great white, in terms of their nasty, vindictive, man-chomping flare. It is so bad that the government closed all beaches to swimming a few years ago. The exception is the lagoon, which is only a couple meters deep at most and is protected from sharks by a coral reef  about 250m off shore, which extends for several kilometres. And the lagoon is loaded with the most dazzling tropical fish and coral anywhere. Snorkelling here, which we did much of today, is phenomenal. 

Arriving at The Lux Saint-Gilles

Grounds of the resort

The lagoon offers incredible snorkelling. 

We spent the afternoon enjoying the beach and resort facilities, and went into Saint-Gilles-les-bains for dinner at a Creole restaurant on the main street, which is appropriately named after General de Gaulle. No surprise there!  

To reiterate, this place is as French as French can be. The tourists are almost all French. Little English is spoken. The Euro is used. France's telecommunications network is in place, and on it goes. 

Interesting architecture

A Creole dish (vanilla pork) for dinner

While in Mauritius, I spoke to a guy from Reunion Island who explained how the two islands are so different. Reunion's volcanoes and mountains, if joined with Mauritius' stunning beaches would, in his opinion, create the most beautiful place on Earth. I think I would agree. 

Day 5 (March 16, 2016): A serendipitous dinner

Today was an "up 'n at 'em at 6:30 AM" kind of day. Our time clocks are completely messed up, so we figured we would just rise 'n shine and squeeze the most out of our last day in Mauritius. 

The 'Nirvana' section of the hotel, where we are staying, has its own private restaurant on the beach, so by 7:30 we were enjoying breakfast overlooking the water.  After Tuesday's traffic overdose (we drove over seven hours!), today was planned to be a light morning of exploring the north coast of the island. We set out by 8:30, with the first stop being the extreme northern tip of the island: Cap Malhereux ("Cape Unfortunate"!). The pretty church and beach we found there, plus the sight of the outlying islands, made it well worth visiting. 

Notre Dame church at Cap Malheureux

The view of the north coast islands

From there, we drove back to Grande Baie, where we had dinner on Tuesday night, stopping to see three beaches enroute, as well as a couple of Hindu temples.  

Cap Malheureux

Beach at Saint Francois

Pereybere Beach

Small Hindu temple in Grand Baie

Surprisingly, cotton candy pink was the choice of colour for a few temples we saw. 

Grande Baie has a small bazaar, which we visited, but the pushy hawkers (lingo in these parts for vendors) were more than we could take in the heat and humidity. Hence we didn't stay long. 

Grand Baie bazaar

By 12:30, we were enroute back to the hotel in Pamplemousse. We had booked a mindless glass bottom boat tour of Turtle Bay at 2 PM, which promised coral and fish viewing. Both of these were interesting but a little underwhelming. The most entertainment came from the four Indian couples who did the tour with us. They were all finishing up their honeymoons in Mauritius and the glass bottom boat tour was their last acitivity before leaving for their return flight to India. Three of the four were arranged marriages, and the fourth couple -- in their own words -- simply "found love" without their parents' help. They were obviously part of a rich layer of Indian society, were gushy with honeymoon affection, and judging by the way they delayed our departure and utterly infuriated the boat captain, were spoiled twenty-somethings with a huge sense of entitlement. Oh well -- let them have their moment, I guess!

Coral in Turtle Cove

Ahh, the magic of the glass-bottom boat tour!

View of the 'pointy' mountains in the north, as seen from our boat tour

The rest of the afternoon was spent doing our beach routine, including a wonderful time snorkelling off the beach. I came close up and personal with a moray eel poking its head out of some coral, which was unnerving.  We drank cappuccinos to end the afternoon and then got ready for dinner. 

And here is where the serendipity comes into play. The hotel's two restaurants were only serving buffets. One tires quickly of buffets, so we decided to venture to another nearby resort for a simple a la carte meal. We knew there was a Westin nearby, so we entered that into our GPS and off we went. After 10 minutes, the British digital voice in our GPS announced that we had arrived at the Westin. We explained to the security guard that we were not guests of the hotel but just wanted to have dinner. He called the restaurant, made a Rez for us, so we parked and in we went. But it was quickly clear that this was no Westin -- indeed not:  it was well beyond five stars, it was in its own universe of stars. And with every step, it became clearer that dinner would cost the same as a ticket on the Concorde between New York and Paris. But, with every step, we remained hopeful there would be a dinner special (!), got deeper into the situation and could not revert.  The reception clerk was waiting for us and ushered us to the restaurant, where the maitre'd sat us down, called over the sommelier touting $500 bottles of wine, and the platinum-plated welcome carpet just kept getting rolled out more and more for these "poor guests of Le Meridien who were tired of buffets and needed the highest-end nourishment known to mankind".

I will never forget the look on Pam's face as she opened the menu. It was as if she was about to ask, "Is that the price of the palm heart salad, or is that the cost of the presidential suite inserted by accident?"

We decided to just go with it, had a lovely meal, yes, paid an utter fortune, and had a wonderful down-to-earth chat with the waiter, who actually walked us to our car, and the manager, who asked us to say hello to a friend of his who manages Le Meridien. 

Our serendipitous dinner at the Oberoi

Moral of the story: (1) never totally trust your GPS, and (2) sometimes just "going with it" is all you can do -- and it can be enjoyable. 

We have to be up at 5AM for our flight to Reunion Island, so I will bid you good night.