Solo to Mauritius ( if you don’t count the 25 colleagues and their partners)

[GDSman]

My employer runs an annual incentive trip for sales people and managers who exceed their targets and last financial year I made the cut. The reward - a week in Mauritius. Unfortunately my wife couldn’t join me (no carer for our son), so I’m flying solo. It’s taken a lot of the gloss off the trip but ‘a man’s gotta do..etc’. The itin looks like this:

Sat 28 April

HBA-MEL-PER (VA Y)

1 night PER Crowne Plaza

Sun 29 April

PER-MRU (MK J)

6 nights Four Seasons Anahita

Sat 5 May

MRU-PER (MK J)

Sun 6 May

PER-MEL-HBA (VA Y)


I’ve never been to Mauritius. The itin has a mix of organised activities - Golf, day cruise etc and some free time (which I’m not overly relishing).

Anyway, it’s Saturday and I’m off. I’m going to attempt to ‘live TR’ this in the style of last year’s trip to Vietnam....

 

[GDSman]

Sat 28 April

HBA-MEL VA1321 1015-1130 Seat 3D

Checkin pretty uneventful. I’m doing something which some will find shocking - No hand luggage. I find something oddly liberating about walking into a plane with nothing other than a jacket with wallet, passport, phone and mini headphones. I’m putting my faith in the baggage handlers to do their bit.

HBA really is struggling with the volume of flights and passengers these days. The airport has plans but it’s all taking a long time. Meanwhile I don’t think the airlines and ground handling is scaled correctly either.

Flight slightly late departing but arrival on time. The VIC countryside is looking parched on the approach in to land. No photo as I had 2 beside me and I didn’t want to bother them.

 

[GDSman]

VA lounge pretty empty on a Saturday morning. It’s approaching midday, I’m on leave so it’s time for a glass of sparkling wine. Food offerings don’t excite me. PER flight is in an hour so a couple of drinks will help pass the time...
If anyone has any recommendations for eating out or things to do in Mauritius I’d love to hear them...

 

[GDSman]

Just had a look at TurtleMichael’s TR - some nice ideas in there for things to do...

 

[GDSman]

Sparkling wine and some odd looking deep fried things...

 

[Major]

An interesting destination

 

[GDSman]

Sat 28 April

MEL-PER VA685 1305-1530 Seat 3C

I don’t like 737s on flights over 2 hrs. Being in row 3 is a help I guess - put that down to too many work trips giving me WP with VA.

Flight chockers and boarding delayed a bit due to a number of pax with assistance needs. No probs. Departure delayed 20 mins but landed 30mins early....

Lunch was just better than inedible....choice of chicken in a sauce with rice or pasta with tomato sauce. I went the chicken- it was ok but the rice and veggies were terrible. Didn’t bother with the chocolate mousse.

Had a chat to the nice old couple sat next to me. They’d just had a few days in Tas doing a coach tour. They then told me about a load of trips they’ve done: Canada, Kenya, UK, NZ - quite impressive for an elderly couple from Albany...

PER VA terminal is pretty swish. Very modern and smart. Getting through and out was very easy - I was first to the luggage carousel and bags just started to flow. My ‘old faithful’ was about 20th off. And now for a cab to town.

Perth is warm - 28C - by my standards.

 

[GDSman]

Crowne Plaza Perth seems a bit old and tired. Welcome is good and ran into a couple of colleagues in the lobby so already trotting our my ‘flying solo’ story.... Room is ok...bathroom very old but how about that view from the 8th floor?

 

[tgh]

Looking forward vv much to the next flight report...

 

[GDSman]

Wandered around a bit and got a too warm just as I was passing the Grosvenor. Nice pub with beer garden. $12.50 a pint of Little Creatures PA. Blimey!

 

[JohnM]

Make sure to visit the Seven Coloured Earths in the SW of Mauritius.

 

[GDSman]

Make sure to visit the Seven Coloured Earths in the SW of Mauritius.

Thanks @JohnM - will look that up

 

[GDSman]

Well, like many work style trips, last night involved some ‘getting to know you’ with more than enough wine to lubricate. There are quite a few of ‘the 25’ traveling via PER (others via DBX or SIN).
I didn’t get to watch but I wake to the news that Sydney has lost its semi to Victory, which is annoying.
Last night was dinner at the Grosvenor and then drinks in the Lobby of the Crowne Plaza... was happy enough with the Grosvenor and would recommend for that sort of casual beer garden feel.

 

[GDSman]

Morning was pretty uneventful. Headed to PER with colleagues and caught up with a mate of mine who runs our WA business. Made the mistake of complaining about the heat which set him off in hysterics.....
Check in for J was very quick. Agent advised that J is quite full, to which I responded “as long as they loaded plenty of champagne that will be fine.”
I’m now in the QF J lounge - alone as it seems my colleagues in Y can’t get in with their QF status.... I had the choice of staying outside with them or going in and having a Bloody Mary.....not a hard decision in the end!

 

[kermatu]

I had the choice of staying outside with them or going in and having a Bloody Mary.....not a hard decision in the end!

A no-brainer! Looking forward to the rest of this.

 

[GDSman]

Sunday 29 April PER-MRU

MK441 1305 Seat 1G (A330-200)

A couple of Bloody Marys and I’m feeling no pain as I board. This flight is seriously efficient - boarding well in advance of takeoff we are 15 mins in advance of published takeoff when the security video is played. We then sit in silence for 10 mins waiting for pushback. Pre takeoff a champagne helps settle the nerves.

Plane is a bit old and tired but J is full. Seat reclines to an angle flat bed and cabin is white with hints of ochre - I’ll try to get a photo later.

Food really good - Nice amuse bouche, starter of big prawns and asparagus and then choice of lobster, lamb, vegetarian or chicken. I went the lobster and it was really good, served with boiled potatoes and broccoli. It ran out quickly (they only carry 7 serves) so get a seat near the front of the cabin to be sure of receiving your preferred selection.

Drinks were plentiful although they did run out of some choices. Tried the rum punch and it was very sweet and vanilla flavored- not to my taste. Service was generally pretty good. I speak passable French so went that route and I think it helped....

Entertainment system is very low quality. Enough content but badly pixelated and clearly very old by today’s standards.

Took a couple of strolls down the back to take the Mickey out of colleagues there - they reported that food was pretty bad in Y and service patchy.

A snack is served Pre-landing - a sandwich and some sweet pastries. I go a cup of tea - done enough booze!

Flight is 15mins early. As I write we’re on descent and heading towards a Mauritius sunset.

 

[GDSman]

On landing we headed through to immigration where an EK A380 had just beaten us to the queues. Luckily J pax are herded to a priority line and the wait wasn’t too bad. From there down to baggage and it was already there. Nice job. Found the transfer bus to take us to the resort - only problem being that all my colleagues were still stuck in immigration.....30 mins later and we’re on the bus.
It was dark by this time so can’t comment too much other than to say that the road is quite narrow and judgement isn’t great. 45 mins later and we’re at the Four Seasons

 

[GDSman]

Four Seasons spectacular. Villas are large with a big indoor/outdoor banthroom and a plunge pool in the garden. It’s a bit bittersweet being at a luxurious, romantic place, but alone. I’ll take some photos later.
We had a welcome drinks function last night and then had a pretty good sleep. Jet lag kicked in and I slept fitfully from 03:30 onwards.
Breakfast is amazing - one of the nicest buffets I’ve seen. There were also cook to order menu items. I had an Indian style omelette which was delicious.
Today our group is heading to Port Louis for some site seeing and shopping. Not exactly what I want to do and feeling a little tender after overdoing the drinks yesterday!

 

[GDSman]

Some photos from around the resort...

 

[GDSman]

Port Louis was ok. The roads weren’t as bad as I expected but there was heavy traffic at times. The countryside is made up of flat areas covered in sugar cane punctuated by dramatic volcanic ridges.
Port Louis has some attractive buildings by the waterfront. We toured a jewelry factory then had some souvenir shopping (Dodo time) followed by a nice lunch at Labourdonnais.
In the afternoon a bit more wandering around and shopping. A couple of sizable Indian navy ships in port - interesting to see which countries are bringing their influence to bear.
We returned to the resort and had an hour’s R&R before a poolside coughtail function. Lovely setting.
Colleagues are taking pity and I’ve been invited to join some for dinner tomorrow...