The planning stage was an intense research in geography, geology and economics...by this i mean we travelled (in our visions and day dreams) to many parts of asia, exploring our options of destinations...mountains, beaches and monumental city wonders and considered the budget of our trip. After all this..it was a wonder that we selected mauritius...quite a 'standard' honeymoon destination !! A bit expensive in terms of 'standard'...but still quite a favourite amongst honeymoon couples. Mauritius it was....a small island near the coast of eastern africa...
We had been looking forward to this trip ever since it was planned back in September. We were scheduled to depart from Mumbai on the 28th Nov morning. It was a 0400 hrs flight in the morning, and after checking in and the security checks, we were at the waiting lounge near the boarding gates. As expected there were many honeymoon couples, so from there itself, getting 'intimate'!! There was a slight hiccup while boarding, where my wife had forgotten a tag on her purse. We had to go back to the security counter to get ones, as the idiots at the gates didnt have any.
It was Vrunda's first time in flight and it was most amazing for her to experience the exhilarating acceleration and takeoff and the slightly bumpy landing of the plane.
Mauritius airport is known 'Sir Seewoosagur Ramgoolam Airport'named after one of the famous prime ministers. As soon as we got off, we were directed to the visa counters. Mauritius has a visa-on-arrival system for Indians. The visa process was extremely quick. We just had to present our passports and our hotel booking vouchers. The visa was stamped and we were 'Welcome to mauritius' as told by the counter officer !!
As soon as we collected our baggage, we were outside, where there were currency exchange counters, where we purchased some 14000 mauritian rupee (MUR). There was a slight confusion as we waited at a counter no. 7, where the agency representative who was supposed to pick us up, had not arrived. Moreover counter no. 7 bore the name of a different travel agency !! After a bit of 'asking around' we came to know that the pick up guy would be waiting outside the airport at the arrival gates. As we walked outside the agent with the board checked our names on his list and introduced us to a cab driver who would drive us to our hotel. The cab driver was a tall fellow. It was difficult to tell his origin. He had a mixture of south Indian and south american looks. The people in mauritius are a mix. Indians (Biharis), south americans, french, africans. The locals speak a language called 'creole' which is a mix of the indian language 'bhojpuri' and french. While we were being driven to the hotel, I noticed that the weather seemed to be tropical, however the air seemed to be fresh and the skies were a lovely blue lined with a few scattered clouds, which looked like cotton. The roads were good, rules were being followed, generally and it was very clean. Our resort 'The Jalsa Beach resort and Spa' was at a place called 'Poste Laffayette. Looking out of the window was a treat by itself. The scenery and the landscapes were so beautiful...that i could not quite bring myself to face the fact that my video camera has limited memory and cannot record the entire hour of our travel !! So i recorded a video and then sat back to relax and just watch the beauty of nature with lenses of my eyes and record it in my own memory !! After an hour of driving we came to a slightly inclined road..beyond which nothing could be seen...as our car went further and reached the apex...it was a sight which i can probably never forget...a vast and deep blue shoreline was clearly visible...lined with white sands and waves swirling and twisting in a foam to meet the sands...Very soon we reached our hotel.
