Jun 052012
 

Got to the airport with plenty of time to spare, and now it was onto the trip’s main attraction. See, this all started when I found a friend who was deployed in Djibouti would be going to Seychelles on leave for a few days…and would I like to join? An excuse to visit a new country with a good friend? Of course I would! Then I learned this was to be a scuba-centred trip, so had to get certified up for that to make the most of it. Little did I know an offer to visit one small island nation would end up consuming so much of my spring weekends! A weekend of scuba classes, an awful (hah!) vacation to the Cayman Islands to finish open water certification, and a trip around South Asia since I would be in the region. …and I wouldn’t trade it for anything!

Check-in was quick, and I learned the flight was completely sold out. Who knew there was so much demand for flights between Mauritius and Seychelles! Immigration and security took ten minutes top, and soon it was to the Air Seychelles lounge for a short rest. The lounge was absolutely packed thanks to a flight to Johannesburg leaving at the same time, and there was decent food and beverage on offer…well, more beverage than food. The food offerings were pretty slim. I attempted a picture, but was chastised by the food attendant, so no luck there. They also insisted on pouring all drinks for you. I couldn’t tell if that was to keep an eye on you, or an attempt to be service-oriented. No matter, a couple of glasses later, and it was time to board.

Air Seychelles flight 54, Operated by Etihad
Port Louis, Mauritius (MRU) to Mahe, Seychelles (SEZ)
Departure 17:10, Arrival 19:45, Flight Time 2:35
Airbus A320, Registration A6-EIM, Manufactured 2009
Seat 3C

Yes, you read that right, Air Seychelles operated by Etihad! It seems Air Seychelles ran into some financial problems as a result of GFC (Global Financial Crisis) Round 1, and Abu Dhabi stepped in to the rescue. They now operate Seychelles to Abu Dhabi as well as this route, with aircraft wet-leased from Etihad. The irony is that most of our crew, despite being Etihad crew, were South African and Seychellois…I guess it’s a pretty sweet deal for them!

Champagne was offered before departure, and business class was quite generous for an A320, I would guess somewhere between 45-50 inches of seat pitch. Definitely better than you usually see on a narrow-body, and the food was much better as well. One thing gulf airlines do well, even with less than ideal aircraft, is make sure business class means business class so people will pay for it. Is anyone at US or European airlines listening? Thought not….

The crew was quite friendly, efficient, and generous topping up drinks. The meal also blew away anything you’d ever seen on a narrow body in other parts of the world. Pictures are below.

One final note on arrival in Seychelles. It’s absolutely essential to have a copy of your hotel booking. They insisted on seeing my printout – nothing on the iPhone was acceptable. Not sure what they would have done had I not had it (odd, since this is the first trip in an eternity where I actually bothered printing hard copies) but they were quite insistent on it!

ATM in the airport worked as expected, got cash, negotiated the rate WikiTravel and TripAdvisor told me to expect, and soon I was off to the hotel. About 10 minutes into the trip, we were pulled over by the local police. Seems by driver wasn’t displaying his taxi permit properly, and was going to have to pay a fine. He claimed to have just renewed it so it was sitting in the glovebox for some reason…it was all a bit shady, but eventually after my complaining to the police that he was holding up tourism, giving the country a bad name, etc etc, he decided to let the driver go with a warning. You’d think the driver would have been mildly thankful, but nope. He was still surly. Oh well, you can’t win them all.

Taxi was negotiated in Euros (guess that’s the bulk of western visitors) and after a slight reluctance he was willing to take Seychellois Rupees at the slightly (maybe 5%) disadvantageous rate that I offered with a round bill and not having to make change. They were making a steal on the short trip anyways.

Jun 042012
 

When I found this fare, I realised that due to flight schedules, I could actually have an 8 hour stop in Mauritius…right in the middle of the day! I figured with a good driver, on a small island nation, I could see a lot. Everything worked out, and it was an amazing day!

We landed right on time in Mauritius at 8:45am, and by 9am I was out of immigration and customs with all my bags, and my driver had met me. I had booked the “Mauritius Private Southwest Tour” with Mauritius Attractions, and they met with with one of their drivers at the airport…and dropped me off back there about 6 or so hours later. It was a slick deal, and for 100 euros I had a driver and all entrance fees covered.  For the efficient use of time, it was absolutely awesome!

Stop one was the Trou au Cerfs.  This was approximately a 30 minute drive from the airport, and is a huge natural volcanic crater, 85m deep and 200m wide that was formed millions of years ago.  It had a fantastic panoramic view of the crater as well as the town of Curepipe.  Supposedly when the sky is clear it is possible to see all the way to Reunion Island, but I was unable to find it in the distance.  The pictures don’t really do it justice, but you can see a bit of how deep it is.

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Jun 032012
 

I had looked online earlier in the day, and had seen the 15:35 flight was seriously delayed, and since I had to be out of my hotel room by 4pm anyways decided to go to the airport a bit early and see about getting on it. The check-in agent wasn’t too sure how to do it, and had to wait “for a supervisor” which took nearly 45 minutes…and 15 minutes before the door was set to close. Eventually, I got personally escorted through immigration and security by this supervisor, and ended up being one of only two people in business class on the flight! Of course, there was still plenty of time for the obligatory champers before departure:

…and a quick look at the menu.

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May 222012
 

So it had been four months, and I was itching to travel. I’d recovered from my visit to Somalia in January, and the friend I visited next door in Djibouti was headed to Seychelles for some R&R…and of course, having never been there – I wanted to go with. But can I do it the easy way? Of course not…I started looking at alternative routings that would allow me to visit as many countries as possible…as cheaply as possible…in as short of time as possible!

You might remember the last three years where I spent New Years Eve…yes, Iraq and then Iran/Afghanistan, ending with Somalia this year.

So…I found a great fare to India….which told me I had to finally visit Nepal and Bhutan. Great fare from there down to Seychelles that allowed a stopover in Mauritius…and we were well on the way. The fare back from Seychelles allowed a stop anywhere in Europe…so a chance to finally get to Bulgaria. Tentatively, the parts to this report will be:

Part I: Washington DC, National (DCA) to Delhi, India (DEL)
Part II: Transit in Delhi, and the Sheraton Muraya
Part III: Delhi to Kathmandu, Nepal (KTM) and touring Nepal
Part IV: Kathmandu, Nepal to Paro, Bhutan (PBH) and visiting Bhutan
Part V: Paro, Bhutan to Male, Maldives (MLE)
Part VI: Sheraton Full Moon Resort, Maldives
Part VII: Male, Maldives to Port Louis, Mauritius (MRU)
Part VIII: Visiting Mauritius
Part IX: Port Louis, Mauritius to Mahe, Seychelles (SEZ)
Part X: Seychelles, including the Le Meridien Fishermans Cove and Scuba
Part XI: Mahe, Seychelles to Sofia, Bulgaria (SOF)
Part XII: Sheraton Sofia, and visiting Sofia, Bulgaria
Part XIII: Sofia, Bulgaria to Washington Dulles (IAD)

The Route:

The Route

Hope you enjoy…I’ll try and get through this with lots of pics relatively quickly!

Apr 092012
 

So with my country count now at 109, it’s getting a bit more difficult to “collect” multiple countries in the same trip.  When I found out that I’d have  a chance to visit a friend in the Seychelles this spring, I started, of course, looking at creative ways to get there.

One thing I’ve learned the last couple years is that roundtrip fares are rarely the best way to go somewhere if you’re looking to maximize the number of countries you visit.  Fares from the US tend to be expensive, and often you can string together several one-way fares at a much better deal – especially if you want to travel in the pointy end of the plane.

To that end, I found an amazing fare that would allow me to hit south asia on the way, and visit Nepal and Bhutan.  Of course, that got me wondering if I could stop by the other country in the region I still need to visit – Maldives – and I found a way to make it happen.  Of course, on the way from Maldives to Seychelles, I wanted to see if I could transit elsewhere in the Indian Ocean – and sure enough it looks like Mauritius is a possibility!

Now, leaving Seychelles was easier…and even better when I found a “hidden” fare to north america that was milage-based, and allowed stops in Sudan and Bulgaria on the way back for just a few airport surcharges…great deal!  Now, I don’t get to leave the plane in Sudan…but by the rules of the game I can count it for now, with the hopes of returning for a real visit soon.  That will make 7 new countries in just under two weeks, and bring me to 116 on the count.  How is everyone else doing?