Tag: Holiday

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Honeymoon – Day Nineteen

London

We awoke super early, 5:30 as we needed to leave by 6 to catch our flight. Halfway through getting ready, reception called and said we wouldn’t leave till 8 as our flight was delayed. This gave us time to chill out and watch a few episodes of The IT crowd. 

Once at the airport, after checking in and making it through security, we went to the lounge to wait. I rewatched Pitch Perfect 3 while we waited. Finally, after what seemed like forever, our flight was called and we made our way onto the plane, in the rain. The weather made it slightly easier to leave as we weren’t leaving the island in glorious sunshine!

The flight was pretty uneventful but felt super long. Nim watched films, later to discuss with Jono but I chose children’s films, Finding Nemo and Toy Story, I knew Jono wouldn’t want to chat about these ones! As per, I had a nap and then we were told that we were coming in to land we were seeing London out the window. I didn’t get much of a view as Nim’s head was always in my way ( he had the window seat ). 

Finally, we managed to grab our bags and sit on the long and hot, muggy tube home. Home was a welcome sight as we were both exhausted and ready for sleep. We had previously decided to try and fight the jet lag and time differences by staying up till bed time in the UK and waking up at a reasonable time so that we weren’t still 3 hours ahead in our body clocks. We managed to fight the tiredness and droopy eyes till 10 O’Clock, which is 1 am in the Seychelles, before needing to collapse into bed. It definitely felt good to be home and to get back to normal reality, even if I have a ton of washing to catch up on and we both have to face work next week. 

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Honeymoon – Day Eighteen

Mahe

Our last morning in Desroches was filled with packing and breakfast, they have great pain au raisin which Nim is upset that he can’t eat. We had some sad goodbyes with the lovely staff who had made us feel so at home and comfortable during our stay! We checked out and sat by the beach for a while, chatting about the plans for the next few days at home before we both go back to work. 

The staff came to see us off on the runway before we waved goodbye to the island from the sky. The rest of the afternoon was spent back in Mahe, sitting out on the balcony and absorbing the last moments of our holiday. 

Bedtime was an early one as the alarm was being set back at stupid o’ clock for an early start so we could catch our flight back to London.

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Honeymoon – Day Seventeen

Desroches

Breakfast, as usual was glorious while we sat overlooking the sea, enjoying the morning sunshine. Nim was definitely enjoying the eggs that they make, he had eaten some everyday for breakfast! The morning was spent soaking up the sunshine, reading, watching tv in the sunshine and listening to audio books. 

We decided to go to the bar for lunch, as we hadn’t eaten there yet and it definitely didn’t disappoint. Their cheese and pesto panini was delicious! 

Afterwards, we dropped off the snorkelling bits back to the castaway centre and went for a cycle. We had decided to explore a few parts of the island that we hadn’t been to yet, Madame Zabre Beach and North Point. We cycled the long way around, past the tortoises so that we could say goodbye and so that we could enjoy the island as much as possible before we have to leave. We had a lovely walk across the sand and a small paddle in the sea, splashing around in the shallow waves. We slowly cycled home where a surprise of a bath and some treats from the hotel was left for Nim ( I had organised it the day before with the suggestion and help of the housekeeping team ). It just meant that he could relax and chill out after organising such a spectacular holiday for me, a small thank you. 

The staff had organised a cocktail party and gathering before dinner for all of the staff and guests in the bar so we headed over to join them. It was lovely to be able to chat and give feedback to the staff ( all positive of course ).

Our last dinner on the island was, as per, super tasty! It was a set menu from the chef and we had multiple dishes for each course to try. My favourite was a fried banana parcel in the dessert course!

Feeling content and full, we cycled back to the villa, Nim and I had been getting competitive about who cycles faster and unfortunately he kept winning. I began the process of organising our things to be packed in the morning before climbing into bed and enjoying the sound of the waves for the last time, lulling me to sleep. 

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Honeymoon – Day Sixteen

Desroches

We had a calm morning and relaxed breakfast, I loved their selection of fresh fruits and pastries. This was followed by another morning spent reading in the sunshine with Nim watching CSI Cyber next to me.

The hot weather is something that I will definitely miss, even though I heard London was pretty warm at the moment. We retreated back into the cool of the villa ( air con can be great! ) for some lunch. We ordered food, chatted and watched some TV before getting ready to head down to the beach again for some swimming and snorkelling. Similarly to yesterday, there wasn’t much to see and Nim was having issues with leaky goggles so we played around in the shallows before heading home. We decided to go the same way we came today, to avoid the tree and, hopefully, a large amount of the mosquitoes. 

We fed the tortoises again on the way home, more apples for them as it makes them happy. We sorted ourselves out for dinner and cycled down to the main restaurant, it’s definitely our favourite place to eat. The bikes are such a great idea for the island as it means that everyone can get around easily and enjoy the island as much as possible. We snuggled into bed and drifted off into another peaceful sleep. 

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Honeymoon – Day Fifteen

Desroches

After a very restful sleep and a slow morning, we made our way to breakfast and decided what we would do for the day. We decided that we would have a nice and calm morning in the sunshine. Once we were back at the villa, we lounged around in the sunshine, reading and listening to audio books, in Nim’s case. The sun was delightful to be in but a few dips into the pool and retreating into the shade was occasionally necessary.

 Before lunch we headed to the Castaway centre ( the outdoor activity and sports centre ) to borrow some snorkelling equipment. We picked up flippers and masks, grabbed some lunch from the deli and headed off to one of the beaches. We cycled past the tortoise sanctuary and onto the beach where we enjoyed our lunch and went for a swim. The water was beautifully clear and warm. Whilst we didn’t see much, just a few fish, it was a lot of fun. We took a break on a pontoon before jumping back in to continue our adventure.

After snorkelling, we played around in the shallows, sitting and chatting with the waves lapping around us. Once we’d had enough, we jumped back onto our bikes and made our way back to the villa. We decided to continue in the loop that the path we used to get to the beach completes. This did lead to some difficulty when we came across a fallen tree which we had to manoeuvre both ourselves and the bikes under. We also got attacked and bitten by mosquitoes which wasn’t great!

We paused at the tortoises and fed them some apple, one of the waiters in the restaurant told us they love apples and they truly do! One of the bigger tortoises even clambered over one of the smaller ones to get to some apple!!

We sorted ourselves out so we could go for some dinner. Eating by the sea under the night sky has been a massive highlight for both of us!

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Honeymoon – Day Fourteen

Desroches

Waking up to no alarm and sunshine was definitely bliss! We had a slow start before cycling over to breakfast. Everyone greeted us as ‘Mr and Mrs Anderson’, which was lovely and has helped me to get used to my new surname! Food was, as with the rest of the holiday, yummy and most welcome. 

After breakfast, we had a bit of a rest and chilled in the hammock, swinging slightly whilst reading and chatting. We decided that we should book ourselves into the spa for a treat in the afternoon. We worked out what treatment we wanted and arranged for a buggy to come and pick us up. 

Before our treatments, we wanted to go for a cycle ride to explore the island a little and to visit the tortoise sanctuary. We hadn’t gone to far but while we were cycling out over the airstrip, a few large drops of rain hit the path in front of us. This was then followed by a downpour of heavy rain which led us to turn around and head back to the villa. 

As it was rainy and grey outside, we decided to order some cheeky room service and eat it inside while watching some TV before we were collected for our afternoon pamper. We both had a four handed treatment which included a full body exfoliation and massage with hot and cold crystal balls and a head massage with coconut oil treatment. I definitely fell asleep during the head massage! It was nice to relax and it helped us prepare for the rest of our holiday, which was going to be super chilled.

We had a peaceful rest of the afternoon and then got ready for dinner. We had decided to eat at the main restaurant and we dined under the stars with the soothing sound of the ocean lapping onto the beach in the background. After such a calm and relaxed day, we slowly cycled back to the villa and snuggled into bed. 

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Honeymoon – Day Thirteen

Desroches

Once more, the stupid alarm woke us up so that we could go and find some breakfast and clamber onto yet another aeroplane. While I am aware that Nim likes flying and I haven’t flown much, maybe this many flights might be seen as too many?

The flight itself was a short one, only 40 minutes and we landed on the airstrip which is right outside the front of the hotel. Staff met us all off the plane and took us in to sort out paperwork before having a small tour and an introduction to our home for the next 6 days. It was total bliss. A small villa with a sea view, and a path leading straight to the beach, and a garden with a hammock and a small swimming pool. Plus, one of my favourite spots so far, a balcony with a sofa and a great view of the sea!

We decided to unpack, I also had to do some laundry as we had a coke explosion in one of the bags; one of Nim’s cans of coke got everywhere and all over the clothes. The laundry was an unusual experience as I had to use the bath as a washing machine with my arm spinning it around. Once this was complete, we went to relax and have a swim in the sea. We wandered to the path at the end of the garden, Nim managed to make his way down the slope of sand onto the beach fine, I however gracefully fell. We meandered over the white sand to the clear blue sea, so clear that you can see your feet as you walk in the warm water. We had a play and a swim before coming back into the garden and swimming some lengths in the pool. We dried off and went over to get some lunch in the main restaurant and bar. The food was lovely and afterwards we had a very lazy afternoon of lounging around in the sun, watching some tv and reading ( well, I read ) before showering off so we could go for dinner. 

We were booked into the Lighthouse for dinner so we cycled over, each villa has a couple of bikes to use as means to get around the island. We enjoyed some very strong cocktails and some delicious food before cycling back to the villa and heading to bed. 

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Honeymoon – Day Twelve

Mahe

The sound of the alarm, which was definitely tedious especially as it was a holiday, woke us up so we could get ready for our flight across to the Seychelles. After packing and breakfast, we made our way to the airport where we whizzed through security and had our two hour wait for the plane. We watched the end of The Lion King and started watching Paddington. Once we were boarded on the plane, I requested that we continue back to back with Paddington Two, children’s films are just the greatest!!! Nim didn’t seem to mind. Paddington Two, which I hadn’t seen before, proved me to be soppy and I ended up crying on a plane for the second time this holiday ( I watched Me Before You on the way from London to Nairobi which always brings on the waterworks ). Nim wins more dutiful husband points on this flight too as he chatted to, well at, me to distract me for the last chunk of the flight as I was feeling slightly poorly. 

Once we landed in Mahe, we were taken down to the hotel we were staying in for the night, and will visit again on the way back home.  The scenery and beauty of Mahe is unmistakeable and unavoidable as it is everywhere. Green palm trees, hills and blue sea alongside the subtle breeze and humid heat. 

Once we were settled into our room, dinner and bed was well and truly welcome after another day of travelling. 

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Honeymoon – Day Eleven

Laikepia And Nairobi

The stars were beautiful to look as I lay wrapped up in my duvet in the middle of the field. Nim was zonked out next to me and the others were fast asleep too ( as far as I could tell ). The next thing I knew was being shaken awake by Nim, telling me that I should wake up as the sun was rising and it would be a nice thing to see! It was beautiful and was the perfect sight for our last morning in Kenya. 

We had a slightly lazy morning, packing down the camp and tidying everything away before heading back. Along the way, we made a few stops to watch elephants rolling around in mud, to see a few hippos, giraffes, zebra and birds as well as to climb some more rocks to have a look at the views and see what we could spot. Unfortunately, we didn’t find any lions or leopards but we did make it back in time for a late breakfast.

Nim and I had some time to shower and change before going out on our last drive. We didn’t find anything new but did spend some time admiring some animals we had seen before? We ended up back at the waterfall, where Nim, Jasper, and Ollie had some boy time jumping into the water off the rocks again, messing about in the smaller waterfalls. After sending Ollie in the raft to do his best hippo impression, they scrambled up some of the bigger rocks to jump off, this did also result in them having a mothers meeting while at the highest point so that they could work out the best way to jump. Everyone else joined us so we could have some lunch, I really miss the food we had as it was always so tasty! Once we were full we made our rounds of saying goodbye to everyone before jumping in the car with Jasper to go and collect our things. 

After we were changed, fully packed and good to go we met Jasper back in the mess tent. Ollie and a few of the others had made it back so Ollie came to wave us off as we piled our bags in the car and climbed in the back. This was the beginning of a very interesting journey. It all started perfectly well, bouncing along down the bumpy roads and chatting away with each other. Somewhere along the way, as per, I fell asleep which amazed Jasper somewhat as the roads aren’t exactly smooth. When I woke up, the boys seemed slightly stressed as it turns out that we made a wrong turning somewhere along the way and weren’t going the right way. No matter how hard we tried to work it out, it just wasn’t making sense. The radios that are always taken on drives and all of our phones had no signal, which wasn’t much help. By this point, we were coming up to the time of our flight and Jasper was seriously stressed. He did finally manage to get enough signal to call Steve and ask for directions. Once we were back on track, with Jasper gunning it down bumpy tracks and us gaining airtime in the back, we managed to make it to the airstrip, where the pilot was waiting for us outside of the smallest aircraft I have been in. There were enough seats for two passengers and the pilot, it was that tiny! Jasper, still apologising profusely, gave us big cuddles and waved us off, waiting until we were in the air. We said a sad goodbye to Laikepia as we flew onwards back to Nairobi, it definitely had been a wonderful time!! 

The plane was chilly but the flight wasn’t long and we were soon landing back in Nairobi. We were met and transported down to Ole Sereni??? Where we checked into a lovely room and opened the bottle of wine left on the table. After some food and a bath, we curled up in bed and watched some of The Lion King before calling it a night and heading to sleep. 

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Honeymoon – Day Ten

Laikepia

5:40 saw the alarm buzzing and tea and juice being left outside the tent once more. We made our way to the mess tent and quite quickly, after some fruit, we were in the car on the way to where Steve knows a good route for walking.

After a short drive we all hopped out and began our trek, except Ollie who stayed with the car and would meet us at the end. We had a lovely morning walk through grass and over rocks, it was lovely except for the grass seeds, they get everywhere!! Along the way we saw elephants, giraffes, weavers and guineafowl as well as marks and signs from buffalo which had recently passed through the area. Jasper, who we were chatting to along the way, taught Nim and I all about bees, ants and termites and how their hierarchy and colonies work within the nests. We also found a termites nest which, due to fungus being a food source for them, had mushrooms growing at the top of it. Steve picked some and popped them into Jasper’s bag to take them back for dinner.

We had lunch on another dam, different from yesterday, where we were joined by lots more elephants. They were all playing in the water and in the mud.

We returned back to the tent where we had some down time to chill before our afternoon drive. I used this time to begin the packing as we leave tomorrow. We also had to pack an overnight bag, with pjs, toothbrushes and other essentials as we were joining Steve, Ollie and another couple Fly Camping for the night.

After an afternoon drive where we saw plenty of birds, some more elephants, giraffes, zebra and dicdics, we met up with the rest of the group for dinner around a huge fire. We had fire cooked vegetables and beef with some potatoes which all tasted great and was accompanied by some great chat and banter with Ollie and Jasper! The chunk of the group who weren’t camping departed and left us to it. We had some time to chill out by the fire before getting out the rolled beds and the mosquito tents. Once this was all set up and we had brushed our teeth, we all settled down in our beds. Ollie and Steve didn’t have tents but at least Steve had Trigger to keep him company. The beds were incredibly comfy, duvet and pillows on a rolled up mattress. Nothing like anything I’ve ever camped with before. As we stared up at the cloudy skies ( not a star to be seen ) I realised that this was the best end to a great safari trip!