So we were all finally together, suitcases, hand luggage and various baby related objects, stood at check in. We then started reviewing all the items that we had in our possession that we couldn't take on board and we started drinking all the bottled water that Mum had left in her bag of provisions!!
My lot started the walk through security and it's zig-zag of various bottle bins and staff with clear plastic bags (and a funky "hologram" looking projection of a woman telling you what you can and can't have!), leaving the Newmans to work out what baby stuff they could and couldn't take through! All went well for us as (luckily Elinor realised she had some make up stuff in her hand luggage and she chucked it in a clear bag before x-ray and only Tracey set off the metal detector!) but we had a delay while we waited for Jamie to get checked as he had forgotten about the bottle of hand cream in her bag ("If we'd have left a bottle of water or something in our bag", my nephews said to me as we waited, "we'd have got a right telling off by Mum and Dad!". This was mentioned to their parents by them when they emerge from security!).
And then we had to hang around for an hour or so until boarding. Mum bought us all a coffee and me and Elinor sat on the floor in a walkway next to a plug socket trying to get some charge into our phones!!!
We heard the last call for our flight (where were the other calls???) and headed to Gate 3. The excitement was building as we got to the boarding gate and saw our plane out of the window!
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| Me at Boarding with our plane behind |
We handed our passes over and headed down the tunnel thing to get on our flight to Mauritius.....
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| Family walking to plane |
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| We're nearly on the plane! |
Some people may laugh but I researched the plane a bit last week so that we were prepared for when we got on board. Part of the reason was to make sure the kids knew exactly what to expect when we walked onto it so that they didn't have any concerns. So when we did board the size, seat layout and where we were sitting was not a surprise. We took our seats and started to get comfortable.
Tracey and Charlotte had both expressed a slight concern about flying (OK, Tracey has always said to me that I'd have to drug her to get on a plane and Charlotte has been saying that she has been scared of this first flight for a couple of weeks now), so I've been spending a while trying to keep them calm about it all (telling Tracey that we are getting on a plane so if she doesn't then she can stay with her Mum in Nottingham and explaining to Charlotte that the plane was nothing more than a "Super Bus"!!). So I spent the whole pre-takeoff and then takeoff talking to Charlotte and telling her what happens and making it all a bit of fun (takeoff is my favourite bit of a flight!!). Tracey's nerves were being kept in check because she didn't want to make Charlotte any worse. A great cure!
And then we were in the air! And then we were in the air for another 12 hours!!!! I had banked on sleeping on this overnight flight, so after the inflight meal was served (er...not much choice and I think they are trying to be too fancy. Airlines, keep it simple!!) I tried to get comfortable and get to sleep. And I did this for the next 8 or 9 hours!! As did everyone else! The in flight entertainment wasn't great and with all the electrical devices drained of power the journey dragged on a bit.
But it didn't matter. The boredom, the pain in my leg the crying baby at the front.....who cared....WE WERE GOING TO MAURITIUS!!!
So most of the flight was spent changing back to the live map of the flight and counting down the hours and being amazed at seeing names of places that we'd only seen on the news displayed on the map as we flew over them.
Of everyone in our group the one that seemed least bothered by everything was the youngest! Ollie laughed and giggled, didn't cry and slept and was generally great (although I'm sure my sister won't totally agree seeing as he was on her lap most of the time!)
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| 1 Year Old Ollie loving the flight! |
Before we knew it (although it felt like an eternity) the "Time to Destination" was down to 1h 30m and we started counting down the minutes. With an hour to go Ethan and Liam decided that it was time to be travel sick and proceeded to fill a couple of sick bags each!!
And then we were told we were descending. This, like takeoff, meant I spent the time talking to Charlotte, explaining what happens and trying to get her to look out of the window so she could see the island as we broke through the cloud. Yes, you heard me right, breaking through the cloud. Cloud? What the hell was cloud doing over Mauritius???? That meant that it wasn't clear blue skies!!! I announced that the holiday was cancelled as we were taking the next flight home!! Oh how my wit calmed people down! ;-)
We broke through the cloud and I finally saw the Island of Mauritius. The island that my father was from. The island that I had heard so much about. The island that I will be eternally grateful to for giving me my father and therefore making me Welsh. The island I had wanted to see for so many years.
We flew in, lower and lower, and I found it hard to not smile. I was looking at Mauritius. Mauritius! It is difficult to explain how happy I was feeling and I don't think I could explain why but I was. Very happy.
The landing was very smooth and we taxied to the terminal. Mum pointed out the new terminal building that is under construction and looking very good and we went past it to the old one! After leaving the plane we walked through to security and looking left I caught a beautiful view of one of the mountains on the island. A great welcome.
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| View as we walked through terminal |
Got through security and customs, collected all our bags and headed out to meet our welcome party. As we exited the building we were greeted by my Dad and brother holding a flag that they had made for us with our family names on!!!
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| The kids holding the special flag that my Dad arranged to get made! |
With them were some of our family, including my Uncle Ahmed, and introductions were made. I'm not going into that in detail as names went in one ear and out of the other! We made our way out to the car park and we all piled into various vehicles with our bags. Most of us were in Naushad's van and off we trundled.
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| We have arrived!!! |
It was a beautiful drive and we all took in the scenery with Naushad pointing out certain things of interest, mainly all the sugar cane fields.
After about 20 minutes we turned right at a roundabout following a sign that was directing us to "Owadally's Coach Works"! We pulled up outside the coachworks and walked around the back to my Uncle Ahmed's house which was just behind it. After more introductions to about 10 more relatives we had tea made for us and had a look around. The coachworks is at the front of a plot of land that then has Uncle Ahmed's house and then his Aunty's house behind that. The most fascinating thing was the selection of fruit trees that were growing naturally along the side of the drive, including a banana tree. Seeing these exotic trees just growing like conker trees do in the UK is so cool!!!
Anyway, a few more relatives arrived and were introduced and then we headed to our apartments, with the promise that a takeaway had been ordered and would be dropped off later for us.
We arrived at the apartment complex (eventually after getting slightly lost thanks to us following Stewart and Dad who couldn't seem to remember the way even though they were there the day before yesterday!) and then split up into the various families and went to our apartments. Wow! They are amazing! We got shown around by the owners and then started to unpack. The apartment is gorgeous. As is the whole complex.....and the swimming pool!!!
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| View from our apartment :-) |
Uncle Ahmed turned up with the takeaway. We were expecting a load of foil containers but he arrived with the biggest pot I have ever seen which contained enough rice to feed a small village and also a smaller pot of chicken curry. The rice was a biryani style rice with egg, peppers, potatoes and mutton. It was so nice!!!
Once we had filled up on rice (and there was still loads left!) we had a quick dip in the pool and then went to a local supermarket to stock up on some essentials (I may have to write about shopping experiences another time as it is quite an experience!!). Once back it wasn't long before I was falling asleep on the sofa from sheer exhaustion while watching "I'm Alan Partridge", even with the banging techno-RnB-reggae music from the house party behind our apartment!
All in all the trip over and the 1st day has been an amazing experience. It has been a very confusing day or two and we are looking forward to the next couple of days once we have settled down.
Hope you can stick with me and enjoy hearing about our little adventure :-)
