Day 27- Travel to Seychelles

The morning began with a cup of cappuccino in a cafe I found quite near the main square near our hotel. I have been there several times now and the lady in the cafe seemed to know me!

Heading back to the hotel it was time to pack ahead of going on the next leg of our journey to the Seychelles which involves a leg from Madrid to Dubai then from Dubai to the Seychelles.

After packing and having our last breakfast at the hotel we did some shopping for about an hour. The weather was quite warm at about 25 degrees and quite humid.

After checking out of the hotel we were driven by the Emirates shuttle to the airport which is huge!

Checking in was ok but sorting out the VAT refund was quite difficult…. Seems that giving refunds on taxes is not a high priority… can’t understand why!

Before I leave Madrid I want to say how much I enjoyed the city and its ambience. The people were friendly and the trips we did on foot were amazing. We stayed in a very funky hotel which had some interesting quirks which were annoying at times… the most difficult being the small room size!

The flight to Dubai was running a bit late due to some mechanical issue but the 7 hours were spent sleeping and watching movies.

We arrived at Dubai at about 1.30 am and we had to make a quick transfer to our connecting flight to the Seychelles…. It was made more difficult as we had to change terminals! There were also some issues about the directions to change terminals which made the whole thing a bit more stressful. We arrived at the plane as they were making the final boarding call which was a relief! Hopefully the bags would be on our flight too!

The flight from Dubai to the Seychelles was about 4 and a half hours…. It is almost directly south from the UAE …Fortunately we had some breakfast on the flight before landing at about 6.30 am!!!

Fortunately our bags made it and we were able to find our hotel shuttle driver who took us on the 30 minute drive to the hotel resort where we are staying for the next week.

The main island of the Seychelles is Mahe and it is a bit south of the equator. The weather here is fine and somewhat cloudy with an odd shower every now and then. The drive was through the main city of the Seychelles which is Victoria. The terrain is hilly and from what our driver says there are some agricultural activities including coconut oil and cinnamon.i think tourism is a big contributor to the economy.

We arrived at the Bliss Hotel which is right on the coast with a small beach. Our hotel room is great with a view over the beach and ocean. Unfortunately our room was not ready when we arrived so we had a small wait which for me provided time to catch up on some sleep.

It will be good to stop here after the hectic few weeks we have had so far with travel and sightseeing… the weather looks like being warm and tropical. Good for me to find a palm tree to read a book!

The staff seem friendly here which will make our time more enjoyable.

Picture is a view from our balcony at the Bliss Hotel.