22 February 2013:

Karolina and I arrived at the airport at 11am, checked into Air Mauritius and went straight through to Customs. I must have one of those faces, but I kept being questioned about where I was going and what I was doing. Am I losing my Angelic look?

Air Mauritius is an awesome flight – it’s only 4 hours long, the food is delicious and the surfing movie, Chasing Mavericks, really got me in the mood for an island trip.

The first thing that hit me was the humidity… It washed over my skin and I breathed in the warm air as soon as we walked onto the airport tarmac. It’s not very often that suitcases come out in the beginning and next to each other, but our bags arrived relatively quickly. We were greeted by a wonderful woman from Summer Times who was holding up a board for us… she led us to our hotel transfer and we drove for an hour to Long Beach hotel.

I think we just got our luggage into the car in time, because the rain came down and didn’t stop until we arrived.

Our driver really had a sense of humour on him and the hour flew by as he taught us about Mauritius.

In fact, you really must use Summer Times when you’re in MRU. You can call:  Tel : +(230) 427 1111 or email: summer@summertimes.intnet.mu

The hotel us breathtakingly majestic, modern and exceptionally welcoming. I always feel like a movie star from the treatment and hospitality of all the staff. I know it’s their job, but I also sense that it is a Mauritian way – it is the way these warm, friendly, polite people just are.

We were pretty hungry, so we were led straight to a buffet dinner. Karolina and I just kept saying: I can’t believe it! How amazing is this place? Oh my goodness look at this and look at that!

K and I also tried Dragon Fruit for the first time… We took a short video of our reactions:

After dinner we were taken to our rooms. I thought we would be sharing a room, but it turns out we each have our own room. I want a replica of this for my home. It is absolutely amazing.

The architect and interior designer is from South Africa – incredible!

The hotel has it’s very own nightclub called Bombora! It’s such fun, but after all our travelling, we didn’t stay long! We’ll party properly on Saturday night!

I am so happy that I’m on the island of Vanilla Tea! Karolina came to my room where we ordered room service of 2 Vanilla Tea’s and sat on my balcony chatting for hours and hours. It was so perfect!

23 February 2013:

We woke up to an overcast day, with threats of rain. We kept willing this: It will clear up. It will clear up. Even though it was gloomy, it still is absolute paradise!

We got into our gym clothes to take a walk along the beach before breakfast, but our stomachs were rumbling, so we decided to do a short walk and hit breakfast instead.

1. love. hotel. breakfasts. They are always superb and Long Beach Hotel, in particular, never disappoints. The fruit is fresh, the selection of cold meats, cheeses, pastries, crepes and hot food is beyond 5 star.

I devoured coffee, fresh fruit, a vanilla yoghurt and 2 crepes. So good!

We were told that we would be meeting the Marketing Manager and his assistant at 10am for a tour of the hotel. We quickly changed out of our gym clothes and met Mike in reception.

He is so passionate about the hotel, about the hospitality industry and I listened as his enthusiasm for the  hotel oozed out.

Long Beach used to be Coco Beach, until it was rebuilt with a new modern, concept in 2009 -2011.

It is eco-friendly and in fact, when they were building the hotel, they saved over 1 million plants and trees, stored them in a greenhouse and then replanted them back once the hotel was finished.

It has 5 restaurants and a Main Bar, called Shores Bar, all framing the Piazza, where you can enjoy Live Entertainment each night.

Sapori is an Italian restaurant, Le Marche is the buffet, HaSu is the finest Japanese restaurant on the island and boasts a 2 Star Michelin Rating. Chopsticks is the Chinese restaurants and the chefs are from Shanghai and last but not least Tides, which has a very St. Tropez feel to it.

There are 2 pools, both are heated to 28/29 degrees celcius. The Main pool, which is by the Tides Restaurant and Bar also has various jacuzzi’s as a part of the pool and is family friendly.

The Infinity Pool is purely for adults only and is exceptionally peaceful.

The Sports centre is impressive as it has a gym, a 25m lap pool, bikes for rent, 4 tennis courts – one is exactly like the Australian Open court, Archery (unique to the island), a 7m high Rock climbing wall, 5 a side Soccer field, volley ball, Badminton, mini golf and the list goes on.

The Water Sports is just as impressive and you can do almost anything your heart desires from snorkelling to wind surfing, parasailing, paddle boating and more.

We also visited the Sea Spa – the designers are from Bangkok and it has such a tranquil, zen feel to it. It’s completely secluded, even though it is only a 5 minute walk from the main hotel and has it’s own man-made pond. It offers a wide arrange of products and treatments, for very affordable prices. You must try the unique treatment of the Hamman – a Turkish steam bath.

Mike showing us one of the spa treatment rooms

We got back to the main hotel, just in time… It started pouring down with rain and Mike ended off the tour at the Shores Bar with a Mojito! Thanks again Mike!

Karolina and I headed for the Tides Bar and Restaurant. The food is amazing and it was quite funny to sit at a table, in the beach sand, under a roof while it poured. K had the seared tuna and I had the chicken hamburger without the bun.

Since we weren’t going to be able to lounge out on the beach, we headed back to the Sea Spa for a 45 minute back and neck massage. Pure bliss. K and I both fell asleep in our massages and I literally felt like I melted into the massage table.

Where the Magic Happened…

By the time we came out of the treatment, it had stopped raining and started clearing up.

I’m glad we got to get some beach time in before we needed to get ready for dinner.

Tonight Daren, the Sales and Marketing Manager is taking us out for dinner and we’ve been booked at the Sapori restaurant. We’re having drinks at the Shores Bar first and I’d better get a move on…

Travel Diary 2 coming up tomorrow!

For reservations or further information please call World Leisure Holidays on 0860 954 954,or email us on res@wlh.co.za , or log onto our website, www.wlh.co.za

1. Follow Karolina on Twitter and Instagram – @KarolinaSky

Follow me on Twitter – @baileyschneider and on Instagram – @vanillablondebailey