Having My Cake and Eating It Too

I was never really dying to go to Mauritius Island. Even though it's only a 30 minute plane ride from here, it's still pretty expensive (250 euros for 30 min!! I think it holds the record for the most expensive/shortest flight.) And with all the great wonders of the world to see, why would you go visit another island when you already live on one?

I didn't believe it was possible, but Mauritius is a completely different world. First of all, everyone speaks English, French, and Creole. Second of all, they seem to survive off tourism, so the hotels are just breathtakingly incredible. And third, their beautiful beaches give way to giant lagoons, which keeps the sharks far away from shore. In Reunion, the shores are sadly vacant, while in Mauritius they are full of life.

So Richard, Elena, James and I snuck out of work for a long weekend to celebrate my 30th birthday. We decided on the Shandrani Resort, which is only a 5 minute taxi ride from the airport. The Shandrani is a 5-star, all-inclusive hotel...and it is simply breathtaking.

Reception

The rooms were simple, stylish, and crisply cleaned twice a day by a very friendly housekeeping staff.

We were so happy to be on vacation that we wasted no time! We signed in with reception...

...and dove head first into the glorious silky pool.

 After we were thoroughly cooled off, we decided to explore our new home away from home.

After a few islandy cocktails, we made dinner reservations. The hotel has a buffet, but also offers 5-course dinners through various themed restaurants. All you have to do is book the restaurant in advance. It's still a part of the all-inclusive...and the food is absurdly delicious.

I regret that I didn't bring a camera with me to dinner, because our hard-working boys decided to let off some steam and enjoy (a lot of) the free champagne. 

Every night at one of the bars there is live music, and so we stumbled upon a dance party after dinner. 

If you are wondering, the equation vacation + free champagne + Richard and James + music, equals a long night of hilarious dance moves that can never ever be replicated. I know in fact that they can never be replicated, because there was a group of teenage girls standing behind our guys trying to do just that. James and Richard were so spectacular with their drunk dancing that they had created a following.

I have no idea what time we ended up going to bed...but we had planned to be up at 6:00am to go find some dolphins for my birthday. Who knows how I convinced Richard to wake up a few hours later, (still drunk haha) but I did. Needless to say, we spent the last few minutes of my 20's in a glorious state of pure dancing bliss.