Our first holiday during the pandemic - Gorgeous Seychelles

Sarah Pickford on 27 November 2020
My story of the Seychelles trip is broken into 2 parts. This second one being about the holiday experience.

Part 2

At the hotel, the team were waiting for us by the helipad. I didn’t notice them at first as I was busy taking a video of our arrival. Because it was spectacular and I loved watching the daily arrivals from the beach during our trip. A very warm and friendly welcome, wave the pilot off again and a short buggy to our villa where we were shown around and checked in with no waiting around. We were staying at the beautiful 5* luxury Raffles Praslin. And I do mean beautiful. The two of us became amateur photographers for the week taking non-stop photographs. Above and under the water – testing the waterproof capability of the iPhone! This is a stunning resort with Indian Ocean and island views. Lush greenery, aquamarine water and white sand. A few ‘Instagramable’ photo spots around the resort including the lovely pool area. Along with lovely wildlife with geckos, bats and birds galore, giant tortoises to feed and a tiny little island Tenrec, which we had to 'google' as we had never seen one before. Marine life in abundance too and whilst they didn't like to be filmed we saw a lovely group of baby sharks. It is quite a small property but somehow there was plenty of space and even though occupancy was pretty high, it didn’t feel it at any stage.

Like other places, we have stayed in Seychelles our villa had a small private pool. And the living space was mainly outdoors too. The large lounge seating area, dining table and sundeck area all outside with the bedroom and small seating area indoors. A lovely large, bright bathroom with a ‘bath with a view, and to my delight, an outdoor shower. I don’t think I will ever tire of showering outdoors, often joined by a few geckos. So, this area along with our cabana at the beach, and the pool area was where we spent most of our time. During this pandemic travellers to Seychelles from both UAE and UK were currently restricted to the resort for the first 7 days of the trip until in receipt of a negative covid test taken on day 6. The hotel facilitated the test for us, so nice and easy but it did mean we didn’t get to see much outside of the resort as we also left on day 7.

7 days of food at the same resort may, in other properties, put me off. But not here at Raffles Seychelles. The food was good and varied. Breakfast was part a la carte and part assisted buffet. Lunch/all day a la carte snacks and meals were available poolside or in the villa. And dinner could be a la carte too or take part in the various theme nights, such as Japanese, Creole or Lobster. We couldn’t fault the cuisine in terms of quality or choice. And the setting for our dinners was just wow.

Our seventh day came around all too quickly and after a final afternoon around the pool and saying fond farewells to the team, we were whisked away again in the helicopter back to Mahe. We had arranged a driver to take us to Eden island for a few hours before our late flight home. And we were happy to see that this marina area was full of life, with busy bars and restaurants, showing us that Seychelles is definitely open to visitors. Whilst we relaxed and loved our tranquil island idyll, for may of you exploring this lively area may appeal and I'm happy to share my experience of that with you too.