One of the maxims of French life is that, from time to time, one must get up and go. “Il faut partir,” near or far, but get away from the day-to-day grind and see other sights in order to return refreshed and reinvigorated.
Don’t get me wrong. There are plenty of places to do this in France, or even within the bounds of our European borders. But this year we decided to go a bit further afield. Can you guess where?
Hints: It is in the Indian ocean yet part of the African continent. French is spoken but it is not part of France. We’ll be bringing plenty of mosquito repellent. The flight takes about 12 hours.
I’ll leave you to mull it over while I go offline. All shall be revealed in a couple of weeks.
In the meantime, wish me bon voyage!
FranceSays 
Mauritius, peut-etre? Divine. Interested to know why not Reunion…
Bravo, Colin, 100% correct! You get extra ‘bons points’ for hitting on the mark straight off! As for why not La Réunion, all I can say is that where my partner is concerned, ZFrenchman never wants anything to do with France. So that rules out the DOM-TOM in general, other than our honeymoon trip to Tahiti which was a wedding gift. You wouldn’t believe how hard I had to work to convince him to go to Corsica! On the other hand, he spent a holiday as a teen with his parents, who worked for Air France and flew for free, in Mauritius and loved it. So it’s a return down memory lane for him, and a first for me in the area. I will let you know if it’s worth the detour!
lol – should have read these comments first! 🙂
How funny – when there are those of us who would choose anything with a French flavour. I’ve yet to go to our nearest, New Caledonia… Have a fabulous trip!
New Caledonia would be a beautiful destination, although there I think you are in tsunami territory!
Madagascar? Have a wonderful holiday, Mel!!
I would love to visit Madagascar, but that would definitely be more of an adventure. This is going to be a bit of R&R in a luxury setting… Thanks for your wishes, Andreas, and I will report back soon!
Ile Maurice is a popular destination lol! I still cannot understand maybe is the opposite syndrome with so many coming here, the goal is to get out. But France is No 1 in visitor visits for many years 2018 90M! hard to understand they need to go someplace else still ::)
I truly think it’s a French thing to want to get away from France and see new horizons! Too spoiled by what’s our own doorstep? Probably!
Exactly that is my point, new horizons but they don’t know what they have inside or is it us that know better lol! My collegues here go to some exotic place and I wondered why with so much beauty at home!
Mind you been to 81 countries but with France and Spain I have enough ::)
Looks like tsunami territory. Wear a lifejacket at all times. Even out to dinner 😁
Thanks for the advice! I hope it’s not a high-risk area for tsunamis…after white-knuckling the long flight, the last thing I need is something more to worry about! 😅
No tsunamis you are right. They do get cyclones . However there is always a risk of extreme weather anywhere .
Hmm…Madagascar or…Mauritius? Oh and Bon Voyage!
Thanks, Meeks! You guessed it too…Must be an Aussie advantage! 🤓
lol – my best friend at uni. came from Mauritius so I can’t take too much credit. 😀
Have a great time. Mauritius has been on our list for a while so I will be looking forward to your impressions & photos. (Suzanne)
Thanks, Suzanne! I’ll be happy to share at least my beach impressions from my smart phone….with a few feet shots!
Bon voyage! I suspect Mauritius is where you are headed. Enjoy and takes lots of photos to share with us😀
Well you all guessed it! Must not have made it hard enough but that is my mindset — taking it easy. Merci!
😁💕
It appears your readers are a smart bunch. Almost all of us thought Mauritius!
Bon voyage et repose-toi bien!
Indeed I am in brilliant company here on this blog! 😊 Merci Dale et à très bientôt!
Effectivement! I’ll be so bold as to include myself 😉
À bientôt!
Have a great time ! I’ve already told you my wife is Mauritian and still has a lot of connections there .Look forward to hearing your account of your time there. and don’t pull any punches although you will probably not need to throw any. Its a beautiful place !
I will tell it like it is, as is my wont! 😁 Hopefully I will be able to confirm your impressions…but knowing me, there will always be some story to tell! (I was going to say ‘something to complain about’ but trying to be zen…)
Easy question!
Happy and safe travels!
Thank you! Just packing and getting ready for departure. Very excited!
Have a wonderful holiday. I understand your ideas about enjoying the beauty of France but there are also so many beautiful places in the world to visit. I think you should see as many as possible! Putter around France when you don’t feel up to flying…can’t wait to see and hear your stories!
Thanks a lot, Karen! We are and I will! 😎
trop fastoche: île Maurice… à la recherche du Dodo!!! 🙂
You are better travelled than me, Melanie. What is the Dodo? 🧐