An experience that can be re-lived forever

AJIC JUST IMMEDIATELY HAPPENED WHEN I UN- WRAPPED AND JUMPED INTO THE POOL. Let me forcefully take you aback. Traveling from Madrid to Singapore on an aroundthe-world trip sponsored by my modeling company from Italy, I was handed a lonesome trip of my choice. I could have added stops virtually anywhere in Europe, Africa or Asia. But I chose the Seychelles – for several reasons.

First, my lonesomeness loves remote islands. My planned annual trip destinations have included Easter Island, Hong Kong, Mombasa and the Maldives. The Seychelles were a natural continuation of this mundane madness. Secondly, I have stayed at Six Senses Laamu in the Maldives the last year and had the most heart throbbing welcoming. When Six Senses opened Zil Pasyon in the Seychelles last year, I followed along on social media and immediately added it to my travel wish list. I had no idea when I’d be able to visit, but I just wanted to go! Thirdly, we were traveling around the world in 2½ weeks and already visiting Europe and Asia. I liked the idea of adding an African nation to the itinerary one more time after my unforgettable trip to Mombasa – even if the Seychelles are only technically in Africa.

Flights to/from the Seychelles travel via central Africa or the Gulf states. From Copenhagen the best routing was Qatar Airways to Doha, Qatar and continuing on to Mahé in the Seychelles. That was a two 6 hour flights, with a thirty minute connection in Doha, and I was there. A perfect schedule would have had both flights during the day, but unfortunately that wasn’t an option on any airline on Christmas Holidays.

We left Copenhagen at 6PM, and then departed Doha at around 4AM. I reached Mahé at 8am. The only good thing I can say about the journey is that our second flight was almost empty, so I had about six rows to jump across. At least I got a little sleep. Now there are two options for reaching Six Senses Zil Pasyon: you can either transfer to a 15-minute Air Seychelles domestic flight to Praslin Island, be driven maybe 10 minutes across the island, and then take a

speed boat to the resort (half an hour). Or you can take a 15-minute helicopter ride from the Mahé airport directly to Félicité Island. The last choice is obvious for me and you – until you look at the pricing, than something happens to your mouth. It opens wide in despair. The Air Seychelles option is roughly US$200 each way for one adult while the boat/car transfers achieve at $200 each way. The helicopter is $1,500 each way. I decided to do both – I splurged on the helicopter ride to the resort (because helicoptering into a private African island sounded really exceptional, and my lonesomeness had never been on a helicopter before), and then I booked the domestic flight back to Mahé. I later learned that a lot of guests merely do the same damn thing with a behavior expressed at any beach