This is my entry to the Pinmapple If I had $1000 Contest - Seychelles

Dear Hiveans,

Hope you are doing well!

It is a crazy year; I think we can all agree on that. World is different from what we knew in the past pretty much everywhere. Covid-19 affected our day life routine and travel was affected in biggest possible way. Unimaginable happened. Tourism overall dropped by 90% on some destinations. Horrible times… Still I hope you are all good and hanging on there with your health which is the most important overall.

After a bit sad intro, I should continue in a more positive way and I will. Which is a happy place for you? For some of you it is definitely Vegas, while for some it definitely isn’t Vegas. Probably more of you are the last. Still let me dream of getting a 1000 $ (hope once 1000 Hive will be equal to 1000 dollars) and while I am dreaming, I can dram a bit more. I would go to Las Vegas, put all my money on roulette, red color in Bellagio let say :) Still with me? Yap, we are dreaming so, I will win of course. Now you gave me 2000 $. Yuppie happy me :) I would walk out of the casino straight home and power up 1000 $ I won to Hive power and for the initial 1000 $ I would start making a travel plan.

Now we come to the part where I am choosing travel destination. You pushed me to really thing what I would actually do. As there is situation as it is and we are slowly getting to the winter period here in Slovenia, so I am looking outside and there is darkness starting to drop down already at 5 pm, I could think only of summer. I miss summer! I prefer summer over winter that is for sure. You can do much more then, at least with my life style. OK now I have a vision, but that is far from final destination. Should I go to Maldives, as I always wanted to go to these water villas and I still want to go there, but that is close to 1000 $ a night, so totally not worth spent all that money for one night. I would have to win a jackpot for that not only 1000 $. Same for some Bora Bora or other beautiful islands in South Pacific; you might find something of better value there, but I am not totally convinced so I will drop that option as well. What about my neighbor country Croatia? Good choice as I could go there with family and have a great time, but I go there more or less every year, even if I don’t get 1000 $ from the air… So no, that wouldn’t be anything special and I would probably forget that quickly. But now I am thinking more of a direction where I want to go. Destination I already visited and I can not forget it, plus it can be budget destination as well…
I already know where I am going today. Do you know by the photo below?

Seychelles!
Wait, I wrote budget destination, 1000 $ you have to be kidding me. No actually I am not kidding. I have visited Seychelles twice. First time it was in September 2016 when I was there with my wife and my parents as a beach extension getaway from Safari in South Africa. Popular choice is safari plus beach getaway and I know why and I totally recommend it :)
Let me stop and comment this trip shortly at first. I will skip South African part as with 1000 $ you really can’t do both. I was not in charge for the finances that time, so I don’t have all details, but I am sure only Seychelles (about a week there) exceeded the budget 1000 $. At that time we visited all three bigger islands – Mahe, Praslin, La Digue.
I have to say we were a bit disappointed then. I am not sure why, but somehow expectations were probably too high. Maybe there were some personal things between us on this travel which were not totally cleared as well. We had some bad luck with accommodation on La Digue so we changed our plan a bit and get to even worse accommodation on Mahe. We started our travel on Praslin island and expected much more from la Digue where we departed after couple of days. And there come the disappointment. La Digue wasn’t as expected. Nothing there was. Accommodation, beaches are stunning, but only for photography not for swimming as I am used to from Mediterranean sea, food was very different and didn’t suit us, even people were not nice, but I don’t blame them as we might be the problem. There were also some small flies which bite and they are horrible, even worse than mosquitos. Well to conclude not much positive there, at least for the time of our travel. We finished our journey on Mahe which is the main island and had only two short days there as we changed city and apartment in between, so didn’t have much from it but on the first impression it wasn’t anything special as well.
We came back home, everybody asked how was Seychelles. In my home country that is like Heaven on Earth. Almost nobody goes there, but all knows them and dream about going there once. MY answer was, OK. Everybody was shocked. How only OK? What, how??? Simply as I wrote I wasn’t impressed and none of us were.
After few months and when I was preparing photography book for my memories something started to tease me. Was it really that bad? Come on, it was nice, look at the photos, etc.
Some doubt was present and I wasn’t sure about my feelings…
Below are photos from my first Seychelles visit in 2016, excluded Praslin island which will follow.

I am subscribed to some newsletter by local tourist agency which sends out daily special offers mainly airfares. One day at the beginning of 2017, so just couple of months after our return from Seychelles, I received an amazing rate which was called an error fare.
Short explanation of an error fare (with my words) is that air ticket is available at some funny rate and can be changed any minute from their start. Air rates changes all the time and this rate is most of the time available due to an error as the name already explains. I had to make an instant decision with my wife if we want to grab that opportunity or not. And we did it. We didn’t want to let go reexamination of what should be a spectacular destination. Price for return flight from Ljubljana to Praslin with short stop in Istanbul was only 450 EUR. Prices from Ljubljana airports are usually 450 EUR to some other European capitals where flight is up to 2 hour long. Only flight from Mahe to Praslin (domestic) is more than 100 EUR one way, which is how much we paid in 2016 when we used this line. So price was simply too good. After we received confirmation of the purchase our trip was confirmed. Short after that we reserved a hotel as well. We choose Berjaya Praslin Resort, which is a 3 stars property and we stayed there on our first stay as well. This was the only place where we were satisfied, so we didn’t search for any other accommodation or location. Another reason why we choose for this so quickly was rate, again. How much do you think it was for 7 nights bed & breakfast for double room? 700? 1000? 500? No, 352 EUR! Per person? No, per room! Per night? No, for 7 nights stay! Come on, that was no brainer…
I should add before probably. We decided that we will go back, but will go only to Praslin. No Mahe or La Digue. They didn’t deserve second chance, but Prasling was a bit overlooked at first as we expected much more from La DIgue which followed. So 7 days of Praslin with great air and hotel rate was a great start. Based on the experience we also rented a car for the whole time there. It was fair rate here as well. We paid 273 EUR for all 7 days with pick up, drop off at the airport and all possible insurance. Car was a small one, Kia Picato, but just the right one for the roads there and for me as a beginner for driving on the left lane :) That was experience for itself, but I had a great copilot :)
To do a recap we spent 760 EUR for fixed costs. We added small amount for gas as it is quite cheap there and we didn’t do much driving and for food. We didn’t care much for food to be honest. Once we did some buffet dinner which was about 30 $ per person if I am not mistaken and it was delicious. Other days we lived from breakfast which was very rich and self service plus we did some grocery in the shop nearby. Once a day we ate something in a restaurant as well, but nothing fancy, so we spent less than 200 on food and drinks altogether. Final number was some 950 EUR per person, which comes to around 1000 $. Here you can see parallels with the title and why I chose Seychelles for If I had $1000 Contest
I am sure most of you didn’t even think that you can get to Seychelles and have decent holidays for less than 1000 EUR per person. You need some luck, but it is possible.

Still I could choose some other destination for my If I had 1000 $ contest, but I decided for Seychelles. There is a paradox as firstly I really wasn’t impressed there, but now I would return there if I would be able to without thinking for a sec. This is how much opinion can change after sleeping over on a travel for a few months and especially revisiting a destination can change your opinion.

Going forward I will share some of the highlights from Seychelles, or better say Praslin island as I stayed with that only Praslin is nice for a long stay. La Digue or Mahe I would visit only on a day tour or maybe one night sleep.

The first highlight has to be beach! The nicest beach I have ever been, by far - Anse Lazio! It is in the peak of World’s nicest beaches by selection of many top tourist magazines and I could not agree more. I went there almost every day. It offers everything for a perfect summer relaxing holidays. Water temperature is perfect, still not too hot to refresh a bit, but also air temperature and humidity is not too harsh, so perfect. Positive thing is that weather conditions are pretty stable all year long.
Well back to the beach itself with few words, even though photos will speak better language. Beach is located on North-West side of the island, about 15 minutes with a car from our resort Berjaya. There is also public transport available, but bus drops you off a good hike from the beach. Terrain is quite hilly there so it offers some great views on the road as well. Not a lot of traffic, so no problems driving and finding a parking place at the beach. I am writing that based on my experience from 3 years ago, so I am not sure if anything changed in between, but I seriously doubt. Beach offers more than half a kilometer of place to welcome their visitors. I didn’t find it crowded at any time, but some says it can be. The best moment for arrival is early morning. I am not a long time sleeper, so waking up early and taking advantage of pure nature at Anse Lazio was incredible. That is also positive side of renting a car. You are your own boss. I didn’t use it for any other reason apart from driving to the beach and home. I also made a romantic dinner with my wife on the beach one evening. That was special too. It was so dark there. We had few candles and turned mobile lights on as it was a bit scary :) There were so many small crabs wanting to join the party. Well on the menu were Nutella and some fruit plus a glass of wine of course :)
Beach was nice as it offers great opportunity for swimming as well. No strong sea current, tide, waves and water gets deep quickly which suits me. That was just the opposite from all the beaches at La Digue and that is why I didn’t like that island. Just a few words before I finish with Anse Lazio about its underwater World. It offers so many amazing fishes. Manta rays were quite scary as well. I am good swimmer and love underwater research, but I didn’t have experience like the one at Praslin. Mediterranean Sea is totally different where I feel at home. Have I tell you yet, that this manta rays were HUGE. I heard people talking at the beach the find turtles in the water as well. I didn’t have this kind of luck, but everything happen with the reason. This is my big wish and I might have to go to other destination (Philippines?) to accomplish that or get 1000 $ and try again my luck again at the Seychelles. Anse Lazio is famous for sharks as well. Maybe better say that in past tense as nowadays there aren’t many there anymore. There were few attacks and even casualties… I didn’t see any shark there, but saw two small sharks playing close to our resort just few meters from the shore. Amazing sight for me, as I am not used to it here where I live.
Probably the best thing f it all is the scenery there. With rocks typical for Seychelles and crystal clear water which colors in amazing shades of blue. Sand is gorgeous; it doesn’t stick to you but offers plenty of playtime possibilities. We played hours and hours of tennis with wooden rackets. It was so fun and it is great to think back of these moments.
There is a lot of natural shadow under the palm trees so you can do whole day, beach day. There was not a lot of infrastructure built when I was there. That didn’t bother me as I went on budget trip, but it might bother some of you maybe. Overall there were not a lot of walkways built and public lighting should be better to extend your day. That I missed on whole Praslin and Seychelles overall. I am used of long walks after sunset from seaside destinations I am often visiting, but you won’t find that on Seychelles.
I said I will be short, but today I am somehow writing impressed :)
Enough is enough… Photos!

I will stop by at another beach in my journey which I would revisit if I would get 1000 $ and departed to Seychelles. That beach is named Anse Georgette. I found a lot of similarities with Anse Lazio and that shows what I like at beaches. Good for swimming (no seaweed, water deepens quickly, no big waves, strong currents…) Snorkeling there was a joy as well. Scenery breathtaking and another positive aspect are very few people there. Why? Due to a bit more complicated access. Beach is located close to Anse Lazio actually, but way there is through whole island. There is a possibility to walk from Anse Lazio to Anse Georgette as well, but they say it is good to go with a guide and that it is very difficult. As we were on holidays, we didn’t want to put much effort and rather sit in the car and departed there. Still you might need to turn around if you don’t announce yourself and reserve a space. Beach is located in the property of Constance Lemuria, which is a very fancy resort – I doubt that 1000 $ would be enough for a night there :) – but as beaches are public you can still visit even though you are not staying there. You have to give them a call and ask for a reservation. There are couple of spaces per day. Better call early and make sure you get the space as this beach is really exclusive. You park your car at the visitor area of the hotel and then you walk about 30 minutes a bit up and down, before you arrive to the beach. As you are all sweaty before arriving, quick jump in the water is a must. Ohhh I should add that trail leading to the beach is fantastic. It goes through the golf course. I was always fascinated by the golf courses and how tide up everything is. But I never played golf, maybe in the future. On our way back we tried how guests from this fancy hotel are treated as we took their golf cart ride back home.
Visiting Anse Georgette is a must, if you are staying in Praslin. I checked all other beaches as well and didn’t find any other which I would recommend visiting. Split your time between the two mentioned, I am sure you can not get boring at these two.
Let’s jump to the photos…

And part three of Praslin which I found very interesting is their Natural Reserve which is also at the UNESCO World Heritage Site is Vallee de Mai. Awesome place for real nature lovers. It is the most famous by its endemic coco de mer which is very valuable. Coco de mer is known to have the largest seeds of any plant in the World. Amazing right? Who would say that plant on Seychelles own that record. You have several trails there, so you can do different loops. They are all doable and you don’t need to be in perfect shape. But humidity is present and it can get hot, so I would advise early morning or late afternoon for that. Half day is usually enough, but depends from person to person. This environment is important for animal species as well. I remembered our trip by searching for black parrot, but without luck.
I can hardly say anything more from famous coco de mer as we didn’t do the tour, but explore reserve on our own. You can find plenty of material online and I will share some photos to give you an example of how it looks. Ohhh one more detail is that you will get fined big time if you take anything from that park, especially famous coco. There could also be prison sentence… But you can buy them from locals. They must have certificate. Want one? Prepare around 3-5 times the amount I wish to have for my travel, so around 3000 – 5000 $. Crazy!
Enjoy in last photos for today.

And that will round up my travel from Praslin with recommendations and my wish list to revisit if I would get 1000 $. I think I was pretty extensive. Never wrote that much, but I found perfect opportunity to do that today. Theme is perfect as I think we all dream of travels right now. World is different at the moment, but I am sure crisis will end soon and better time will come. I am positive that times for my visit of Seychelles will come too! Funny how I choose Seychelles to go there for a third time with this contest and I didn’t even like them at first. Hope I get the theme right and I included some of my personal experience as well. All published photography are mine as always. Hope you enjoyed my article and I hope many hiveans will see that post, so they will see that Seychelles are affordable if you catch the right moment. I also hope that contest will get many entries and competition will be hard so that @pinmapple team will have a lot of work :) Thank you guys for hosting that contest and giving the initiative of writing contest. I really enjoyed creating that one.
Thank you all for support in advance and wish you all a great weekend!