Introduction
ANA Business Class Chicago to Tokyo
United Club – Tokyo Narita
Thai Airways Business Class Tokyo to Bangkok
One Night in Bangkok
Thai Airways Business Class Bangkok to Bali
D’Wina Villa Kuta and Exploring Bali (Part 1)
Exploring Bali (Part 2)
Exploring Bali (Part 3)
Ethiopian Airlines Bangkok to Addis Ababa
Ethiopian Airlines Cloud Nine Lounge and Addis Ababa to Seychelles
Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort and Exploring the Seychelles (Part 1)
Exploring the Seychelles (Part 2)
Exploring the Seychelles (Part 3)
Ethiopian Airlines Seychelles to Addis Ababa and Back to the US

[NOTE: If you don’t do anything else, at least scroll through the pictures in this post – the views are absolutely incredible]

As we descended down to a tiny speck of an island, we were excited to see what this group of islands held for us.  After a boarding experience that was crazier than Miley Cyrus (read the previous installment if you missed that), our flight was relatively comfortable.  We flew in on Ethiopian Airlines, one of only a few airlines that fly to Seychelles.

Air Seychelles flies to a handful of destinations (Abu Dhabi, Madagascar, Hong Kong, South Africa, Mumbai, and Paris) but it’s not possible to redeem frequent flyer miles on Air Seychelles.  Condor flies a few times a week to Frankfurt, Emirates flies to Dubai, Etihad flies to Abu Dhabi, Kenya Airways flies to Nairobi, Transaero flies to Moscow, and Mihin Lanka flies to Sri Lanka.  So the options for getting to Seychelles were very limited, but fortunately, Ethiopian Airlines is a member of the Star Alliance, partners with United and US Airways (until they merge with American).

As we pulled up to the single-building airport, an Emirates A340-500 was parked…I think the airport can only handle 2 main international flights at a time.  We pulled up to a parking spot in front of the building (no jet bridges here!).  After a brief chemical inspection (ground staff entered the plane, and tested for yellow fever, among other diseases), we descended down a set of steps and made our way to the terminal building.  Since the Emirates flight had arrived a little before us, there was no line at immigration, so we breezed through.  The immigration officer did ask for specific printouts proving that we had booked accommodations for each night of our trip.

We retrieved our luggage, and headed to get our rental car.  The airport was mostly open-air (except for the air conditioned lounge we visited before our departure flight home), and it didn’t take long before we had our fearsome golf cart Hyundai i5 similar to this one:

Using the airport Wifi in Addis Ababa, I had already loaded maps and directions for Seychelles.  We were on the main island of Mahe, which is about 15 long and 5 miles wide.  Getting through the quaint downtown area of the capital city of Victoria was a little challenging, but we headed to the north part of the island for our first night at the Hilton Seychelles Northolme Resort & Spa:

The Hilton was absolutely breathtakingly beautiful.  When checking in, we were offered fresh mango juice in the main villa:

The property is made up of a few dozen villas – some are built up into the mountain, and some are directly over the water:

It was a bit cloudy when we arrived, but the views from the resort were even more stunning the next day:

The resort had its own small beach with canoes, snorkel gear, etc.  I had traded points with a friend, who is a Hilton Diamond member, so at check-in we were upgraded to an oceanfront villa (normally $900+ per night).   The room wasn’t quite ready, so the concierge gave us a tour of the property on a golf cart.  He drove us around to the pool, fitness center, and restaurant areas.  After the tour, we headed to one of the bars for a drink while they finished getting our room ready.

After we finished our drinks, the concierge was waiting with his golf cart to drive us over to our oceanfront villa #111.  The villa itself was stunning, and there was a surround sound system playing relaxing music throughout the room when we walked in.  I’ll let Lauren take you on a video tour of the villa:

We had dinner that night at a popular seafood buffet called The Boat House Restaurant.  It was a little pricey, but most things in the Seychelles are pretty expensive.  They had a chef grilling fresh fish, and tons of other options on the buffet.

After we filled up on seafood, we headed back to the villa – driving on the narrow, winding roads (and on the left side) wasn’t easy, but we made it!

The next morning, we went to check out the hotel’s breakfast, and it’s a good thing we did!  It was the largest, most incredible breakfast buffet I’ve ever seen.  There were dozens of breads, about 20 different fruits, every type of meat you could imagine (I think there were 4 different types of ham), homemade yogurt, granola, muffins, made-to-order omelets, cereals, juices, and the list goes on and on.  I had an omelet, which was brought to me with a fabulous presentation:

The restaurant was open-air with views of turquoise water as far as the eye could see.  Towards the end of the video below, take note of the mountains across the bay, as this was where we’d be headed for the rest of the day to check out the famous Anse Major, one of the top beaches in the world:

After breakfast, we headed back to our villa to pack up for a hike, but first we stopped to take a picture at this incredible infinity pool overlooking the water:

We hopped back in our golf cart Hyundai, and weaved our way around the cliffs to the furthest point that cars are allowed.  We parked at the start of the trail, and had about a 45 minute hike ahead of us.  The views during the hike were absolutely indescribable, so I’ll just let the pictures do the talking:

It was a relatively intense hike, especially carrying towels, a picnic lunch, etc. but we eventually made it to Anse Major.  I had read that the hike takes some effort, but “the reward at the end of it is fit for a king.”  That description couldn’t have been more accurate.  We came down to a pristine white beach, and we were literally the only ones there for the first hour or so:

After a little while, about 4-5 other folks showed up, but we had plenty of space to ourselves.  We swam, snorkeled, ate lunch, and just enjoyed the unspoiled beauty of this incredible beach:

Around 1:30, we headed back, as we had a flight to catch later that afternoon – we would be flying over to one of the smaller islands, Praslin.  Air Seychelles operates lots of short (15 minute) inter-island flights.  We went for a quick swim in the infinity pool, relaxed in a hammock for bit, and packed up our belongings to sadly say goodbye to the beautiful Hilton.

Continue to Part 13: Exploring the Seychelles (Part 2)