Heading Home, Take Two

We’re headed home, this time for real! I’m writing from our flight to Paris – success!

Yesterday, for our last day on the island, we went out for a little hike, and explored Saint Denis a bit more. The city still isn’t fully up and running – lots of restaurants aren’t serving yet, some stores haven’t opened – but it’s getting there.

Despite the minor hiccup of the cyclone, it was still a great trip. And Reunion is a lovely destination. I’d definitely recommend it for folks looking for a more adventure-focused vacation. If you’re interested in beaches and want to try somewhere new, it sounds like Mauritius is the place for you. Even the Reunioners go there for their vacations. But if you want to hike, bike, climb, paraglide, surf, or dive, Reunion has a lot to offer.

One thing that shocked us time and time again is how active the locals are – I’m not sure we’ve even been to somewhere with such a strong focus on being active. People don’t just go out for a hike – they trail run. They don’t just take advantage of all the lovely bike lanes around the island – they bike up the endless switchbacks to the very highest peaks.

We managed just fine without being French-speakers, but the tourism economy is definitely aimed at folks from mainland France, so don’t expect to find English-speakers, even in tourism.

We didn’t dive deep into the food culture, or really any culture – that’d be a fun focus for a future visit. The produce is fantastic, and we loved our daily fruits and vegetables. While it’s hard to keep pastries light and crisp in tropical weather, we also loved all the boulangeries and patisseries.

We’ll be happy to get home, but we’ve had a great adventure.