We’re on a road to nowhere…

I don’t think Talking Heads had a road trip in Mauritius in mind when they wrote their classic song, but it is hard to embrace the journey even when the destination is clear. A recent staycation involved a trip of 26.7 miles (46km) to the beautiful South East coast. Hardly a road trip in the true sense, but the journey took a little over 1.5 hours. Endless fields of sugar cane, single-track roads jammed with slow-moving lorries and buses. Add to that the Mauritian habit of stopping your car in the middle of the road to pop into a shop, a total failure to comprehend what indicators should be used for and scooter riders with a death wish does not make for a pleasant trip. The less said the better about the temperament of the husband driving.

Mauritius is a small island nation 40 miles (65km) long and 28 miles (45km) wide, that’s 787 square miles (2,040km) in total. Bigger than Singapore and smaller than Sicily. Living somewhere small definitely makes your world shrink. Once upon a time, driving 150-200 miles in the UK for a weekend away wouldn’t even register as an inconvenience, and the beach, upon arrival, certainly wasn’t as well worth the effort. Based on sunshine and crystal blue water, that is. Don’t get me wrong, I love the Norfolk coast, the beaches of Devon and Cornwall etc, but more for dog walking and pub lunches than sipping mojitos.

We have a small shopping mall and several supermarkets close by, but the best shopping is found at two huge malls in the more central area of the island. How often do we go? Rarely. I would like to say that it is because I am over retail therapy as a pastime but the truth is I can’t be bothered with the 50 minute (outside rush hour) drive unless I am absolutely desperate for Waitrose groceries.

We socialise with local friends at local bars and restaurants. We go to the local beaches as we are close to some of the island’s best, our favourite staycation hotel feels like a million miles away once enveloped in its embrace but is actually less than a 10-minute drive away. Yesterday I was chatting to a friend who had been overseas on business and we were bemoaning the lack of restaurants. Reflecting, this struck me as strange, we are far from short of restaurants, Indian, Italian, Chinese, Japanese, Fusion, Seafood, but many are mediocre, overpriced and short staffed. As a result one sticks to one’s favourites and this in itself makes my world feel smaller.

There are a lot of people on the road to nowhere it seems. With a population of 1.3 million people 661,553 vehicles were registered as at end of June 23 and no doubt that has increased. That’s ahead of Malaysia, China and India! No surprise that it takes forever to get anywhere. Why people own Porsche, Jaguar and Ferrari is beyond me as there are only 62 miles (100km) of motorway standard roads and many more miles of dirt track. I used to be quite a petrol head owning some luxury, fast cars but my love of driving has definitely been extinguished living here. Although that love affair was very quickly reignited behind the wheel of my best mate’s 5litre V6 BMW X6 on my last visit to the UK!