Bonjour Réunion - 20.09.2019

Let's start packing, then have breakfast, and then we have to go to the airport. After check-in, we go through customs control. Here we will be checked off on a printed list.

Sometimes this country is just amazing.

Franzi is scouting the beach right in front of the airport, and then, who would have guessed it, we are taking off from paradise 20 minutes earlier again and flying to Reunion. An island diagonally above Mauritius, officially belonging to France and therefore to the EU.

Approach landing on Sainte Denis in Reunion. From above, you can already see that we are back in the EU. There are roads, real houses, etc.

Out of the airport and into our shuttle that takes us to the car rental. Our little Renault Twingo is already waiting for us there, with which we will spend the next two weeks.

We go shopping with our rental car and here we are already shocked at how expensive Réunion is.

One kilo of bell peppers for 8€. That's crazy!

After filling our car with some snacks and water for around 45€, we continue into the mountains, specifically to the Salazie region. Google Maps says it will take an hour. After about 100 switchbacks, we realize that Google somehow leads us astray in the mountains. We eventually find ourselves at the end of a dead-end alley where we can't go any further. However, according to Maps, we must go through there. Franzi tries everything to get us closer with the map from the travel guide, but without street names, it doesn't help us much.

After asking 5 people which way to go, all of them telling us to always go up the mountain, we think we finally made it. 20 minutes later, we find ourselves at the same curve that we've already driven 5 times. There is only one way left that we haven't tried yet. With the help of the instructions from the people and our hostel owner, we finally manage to find the right way and arrive at the hostel at 08:00 PM tired and completely exhausted.
Here, the other 6 French guests are already waiting for us with the food. Oops.

The food is served on a terrace at only 10 degrees Celsius. Not very cozy, so we go to bed at half past nine. In a 4-bed room without heating. Even with long sports pants, a hoodie, and a thick blanket, I'm freezing a lot.