Hi all,
My family and I will be moving to Tamarin from London (arriving on 31st October) and I'm trying to figure out what to pay to bring out and what to buy there, also we arrive just before 2 public holidays and I'm wondering how much that affects shops opening times (if they are open at all). So these are my questions (bearing in mind we land just before 8am on the 31st):
1) Where can we buy food when we arrive? What are the opening hours of the shop / supermarket?
2) Where can we buy household items like pillows and bedding? What are prices and quality like? (I can pay £75 to bring an extra suitcase with bedding etc, but is it better to spend that money on new stuff once there?)
3) Very soon (i.e. less than two weeks) after we arrive it is our daughter's 3rd birthday and a month later her big sister's 9th birthday, so the big question is do I buy them presents in Mauritius once we're there or do I get them in the UK and pay the extra £75 suitcase to bring them out? The type of presents I'm looking for are standard toys and games for kids of their age. There won't be loads and loads, but equally I don't want their birthdays to be overlooked when they've just had such a big change. What is this kind of shopping like in Mauritius? Will I have good choice? Whereabouts on the island will I need to go for this kind of shop?
Finally, having lived in France and in the UK I'm wondering what effect the public holidays has on things like shop and restaurant openings. For example in France everything shuts down for public holidays, whilst in the UK you often can't tell it's a public holiday. So what's it like in Mauritius?
Thanks again everyone!
Sophie