Who Goes to The Maldives for 48 Hours?

Me (+my friend), that’s Who!

Hello beautiful travel lovers, internet friends, and real life friends!! How you doing (in my Wendy Williams voice)? In keeping with talking about some of the places I’ve visited, I thought I’d talk about the Maldives. I mentioned here that I went to the Maldives 3 years ago (to the day as Facebook reminded me on Friday) at the end of a work stint in India. The Maldives is a destination that was always on my list but it was wayyy wayyy way up in the super duper dream section, hanging out next to Tahiti, Bora Bora, Antartica, Madagascar, etc. You get it!

What Changed?

Well, the opportunity came up to spend two months in Bangalore, India. To be honest, I did not have much knowledge about Bangalore until a few months before my trip. I studied the map and realised how close I’d be to one of my wildest dreams, so I gave myself permission to dream a little more. Cheap flights from India- perfect, short distance (only 1.5 hour flight) – perfect , the only thing that wasn’t endearing was the cost. But I thought to myself, when next will I have this opportunity? This was a YOLO moment and I’m glad I went for it. Dear Future husband, I will go with you to the Maldives, but Bae, there are other options for the honeymoon 🙂 .

Why 48 Hours?

Yo, you know Maldives is expensive so I could only afford for 2 nights, Friday to Sunday. My friend from University was interested in coming to India/Sri Lanka/Maldives, so it definitely helped that I’d be splitting accommodation costs. Shoutout to friends that say YES to adventure!! My friend went to Sri Lanka first and then we met at the airport in Male, Maldives. Not going to lie we were screaming with excitement. We’d stayed in touch after graduating but hadn’t seen each other in close to 5 years! Plus knowing our background it was just crazy to be hanging out in the Maldives. We started using the hashtag #dreamsmeetingreality

Back to costs, most resorts offer full board or half board. Our frugal selves went for half board which means breakfast and dinner included but no lunch or drinks. We may have taken (or stolen) a bunch of fruit and pastries from breakfast to eat as lunch. There’s no shame in my game 🙂

What Did We Get Up To?

We were picked up by a boat as we stayed at a resort about 1 hour from the airport by boat. Any further would require a seaplane which was more expensive. we stayed at the Vivant By Taj resort and since it was off peak season we even got a discount. In the Maldives most islands (i.e non locally inhabited ones) are limited to one resort per island. These islands/atolls are said to be a vanishing paradise and are expected be swallowed by the ocean within the next 30 years.

We received welcome drinks, got upgraded to an over-water bungalow so we spent a lot of time being giddy taking pictures and singing and dancing on camera. We walked around the island (took 20 minutes ), lay in hammocks, ate, sat by the infinity pool, took some more pictures, met couples and honeymooners, went snorkeling (some of the very best snorkeling I’ve done anywhere), fed stingray, saw baby sharks, and just chilled. On the last night, we went all out and danced the night way in the company of our new friends (aka, the dj who was also the bar tender, the honeymooners, the diving instructor and one other guy). Heck, we even played destiny’s child and I was Beyonce. At night sitting on our deck underneath thousands of stars, it felt as though I was on another planet far far away from anything familiar. We watched the sun rise, it was beautiful!!!!!

Would I Recommend It?

If you can afford it, absolutely, especially if its for a few days on the back end of a trip to India, or Sri Lanka, or somewhere close. I personally would not have gone all the way just for this from the US or even from the UK. I would also max out at 5 nights as I’m not too much of a beach person. One week would be too much for me. I have to say it was mostly couples and honeymooners but we had such a great time. So who’s to say its only for honeymooners? One of my favorite travel bloggers wrote about how to go to Maldives for much cheaper, check it out here.

Now… The Images From The Trip:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

You never know when a dream destination might become a reality, even if for 48 hours 🙂 Have you been to the Maldives or any other dream destination? What are your top 2 dream destinations?

 

Till next time,

Dee