Maldives
We got up with our 5am wake up call and got in a cab to the airport. Both Jonathan and I were zonked from the previous evening's door episode, but we were able to make it through security and customs towards the gate with minimal confusion (though we did walk in the wrong direction a few times!) The flight was uneventful, save for the airline service. Sri Lankan Air is a pretty nice company to fly, if you ever wondered :) Once in Sri Lanka we made a beeline for our next flight to Male, which was boarding when we landed. It was another large plane because, apparently, it has a direct connection to England.
That said, once we got to Male and through customs we were brought over to the Hilton Waiting Room to await our SEAPLANE escort to the hotel...the hotel has it's own island 45 minutes off the coast of Male. The flights were an hour behind, so they were nice enough to serve us lunch while we waited. Once we got on the plane (I was freaking out) and took off there was an excellent view of what makes up the Maldives: About 1,100 mini islands, either with their own small towns, a hotel/resort, or completely uninhabited. The hotel itself is gorgeous. The island is approximately a 10 minute walk around the perimeter (Which we've done after dinner each night), has about 6 restaurants, 2 pools, and a couple of docks. Two of the docks have water villas-full villas that are on stilts over the water, while the rest of the rooms are beach villas, with outdoor bathrooms. Someone greeted us off the seaplane and brought us to reception for a full check in, as well as an overview of the island, and then walked us over to our own Beach Villa. We even have our own private cabana over the beach and a small piece of sand/ocean that is exclusively ours. I took a video tour of it, which I'll post with the photos.
The whole island is like a dream. The water is crystal clear and a bright turquoise color that you would only think to see in magazines and movies. It's one of the few unspoiled parts of the world. Even the outdoor shower is in a tropical setting (complete with mosquitoes, however. I've been chomped on quite a bit since arriving!) There's not much else to say about our 4 days here. It's an island, so there's nothing more to do than eat, sleep, and swim. We did go on a snorkeling tour our last full day, which was pretty neat. There were a lot of tropical fish swimming around and deep expanses of coral, clams, etc to see. Jonathan took pictures with his waterproof camera, so I should be able to post some of them too.
That's about it! Time to go lay along the beach side a little more before departing!
That said, once we got to Male and through customs we were brought over to the Hilton Waiting Room to await our SEAPLANE escort to the hotel...the hotel has it's own island 45 minutes off the coast of Male. The flights were an hour behind, so they were nice enough to serve us lunch while we waited. Once we got on the plane (I was freaking out) and took off there was an excellent view of what makes up the Maldives: About 1,100 mini islands, either with their own small towns, a hotel/resort, or completely uninhabited. The hotel itself is gorgeous. The island is approximately a 10 minute walk around the perimeter (Which we've done after dinner each night), has about 6 restaurants, 2 pools, and a couple of docks. Two of the docks have water villas-full villas that are on stilts over the water, while the rest of the rooms are beach villas, with outdoor bathrooms. Someone greeted us off the seaplane and brought us to reception for a full check in, as well as an overview of the island, and then walked us over to our own Beach Villa. We even have our own private cabana over the beach and a small piece of sand/ocean that is exclusively ours. I took a video tour of it, which I'll post with the photos.
The whole island is like a dream. The water is crystal clear and a bright turquoise color that you would only think to see in magazines and movies. It's one of the few unspoiled parts of the world. Even the outdoor shower is in a tropical setting (complete with mosquitoes, however. I've been chomped on quite a bit since arriving!) There's not much else to say about our 4 days here. It's an island, so there's nothing more to do than eat, sleep, and swim. We did go on a snorkeling tour our last full day, which was pretty neat. There were a lot of tropical fish swimming around and deep expanses of coral, clams, etc to see. Jonathan took pictures with his waterproof camera, so I should be able to post some of them too.
That's about it! Time to go lay along the beach side a little more before departing!