India and Maldives Vacation Index:

1. Introduction
2. Overview and Statistics
3. Zurich, Switzerland
4. Dehli and Agra
5. Jaipur
6. Hyderabad
7. Aurangabad/Mumbai
8. Making Peace with the Poverty
9. Quotes
10. Top 10 Favorite Things About India
11. Maldives & 11.5 Maldives with the Meyers
12. Top 10 Favorite Things About the Maldives
13. Paris
14. What We Would Have Done Differently & What We Did Right
15. Meanwhile, Back At Home…..

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TUESDAY

We left Mumbai early and flew to Cochi in southern India. From Cochi we flew to Male, the capital of the Maldives.  We were met in Male by a representative of Hyatt, and Mike and Sarah were met by a representative from the Conrad.  We said our farewells to each other, and headed over to the Hyatt’s lounge.  The Hyatt had arranged for the air and boat travel from Male to the resort.  We were a little disappointed to find out that we had a 3 hour layover.  We had traveled so much, we were so tired, and anxious to relax.  It was what it was, though, so we tried to make the best of it.  We walked around Male for a while, ate the food in the Hyatt lounge, watched some TV, flipped through pictures, and read.  The time ended up passing quickly.

Finally we were off on our flight from Male to a neighboring island of our resort.   The sun was setting and the view from the plane was spectacular. We had hoped to be laying on a beach for sunset but it was pretty great from the sky, too.

The plane landed but we still weren’t at our resort!  We had a 30 minute boat ride to Gaafu Alifu – our island.  Finally, around 9PM, we arrived at the resort.  Awe!  Happiness.  We couldn’t see much of the water, but the night sky was the most amazing I’d seen and our room was fabulous.   We stayed in Villa 35 and it was very private.  They all are, though.  There are a total of 50 villas and they weren’t all full.  There aren’t any family suites.  It’s very much set up to be a couples resort, not family.  Our villa had indoor and outdoor showers, outdoor bathtub, great shaded beach chairs, lovely spa music, fantastic lighting, candles all over, great views, and private beach access.  It really had amazing ambiance.  So well done!

Maldives Map

WEDNESDAY

Wednesday morning we slept in until 8ish and then we eagerly went outside to explore.  Really, words don’t do justice to how great it was.  My jaw hit the ground when I walked out onto the beach.  This resort is one of the top 100 in the world – it was paradise!  Truly!  I didn’t think places like this still existed.  When we were first looking at pictures of the Maldives I told Ben, “These are so photo-shopped; no way it’s this nice!”  Well, after the first day I told Ben, “Wow!  Those pictures don’t even do it justice!”  Oh my, oh my, oh my!  It was better than I even imagined!

We went to breakfast and enjoyed every delicious, interesting bite.  The breakfasts were complimentary and all you can eat.  Each morning they bring a three tiered platter which had fresh fruit on top, mushini roshi in middle, and fresh pastries on the bottom.  We munch on that while we order our ‘real’ meal.  The menu was mult-cultural which I loved.  There were Maldivian, Western, European, and Asian choices.  They also had a wide selection of fresh squeezed juices.  I ordered fresh pineapple juice every morning.  Ben had orange, apple (he says it was incredible), and pineapple.  Very fun and interesting!

On Wednesday we were completely lazy.  Highlights included: reading, napping, and eating.  We didn’t even swim or snorkel.  We were so lazy!  Around 3PM we switched villas to an over water bungalow.  The upgrade was $350 more per night – thus we only did it for one night.  It was worth it though!

We watched a movie in the late afternoon, watched the sunset, and took a walk.

We weren’t that hungry so we just ate from our fruit platter and had nutella with toast for dinner.  Food in the Maldives is expensive.  A typical dinner for two is $200 for the basics.  Our glasses of water were $9 each.  Interestingly, we had very small appetites in India and the Maldives.  I’m thinking maybe that had to do with the time change?  Out stomachs thought it was the middle of the night?  Not sure.  All I know is I have a huge appetite and I eat 5 – 6 meals a day at home, but I only could eat a maximum of two during our travels.  It was almost disappointing to not be hungry more often.  It was great in the Maldives, though.  Less money to spend.

Anyways…..

We did have a brief moment of productivity – we were running out of clothes so Ben and I washed some by hand.

We were so happy we upgraded to the over water bungalow for one night.  It had a great outdoor deck and I was in heaven just to lay out there and read a book.  Ben was sneaky and took a few pictures.

The night sky was amazing!  I tried to get a picture but it’s just not as great as I hoped.

One more thing we loved,(sorry), it was incredible to hear the ocean waves underneath us all night.  So soothing and relaxing.  We loved that place!

THURSDAY

On Thursday morning we ate breakfast and Ben cut my hair.  I had hoped to get a hair cut in India but we never found a time to squeeze it in.  Ben said it was a really cool experience to get an India hair cut.  Sad I missed it!  My ends were driving me nuts so I had Ben cut off the lower inch and a half.  He does that quite often, actually.  He can even add layers now.

After that we went snorkeling.  There was a coral reef which circled our island that was easily accessible from the shore, by two jetties, or by the bungalows.  The tide was a little low so we opted to use the jetty which was out deeper.  The water clarity was amazing.  The reef was incredible.  There were fish of every color, shape, and size.  It was so alive and healthy.  Loved it. We swam in the pool a little afterwards and then went back to bungalow and packed up and moved back to our beach villa.

We ate a great dinner and enjoyed watching a huge storm roll in.  It was too stormy to see the sunset, but I love storms so I was happy.  The food was great!   We ordered a hamburger and a Maldivian curry dish.  Both were top notch!

FRIDAY

On our final day, Friday, it was stormy and the current was strong so they wouldn’t let us snorkel.  Ben took a long nap and I walked around the island.  Then I took a long nap and Ben walked around the island.  We were just lazy bums.

Sadly, 5PM came way too quickly and we had to leave.  It was sad to leave the Maldives but I was starting to really ache for the kids.  We took a few farewell pictures at our happy home before we headed out.

The weather was bad so we couldn’t use the jetty/dock to board the boat.  Instead they picked us up on shore in a small boat and took us out to our larger one.  Our personal assistant (oh yeah, we each had our own personal assistant during our stay) asked if I got sea sick.  I told her no.  I asked if many people had trouble with sea sickness.  She said, “Just the oriental people, like me.”  She was Thai.  Well, we boarded the boat to find 4 Chinese couples and all four girls already had spit up bags.  There was one in particular who looked like she was dying. What’s funny is they had only been on the boat for like 4 minutes before us and they were already in dire straights.  During the 45 minute boat ride all the girls were miserable. I was so thankful for my steady stomach.

We flew back to Male and we were happy to see Mike and Sarah again!  I ran to Sarah with open arms.  The whole airport were staring at the crazy, loud Americans!  Oh well.

Next stop: Paris.

After that: HOME!  Home.  Home 🙂  Home!