Most of us have that one special place on our travel bucket list, and mine was The Maldives. At last, I went on my dream vacation. Now, the Maldives is not somewhere (at least for me) to stay for 10 days, I think you would get bored. So we broke up our trip by spending time in the United Arab Emirates first. Dubai is about four and a half hours away from Male.

The Maldives consists of 1,190 coral islands grouped in a double chain of 27 atolls. Atolls are basically “island neighborhoods’ to make that easier to understand. There are several islands in each atoll.

There are about 160 private islands, each of them house their own resort. In order to have the “over the water” villa experience, you need to stay on a private island. My girls and I decided we were skipping Trinidad 2018 in order to go to the Maldives and I do not regret this decision.

We were a bit confused when we first started researching because there are several islands to choose from.. but once we selected one.. the planning was smooth sailing. Selecting a meal plan while on the island is what can make or break your budget. A half board trip = partial meals, where as a full board trip = meals included. The Maldives itself is a Muslim nation and does not allow travelers to bring alcohol into the island HOWEVER, if you stay at a private resort island, you can drink to your heart’s content. [Note: Private Islands charge 22% Tax & Gratuity, EVERYTHING is imported so you pay a hefty fee]

What makes the Maldives different from any other beach vacation? I’d say the luxury and exclusivity. I have stayed at resorts in Mexico, Jamaica and the Bahamas and there is a vast difference. There is no 7pm scheduled “entertainment” session or a 3pm ‘pool side volleyball’ game for hotel residents.

The Maldives is all about relaxation. They wait on you hand and foot. You have a butler from the moment you hit the airport to carry your luggage and escort you to your seaplane. Our villa got cleaned 3x a day and if we dare complained about an issue, it was addressed immediately.

Now on the topic of seaplanes. I knew we had to take an airport transfer from the main international airport in Male to our resort but jeez.. there are so many levels to this lol. We landed in Male, cleared customs then met our butler. Our butler then took our bags (we had to pay luggage weight fees because we were over the allowance for the small plane) and put us on a shuttle bus. The shuttle bus then took us to another section of the airport where after about an hour, we boarded the seaplane. Only a 20 minute flight, the seaplane dropped us off IN THE MIDDLE OF THE OCEAN. Why? Because now your hotel’s speed boat will come pick you up, to take your to your resort.

We were greeted by hotel staff, offered some refreshing mango mint drinks, signed our “these are the rules contracts” and taken to our villas. We had two lavish, 2-bedroom beach villas with our own pool, 2 bathrooms (one being an outdoor shower), an outdoor tub and luxe king sized beds.

If you look closely at the picture below, you see that dark cloud in the water? Those are FISH! lol Hence me running out the damn water. We ended up seeing three baby blacktip sharks, lots of fish, eels, and some dolphins.

I made sure I took a shower outdoor every day to soak up the sun and beautiful trees. We filled our days with water sports [fun tubing], bike riding, spa days, eating, lounging, blasting soca by the pool and drinking.

Related to food, we had everything. There were several options daily to choose from and plenty tropical fruit. Maldivians tend to eat a lot of curry foods so some days meals were curry inspired.

If you are looking for a vacation where you get to unwind and relax, you would enjoy the Maldives. We did have one “club night” on the grounds where there was a DJ and we got him to play soca for us. Without me even telling him an artist or where to look, he played current soca tunes and I could not have been more elated. Soca is making an impact all the way in south Asia.

I am still recovering from jet lag but I do believe the 12 hour time difference is worth it and I cannot wait to visit again. Would you go to the Maldives?