Total Miles Traveled: 49,655
As a child, I had one of those large spinning globes of the world – you know the ones, tilted to one side, with a raised surface you could run your fingers over when you felt the Himalayas or the Appalachians. Well, the Maldives were always the farthest place I could find from Houston – exactly on the other side of the globe. It was a game I had played many times growing up, and now, the little chain of islands – dots on the map – were only 4.5 hours by plane from Kuala Lumpur. Lisa and I decided it was time to realize our fantasies. This would be the one chance in our lifetimes that we could go. And so we did.
So, what did we think? Well, the Maldives are gorgeous. There’s no doubt about that. All the photos you see in travel magazines aren’t photoshopped – the scenery really is that beautiful, and some of the resorts probably are as idyllic as portrayed.
But…?
It’s also one of the most expensive countries we will ever visit in our lifetimes. They have a captive audience – honeymooners, the rich, the newly minted rich e.g. the Chinese (and there were MANY of them), and many others from all over the world. Let’s put it this way – the per night cost of a hotel room was 4 times more than I had ever paid. In short, I didn’t think it was worth the hefty price. I can think of many places that are very beautiful and for a fraction of the cost. THAT SAID, we enjoyed it very much.
Here are a few photos from our resort, the Sheraton Full Moon. Quite nice, but there are probably more secluded spots in the Maldives.
We stayed in a water bungalow – basically a cottage surrounded by/over the water . The view from our deck:
… it had stairs that led down in to the ocean so you could go snorkeling. Pretty nice.
Have a look at all of our photos from the Maldives:
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Next, we’ll report on the diving…