The Maldives….Paradise !! It really does exist.

We had planned to go to France this year with the Mustang and do the Castle route along the Loire River for 2 weeks. Then we were to drive to Sam, Bishop & the kids and spend the last week looking for a piece of land to buy. But as the weather was very poor the last 2 weeks before we decided to look for alternatives. When I said to Inge that we could also go to Malaysia, Indonesia, Thailand or the Maldives she didn’t hesitate for a second… Maldives!

That’s when the searching started for me… We wanted to go for 2 weeks and didn’t want to stay on the same island resort for those 2 weeks. As I couldn’t find a package deal I like I started putting the trip together myself. Flights were easy: it was the low season, so Martinair still had seats available. The Maldives consist of a number of small islands which all contain 1 resort. Depending on the distance from the International Airport at Male you travel to these resorts by boat, speedboat or sea plane. Sea planes are great fun, but they also charge ridiculous prices. Return fare per person for a 30 minute flight is about US$ 250,-

I used TripAdvisor.com to compare the different island resorts on price, quality and dive/snorkel facilities. TripAdvisor is an excellent site and gives you many reviews from people who have just returned from those places.

In the end we chose 2 resorts: Angaga and Filitheyo. We also decided to spend the last days in Male, so we could see a bit more of the country.... however, Male is not really a tourist place and we in the end we would rather have stayed on the island a day longer..