Talking Covers: Trip to Maldives

Hey everyone,

I recently celebrated my 1st Marriage Anniversary and my sweetest betterhalf gave me the awesomst anniv gift-a trip to Maldives. I am still all smiles.

These days my blog , fellow blogger blogs and my travelling escapades are the only things which motivates me to go on with bouncy steps further in the life.

Maldives is like a picture postcard place and that too without photoshop. It is as real as it looks in its promotional pictures. It is the most beautiful place I have visited so far. The water is clear crystal blue which changes its colors to black and green depending on the depth of the ocean. And you can actually see the fishes from the shore. Maldives is meant for relaxation and rejuvenation -it is peaceful, it is serene , it is exquisite. One can actually spend hours gazing towards the waves-and that is all you are surrounded with.

We planned our Maldives trip with Flight Shop at the end of May,14 . Our earlier trip to Bali was also arranged by Flight shop and I must say that both the times they did a great job with arangements. Their packages are really nice and can be customised suiting your needs and convenience.

At Maldives, each resort is an island in itself and transportation between different islands is quite expensive. Therefore the better part of the trip is spent on the resort itself. Hence it very important to choose a right resorts and a right package suiting your requirements. We took an All inclusive package for 3 nights 4 days at Club Med Kani which inlcuded our Stay arrangements, all the food arrangements (Breakfast, Lunch , Dinner, drinks and snacks throughout the day ) and some of the activities including Surfing, Kayaking and Snorkling. All inclusive package differs from resort to resort.At Maldives, food is very expensive since every thing is imported . Hence it makes sense to opt for All inclusive package over there as is takes care of all your needs and you can simply spent your time lazing around the place.

Club med is a French corporation of vacation resorts with a presence over more then 100 worldwide destinations and are found mostly in exotic locations. They are very popular in Europe and South Asia mainly for their entertainment program all day round for their guests and their amazing night parties. Though Maldives is the preferred destination for lazing around and relaxation, your activities gets limited to your resort. And though looking for a place for rejuvation , we also wanted some fun element in our trip. When Flight Shop people suggested Club Med Kani and we checked up on the tripadvisor, the reviews were rave and everyone has applauded them for their courteous staff and their entertainment program. So we decided to go for it.

We were booked in Sri Lankan Airlines . We took a flight from Mumbai to Colomo (around 3 hours journey ) and changed flights in Colombo (1hour halt) for the direct Maldives airport (around 2 hour jouney). Sri Lankan airlines reminded me of cash strapped Air India airlines with sadly no TV and no music facility. But since it was a short journey, it was quite bearable.

The temperature in Maldives remains more or less same throughout the year . A bit hot with windy sunny weather. However towards June, rain starts and wet weather remains till September. So it is advisable to avoid visiting Maldives during this period otherwise you may miss out on all the water based activities.

At Maldives, Water Bunglows are very popular for stay . There are lavish cottages with a kitchen and a inside bar built on the wood plank in the middle of the ocean. Each cottage has downside stairs to directly slip into the ocean. They are very serene, very peaceful, very romantic and very costly. Most of the resorts in Maldives have the option of either staying in Water Bunglows or go for a normal beach bunglow and so did Club Med Kani. Since we were not looking for a luxurious trip, we chose beach bunglow for our stay with the bedroom window directly facing the ocean. It was very beautiful, very comfortable however a low on luxury. We also had the chance to see their Water Bunglows; they were quite lavish, but I would suggest that if you plan to opt for a water Bunglow, there are many other good options as well in Maldives.

Regarding the food spread I would give perfect 10 rating to Club Med since their food spread was just amazing . Though it was mainly influenced by French and South Asian cuisine (since they constitute major part of guest list in Club Med) and vegetarian options were limited (I am a pure vegetarian trying to become a eggatarian); the chefs were accommodating enough to cook special vegetarian meals for their vegetarian guests. Can u believe, I actually had dal palak, planner and mix veg over there and it was quite good in taste. And their desert section was just out of this world. Their All inclusive package also had snacks and drinks all through the day and all through the night and the way we stuffed ourselves, I am pretty we both must have accumulated lot of holiday fat.

Apart from its beautiful beaches, Maldives is a heaven for swimmers. It offers one of the best snorkelling and diving experiences. Unfortunately me and my husband being non swimmers could not experience the magic of the underwater world. But based on my interaction with othe people over there, its a must experience sport in Maldives.

During our stay we also took couple Balinese spa at the resort itself. It was not a part of our package and was freakingly expensive. But then I was really in the need of one and so we went ahead and splurged. Though I had taken the similar massage in Bali also, I found this one ironically better in Maldives. And I was feeling so relaxed and so shiny after it.

Whenever on a vacation I strongly believe in shopping for my abode . Male is the only commercial place in Maldives and the only one to shop from. While departing our flight was in the late eve hours. We checked early from our resort after depositing our luggage at airport, took a ferry from airport to Male . It was hardly a 5-10 mins ride. Maldives is very famous for mango wood and tortoise shape souvenirs. But remember to bargain a lot since everyone quotes double the price. \

Overall I had a awesome time in Maldives and would like to tell all my fellow readers that it's a experience everyone should have once in their lifetime.

Our package booked from Flight Shop was Rs. 70000/- per person. Plus visa is on arrival and free for Indian citizens.

Here are some of my pics from my trip to Maldives and stay at Club Med Kani