Maldives magic!!

Saying a fond farewell to Kingsley at the airport

So now, I’m 6hrs into a 15hr flight back from Dubai to Chicago and time to recount the last part of our trip – 5 days in one of the most gorgeous places I’ve ever been to!   Our journey there was very smooth – we arrived around 10.30am, well ahead of our 1pm flight, so we bid farewell to Kingsley and headed into the terminal to check our bags.  It felt a bit weird to be suddenly on our own! 
Anyway, check-in was fine and security was a breeze, so we found a seat and waited for our flight (we’d spent all our remaining Sri Lankan rupees on gifts for the kids, so couldn’t afford a coffee!).  It was interesting people watching – a ton of folk from the Middle East, with the men dressed in long white robes and the women in their black abayas.  As we moved towards our gate, the mix changed again with lots more westerners (lots of Aussies and Europeans) waiting for the flight.  After what seemed like an age, it was finally time to board our Sri Lankan airlines flight for the 1hr hopper over to Male International airport.  It was (still!) a bit cloudy so I couldn’t see that much from the window but as we were coming in to land, I think I did see our resort, Gili Lankanfushi, from the plane – I’ve spent so much time on their website over the last few months, I think I’d recognize it anywhere! https://gili-lankanfushi.com/

Are we there yet??!!

We landed fine and it didn’t take too long to get through immigration.  Our bags took a while to come out but – finally – they arrived and we were on our way!!  Entering into the arrivals hall, we soon found our chap holding the wooden Gili Lankanfushi sign, so he greeted us and took the luggage cart and we followed him out of the terminal to our waiting…. speedboat!   

We felt very fancy as we were shown on board (with another couple as well), handed a cool towel and a gingery drink and made ourselves comfortable for the 20min transfer to our island.  I’ve never had a boat transfer before, so this was a first – and definitely a more fun way to get around!!  Also we were handed a cloth bag in which to put our shoes as Gili Lankanfushi’s motto is “no shoes, no news” – and that’s where they stayed!

This was a first for me - speedboat transfer to our hotel!



We passed a number of other islands and cays as we made our way to G.L. – one of the larger ones looked to be man-made with a ton of building going on (we spotted an ad in the airport on the way home later advertising them as luxury apartments for sale).  And then we were there!  We were met from our boat by the General Manager of the resort and also introduced to our own Mr Friday, Visham, who was to be our personal butler for the duration of our stay!

ManpanionTM feeling very fly



No shoes, no news. 

Oh yes.  This does not suck.

The resort is made up entirely of overwater villas – so check that one off the bucket list!!  Visham took us on a tour of the resort first in a white electric buggy – showing us where the main restaurant was, the overwater bar, the spa, outdoor cinema, boutique, dive center, gym and Japanese restaurant.  The resort is luxuriously rustic – its very big on sustainability and environmentalism, so the rooms are heavy on natural furnishings and recycled materials.  When we finally got to our room, one of the Lagoon villas, via a long overwater jetty, when Visam opened the front door, it was a real WOW moment!  It was amazing!  The first thing you saw on opening the door was the gorgeous, sparkling turquoise blue ocean from the open-air living room.  Out the front of the villa, there was a big wooden deck area with flat-bed couches to laze out on plus wooden steps leading directly into the ocean and a white hammock, out in the water.  It was simply gorgeous. 

The first view as we opened the front door of our villa -
not too shabby!!

The rest of the villa was equally as impressive – in addition to the large indoor-outdoor living space, it had a bedroom, a massive double bathroom (with a little glass window in the floor that you could see the fishes through), an outdoor shower room enclosed by chunky glass tiles, plus a large roof deck with an outdoor bed, seating area and table and chairs.  It was probably twice the size of my first apartment in New York!!

And.... relax

So this was to be our home for the next 4 nights!!  In addition to the villa, we were also equipped each with a bicycle with which to get around the island and a set of snorkeling gear.  To welcome us to our new home, Visham opened a half bottle of champagne, so we sipped chilled rose champagne as we completed the check-in formalities.  Very fancy-pants indeed!!  After that, Visham left and we sat out on the deck, gazing at the ocean.  By this stage, it was about 3pm, so it was a bit late for lunch.  We grabbed some snacks out of the mini bar and had our first dunk in the ocean.  It was soooo warm!!!  I also spent some time looking through all the various activities that you could get up to  - every day, there was a load of stuff to do, whether food-related or water sports.   Or we could do bugger all instead!  Some of it was dependent on the weather but we’ll see what its like tomorrow.  Hopefully the skies will have cleared up a bit by then. 

 We were staying on a half board basis, so breakfast and dinner was included.   Each night, there’s a special food theme – on the day we arrived, the theme was Asian streetfood.  It was fabulous!  The main restaurant is right on the beachfront, with candle-lit tables and chairs set out in the sand.  Dinner was set up as a buffet with multiple stations offering a vast selection of DELICIOUS food – staffed by a squad of chefs, ready to prepare dishes fresh for you.  There was so much to choose from!!  I can’t remember all the yummy things I tried – but they had peking duck pancakes, so I definitely made sure to have one of those!   And, with that, we waddled off to bed – completely stuffed and very very happy!   Its going to be an amazing 4 days!!