Hi everyone,
I’m excited to be back writing my blog for the first time in 2023, and this time on our honeymoon!! Our wedding was so much fun and I can hardly believe it was already nearly two months ago. It was fabulous having all of our family and friends together to celebrate, especially my Pa, Grandma, Grandpa and Rob’s Nanny, Agnes. I’m writing from the Maldives where we are for our honeymoon. We considered Hawaii for our honeymoon but weirdly found that an over water villa in the Maldives worked out cheaper. My friend James went a year ago and said his resort was pretty good, so we booked the same one. We went out for dinner with my parents and Rob’s parents on Sunday, and then Mum and Dad drove us to the airport. In stark contrast to the international terminal this time last year when Mum, Dad and I headed to Singapore, it was jam packed. Last year we waltzed straight up to the counter and most counters/airlines were still closed. There was hardly anyone around, most of the shops were closed and even the vending machines were empty. It was nice to see the airport so busy again, but the queue to drop off our bags took ages. Once through, our plane boarded on time and left exactly on time which was great. Rob and I slept pretty much the entire way to our layover in Singapore, apart from when for some reason they wanted to give us all “dinner” at 2am Melbourne time and 11pm Singapore time. I had some bread and then went back to sleep. Not sure why they didn’t leave it a while and give us breakfast instead. We landed on time, and seeing as we had just over a five hour layover, Rob and I decided to head into Singapore and kill some time on our layover. Again in complete contrast to last year, we walked straight through the passport scanners, maskless, no vaccine certificate or negative test required. Barely any rules now to enter Singapore, I’m so glad things are finally getting back to normal. This entire flight experience was the first normal one we’ve experienced since 2019. Getting through immigration only took a few minutes, and then we caught a Grab (like an Uber) into the city. Forty minutes after having disembarked the plane we were standing in Clarke Quay, we had a great run. It was a bit eerie as it was 6am and pitch black at the start of our walk. However, if I had to pick any city in the world to wander in the middle of the night in the dark, I would pick Singapore. I reckon it’s the safest place on the planet. We walked along the river, it was already 25 degrees and 90% humidity. We wandered towards Boat Quay, the government buildings and then ended up around Marina Bay seeing the Merlion and the Marina Bay Sands. The timing of our layover was perfect, as we got to see darkness, dawn breaking, and then daylight. In fact our walk ended standing at the Merlion at 7am when the water started spurting out of his mouth which was pretty cool. We have both been to Singapore before (me in 2012 and 2022, Rob in 2017 just after we met) and it was nice to revisit together, stretch our legs and chew up some of our layover time. We caught a car back to the airport and explored terminal 3, stumbling across the airport’s Butterfly Garden which was a nice surprise. Then we boarded our 4.5 hour flight to Male, the capital of the Maldives. The Maldives is one of those idyllic places I thought I would probably never get to visit. I think I assumed it was for rich people to come and stay at for tens of thousands of dollars. But these days it seems like some resorts are being built that cater to more everyday people and are somewhat reasonably priced. We have paid $9000 Australian dollars for 9 nights for two of us, including unlimited food and drinks and some activities in an over water villa. All things considered, that is pretty good. No cultural information regarding the Maldives on this post. We are staying at our resort until 18th January, after which time we are spending two days in the capital city. We have a walking tour booked there so my final post of the trip will have lots of information. I’ll put a few posts up at the resort but they’ll mostly just be describing what we are doing and include some nice photos. When we landed in Male, there were so many people with resort signs at the arrival gate. We eventually found ours and I went and got some money out, then we were taken to a nice air conditioned seaplane terminal with internet, food and drinks to await our seaplane. The seaplane was an experience. Rob and I took two single window seats so we could both enjoy the view. We took off from the water and it was a one hour journey to our resort. The captain was wearing no shoes which was funny. I actually felt a bit scared at first - little planes feel so much more vulnerable than big ones. We went through a cloud soon after taking off and the turbulence was crazy. But the views were worth it. Despite it being a cloudy day, we could see so many islands and beautiful resorts surrounded by turquoise water, they looked like gem stones. It was well worth paying the extra to do the sea plane. The only downside was an extremely loud group of Spanish women, who managed to speak at full volume over the roaring engine for pretty much the entire flight. They talked so much it was exhausting! (And if I’m saying that, it says something!). We were grateful the engine was so loud! Finally we landed at a nearby resort, as it was too choppy to land at ours. We had to then get a speed boat for about 15 minutes. Once we arrived, we checked in at reception and Linda, one of the workers, showed us around. We’ve been here two hours and I’m totally sold - this place is actual paradise. We have unlimited food and drink for the entire nine days we are here. We are staying in a water villa with a ladder into the Indian Ocean, and they fulfilled my request for a room on the sunset side near the end of the pier. The water colour is stunning even on an overcast day like today. It’s totally perfect, and definitely a once in a lifetime trip. We are off to dinner soon at the buffet and will likely have a fairly early night as it already feels like midnight at 6pm for us! I won't post every day on this trip, but will when I feel there is enough to say and show you. Love to all Claire Xoxox
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