Dezember 2014 – one way to happiness

local islands of Maledives

Veröffentlicht am Dezember 31, 2014Juni 10, 2015 von Sarah&Marco

Heaven on earth….truly! – Affordable, too.

IMPRESSIONS OF MALEDIVES – Unforgettable Pictures
GOOD TO KNOW– Things you should know about Maledives
EXPLORE AROUND MAAFUSHI – getting around and great tours

You will not believe it until you saw it yourself. Unaffordable? No!

You do not have thousands on your bank account, but you want to heave yourself in terrific crystal blue water?

One way to do so:

do not book a package tour

You should travel individually. Not only a huge amount of money you will save, you´ll also be able to experience so much more and decide where and when to stay, too.

How to get to Maledives on low fares:
(arrival airport „Malé“)

flights from Colomobo (Sri Lanka) are really cheap and take only a bit over an hour; cost: from 110€-190€
flights from Thiruvananthapuram (India) or Chennai (India) are as cheap as from Sri Lanka
from Bangkok you will pay around 250-300€
flights from Germany and back are usually from 430 – 600€

To check out further flight plans, I always suggest to use www.skyscanner.com as they give you the chance to spot periods of low fares.

Where to stay on Maledives?

Well, as you probably noticed before, there are hundreds of islands on which you can enjoy your stay. It totally depends on your budget which destination you pick.

Low budget and high flexibility offer local islands such as Maafushi.

We decided to avoid touristic excessively expensive islands and chose Maafushi.

Our trip to Maledives

April, 13th, 2014.

With Korean Air we headed towards Malé. What you should definately do: Try to be early at the airport and ask for a seat at the window. Believe me: It´s going to be one of the best views in your live – especially if you can´t afford the private water-taxi.

Arriving at Hulhumale („the airport-island“ just by Malé), we picked up our suitcases and headed outside. The personnel at the airport speak English very well, so no worries. Anyway, you can´t miss the „counter“ of the ferry to Malé, which is leaving every ten minutes. It´s 1$ per person and we have been surprised of all the blue water right by the airport already…..wonderful.

Our trip to Maafushi took about 2 hours. For some of us, it wasn´t as pleasurous as it was for us.

As one arrives at Maafushi, there is no chance to miss one´s „hotel“. Not only because theisland is tiny, but also because the representatives of your hotel use to wait for arrivals very other hour at the „harbour“. :-)

And since it´s such a looong way to walk to your accomodation (100 – 400m haha), you can drop off your suitcases at the „wheel barrow“, which the representatives always take with them.

After we checked in, we took our camera and explored the area around our hotel, which was Arena Beach Hotel.
We definately picked the best located hotel, since the only private beach of Maafushi was ours.

I love it already!

Impressions of Maledives, Maledives

Lost in paradise – Maledives´secluded islands

Veröffentlicht am Dezember 3, 2014März 2, 2015 von Sarah&Marco

a dream comes true…

One day we spent on a so called „Picnic Island“. This island though differs from usual picnic islands, which are crowded with tourists from other resorts. In former times it had been a resort, but then the tsunami drowned the resort. The barracks and remains are still to look at and there´s one feeling, which emerged when we arrived: Read more

1001 Places

The world is like a book, and those who do not travel read only a page.

Veröffentlicht am Dezember 2, 2014März 2, 2015 von Sarah&Marco

„You only live once.“

That´s what people used to say. So what´s the deal we rather stick to our manners, instead of exploring the chances we could have?

Yeah, one day I just asked myself the same thing. Finally we decided:
Let´s live- and let´s take the high road to find out what´s out there. No defined aim, no obligations. Only infinite dreams and ourselves.

I do not say: Everyone is able to leave home and live in uncertainty of what´s next. But I do think, that everyone should.

Nothing will go wrong. You might depart from the origin plan, but you will deal with it. And who knows? Maybe your plan wasn´t all that good anyway?

We will try a new way of living and we will let you take part in it. Ideal life careers and exemplary resumes, is there a away without it?

„Du lebst nur einmal.“

Wieso sprechen alle davon, aber so wenige setzen es um? Wieso nutzen wir unsere Möglichkeiten heute nicht? Wieso leben wir nur, um zu arbeiten. 320 Tage arbeiten, um sich einmal im Jahr den Urlaub in die Toskana leisten zu können….das kann doch nicht der Sinn des Lebens sein, oder?

Diese Frage haben wir uns eines Tages gestellt. Und nein, das sollte nicht der Sinn sein. Also haben wir beschlossen unseren Rucksack zu packen und ziehen in die Welt hinaus.

„Die Welt ist wie ein Buch und wer nicht reist, liest nur eine Seite davon.“

Wir wollen unsere Gewohnheiten brechen und das ganze Buch lesen und die Welt erkunden. Alle Chancen wollen wir ergreifen …ohne explizit formuliertes Ziel, ohne Verpflichtungen…..einfach nur leben.

„Was, wenn´s schief geht?“
Eine Freundin von mir sagte dazu Folgendes:

Was soll schon schief gehen? Es kann nichts schief gehen. Es kann nur Planabweichungen geben und man stellt sich darauf ein. Ein gutes Motto, wie ich finde ;-)

Wir probieren ein Leben aus und wollen herausfinden, ob es das freie Leben…ohne Musterlebensläufe und große Karriere… gibt. Folgt uns und findet es gemeinsam mit uns heraus!

Budget & Finances, Maledives, Travel Tipps

Hotels & eat out on Maafushi

Veröffentlicht am Dezember 1, 2014Mai 23, 2015 von Sarah&Marco

Hotels on Maafushi

Low Budget. Those of you, who want to stay on low budget and spare the money for some great trips, you can choose accomodations from 50-60$ a night. Usually you will get a private bathroom, a fan and breakfast for that rate.
Luxurious. Those of you, who want to live in luxury rooms with AC, directly by the beach and many other services, can get that for a rate of 75-120$ a night.

Our recommendations:
ARENA BEACH HOTEL (right by the private beach)

STINGRAY BEACH INN (right behind the Arena Beach)
WHITESHELL (right by the private beach, next to Arena Beach)
KAANI BEACH (1 minute to the private beach)

One thing good to know: it really doesn´t matter where you stay at Maafushi, since the island is pretty small anyway.

TIPP: Don´t stress yourself with finding the perfect accomodation. There is ALWAYS a room available. You don´t do wrong by booking a room for the first day(s) and check out the rest when you get there. You can just popp into any hotel and ask to take a look at their rooms. They will make special offers, too. Just stay relaxed, because it´s soooo easy going…
The local prices are not more expensive than on booking.com and such.

if you do not book all nights ahead…
…you have the chance to hop on a ferry and check out another island as well.

Food in Maafushi

Dishes on Maafushi aren´t spectacular. The hotels try to adjust to the tourists and offer all kinds of national dishes….from pasta to french fries and hamburgers…you can find anything. Anyway: You should definately go for the whole fish, since it´s one-of-a-kind dishes in Maledives. They have a particular cut into the skin, marinate it and grill it in aluminium foil. The taste is amazing. All vegetables they offer as a side dish are delicious, too.

Budget & Finances, Flights & Transportation, Maledives

how to travel the Maldives on budget

Veröffentlicht am Dezember 1, 2014Juni 10, 2015 von Sarah&Marco

Location of Maafushi

Maafushi is located in the mid of all atolls, not very far away from Malé, the capital of Maledives.

In former times, tourists weren´t eligible to stay on local islands, which has changed some years ago though. Local islands have some huge advantages, as we found out for ourselves:

it´s way cheaper to eat out in comparison to resort islands
Full meal (fresh whole fish grilled with fresh steamed vegetables, 1L bottle of water, starter and dessert ~8-10$ a person.
On resort islands, you pay at least 13$ a person.
you can experience the real way of living of locals and still enjoy the idyllic paradise.

How to get there

Since Maafushi is a local island, there´s a constant connection with MTCC (Mid North Province Ferry) , which can be found on www.mtcc.com.mv . Usually the ferry leaves at 10am and 3pm heading to Maafushi and will cost you only 2$ a person.

Ferry schedule
Saturday 3 pm
Sunday 10 am, 3 pm
Monday 3 pm
Tuesday 10 am    3 pm
Wednesday    3 pm
Thursday 10 am 3 pm
Friday    n/a

Every hotel offers transportation with a speed boat, which is about 160-190$ per boat – not per person. If you share your costs you will be there within 30 minutes.

Another way to travel is to use the water taxi, which is abolutely impressive but demands for a high budget, too.