Whenever I'm asked what my favourite holiday destination has been, I always reply 'The Maldives'. The islands are absolutely stunning and the hospitality is world-class (and of the highest calibre I've experienced to date!), but what made The Maldives so special was how memorable and unique this holiday was for me.
My parents went to The Maldives for my dad's 40th birthday without me and my brother (specifically to Komandoo, which they loved) and they could not stop talking about it when they got back. So two years later, in 2010, they decided to go back, but with the kids in tow this time round, and so we set off for Mirihi island.
This was a momentous occasion, as although we'd travelled a lot prior to this, it was all within Europe. This was my first time on a long haul flight and out of Europe and I fell in love with the infamous long-haul flights. We arrived at the capital, where we were given coconuts to drink from, then we got into a tiny seaplane bound for Mirihi.
The seaplane was a very unique experience and from here we were escorted to our accommodation for the week. This consisted of the typical villas on stilts over the ocean that are typical of The Maldives, and being able to access the water from the back of our villa was astounding to us at the time. The crystal-clear water and white sand meant that we could see the fish (and baby sharks!) swimming right by us in the shallow water too.
Although I enjoyed snorkelling and visiting other (residential) islands, there were two experiences that were the cherry-on-top of this incredible holiday. The first was being able to swim with the biggest shark in the world: the whale shark. Despite it's monstrous size, it is actually pretty much harmless to humans, feeding on plankton, but it's impressive nonetheless. Secondly, I scuba dived for the first time. This was an incredible experience for me, and although I have scuba dived since, it remains my favourite location to dive. Firstly, the instructor taught us how to read and signal our oxygen gauges and communicate how we were doing throughout, and secondly the corals and fish were so colourful and bright, leaving me excited to explore other reefs and oceans. Since then, I have scuba dived in the Caribbean Sea (Saint Lucia, 2017), and the Great Barrier Reef (Australia, 2019). Both of these locations showed vast coral bleaching (granted, it was quite a few years after 2010 and global warming is on the rise), which meant the view wasn't as astounding, however more notably, in the Great Barrier Reef the scuba diving experience was very commercialised, with ropes to guide you through sections and pull you deeper (as opposed to controlling your buoyancy), and the instructor did everything for you instead of teaching you how to do it. This wasn't the case in Saint Lucia, where I even had my own instructor, however the difference in vibrancy made me very thankful to have gone in 2010 and was very eye-opening.
I'd love to go back to The Maldives eventually (maybe for a honeymoon or anniversary), and one reason for this is that it's exactly as advertised. My parents spent two years hyping up this country and when we visited, I was not disappointed in the least, but rather the opposite. The people are beyond lovely, the hospitality is of the highest standard, and the islands are stunning. On the contrary, many people had told me that Bali, Indonesia was their favourite place in the world and it's often advertised similarly to the Maldives, however I remember being underwhelmed. Whilst the resorts are incredible and the views are beautiful, we travelled between Jakarta, Borobudur Temple, and Denpasar, and found a lot of poverty between the world-renowned resorts.
Although since visiting the Maldives I've had a lot more eventful holidays with friends, and gone to many beautiful destinations with my family, I still hold this memory dearly as it constituted many first-times for me and started my love of travelling (especially long-haul) and experiencing new activities and cultures, and thus, it's my go to answer to 'What's been your favourite holiday?'.
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