It's a Wrap - UAE and Maldives

As with all our travel adventures, eventually we must come home. Our return however wasn't exactly straight and boring; a further small adventure still awaited us. A couple days before our departure from Maldives, Z was reading the news and read about a strike planned for London's Heathrow airport. Why this caught our eye or was of any significance to us, it because we were flying home through London. The strike was to start 2 days before our arrival and last for a full 10 days. Of course, this created some uncertainty for us and made me wonder if we should look into redirecting our way home. As we read more about it, it appeared to be concentrated more specifically at a particular terminal at Heathrow, and thankfully we were not scheduled to land or fly out of that terminal. Rather than waste our last precious time in Maldives or even Abu Dhabi (part of our return route), we decided to stay the course and see what happens when we get to London. If anything our flight could be delayed, or cancelled and we get home later than expected. 

So after spending another day in Abu Dhabi, we boarded our 7 hour flight direct to London. We arrived mid afternoon and weren't quite sure what to expect after deplaning. We were pleasantly surprised to see at our arrival terminal that with our passport we could get through immigration electronically just by scanning our passport; no need to queue to see an immigration officer. How fantastic!! We breezed through immigration with such ease. Next test was to see how long it would take for our luggage to arrive and here too we were pleasantly surprised when our luggage showed up on the carousel after only about a 10 minute wait. On arrival, we felt no impact from the ongoing strike. We quickly jumped into a taxi and made our way to the hotel. We had purchased tickets to go see a show that evening, so we didn't have much time before we needed to head out for dinner. Heathrow is located quite far from the city centre and so we caught an Uber to the train station and took a 45 minute train ride to the London Bridge area. Z found a cool pub along the River Thames called The Horniman which is located in a former tea warehouse. We had a great dinner before heading to the show Guys and Dolls at the Bridge Theatre. This was a fantastic, funny, and interactive show, at least interactive for the folks who bought floor standing only tickets and needed to move around as the show progressed and needed to elevate the different stage components. This was a great way to spend our time in London and to cap off such an amazing and memorable trip. And any of my concerns about the strike impact were wasted energy in the end because everything was smooth sailing for our departure as well.... now was it because it was so darn early in the morning and not a lot of flights were leaving, or was it because the terminal we flew out of was not impacted, I'll never know. But what I do know is that I should listen to Z more who is regularly saying "worry less my dear, enjoy the moment!"

This trip was certainly one for the trips of a lifetime record books. We got to both explore two new countries in a part of the world that neither of us had really travelled to before. We were so impressed by the sights, the food, the higher standard of most everything, and all the unique first-time ever experiences. Dubai and Abu Dhabi, as developed as they both are, are beautiful in their own right. Each skyscraper has unique architectural features and with many that leave you awestruck with its design and/or height. There is definitely luxury and money here, that's quite obvious. It is such a melting pot of people and while it is in many ways a tolerant society, there are strict laws that you want to be aware of and I'd say outside of purely tourist areas and "international" beaches, it's best to dress more on the conservative side. 

The sheer magnitude of the beauty of Maldives is so incredibly hard to describe with words. It brought such joy, contentment, and peace to me. The picturesque scenery was such a great environment for me to reflect and think...and it really reinforced that the beach is my happy place where I best can collect my thoughts. 

On this trip, we flew over 35,000 kms on 8 different flights. We got to experience Etihad Airlines for the first time and have to say were quite impressed with their in flight service; very hospitable and gracious flight attendants. We booked this trip on points and used those points to fly business class. The seats were quite spacious as was the surrounding space and we experienced for the first time lay-flat pods that had privacy sliding doors; that provided an extra little bit of comfort when trying to sleep and not being disrupted by people walking up and down the aisle. Our flights were all mostly on time, no major delays and everything was quite efficient particularly on the Etihad flights.

As I reflect on how blessed we are to travel and explore the world through our own eyes, I came across some beautiful quotes that ring so true to how I feel:

"Of all the books in the world, the best stories are found between the pages of a passport" (author unknown). We've been extremely fortunate to write a lot of stories. And "once the travel bug bites, there is no known antidote, and I know that I shall be happily infected until the end of my life" (Michael Palin).

To travel is to live.... life is good. 

Maldives - The sunny side of life

The Republic of Maldives is an archipelagic state in South Asia in the Indian Ocean consisting of over 1100 coral islands situated within 26 atolls. The country is considered the lowest country in the world with the average natural ground situated only 1.5 metres above sea level and is at high risk of being submerged by raising sea levels. With current climate changes, it is being estimated that by 2100 Maldives could be inhabitable. Tourism is the main economic industry for the country. 

Getting to Maldives took us on a 4 hour overnight flight from Abu Dhabi to Male, the capital city. Each of the 160 resorts are located on individual islands within the atolls affording more privacy and a more luxurious experience for tourists. The population of each resort island consists of resort workers and the tourists visiting; no locals live on the islands. Depending on the distance the resort island is from Male, you'll either need to arrange for boat or seaplane transportation. With so many options of which resort to stay at, it can be difficult to decide. We ended up choosing the W Maldives, not only because it's part of our preferred hotel family, but because the house reef around the W is reported to be the best in all of Maldives. Considering this bucket list trip was in part chosen because we wanted to experience staying in an over the water villa, having the best house reef sealed the deal. 

The W is located in the North Ari Atoll on Fesdu Island and is a 20-25 minute seaplane flight away from Male. While we paid for the flight, all the actual arrangements were made by the hotel including having someone meet us upon arrival in Male, transporting us to the float plane terminal and getting us checked in and on our flight. It was quite a hands on experience. Getting to the W meant my first experience flying in a seaplane which was pretty cool, but very noisy especially at take off and landing. We flew Trans Maldivian Airways, which has the world's largest seaplane fleet and they use Canadian made DHC aircraft. The plane fit 18 passengers and had a crew of 3; the pilots flew bare footed. Flying over many of the different island was neat to see as well because you could really see how they are each formed with a coral reef; some uninhabited islands you could see were shallowy submerged yet you could still see the full island given the depth of the ocean. The flight was quite smooth and we arrived around 10am. Thankfully our villa was already ready for us when we arrived and after a brief orientation ride around the island in a golf cart, we had pretty much had a full day to enjoy ourselves. The tide was going out, but was still high enough for us to get out quickly for a snorkel after getting to our room. The villa had direct water access via a ladder off the very large outdoor deck. We got into the water as quickly as possible and found the snorkelling here to be some of the best snorkelling we've ever experienced. We saw a huge variety of different tropical fish including: regal angel fish, yellow tall wrasse, bullethead parrot fish, grouper, nemo, and one of my favourites - the moorish idol which always seemed to swim in a pair. We found a black moray eel feasting from inside a coral crevasse just in front of our villa. We also saw turtles, and my first ever black tip reef shark while snorkelling. There were many different variety of coral species as well like brain coral, finger coral, and staghorn coral which often had purple or pinkish tips to name a few. The marine ecosystem around the W resort looked like it was is pretty descent condition with the coral looking fairly healthy. The clams we saw were some of the largest clams I've ever encountered and their "lips" were usually purple. I saw a baby octopus from our deck swim by our villa one morning and for a brief second it attached itself to coral and began to change colour before swimming off. The water was always a comfortably warm temperature and so incredibly crystal clear that you could always see the sea life clearly even when not actually in the water. There was such an abundance of marine life including large schools of tiny fish that would look like a large dark spot in the ocean. We also spotted a sting ray from our deck one afternoon. This all made us feel like we were in our own private tropical aquarium. The only thing we needed to concern ourselves with were the tides. At low tide we could not snorkel because the coral was exposed and there was not enough clearance, but at high tide it became our ocean's playground. 

Not only is the snorkelling absolutely mind-blowing amazing, the diving in Maldives is incredible. Z decided that of all places, this would be the place to do a refresher course at the house reef. From there he then completed three other dives. --> Z here, yes! Before arriving I knew that I wanted to make a couple dives happen so I booked the refresher dive and one additional dive the next day. The W has a great dive centre called "Down Under" that made the entire diving experience super easy. I lucked out and got a dedicated dive instructor for my refresher, which started off with a written multiple choice test I was not expecting! I passed both and enjoyed a great first dive around the house reef with several more fish varieties and a hidden "W" under water which was a nice surprise. The next day, all my equipment was set up on the W dive boat and we were off to an area called Hohola Thila where I completed dive #2 and got to see shrimp, more colourful fish including large bat fish that would swim right up close to your mask! On this dive trip I met a couple from Hong Kong, and learned that the wife used to live in Coquitlam so it was fun exchanging stories as there were not many Canadians to be found in the Maldives (or so we thought). Turns out this couple had 10 (!) dives scheduled on their trip which made me rethink my plans. I was in a pristine dive location after all. I ended up booking two more dives in the following days (the cost per dive is very reasonable as they take a boat out with several people every morning) and was very glad I did. I ended up diving with manta rays, eagle rays, black eel, octopus, reef shark, so many more fish and as a bonus after one of our dives, a pod of spinner dolphins made an appearance alongside our boat.

The W resort is a heart shaped island that has a selection of over the water and beach front villas. There are 4 restaurant options each with its own theme. Each morning we ate at Kitchen, the buffet restaurant which offers a large selection of different ethnic foods and includes a large variety of tropical fruits and fresh squeezed juices. We ate at Fish, the seafood restaurant situated over the water that also serves non seafood dishes. In the evening they turn lights on the deck that point in the water and around 8pm a bunch of reef sharks can be seen around this area. One evening we even saw a string ray. Fire is another restaurant that caters mostly to land based meat dishes and is situated right on one of the beaches. On our second evening we attended their Earth Hour all you can eat BBQ dinner that featured a selection of grilled to your preference sirloin, lamb, lobster, tuna, and prawns along with a large selection of sides and salads. The dessert stand had too many delicious options to choose from that made it very difficult to choose. Everything we ate was of high quality and tasted superb. We didn't get around to eating at Kada, the restaurant that features mostly Maldivian cuisine because all the cuisine is seafood based and didn't appeal to me. The restaurant itself though has a cool vibe with picnic tables for seating under large tropical trees that if you look up you'll see are filled with fruit bats. Most of the time these bats were just hanging around, but we did get to witness a couple fly one morning and noticed their very large wingspans; wingspans can get up to 1.7 m. The resort also has a descent sized pool, called Wet, that is surrounded by the pool bar. In this same area you'll find board games, a ping pong table, a pool table and fitness gym. Also on the island is an over the water spa, their dive centre and Ouch - the medical clinic.... that one of us had to visit one day to have some itchy spots on her leg checked out. It's not a big island and probably takes no more than 10 minutes to walk around the entirely. As you come off the jetty where the seaplane parks, you enter the Living Room aka the check out area and where the talent team is available to help with any questions, requests or excursion bookings you need to make. Lastly there is a small gift shop right behind the Living Room where you can buy a variety of overpriced souvenirs to commemorate your trip. 

We stayed in villa 232 on the ocean side. About half of the villas are ocean side with the other half lagoon side. While both are incredibly wonderful to stay in, we discovered the ocean side villas have the house reef right in front while the lagoon side villas don't have much reef right in front. Having direct access to the reef was important to us. The villa is quite large with a king sized bed set up facing the water. Just a couple steps down from the bed is the sitting area featuring a comfortable lounger couch and a porthole in the floor so you can see the ocean below; it was really neat to look through there and see fish swimming around. The entire side facing the ocean is either window or windowed doors opening to the very large private deck that had 2 sun loungers, a table with two chairs, a covered round large cushioned seating area, a private infinity pool, an outdoor shower, and of course a ladder leading to the ocean playground below. Off to the side of the sleeping and seating area is the bathroom which features a separate soaker tub set beside a large window, a walk in shower, double sinks, and separate toilet room. The bed was super comfy and I think we both had some of our best sleeps of the trip here. The sound of the waves crashing into the villa stilts was quite soothing for me and also help with great sleep. There's no better sight for me in the morning that waking up and seeing the vast ocean in front of me. Making this even more special was being able to walk out on the deck and pier over the edge and clearly see all the fish swimming around. Being out in the middle of the Indian Ocean also meant very little light pollution making it ideal conditions for star gazing. During our trip Mars was also clearly visible each evening and it so happened that the parade of planets was occurred so we managed to catch a glimpse of Venus, with Uranus hidden behind it, Jupiter unfortunately was always hidden behind clouds on the horizon and was never visible. 

This being a bucket list trip of a lifetime, we did splurge a bit on a few treats for ourselves. We enjoyed a relaxing couple's massage treatment at Spa one afternoon. The setting was incredibly beautiful with the spa situated over the water and a view of the vast ocean in front of you. It was a very tranquil and soothing atmosphere. And the biggest splurge was treating ourselves to a private island escape. One unique feature of the W resort is that besides the main island, the W also has another small secluded private island, Gaathafushi; a 10-minute speed boat ride away. We booked an afternoon lunch BBQ on Gaathafushi which meant we got the entire little secluded island to ourselves. Well actually for lunch, a private chef and one wait staff are on island as well, but they leave after lunch, and you then get the entire island to yourself. We were treated to a 4-course meal prepared on island by the private chef. We enjoyed our lunch on the sand under the palm trees shaded nicely from the sun. We started with a sashimi appetizer consisting of 4 different fish; obviously this was a Z dish, and 2 salads; a fresh burrata salad and a chicken caesar salad. We started feeling full after these 2 courses already, guess we shouldn't have had breakfast and we still had 2 more to go! The chef BBQ'd the proteins for the main on site, and our main dish was a feast in itself. Something got lost in translation when we mentioned to the staff that I don't eat fish....we were obviously not specific enough because both of our main dishes came with a half lobster, 4 prawns, and squid - all shell fish. I guess we assumed the no fish instructions would have translated to nothing from the sea, but alas that was not the case. At least there was a really tasty lemon butter sauce which really helped mask the fishy taste of the shell fish and so I tried my best to eat some of it. In addition, Z got a tuna steak while I got a sirloin steak (which is what I thought was supposed to be the substitute for the seafood). Also on the plate a large serving of grilled vegetables. Needless to say we ate as much as we could, but really couldn't finish everything and in fact asked for dessert to be delivered to our room instead so we could eat it later when we actually had room again. The island is equipped with full toilets, showers and even an area that gets set up for overnight stays which is also an option that can be booked. After our fantastic, leisurely lunch, the chef and wait staff cleaned up but not before giving us the "bat" phone in case we needed to reach the main island and then left us to enjoy a couple hours by ourselves. We brought our snorkelling gear along because we knew the island was surrounded by a reef and that it was likely more untouched than the main house reef as it was further out and only accessible if you were on Gaasthafushi. The snorkelling was incredible. We spent most of the rest of our time there in the water. This was such a neat once in a lifetime experience; a splurge yes, but it was worth it! 

This beautiful place of paradise was a long way to get to and we thought we were the only Canadians on the island but as we were boarding our seaplane to begin our journey home, Z spotted a passenger with an Air Canada luggage tag and we discovered that this family was visiting from Smithers, BC. And we thought our journey was long!!

Abu Dhabi

The drive from Al Maha to Abu Dhabi is about 2 hours, again on very well maintained multi-lane highways. There are plenty of rest stops with gas stations along the highway network. We experienced that gas prices in UAE aren’t much different than back home and this surprises me quite a bit. I assumed gas prices would be much cheaper, but as they say it’s never good to assume things. 

We stayed at the St. Regis on Saadiyat Island, a beach resort area on the Persian Gulf in Abu Dhabi. Not quite sure what to expect, I was pleasantly surprised to see how crystal clear and turquoise the water is with the beach consisting of the finest white sand my toes have ever felt. Our room was a gorgeous suite with an ocean view and a large balcony. The room was nothing like I’ve ever experienced before with a large dressing room closet, king sized bed, large bathroom with soaker tub and separate rain shower, an expansive seating area, in addition to a separate working desk outfitted with post-it notes, highlighters, pencils, and an eraser. It felt like a home away from home. We were greeted in the room with a lovely welcome plate of fruit and chocolates- thanks to all of the stays over the years at Marriott. 

After settling in, we drove out to see the  Sheikh Zayed Grand Mosque in Abu Dhabi. This mosque was built between 1994 and 2007 and is built from natural materials chosen for long-lasting qualities, and include marble stone, gold, crystals, and ceramics. It was getting close to sundown and we thought it would be less busy, but also beautiful to see as the sun sets behind the mosque. The drive was about 15 minutes from the hotel and they have ample free parking on site. In fact underneath the mosque is a modern souk, which you have to walk through to get to the entry point of the mosque. Within the souk are many different shops including a very large and nicely decorated Tim Horton’s. We timed our visit in between prayer times; not sure if that was coincidence now or planned, but it worked out that way. We booked our tickets in advance and so it was easy entry. There is a dress code for visiting, and as a woman I needed to wear a head covering, long pants or shirts, and wear long sleeves. Another advantage of going at night is it’s a bit cooler so the dress code wasn’t as challenging than had we visited in the heat of the day. The mosque is stunningly beautiful. Starting with the elegant entry arches as you drive onto the property the make the mosque’s domes look like they are resting on the archways. We first walked the perimeter of the mosque in search of a spot to get a sunset picture with the entire mosque, but alas we didn’t quite find the spot we wanted. Nevertheless we still got some amazing photos of the mosque from the exterior. The perimeter walls are a combination of gold gates and whitewashed concrete. There are numerous entry points with security guards stationed everywhere. The mosque is massive and can hold over 40,000 worshippers in different prayers rooms , with the main prayer hall holding over 7,000. The entire architectural design and symmetry of the mosque is impressive. Four minarets stand at each corner of the building. At the entry, there are two large ponds on either side of the main entrance which reflect the mosque's columns and are illuminated at night to reflect the phases of the moon. I was in awe seeing how beautifully decorated the interior is with what appears to be hand painted floral designs on numerous columns in the main prayer hall with gold palm leaves at the top. The main prayer hall features a large intricately decorated carpet and massive ornate chandelier. We really enjoyed this visit. To finish our first day in Abu Dhabi, we enjoyed a complimentary dinner at the hotel’s buffet restaurant where they served a wide variety of different ethnic foods. 

On our second day, we had a relaxing morning with coffee on our patio before spending a bit of time relaxing on the beach before having brunch. We had pre-booked an afternoon behind the scenes tour of Yas Marina Circuit, where the season finale race of F1 is held. This was a really cool experience because we got to see things like the team’s on site meeting villas, the garage and pit lane, the winner’s podium, and the race control centre room. We learned a lot about the F1 weekend event itself and the surrounding theme parks and sites. Yas Island’s development was started in 2006 after Abu Dhabi learned it would be hosting the F1 season final race starting in 2009. The tour ended with our tour bus driving a lap on the actual full track length. We didn’t go nearly the speeds of the F1 cars, but our driver got up to 50km on the straightaway. The entire island has been developed in multi phases until 2028 with the purpose of turning the island into a leisure, shopping, and entertainment centre. There are several theme parks on the island as well. As part of our time in Abu Dhabi on the return portion of this trip, we stopped in at Yas Marina Circuit again where this time Z did a driving experience and got to drive an F3000 race car (looks similar to an F1 car) on the south portion of the circuit. They do the driving experience very well, stressing safety over all things. After changing into the racing gear, and a safety briefing, it was track time. They take out groups of 4-5 drivers and have 2-3 instructors paired within the drivers that lead the way. It’s loud, it’s fast, and it’s thrilling. Z had the time of his life on this bucket list experience. 

Afterwards, we walked around the area in search of a barber so Z could get his hair cut. We walked for around 10 minutes to Eithad arena which is located along the water with a nice promenade that features restaurants and some other shops. Z found a cafe/barber shop owned and operated by a young ex-pat from the UK who moved with his young family to UAE during Covid for a change in life. It was a quaint place and while Z got his hair cut, I enjoyed a very tasty flat white and admired the scenery around. We then decided to walk back to the hotel along the promenade and noticed a bunch of little kiosks set up for a night market that was running during Ramadan. Interestingly to us is that all the kiosks just had curtains covering up their little shop with merchandise sitting behind; none of it was locked up like we would expect to see back home. This really speaks to the safety aspect of UAE we were told about. UAE is a very safe country, with no need to worry about pick pockets, or theft. We didn't actually make it back to the area to see the night market, but it looked like it would have been a really good time. During our walk back to the hotel, which was about 15 minutes, I quickly discovered why we don't really see people walking about - the sun's heat gets to you quickly. The relief to this was spending the rest of the afternoon at the hotel's Wet deck (adult only pool) on the top floor of the hotel. To put things in perspective at the W, the hotel is not a sky scraper like most other buildings in UAE and only has 8 floors. 

We also did a tour of the presidential palace, Qsar Al Watan. This is a working palace, and not the residence, but worth a visit regardless. We booked an early evening tour slot just before last entry to the palace because we also wanted to see the light show they put on the exterior of the palace walls at 7pm. Again the architecture of the palace and its surrounding grounds are most impressive. The trees and shrubs are meticulously manicured. The exterior facade is made of white granite and limestone with pristine marble flooring with mosaic decorative insets. As you enter the palace, you walk into The Great Hall, a massive hall that boasts a chandelier with 350,000 pieces of crystals hanging from the dome. There are several different wings of the palace that we were able to tour, including the Spirit of Collaboration room - which is where the Arab League of Nations meet, the House of Knowledge - which boasts a large collection of historical books and manuscripts, the Presidential gift room - which as the title suggests houses a collection of various gifts given to the President by other countries. The 30 minute light show is projected on the exterior facade and tells the story of the UAE's past, present, and future aspirations. From Qasr Al Watan we made our way to the waterfront promenade called Corniche where we had supper at Forn Alaajouz; one of the many food trucks along the street. We both had manaesh with a slight twist with tomatoes on top. This capped off a very full day.

Our trip coincided with Ramadan which occurs in the ninth month of the Islamic calendar and is observed by Muslims as a month of fasting, prayer, and community.  We weren't quite sure how this would impact our travels, but in the end there was little impact on us. We were mostly in tourist areas and found that hotels and restaurants were operating as normal. We learned that UAE relaxed the rules slightly a year ago, but even still we tried to respect not drinking or eating in public areas during daylight. One of the hotels we stayed at in Abu Dhabi, the W Yas Island, held an Iftar dinner on our last night. Iftar is the main meal to break the fast at sunset and brings together brings families and friends. Because the hotel was hosting Iftar, and we needed to eat supper, we decided to check it out. It was held at the hotel's buffet restaurant and we found a large variety of different ethnic foods ranging from Asian, to Indian, to Middle Eastern along with a large dessert bar to choose from. It was here where we both tried camel meat for the first time. We had met a couple from Dubai at the Chicago airport as we were both waiting for our different flights and they suggested that if the opportunity arose to try both camel meat and camel milk. We tried camel milk during our desert stay in Dubai, and here we got to try the meat. It is a very tender meat that I would describe as having the consistency of beef. The flavour is not overly powerful and if I had not seen the dish was noted as camel, I would have thought I was eating beef. Overall it was a neat dining experience to see the restaurant filled with families and friends celebrating good company and good food. 

Our stay at the W Yas Island hotel was fantastic. This hotel is located right at F1 Yas Marina Circuit and straddles the race track along with marina views from its two buildings. The hotel is designed with racing in mind, the main restaurant is called the Garage, the carpeting in the hallways had a design that looked like race lines, and the hotel room number panels were also race themed. We were very lucky to be upgraded to the WOW suite, a massive one bedroom suite with a long balcony overlooking part of the race track and part of the marina. The suite was very nicely appointed, with a living room, a bar area, massive bathroom and walk-in shower, and very large bedroom with king bed. We really lucked out with this upgrade and wished we could have stayed there longer as it was a pretty stellar room. 

Next up the destination that prompted this entire trip to begin with....