You know those Instagram posts where someone is leading their partner towards something beautiful?
Well, there is another side to that story. It’s the person being dragged behind.
Too often, we like to paint a picture that our travels are perfection. This idillic
photo here doesn’t show all the tedious aspects that went into taking it. And collectively,
along with everyone else doing the same thing, it creates an expectation that just can’t be met.
So I wanted to address that imbalance and talk about a time one of our holidays didn’t quite
go as hoped.
"Lovely weather we are having here. Having a great time!"
Although you wouldn’t have known it from my posts at the time. It was July 2019 and we
had just booked our second trip to The Maldives. I’m going to talk you through our expectations,
the actual reality we were faced with and then what I learnt from it all.
And hopefully, dear viewer, what I hope YOU might remember whilst planning your next holiday,
no matter the destination. This is Suitcase Monkey trying to show it’s ok if everything isn’t ok.
We’ve been fortunate enough to visit the Maldives twice now.
The first time was in the dry season, of February and it was the closest I’ve ever been to paradise.
The second time we took a chance and went during the wet season in July. Now, specifically for this
kind of holiday, this is a place, where you REALLY keep your fingers crossed for good weather. All
the things I talked about in my first Maldives video rely on sunny days. The thing we spent
most our time doing here, was just existing in nirvana. But July was when we were available
and due to it being the wet season, there were some good deals on, so we took a chance.
The second thing that raised the stakes was the cost. Because if a trip to the Maldives
was just a fiver, then you might as well just give it a try, wet season or not.
But this holiday was the most we’ve ever spent per day on a single trip.
Looking specifically at our second visit, we spent just under £2,000 per person for just 6 nights.
£2,000 for 6 nights; that’s £326 a day, or £13 an hour to exist in this paradise.
And admittedly, a third of that, I was asleep.
Now, I did work it out folks, I uh, had a really long trip to the bathroom on day 2,
that cost me £8. Now, admittedly this money got us a beautiful over the water villa, all
inclusive food and drink, speed boat transfers, flights from London and a dolphin cruise.
But the point is, if you’re spending that much money, do you want this to be your
welcome? Wet and windy, our welcome buggy drove us to our villas, and I can’t lie,
my holiday excitement was slightly dampened. There’s a reason THIS isn’t on the brochure.
The irony was that this was the London weather we left behind.
Now compare this arrival to what I had in my memory from our first trip to The Maldives,
where our arrival was almost magical. THIS was less Couples Retreat and more Mary Poppins.
Fortunately however, the rain only lasted a couple of hours and gave us some time to
get acquainted with my favourite thing about this sort of holiday - the lavish over the water villa
which was simply heavenly. Without a doubt my favourite moment of our first trip was waking
up in the morning, looking over calm waters, and breathing it all in, in almost total silence……..
So… I crossed my fingers for the rest of our trip…
How much would rain impact our next 5 days? Had we made a massive error in spending all that money?
But the rest of our 1st day was a success in every sense of the word.
(UPBEAT MUSIC)
We couldn’t have asked for a better Day 2. Sunny hot weather,
a tasty breakfast, a spot of sunbathing, lunch, snorkelling, and a divine dinner.
The only thing that was starting to have a little impact on our idyllic holiday life,
was the copious amounts of construction going on, throughout the island.
While booking, the small print did say there was some works going on,
but it was much more widespread than we’d been lead to believe.
Late on our third morning, however, there was a very clear sign on the
horizon. And we didn’t know it then, but we had just turned an important corner
in our time here. We would not be seeing a blue sky again for the next 3 days.
I’d heard before people mention that it might only be a quick burst of rain here.
Those tropical storms that come and go. Which wasn’t totally the case. Because what that
translated to was entire evenings rained off, or lost mornings or afternoons or just grey,
sunless skies that lasted for days. Which made up the majority of our 6 nights here.
The worst part though, actually turned out to be strong winds and not just for having
sand blown into your face half the time. Our pre booked dolphin trip was unfortunately
cancelled due to the stormy conditions which we’d obviously been really looking forward to.
But going back to sunnier times, let me try and recreate the scene for you of dining in
The Maldives. Beautiful isn’t it. The sea. The wildlife by your side. Pure bliss.
You’ll notice, that the dining areas don’t have any hard walls, so there are no barriers between
you and your surroundings. Closer to nature. Just keep those feelings in mind for a minute.
Now, Unfortunately, this means, that when it isn’t sunny, the only thing keeping you
from the elements is some flimsy plastic, which flaps around like it’s trying to fly.
Looking back on this footage though, the constant sound of all this flapping plastic
doesn’t really come through so let me recreate the scene for you.
(SOUND OF HAIRDRYER, CLAPPING HAND AND WIND BLOWING IN FACE)
This is not relaxing.
There was one evening we awoke in the middle of the night and I literally thought I was about
to die. I could almost feel the roof separating from the walls around me.
The wind was howling around us and it felt like we were in the eye of the storm.
But, can you believe it, it turns out I was just being over dramatic. Although in my defence
I did see a piece of villa floating the next day so I don’t think I was THAT far off…
(SOFT, GENTLE PIANO MUSIC)
Fortunately our last day answered our dreams and we finally got what we’d been looking forward for.
So what does this all mean?
Well, firstly as a slight aside to anyone thinking of visiting The Maldives during rainy season:
I’d say If you’re only planning on visiting once, I think it is worth paying the higher price,
or waiting for the dry season just so you have the odds in your favour of getting
everything you imagine, which makes it easier to justify the cost. If you’ve been before,
I think it’s worth the chance as long as you’re happy with the possible inconvenience.
But secondly, having said all that, I think it’s important to focus on why we travel
in the first place. Because if it to spend time with your loved ones, in another setting,
especially after a global pandemic, then you’re going to enjoy all that, whether it’s raining
or not. The other side to this story is that we still found humour and good times in our less
than perfect situation. We still got to enjoy the islands wildlife, still indulged in too much
food and drink and still had 2 of those perfect mornings, and we were together through all of it.
As mentioned at the start of this video, it’s easy to get too hung up on living
the life you see on Instagram and that subconsciously becoming your barometer
of a good time. Or even living that impeccably organised trip you might have seen,
on this very channel. And organisations good to an extent. But I think it’s more important
to not lose sight of why we travel in the first place. To spend time with loved ones.
To explore another culture. To just be somewhere different and that in itself, is enough to look
forward to and cherish. So it’s ok if everything isn't ok.
So as much as I want that ideal holiday that I saw someone else have,
it’s important to remember that travelling is such a privilege, more now than ever and I hope
I don’t lose sight of that when travel opens up again. So I wanted to make this video to
show a time where everything wasn’t as we’d hoped, but it was still worth every penny.
Thanks for watching Suitcase Monkey.