1255hrs
TQ Anum for texting me today. Her friend is planning for a honeymoon to Maldives & Anum asked me for some tips on behalf of her friend. TQ for giving me the hope to live today, I decided to complete publish this entry today kalau tak mati kutu bosan ahhaha. So here's to Anum, her friend who's getting married & all of u who has patiently waited for this long anticipated blog post. Enjoissss
29/3/16
OK let's just put some random words in here to inspire me to write more. Haha. As perasan as I could be, I do hope this blog post will reach readers not only in Malaysia, but to anyone who wish to research abt travelling to Maldives who stumble upon it, I hope it will be helpful. Disclaimer : I'm not mat salleh so tak koser nak perform grammatical error check, so kalau ada typo or salah sana sini, just deal with it k haha. Mat salleh, if you're stucked at a word you're pretty sure isn't English; Google Translate mmkayyyy
OK so I will divide this post into 2 sections : Useful tips + budget & my experience in Maldives or basically my day-to-dayactivities lah. So the first section (a.k.a the pening section) will contain things I outlined here at home & things I only figured out once I was there haha so imagine the chaos. The unsuspected, unexpected scenarios. Soooo this means u guys won't even get a hint of how much money I spent in Maldives, not even close. Haha. The first section will also help u to decide where & when u can cut cost, which places worth going (to be honest everywhere in Maldives is worth paying a visit) what to avoid & whatnot.
The kitab. Lulz. I'd say my research involves a lot more reading on the net rather than referring to this haha but ok lah
Ok study Geografi sket
Ok 3 important places : Male the capital city, Hulhumale the airport city, Maafushi the independent traveller island. At any time if u do not understand what the hell is this woman babbling abt, scroll up & refer here
Eh ok first things first before I begin the first section, let me tell u how it bugs me EVERYTIME I heard someone pronounces Maldives wrongly. Oh my God, I swear I will give them the death stare haha. It's Mal-deeves lah bongok not Mal-di-ves for ^*&T*% sake. And Maldives is a country of it's own, it does not belong to Sri Lanka ke mana, oh my God guys how bongok can u be haha. Maldives' currency is called Rufiyya but US dollars are widely accepted there. I brought about RM3K cash to Maldives, which is equivalent to about $700. Ok this is too long of an intro, OK ready? Let's go.
So my trip to Maldives started on March 22nd. AirAsia now has direct flights to Maldives, I got mine for RM700 with checked baggage 20kg. Because my flight arrived in Maldives at night, so I had to spend the night at the hotel near the airport. Unless if u fly with Malaysia Airlines, Etihad, Emirates or whoever that has flights in the day, you can just go straight to your hotel in Male or Maafushi wherever lah. Boats and ferries usually don't depart from the airport jetty to anywhere else so most people who arrive at Maldives at night will just stay the night in the 'airport island'- Hulhumale. I wasn't even serious about going to Maldives, because I couldn't even get anyone to come with me to Maldives. Not even Bell not even Syifa (We just got back from Boracay, Philippines 4-8 March). I was the one crazy enough to take multiple long cuti in one month haha. And so I decided, the hell with it lah, I will just go alone by myself. So I didn't even take a look at which hotel to stay until we got back from Boracay which was like a week before flying to Maldives! How crazy was that?? Haha. I even went to Matta Fair & couldn't even score a hotel deal there. 2 nights in Club Med Maldives, best rate they could give was RM5K haha. So I decided to take it upon myself & try my luck with the help of Agoda. Resorts in Maldives are usually on a private island so makan sume situ, takleh gi mana dah, so unless if you're on a honeymoon, it will get kind of sad & bored if u were alone like me #foreveralone. If u decided to stay at a resort in Maldives, mind u, it will cost u about RM1.5K-10K ($375-2.5K) per night haha. So plan your stay carefully according to your budget.
Eh before that, I have curated a personalized guide gittew so u can avoid making mistakes just like I did, here’s a table for ease of reference for you guys to plan your stay according to your budget.
Yo budget
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Super tight budget
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Tight budget
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Bih, loosen up a lil bit
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Born in money
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Arrive night
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After landed, take taxi to guesthouse/hotel in Hulhumale & stay for 4 nights haha.
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After landed, stay 1 night in Hulhumale. Next day take ferry/boat transfer to Male/Maafushi & stay for 3 nights.
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After landed, stay 1 night in Hulhumale. Next day stay in Male/Maafushi. Next day stay in private island.
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After landed, stay 1 night in Hulhumale, next day boat transfer to private island, stay for 3 nights.
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Arrive day
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After landed, take taxi to guesthouse/hotel in Hulhumale & stay for 4 nights haha.
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After landed, straightaway take ferry/boat transfer to Male/Maafushi & stay for 4 nights.
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After landed, straightaway take ferry/boat transfer to Male/Maafushi. Next day stay at private island.
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After landed, straightaway take boat transfer to private island & stay for 4 nights.
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My advice is, if u want to stay at in resort, it's best to choose a resort somewhere in South Male Atoll or North Male Atoll as the boat transfer will cost u a few hundred bucks only. If u stay somewhere farther than these 2, I'm afraid u are going to need to take a seaplane to that place (because they're very remote), which will probably cost u the same price as your one night stay at a resort in Maldives. Haha trust me, it's that expensive. But if u are willing to pay to see Maldives from a different perspective, just go with it. It's entirely up to your budget. Be careful, there's also a place named South Ari Atoll and North Ari Atoll, so don't get confused k haha choose South Male Atoll or North Male Atoll.
If u stay in Maafushi it's better cuz there's ferry from Male capital city to Maafushi. U just have to pick a correct day/time when the ferry operating to Maafushi lah, cuz it's only available once a day. U can check schedule at jetty
My room in Eureka Inn guesthouse in Hulhumale
The neighbourhood
Take it from me, there’s nothing much in Hulhumale to explore. Except to get socialize with locals, there’s not much to do here.
Prior to flying to Maldives, I did however read & done some research on Maldives, accommodation, transport etc. So basically I already had some ideas about the place lah, it's just a matter of booking the accommodation je.
WHAT U NEED BEFORE FLYING TO MALDIVES:
1) A hangout spot with really reliable Wi-fi for all your research
2) Somewhere to jot down your itinerary (book/iPad or whatever. I opt for the traditional method)
3) Passport, boarding pass, hotel booking confirmation
4) Sufficient cash converted to $, separate about $50-100 to convert to Rufiyaa (MVR)
5) Travel essentials. U can just copy paste this as your checklist
- Waterproof handphone case, underwater camera
- Aloe vera & sunblock
- Toiletries
- Phone charger, camera charger, fish eye lens, adapter (Maldives uses 3 pins socket so if u are coming from a country that uses otherwise, pls bring your own adapter)
- Flip-flops/slippers
- Cap/hat
- Sunglasses
- Personal medications
- Earphones
- Powerbank
- WALLET. haha
So with cash in hand of $700, below was how I expected to spend them:
BUDGET BREAKDOWN
1) Activity/island excursion $175
2) Boat transfer $150
3) Snorkeling gear $20
4) Makan $100
5) Souvenir $50
6) Ferry $20
TOTAL : $515 (RM2060)
Ok so that was my budget, what I expected to spend during the stay. Let's see how much I actually spent:
EXPENSES BREAKDOWN
1) Activity/island excursion $30
2 Boat transfer $136 (taken care by the resort)
3) Last minute stay at guesthouse in Maafushi + free breakfast $60
4) Makan ??? Seriously I didn't even keep track of how much money I spent on food hehe. When it comes to food I really don't care how much money I spent hehe. I only remember I had fried rice and fresh orange juice at 99 MVR. And one time frappucino & one time vanilla milkshake at the airport, each cost me exactly $5. And on the day I went to Maafushi, 1 mineral water & 1 orange juice = 25MVR. The rest was all Brahim's or bread and tuna that I brought or lunch included during island excursion & provided at hotel
5) Souvenir $160 + 65 MVR hehe when u travel alone, u lost all rational & just grab everything pretty without any friend stopping u
6) Ferry $20 + 5.50 MVR
TOTAL : $416 + 194.50 MVR (abt $13) = $429
PAYMENTS SETTLED PRIOR TO FLYING TO MALDIVES
1) 3 nights stay at Eureka Airport Inn at Hulhumale RM 742.89 (booked via Agoda)
2) Centara Ras Fushi resort on private island RM xxx rahsia hehe (booked via Agoda)
So your next holiday could be much less costly than mine was, if u didn't stay at a high end resort on a private island. As u can see I only spent $429 (RM 1670) there and if u stay at budget hotel, say for 3 nights at Maafushi, u can get room per night at $100 before tax. So
3 nights X $100 = $300
$300 = RM 1200
Testing utk korang
Ni murah sket
Always pay attention to the things stated under 'Total price', that's where they will state all the tax included, boat/ferry transfer information etc
So, accommodation + expenses there + return flight: RM1200 + 1670 + 700 = RM 3570
OMG I'm a math wizard haha.
But personally, I believe your experience in Maldives wouldn't be as quintessential without staying at a high end resort on a private island. Hehe. Just sayin. It's really up to your preference & budget. Cont in Part 2. Thanks
Best,
D
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