The South Ari Atoll from the Seaplane window

Having heard my colleagues talking so passionately about the Maldives and not travelled there before, I was really looking forward to this trip! There was going to be so much to see and do, it wasn’t going to be a relaxing break but one which I knew both me and my clients would benefit from…

Sunday 15^th May

After a very easy train journey down to London, I met up with the rest of the agents at Heathrow Terminal 4 ready for our Sri Lankan Airlines flight to Male. The flight was relatively quiet so as soon as the plane took off we were able to move seats and I had a row of 4 in the middle of the plane to myself. Add the fantastic Sri Lankan food to this and it amounted to a very pleasant overnight flight!

Monday 16^th May

I arrived into Male at just gone midday after an uneventful but very comfortable flight. We were met in the arrivals hall by the rep and shown to the speedboat for our 90 minute transfer to Kuramathi.

What a place! After a look round the various Villas we walked up to the Sand Bar at the top end of the island for sunset.

Sunset on the Sandbank at Kuramathi Island Resort

Definitely a great way to spend the first evening in the Maldives! We walked back from the sandbank (via the jetty to watch the Stingray feeding) back down to the main part of the resort to enjoy a very relaxing meal in the Malaafaiy Restaurant. After dinner there was time to relax on the beach at one of the Islands 6 bars before well and truly breaking the peace and quiet on the Karaoke in the Havana Club.

Tuesday 17^th May

continue reading…

28^th September – UK

I drove down to Gatwick from Stoke late so the journey was uneventful as I’d missed most of the traffic on the motorway. I arrived at the hotel around mid-night, checked in with the night porter who also showed me where to check my car in for the meet and greet parking. The room was small and very basic but clean and the bed was comfortable (not that I slept much as I was too worried about oversleeping so woke up every 40 minutes to check that I wasn’t late!?) continue reading…

Click here to book Sandals Regency St Lucia from £1699pp

The whole St Lucia experience started for us the day before we were due to fly out from Gatwick. We had been told that British Airways have a facility where you can check-in online 24hours before your flight is due to depart (actually 24 hours and not just the day before), so my first challenge even before we left Stoke for the airport was (once I’d got our passports and confirmation number) to check-in, pre-book our seats and print our boarding card so we could just drop our bags at the check-in desk at Gatwick the following morning. continue reading…

Click here to book Excellence Playa Mujeres from £1269pp

I stayed at the Excellence Playa Mujeres for seven nights in September 2009. The hotel is modern and beautifully designed.

One of many sculptures dotted around Excellence Playa Mujeres

The room was great, identical to those shown on the Blue Bay Travel website, with a four poster bed and Jacuzzi bath. As we were a part of the ‘Excellence Club’ the mini bar included four bottles of spirits as well as the standard fridge stocked with wine, beers, water, fruit juices and fizzy drinks. Being a part of the Excellence Club provided us with an express, personalised check in service, the use of the Excellence Lounge, 24 hour concierge service and use of the Excellence Club private beach area and pools.

The Excellence Lounge was a lovely idea as it provided computers with internet access, had a small bar area and hot buffet style snacks which were regularly changed throughout the day. Unfortunately due to the location of our room (we were in block 9) we did not make good use of the Excellence lounge as it seemed pointless walking past several bars, restaurants and reception (with internet access) to get there. continue reading…

Dover beach in September

This is going to be my first trip to Barbados and despite having travelled around the Caribbean on several occasions before I’m still nervous about what the next 7 days have in store…
I really shouldn’t have worried about the flight, BA Club World was fantastic and after a Champagne pre-departure drink I was asleep on the flat-bed before the plane had left the runway at Gatwick (despite being offered the allure of A La Carte dining at 39,000 feet)! continue reading…