I’m sure I will feel different later today, but I actually feel somewhat rested. We went to bed around 830pm, set the alarm for just before 2am, and got a solid 4-5 hours of sleep, which in the airline world, makes one legal for a split duty flight. We got an Uber back to the airport, and checked in at a nearly empty checkin kiosk. The Emirates employee was rather insistent that we try the self check-in terminals. “They’re very interesting, I would like you to have that experience.” We explained to her that we are traveling on standby as staff, and that self checkin usually can’t handle such complexities. She agreed to continue working. Once she got us seats together, she asked if we wanted to finish checkin by using the self-check kiosks. “You should do it, it’s really interesting!” I mean, I guess there’s some novelty in a machine taking and checking your bag before shooting it off toward the aircraft, but we also had to show vaccination cards, covid test results, and our passenger declaration QR codes. Nicole is convinced she just didn’t want to be working at 3am, which is fair. But I think she was just really into the magical self-checkin machines.
We breezed through security and ten minutes or so later found ourselves at our gate to Male. The 3.5 hour flight would be on another 777-300, where we had our own row. Emirates runs three of these flights a day. Though our 420am flight might seem less than ideal, there was also a flight that departed at 230am. There was one normal flight that departs just before noon, but that gets in close to 4pm, which is a problem. You see, most resorts on the Maldives are on isolated atolls that are only accessible by floatplane. The floatplanes stop flying before sunset because they need to be able to see the reefs, swells, and any other issues that arise with flying a boat. And a 4pm arrival would be cutting it very close since we would still have to go through customs and have all our tests and vaccine cards analyzed again. Emirates could have certainly had a flight at 7am that worked, or 8, or 9, or even 10, but their flight schedules are created by a psychopath, so a 4am departure became our best option.
As is the case with most tropical island airports, customs lines were long, but they did move fairly quickly. After getting our passports stamped with a new country, we located the Conrad Hilton kiosk where we were assisted in checking in for our floatplane to the resort. After rechecking our bags, we were shuttled off to a private lounge just for Hilton customers that was completely vacant except for one other couple and us. They had a small outdoor area where I could watch the floatplanes takeoff.
After an hour or so, we were brought down to another holding area for Trans-Maldivian. An agent would call out the names of different atolls or resorts and people would shuffle out to their respective aircraft. As it probably isn’t cost effective to fly us and the other couple to the Conrad, it would make a few landings enroute at different atolls. Ours was the second.
It was a 25 minute flight to our first destination, and just two from that atoll to ours on Rangali island. It was my first flight on a floatplane. I had wanted to go on one as part of an excursion while on a family trip to Alaska circa 2009, but I was vetoed. No family vetoes anymore! I’m not even on the Verizon family plan. It’s like I have no family anymore.
After pulling up to the dock, we were escorted to our room while a man explained some different areas of the property. We have access to free breakfast and free happy hour, so we will try and see how much food mileage we can get out of both of those. Money is tight ever since I was kicked off the family plan. There are evidently six restaurants here including one that’s underwater, so there are certainly other options, though I think they could be pricey.
Our room is quite large and is beachfront. It features an outdoor shower, large patio, and we received a free bottle of wine (thanks to Nicole’s Hilton Honors Gold status). This is nothing to sneeze at in a country like the Maldives, where they are very conservative and do not allow alcohol into the country. They don’t care about your whiskey you bought at Duty Free or your giant Toblerone. They will confiscate the whiskey and eat the Toblerone in front of your face! It is very serious. Naturally, the resorts are allowed some leeway in this area.
Our first order of business was to change out of pants into something more island-appropriate. Then we attempted to get our bearings by walking around the island, which is actually fairly significant in size. It is further connected by a long bridge to other areas, but we didn’t make it there yet. We did stroll by some of the more expensive overwater villas. They are definitely bigger than our apartment. We did also find out that Rangali is actually on a different time zone from Male, where the main airport is. This is confusing because our phones and devices don’t reflect this time change. This all meant that we were quickly closing in on our free happy hour (again thanks to Nicole’s Hilton Honors Gold status).
We each had a Tiger beer (Singapore brew since Maldives can’t really brew anything locally), some sparkling water, and some canapés that were a bit too out there for Nicole — duck, seafood, the usual culprits. It was nowhere near enough to fashion a meal out of, so luckily we were also “invited” to a manager’s event at the beach which also served canapés and drinks. They were equally as elaborate, but equally as small. Crab, fish roe, and other delicacies were consumed as the managers of different departments came to our table to talk with us like some sort of bizarre speed dating event. Naturally we were awkward, but the head chef was a guy from Denmark who was interested in our stopover in Copenhagen. He was happy to hear that we got around on bikes.
Mercifully, the round-robin of awkward small talk came to an end, and we realized we had to actually pay for a proper meal elsewhere in order to get nourishment. We ended up eating at the more casual of the restaurant options, with a table in the sand on the beach. We ended up splitting some French fries ($10) and a pizza ($32). These prices pretty much coincide with what we paid on Bora Bora. It’s all very overpriced, but we at least have a few perks that got us some “freebies” earlier in the evening. We are both excited to begin our relaxation phase of the trip. A much needed rest is in order.
passports & pepto bismol 