2021 has been a busy year of travel for us. That’s a statement that would probably not be uttered by many. It was also another year of altered plans, sudden cancelations, and trips that we could not have predicted even a few months ago. Our spring and summer trips were not what we planned. The only reason I even had vacation days in August was because I thought I was going to a wedding in Sri Lanka. That didn’t happen, nor did the backup vacation plan to Madeira and the Azores, and we ended up in Eastern Europe, a destination not often touted as relaxing. We found ourselves doing a lot of hiking, a lot of driving, and not a lot of chilling during our last few trips. It was hard time that we fix that.
As part of aforementioned wedding in Sri Lanka, we thought we might attach the Maldives to that venture, as they are fairly close. When that didn’t happen, the Maldives (and Nicole’s vast accumulation of Hilton Honors points) were beckoning. She had the points to get us five free nights and we built the rest of the trip around that. The Maldives are quite far, however, and basically the exact opposite side of the planet from Los Angeles. Technically speaking, we could have gone straight from LAX to the Emirates and gotten to the Maldives in just two flights, but the 16 hour flight from Los Angeles in economy seemed . . .tedious, and the opposite of relaxing.
The international airline schedules are still a bit wonky, so the LAX to Europe routes have not fully recovered, but one survivor of it all has been the Scandinavian direct flight to Copenhagen. Random? Yes. Lots of open seats in business class as a result? Also yes. It was a most pleasant way to fly to Europe, and it gave us a chance to catch a glimpse of a new city. We have become masters of the extended layover — attempting to acclimate to new time zones as we go.
While most would call a five night stay at a very exclusive resort in the Maldives good enough, we had come too far to settle back in for a long haul flight back to the United States. So unlike apparently anyone before us, we went from the Maldives to the Seychelles on a plane with just four passengers. I checked to see if it was running in the following weeks, and it was not. We were lucky.
Inevitably people will ask, which was better – The Maldives or The Seychelles? In many ways, it isn’t a fair question. Yes they are both tropical islands in the Indian Ocean. Yet, not only are they very different geographically and culturally, the way we experienced them was completely different.
The Maldives are full of atolls. Virtually no one stays on the main island of Malé, unless they are forced to for a flight connection. As a result, the chance to see Maldivian people doing Maldivian things is very sparse. Most people will experience the Maldives within the confines of some 5-Star resort, where they will have overpriced food and beverage while lounging on nearly identical white sand beaches. So while visitors throughout the archipelago may have a common or shared experience, it will not be an authentic one. People come to the Maldives to celebrate their honeymoon or disconnect, and its numerous resorts can help them do that, but their interactions with the locals will be virtually nonexistent.
The Seychelles was a completely different experience. Our hotels or guest houses were unassuming and showing their age. Our food and beverages were purchased at local markets or takeaway joints where we encountered other Seychellois people. This simple difference is important. We explored multiple islands in the Seychelles by car, by foot, and by bicycle. As a result, we were able to have a variety of experiences and a freedom to choose our own adventure. On the Maldives, we never left the Hilton.
The Conrad was nice, but what do I actually know about the rest of the archipelago? Minus an overpriced fish curry and a few items at the breakfast buffet, I didn’t even try any local cuisine. Everything is for the tourists, though, and even those things were probably modified for a western pallet. What I can tell you is that the vibrancy of the turquoise blue waters was very real, as were the sharks swimming just feet away from me, or the rainstorm that knocked out the power on our last night. Those experiences cannot be simulated. My first floatplane ride was also a thrill, though at times a bit nauseating when doing the floating part. It was an experience that probably won’t soon be replicated, and that really sums up the Maldives. They are an experience. You don’t come for culture or immersion, you go to get away from the world and unwind in the most luxurious way possible.
The Seychelles, as mentioned, were very different, but we could have stayed at another 5-star resort for over $1400 per night. I mean, we couldn’t have done it in reality, but it was a theoretical option. We wouldn’t have had the money for that, especially since I was booted off the Verizon family plan. The point is that our experience on the Seychelles could have been more like the Maldives if we were staying at the Raffles or the Constance Lemuria, but we didn’t. If three people went to Los Angeles and one stayed in the Chateau Marmont in Hollywood, the other at Shutters on the beach in Santa Monica, and the last one at an Air BnB in Van Nuys, they would all have extremely different ideas of what Los Angeles is like. That analogy could really apply to anything in our travels. Sometimes we go big and other times we really budget ourselves. It can completely change a trip.
We departed the Conrad in the Maldives with an older couple who said they had been there just a few months prior and loved it so much that they returned. He was quick to point out that he was a Hilton Honors member (as one must do) and told us he was staying at another Hilton for his layover in Frankfurt. While the 12x points spent at Hiltons is certainly a nice perk, it is nice to branch out every once in a while and see something new. Bouncing from one luxury hotel to the next sounds nice, but it can certainly limit one’s idea of the world.
Was a cheap guesthouse on La Digue any less relaxing than a five-star resort on the Maldives? I don’t think so. We didn’t have our own butler, a turndown service, or towel animals, but we did have mosquito netting, a large patio that seemed to include a stray cat, and a pair of old bicycles that enabled us to really see the island our way. At the Conrad, we were really taken care of from start to finish. Sometimes, though, you don’t need to be fussed over and just want to take care of yourself.
So which did I like better? I don’t think I can really answer that. People who stay at a $1200 per night resort in the Maldives don’t typically then stay at a cheap guesthouse on the same trip. It would be completely impossible to directly compare the two experiences. What I can say is that the scenery in both is gorgeous. The water is a wonderful blue, the beaches magnificent, and the sun intense. I liked riding in a $250 per flight floatplane in the Maldives, but I also liked riding a $5 per day bike around La Digue. We had a very nice anniversary dinner in the Maldives perched over the water eating food prepared by a gourmet chef, but we also liked a cheese sandwich and creole curry prepared at a takeaway shack in the Seychelles.
I have built up a bit of a reputation at my airline as being the guy that travels all the time. People often ask me, “What’s your favorite place you’ve been?” I don’t know how to answer. I usually end up with a noncommittal response like, “I like different places for different reasons.” I usually say that I always enjoy Japan, or that we like to go places that are off the beaten path — the English countryside, less frequented Greek islands, or the Namib desert. But even within those responses, there are stipulations. Japan feels like home, but a rush hour ride on the JR circle line in Tokyo is not very appealing. The unnecessary amount of roundabouts in the English countryside is frustrating, the other Greek islands like Santorini and its crowds can go jog off, and I (but especially Nicole) could have done without the washboard off-road driving in Namibia. In many ways, we seldomly judge the measure of a place by what sights it has, but how we experienced it.
As we enter the holiday season, we will most likely be taking a little break from traveling until next year. Where and what that will be, I have no idea. If you asked me this time last year where I would end up in 2021, I don’t think I could have guessed any of our destinations. As more and more places continue to open up, new opportunities present themselves. In many ways, however, it is those rules and confines of the past couple years that have made travel so interesting and unique. We ended up in places that we hadn’t always considered or strung together a grouping of countries that had seemingly no business being on the same trip together. Jordan and Iceland? Maldives and Seychelles? Czech Republic AND Slovakia? Things are slowly changing as the world emerges from the darkness of the past few years, and it will be interesting to see what effect that will have on our next destination and how we experience it.
passports & pepto bismol 