Onwards to Dubai

Posted on April 30, 2024 by sumi

It’s our last day in the Maldives and of course today the weather was perfect. Calm waters, clear skies.

Luckily, our flight out wasn’t until the end of the day, and we were allowed to stay in our room until 3:00pm and our flight out was at 4pm.

Pokin was feeling FOMO so she decided to snorkel again. It really is convenient being able to hop off the deck and get straight into reefs full of fish.

Again she headed straight for the reef cliff edge. This time she was alone so she didn’t stay long. She tried to look for the sharks again but there were none. She saw some tuna though.

As she’s getting ready to take a last shower before the flight out, I comb through the villa to make sure nothing is left behind.

And I find our problematic bunny in the coffee. Of course he’s there making a mess.

Peep, says Peep.

My mood is lifted a bit when I go into the room and see that we have a towel animal farewell. This is a whale I can ride!

Then it was 3pm and Meera was here with a golf cart to pick us up to wait in the lounge. Not a bad view. I can see our seaplane in the distance.

Given we are on island time, the flight doesn’t actually leave on time. And it turns out to be a full plane, but eventually we make it on.

The transfer was pretty uneventful, other than flying through some active storms. 40 minutes or so later, we were back at the Male terminal, where we transferred over to the main airport for our flight to Dubai.

Onwards!

Since it wasn’t an redeye, we didn’t get an amenity kit or PJs, but we did still get a meal. We tried not to nap since we were going to arrive at night, and about 4 hours later we were back in Dubai.

Our friends were headed home, so we said our farewells and made our way out.

The thing about booking business class flights with Emirates is that it sure comes with benefits! One of them being you get a chauffeur ride. All you had to do when you got off was to head to the chauffeur counter where they gave you a ticket, you went out the door, and a driver picked you up to head to your hotel.

This is something I can get used to.

“Don’t,” said Pokin. This isn’t how we’re always travelling. This was a splurge!

Well we should!

In Dubai, we are staying at the Waldorf Astoria DIFC. We weren’t originally going to stay here, but our friends who were travelling with us normally come here so we decided to book near them. They had to change their plans, so we were splurging on our own.

Luckily again, Pokin got a suite upgrade. I took my usual spot in bed.

Time for bed. Early day tomorrow!

The abyss that is the reef

Posted on April 29, 2024 by sumi

The waters were way too choppy to swim yesterday so we aborted our attempts to make it out to the John Aster Estate where we were told to go snorkelling.

In general, we were told the best views were at the edge of the reef so today we made an attempt to snorkel to the edge by our villa, even if we couldn’t make it out as far as John Astor Estates.

See this photo here? See where it’s light and then it gets dark?

Well we swam over to the edge there on the left.

And let me tell you, if you had no fear of the deep ocean, you get one. Right after you get to the edge, you are looking down into the abyss.

Nicholas swam to the edge and noped out. So did our friend.

Pokin swam to the edge, looked down, popped back up above water, and nonchalantly said “I think I see some sharks out there.” Our friend immediately swam back towards the hut.

Nicholas went to look too. “Yep I think those are reef sharks.

Right about now, we realize the current is pulling us out, out away from the safety of the house reefs.

Time to head back.

Pokin reluctantly looked over the ledge down at the 3 swimming bodies, grudgingly admitting she’d be freaked right out if the sharks were anywhere closer than something like 30 feet down.

Time to call it a snorkelling day.

The St Regis Overwater Villa

Posted on April 26, 2024 by sumi

Check in to our hut wasn’t supposed to be until 3pm, so I was pleasantly surprised when our Butler, Meera let us know our room was already ready for us.

Even better we had been upgraded to room 519, which is a St Regis Overwater Villa. Instead of being massive, we got an even more massive bungalow with 2 bathrooms, a giant infinity pool, and 5 hammocks! I guess we should be thankful Pokin signed up to be a travel advisor to get all these upgrade perks!

I wasted no time getting situated. Living room sofa feels pretty comfy. They had fruit and chocolate greetings for me.

Next, I went outside to check out the view. Not too shabby at all.

The sun is really strong here, so I knew not to sit out too long. In fact my bud made that mistake. Even though he slept outside in the shade, he got a pretty bad sunburn, so I went back inside.

“Peep” comes a sound. WHAT???

I haven’t seen that bunny in months but it seems he has chosen to crash my trip. He really doesn’t deserve to be here at all. It’s not fair. Completely nonplussed, he just ignores my protests and settles in just where he feels like.

Sigh. Good thing they gave me some complimentary champagne. I’m going to need that whole bottle.

PEEP says Peep.

Ulgh.

Well at least I have a nice view.

First time to the Maldives

Posted on April 25, 2024 by sumi

Back when my bud and Pokin decided to get married, they also had to choose where to get married. While they eventually settled on Bora Bora, the Maldives was a strong contender. The political instability in the Maldives broke the tie. “Chance of uprising” were not among the risk factors my bud wanted to deal with. So they booked Bora Bora.

Now 7 years later, they decided it was time to see what the other option looked like. That decision was in no small part helped by some expiring use-or-lose credits they had with Emirates. I’m not complaining!

There are a lot of different options of places to go in the Maldives. At the current count, there are 172 resorts in the Maldives, all spread across different some 26 different atolls and 1,192 islands. Pokin had her sights on some place called Anantara because they had a cool underwater restaurant and an observatory, but because we did the St Regis Bora Bora, it only made sense to check out the parallel resort in the Maldives. Also our friends have been here and loved it and wanted to come back. So to St Regis!

Last time around, we got an upgrade due to planning our wedding there. And back then, St Regis was still part of Starwood. Since then, St Regis became part of the Marriott family. And since then, Pokin learned how to level up her travel booking optimization game. She booked the trip personally as a travel advisor, used the STARS program, and additionally got herself Platinum status through the Bonvoy Brilliant credit card. So we were hoping for some sweet upgrades here too.

The journey to the Maldives is long, especially from Vegas.

We left Tuesday morning a 8:00AM for our 10:00 flight to SFO. It was promptly delayed so we got in at 1pm. We wanted to leave a lot of buffer before we caught our 5:05pm flight to Dubai. We arrived in Dubai at 7:36PM on Wednesday, and then at 2:45 AM Thursday morning, hopped on a 4 hour flight to Male, Maldives (with the time zone change, arriving around 8:00AM).

On arrival, our St Regis host greeted us, transported us to the Maldivian Airways counter where they promptly weight all our luggage (30KG limit per person). Then we hopped on a shuttle to the float plane terminal where we waited in the St Regis lounge. This terminal was just a square building full of lounges.

flight was scheduled only the night before, and fortunately they had us booked for a 9:30 AM departure.

Shortly before it was time, we were escorted to a holding area, before we got on a flight plane over to St Regis.

The flight plane trip was a noisy 40 minutes, but we were lucky to have good visibility over all the atolls. I had fun looking out the window, and then we started descending towards Vommuli island where the resort is situated within the Dhaalu Atoll.

On arrival, just like in Bora Bora, we were greeted by a line of hotel staff. Then it was over to the outdoor waiting area where branded coconuts awaited us.

It was surprisingly not that hot and stuffy for how hot and stuffy we would feel later! I guess that spot is well situated with a persistent breeze.

Fortunately for us, our room is ready!

The lagoon tour

Posted on May 26, 2017 by sumi

Day after the wedding and first day of my weddingbearmoon and you’d think we’d get to sleep in.

Nope, apparently we have a shark and ray lagoon snorkelling tour for 9am in the morning.

Well, I did want to see more sharks so into the boat we went. The tour comprised 4 stops. First one to see the sharks. We went to a spot known for black tip reef sharks and lemon sharks. We saw lots of black tip sharks, but not any lemon sharks this time.

My bud was brave, he actually got into the water with them!

One of the guides was a bad ass swimmer the way I’m a hard core gamer. He free dived to the bottom and started making water rings.

The next stop was to see the manta rays.

Here in Bora Bora they actually remove the barbs from the manta rays so it’s pretty safe to swim around them.

3rd stop was a coral reef. There were soo many fish! The guides gave us some bread and my bud figured out how to get them to eat right from his hands.

Last stop – a super shallow sand bar.

The whole tour took about 4 hours. I’m glad I went, but to be honest, most of the time I just stayed in the bag and got really really wet, thanks to all the other tourists that kept climbing in and out of the boat and flinging water my way. Bunch of jerks. I guess the sharks were worth it though.

Here we come, French Polynesia

Posted on May 23, 2017 by sumi

We made it to LA.

But it’s only 5pm and we have to wait till midnight.

Thank goodness we get to loiter in an airline lounge (thanks, Chase Reserve for the Priority Lounge access!) My bud and I settle into our seats.

2017-05-23 21.42.15

From our seats we have a vantage point to our departure gate. It’s sort of fun, sitting up here and spying on other guests.

2017-05-23 21.42.29

My bud and I kill time by people watching. Pokin decides to kill time by helping herself to pieces of sushi and celery sticks, one piece at a time. How inefficient, I think. “I’m killing time,” Pokin reminds us.

Eventually midnight rolls around and finally we get to board!

How do I know we’re going to a french destination?

2017-05-24 01.06.12

Red wine? Cheese? Mini baguette? Dead. Giveway. Anyway, it’s a red-eye, so time for some sleep.

At 5am in the morning we roll into the Pape’ete, Tahiti. Flight 1, Flight 2 done. We collect our luggage and are greeted with leis. They didn’t count right and forgot my bud’s. I think my bud’s too sleepy to notice. Time to loiter again in an airport. I’m like a pro now at this.

The Pape’ete airport was unexpected. For how many tourists come through and how expensive Bora Bora is, I was expecting the airport to be nicer. But it feels a little older, a little worn down. Only later did I learn that French Polynesia is still a pretty poor country.

Around 7:30am, it’s time to board Flight 3 to Bora Bora! We did not realize it was open seating so it’s first on, first pick of where you sit. Lucky for us, we sat on the side of the plane where we got a first view of the island. I had to climb over Nicholas so I could get a good view, but a view I got! Looks like the video games I play!

The Bora Bora airport, built in 1943, was actually the first airport in French Polynesia. It was built by the US Army during World War II and all international flights used to route through this airport first. It wasn’t until 1960 that the Fa’a’ā International Airport opened in Pape’ete.

The Bora Bora airport is located on the fringes on its own island, and so from here, you have to get on a boat. Inside the airport were different booths set up by the hotels. At the same time we saw where we had to be, a fellow approached us (creepy a little ?)

“Mr. Scheri?” he says. “La ora na. Please show us your luggage and we’ll be glad to help you onto your boat.”

So we find our luggage and head out to the docks. I expected some sort of big boat. Our host points to the tiniest boat in the dock.

“Please, this way into the boat.” Turns out we were the only guests they were picking up at that time. Nice!! Our own private boat ride!

“I hope you don’t mind we chose this boat.” Our guide says as we start our journey. “It’s small, but it’s fast.” Off we go!

Our journey takes us from one corner of the lagoon eastwards. It takes about 15 minutes.

And then we are here! And were greeted by a whole entourage and some fresh mango juice.

Lucky for us, our room was available right away. But first, a tour. Every room at St Regis comes with your own personal butler, and it was time for our butler to give us a tour of the facilities. By golf cart! I hope to use our butler a lot. I want to order plenty of hot cocoa!

St Regis Bora Bora is a 44-acre property so it’s quite spread out! To get around the resort you can either call for a golf cart ride, or else you can take any of the bikes that are scattered across the property and cycle on the bike paths. The resort features two pools, several beaches, a tennis court, gym, spa, multiple restaurants, a couple baby sharks and a lagoonarium stocked full of fish that you can snorkel with. There are also paddle boards, kayaks and other equipment that’s free to use.

Photo courtesy of St Regis Bora Bora

But I want to see our room! And so, after our tour our little golf cart pulls up to our room. We were given room 118. Nicholas told me we had gotten a Deluxe Overwater Bungalow, but it looks like they upgraded us to one with a Mt Otemanu view. Sweet!