The flight to the Maldives was nearly 20-hours worth of flying, not to mention we had an 8-hour layover in Abu Dhabi. So although this is a post about September 18th it does contain a few hours of September 17th when we arrived in Abu Dhabi. Following the twelve-hour flight to Abu Dhabi, we made our way to the Etihad First Class Lounge which we had planned to upgrade to, to help stay comfortable during the long layover. We were extremely disappointed to see it was closed but we saw signs for an in-terminal airport hotel. We made our way to the opposite side of the airport to finally get to Aerotel Abu Dhabi Transit Hotel where we got a two bed room for 6-hours. It was one of the biggest breaths of fresh air. The hotel was simple and clean and after taking a brief room tour we turned off the lights, turned on CNN, and tried to grab some shut-eye.

Luckily we were both able to grab a few hours of sleep and what would have been an extremely painful long layover overnight turned out to be a beautiful relaxing evening. We left the hotel right as our 6-hour timeframe ended and made our way to the Etihad Business Class lounge. On the way, we spotted a Burger King and grabbed two whoppers and fries. Nothing like a whopper in the middle of the night after a long layover. We finally made it to the Etihad lounge afterward and spent the remaining hour waiting for our flight from Abu Dhabi to Male.

We were incredibly fortunate that the flight to Male also had lay flat seats in business class so shortly after takeoff we had a quick dinner/lunch/breakfast (Jenn had French toast and I had their middle eastern dish) and spent the rest of the flight sleeping and enjoying the same great seats this time much closer to each other. The four hour flight from Abu Dhabi to Male went by without a hitch and we arrived to the Maldives at a little after 7 AM on Saturday the 18th.

After jumping on a bus and waiting through an interminable hour long line through customs in Male we grabbed our bags and met the St Regis Maldives staff in the arrivals terminal who grabbed our bags and whisked us away to a beautiful Mercedes van to take us to the St. Regis lounge to wait for the sea plane to take us to the St. Regis Maldives private island. On the way to the lounge we got a personal video message from our room butler Ubad welcoming us to the resort and letting us know of what we could expect when we arrive both from an amenity and their COVID-19 preparedness. It was a really nice touch. We arrived at the St. Regis lounge and Jenn got tea and I had a cappuccino while we waited for our 9:30 AM flight on a seaplane to the resort.

A few minutes before 9:30 AM we were escorted out of the lounge and walked straight on a small seaplane to take us the 45-minutes to our resort. Jenn was pretty nervous about this flight but luckily the weather was perfect and so the flight was smooth and beautiful throughout. When we arrived at the St. Regis Maldives we were greeted and waved to by the St. Regis staff (felt like the opening episode of White Lotus on HBO) and given some welcome drinks. From there Ubad and Nicole our butlers whisked us away on a golf cart to our overwater villa, room 512. We knew ahead of time that the resort would be stunning but being here and seeing the crystal clear blue water and stunning villas was something else. If I was to describe what I think heaven could look like it wouldn’t be all that different from this resort, it was that beautiful.

Within ten minutes of Ubad and Nicole giving us a room tour and us recording our own tour of the room we switched into our bathing suits, donned the St. Regis branded hats, and were laying out on our back patio, laying in the overwater hammock, and swimming in our private pool. Before we left the weather forecast for our week in the Maldives looked terrible but at least on the first day, we were fortunate enough to have crystal clear skies, calm waters and moderate to hot temperatures.

After a few hours of relaxing we jumped on our provided bikes and toured the entire island checking out the spa, tennis courts, restaurants, and all other amenities. We even stopped and played a full match of ping pong (I won) and rode our bikes back to our room. Later on we grabbed lunch at the small beach side restaurant and split a delicious cheese pizza. Jenn got a strawberry banana smoothie and I had a Heineken while we enjoyed the stunning view of the main beach and pool taking in that we had arrived in paradise.

We spent the remainder of the afternoon at the main pool / beach reading our books and enjoying the absolute perfect weather before going back to our room to get ready for our first dinner. Tonight we had reservations at Cargo an Indian restaurant where split the shrimp curry, naan, and rice. It was so good and the setting in a jungle like atmosphere in the middle of the island with tables in the sand allowed you to see a lot of the stars in the sky and enjoy the beautiful night. The good news, the food was great to go with it. We walked back to our room after dinner and made it an early night so we could enjoy our full week in paradise.