Maldives 2021 Day 8 - Goodbye Paradise
I’m so sad to be writing this post because it means our time at the St. Regis Maldives has come to an end. We knew today would be a long day as our flight from Male to Abu Dhabi didn’t depart until 9 PM so we still had a close to a full day in paradise. We woke up to our negative PCR tests and made our way to breakfast after checking into our flight. We got our normal spot, with our normal orders, with maybe one or two extra bloody Mary’s for good measure. From there we made our way around the island and back to our villa.
Jenn somehow finished her third book, Moment of Lift by Melinda Gates and I finally wrapped up The Institute by Stephen King. Just as we were wrapping up our books the sky’s changed quite suddenly and the forecast that had been predicted every day of our trip finally came true and the skies came down and did not stop. Unlike most tropical storms this one lingered and although at times seemed like it might stop just never let up.
While we waited for our 3 PM pick up from the villa (very grateful for the late check out) we watched old episodes of Friends, packed our bags, and got ready to depart. We were both quite worried about our seaplane getting canceled due to the weather. In fact, one seaplane that dropped off guests at around noon was stuck there for over an hour waiting to leave after the storm and we were really hoping not to have that problem. Luckily (or unluckily if you ask Jenn) our bags were picked up at 3 PM and at 4:20 PM (twenty minutes later than planned) we boarded a seaplane and left paradise behind.
The flight from the St. Regis to Male was touch and go to say the least. From the onset we knew it was going to be bad but for 45-minutes the pilots weaved in and out of storms trying their best to avoid any major turbulence but that seemed like a fools errand. Unfortunately Jenn isn’t a great flyer on the best of days and she got super sick the entire flight. She handled it like a champ, breathing and closing her eyes, much better than even I thought she would do. The entire plane was on pins and needles the entire flight. We later found out that fifteen minutes after our flight they stopped all other flights from coming/going so that wasn’t necessarily reassuring.
Luckily we arrived safely only slightly worse for the wear. The St. Regis being the St. Regis allowed us to use their lounge while we waited for our flight to Abu Dhabi. Jenn immediately got tea and some cake to settle her stomach and I had a cappuccino and an egg sandwich. Jenn took a nap while I watched CNN and just sat extremely grateful that we didn’t have to spend 5 hours waiting in the Male airport.
When it was time to head to the airport we got in the St. Regis van and they escorted us into the airport and to baggage drop off. From there we said goodbye to the great St. Regis staff in Male and went through security and off to the airport lounge. On the way there we found another Burger King and once again grabbed two whoppers to wolf down in the business class lounge before our flight.
We were incredibly fortunate that our flight left early from Male. Unfortunately, the seats on this plane weren’t lay-flat so sleep wasn’t as easy to come by but the 3-hour flight to Abu Dhabi was as painless as they come. When we arrived in Abu Dhabi we made it through customs quickly and got another PCR test done quickly and for free in the airport before finishing with customs and grabbing our bags. Because we love the St. Regis so much we booked with them again in Abu Dhabi. We had booked a driver through the hotel who was waiting for us with a sign. We got in his BMW 7-Series and made our way back to the St. Regis Abu Dhabi, first going there in 2019.
The drive to the hotel was a little under 30-minutes and on arrival, we were given an upgrade to a suite and after recording a room tour we called it a night. It was a little after 2 AM when we finally went to sleep but we were grateful to have made it after the arduous seaplane flight and excited to spend a full day in Abu Dhabi tomorrow before heading home.
Room Tour of the St. Regis Abu Dhabi
I am still impressed that we were able to capture such a good room tour at 2 AM in the morning after two flights but here it is and after re-watching this video all I want to do is book another stay.
