Adaaran Prestige Vaddo - Maldives

A Perfect Vacation

Where are the Maldives and how to reach them? Maldives is an archipelago in the Indian Ocean. With crystal clear turquoise water, it is a bucket-list destination for many travelers. The closest major city is Colombo, Srilanka. However, we planned a 4-day trip to Maldives during one of our trips to India. You can find reasonable packages at websites like makemytrip.com, and yatra.com. We took a short 2.5 hr flight ride from Bengaluru to Malé Velana International Airport, the only international airport located at Malé, the capital city of Maldives. After reaching the international airport and clearing immigration, the smaller islands can be reached via seaplane or speed boat. 

Take Nothing but Pictures, Leave Nothing but Footprints, Kill Nothing but Time

What to Book? For a first-time traveler, the best and easiest option is to book a resort with an all-inclusive package. This generally includes flight tickets, pick up and drop off from the resort, resort stay, breakfast, lunch, dinner, and beverages. Paying for drinks/food onsite can get very expensive compared to an all-inclusive package. We booked our vacation package from India as it was way cheaper and accessible compared to other locations. There are similar packages available from many Middle Eastern and South Asian countries. 

For most travelers, this is once in a lifetime experience. For an all-inclusive off-season trip, expect to pay upwards of 5000 USD. Most of the resorts quote everything in USD.

Sunrise Villas

What to look for? Look for a package that includes transfers from and to the airport. Most resorts offer complimentary pickup and drop-off to and from the airport. If you want to spend time away from people, opt for an island resort. For a good snorkeling/diving experience, check if the resort has a house reef.

A Stormy Afternoon!

When to Visit? The best time to visit is definitely during the winter months. However, we took a risk and visited the islands from June - July. Our stay was at a small island resort Adaaran Prestige Vadoo. Even though June - July was monsoon season, there were clear days when we could cover most of the activities we wanted to do.

Clouded - Still A Perfect Beach

Adaaran Vadoo - This is a nice little island resort in south Male Atoll approximately 30 mins boat ride away from Malé airport. The resort has 3 types of villas available - Sunrise water villas - facing the beach, Sunset water villas, and Honeymoon villas. All the villas have a dip pool, private jacuzzi, and direct access to the Ocean. With an all-inclusive package, breakfast, lunch, and dinner were covered at the Farivalhu restaurant. This includes an unlimited beverage of your choice at the bar as well. You can pick up snorkeling gear free of charge at the dive center. Each villa can easily accommodate a family of 4 and has life vests, a small fridge, a mini bar (alcoholic beverages are not included in All-inclusive), and ponchos- considering the weather. 

All-Inclusive Package

Maldives is a popular honeymoon destination. But don't let that stop you from visiting with family. I love that we waited to visit the Maldives until the kids were a little bit older. They thoroughly enjoyed the trip and it has become their all-time favorite destination. With crystal clear water, and white sand beaches who wouldn't love a holiday here. 

Sunset Villas

What to pack? Apart from all the regular stuff, there are a few essentials to pack. 

• Reef-safe sunscreen - ditch the regular sunscreen and opt for reef-safe sunscreen.
• Water shoes - The sand is essentially coarse coral. So bring water shoes to save your feet.
• Hat and swim coverup
• GoPro or similar camera with a waterproof cover
• Snorkeling gear (Generally the resort provides complimentary snorkeling gear)

Honeymoon Villas

What to do? You can do a whole lot of nothing and still enjoy the vacation.

• Snorkeling - Even if you are scared and do not know how to swim, strap on a life vest, put on the snorkeling mask, and take a dip. You will not regret it
• Diving - The resort has a house reef and you can enjoy diving trips with an experienced diver
• Malé Tour  - If this is your first visit to an Asian country, take a tour of Malé city. It might not be very interesting to people from Asian countries.
• Sunset - Take a sunset cruise or just watch it from the convenience of your own villa. The sunset over clear water is magnificent and should not be missed.
• Window seat in the airplane - It will be amazing if you include a seaplane ride. If not, pay for a window seat away from the wings. Especially during take-off, the views are amazing. 

What not to do/bring? Maldives is essentially an Islamic country. 

• Do not bring alcoholic beverages (Hence the all-inclusive package)
• Do not remove coral/ shells/ sand from the country.
• Do not step on / break live coral

Where 2 Next???

A Day Trip to Ring of Kerry, Kerry Co., Ireland

Ring of Kerry: The Ring of Kerry is a well-known tourist destination in Ireland. The Ring generally starts and ends at Killarney. Cork is the nearest airport to Killarney. Private tours and tour buses run throughout the year from all major cities. Even though renting a car in Ireland is painful, driving is the best way to see the Ring of Kerry. The tour buses start at Killarney and go around the ring in the counter-clockwise direction. If you are planning on driving, go around the ring in a clockwise direction so that you can avoid spending time behind a tour bus. A quick tour around the Ring is about 200km and would take about a day. But you can easily spend a day in Killarney, a day driving the ring and a day visiting Skellig Michael in summer months.

Torc Waterfalls

Killarney: You can reach Killarney the day before and have a good night's sleep at one of the many hotels. On the day of the trip, pack a good amount of snacks for the road. Killarney National Park and the surrounding areas alone would take a day to visit. Ross Castle is a 15th-century castle on the banks of Killarney lake. A quick tour of the castle and boat tour of Lough Leane is a good addition to the itinerary. Muckross House is a 19th-century mansion with gardens and working farms. A short visit to Muckross House is time well spent. Kerry Mountains are a short distance from Killarney National Park. There are a lot of walking and hiking trails around the mountains. Cronin's Yard is a good place to park the car and hike the beautiful Kerry Mountains. The gap of Dunloe and wishing bridge are magical places to visit.

Ladies View

Ladies View & Molls Gap: If short on time, a shortstop at Torc waterfalls, Ladies View and Molls Gap would suffice. For a day trip around the ring, the best route is to take N71 from Killarney to Kenmare, drive on N70 around the ring till Killorglin and follow N72 from Killorglin to Killarney.

Molls Gap

Ring of Kerry Map

Kenmare & Sneem: Kenmare and Sneem are two cute Irish villages along the ring and are good stops for a quick bite. There are several B&B, golf courses along the way. Keep an eye out for lookout points and beautiful beaches. During summer months, Glenbeg caravan park is very popular with the campers.

Glenbeg Caravan and Camping Park

Scarriff Island Viewpoint

Skellig Ring: Skellig Ring is a link to the Ring of Kerry. At Kenneigh, take a left on to R567 and head towards Ballinskelligs. Ballinskelligs is a small village with beautiful secluded beaches. A short ride from Ballinskelligs takes you to a small village of Keel. With a beautiful beach of St. Finian's Bay and Skelligs Chocolate factory at a walkable distance, Keel is a fantastic choice to spend a few hours.

Ballinskelligs

St.Finian's Bay

Kerry Cliffs: They might not be as popular as Cliffs of Moher but they are still beautiful to visit. 

Kerry Cliffs

Portmagee & Valentia Island: Skellig Ring ends at Pormagee. During summer months, several tour operators run regular tours from Portmagee to Skellig Michael. Valentia Island has rich geological resources and is reachable by the bridge only from Portmagee. A slate quarry, lighthouse, and beautiful views attract visitors to this island.

From Portmagee, follow R565 towards N70-North. If time permits, visit the Bog village museum on your way to Killorglin. At Killorglin, take N72 towards Killarney.

Great Smoky Mountains, Tennessee and North Carolina

The Great Smoky Mountains extend from Tennessee and North Carolina. They are most visited in fall for the beautiful fall colors in late October till early November. The highest point is Clingmans Dome at 6643 ft. The drive from Gatlinburg to Clingmans Dome has the best vista points of the mountain range. Pigeon Forge and Gatlinburg are two small towns near smokies that has small town vibe. 

The wonders of flight, Alpine costers, The Island are some of the fun places to visit in Pigeon Forge. 

Gatlinburg offers fun activities like Sky Lift, Ripley's museums, shopping and lots of activities. But beware of tourist traps and choose activities wisely as they can break the bank very soon.

Dollywood resort offers stay and play packages for adults to relax while kids enjoy the rides.

Navy Pier, Chicago, Illinois

NavyPier is an iconic Chicago landmark. in July 2016, the pier got a facelift for its 100th year celebration of the its commencement. Navy pier is opens at for visitors through out the year except on Christmas and Thanksgiving. Admission to the pier is free but individual attractions have tickets that can be purchased on site.

Navy Pier hosts several activities for kids and adults. It is home for the Chicago Children's Museum, several restaurants, movie theaters, beer garden, shops and many more. We deliberately skipped the children's museum so we can cover more activities in the limited time we have. Several dinner cruises, sight seeing cruises fireworks cruise and many other speciality cruises start from the pier as well. Architectural cruise took us through the canal covering Chicago's history and the architecture of the buildings but I like sailing the tall ship windy Chicago skyline tour. A spectacular view of the Chicago's sky line from lake Michigan.

Fireworks at the pier is scheduled for every Wednesday and Saturday through out summer and on some special holidays. Parking at the pier is available but several public transportation options are available to reach the pier.

360 Chicago, Chicago, Illinois

360 Chicago, previously known as John Hancock Observatory, has the best views of Chicago downtown and Lake Michigan compared to Willis tower (Sears Tower). Definitely buy tickets online or buy a CityPass since it is hard to predict the wait times in line for tickets. Parking is a pain in the downtown. Instead of shelling hundreds of dollars on parking, it is better to get a day pass from CTA or buy a hop on hop off bus rides or better yet walk if you can :) 

Conveniently located in Magnificent mile, the observatory deck is in 94th floor of John Hancock Tower. And a ride in the elevator takes about a minute to the top and you can definitely feel your ears pop. Plenty of space to accommodate people at the top but wait for elevators is a bottle neck. A small cafe & bar at the observatory floor servers coffee, sandwiches, ice-cream and drinks. Gift shops are located at the top and the bottom floors.

The observatory deck is enclosed by glass walls on all sides. East, West, North and South views of Chicago and Lake Michigan are absolutely beautiful. East and South views covers downtown Chicago skyline and Navy Pier. West covers downtown Chicago and Chicago West side. North views cover the beaches, lakefront and beachside drive.

South side views has a new feature Tilt added to enhance the visitor's experience. A 7$ ticket purchased at the observatory deck, gets you access to the Tilt. This can accommodate 8 guests at a time and is around 10 minutes activity. The enclosure tilts forward by 30 degrees over Magnificent mile. 

A 24$ ticket gets you Sun and Stars package where you can visit the observatory deck twice in 48 hrs. This is a great deal to view Chicago's night skyline and Navy Pier fire works every Wednesday and Saturday during Summer.

Japanese Tea Garden, San Francisco, California

Japanese Tea Garden is a part of Golden Gate Park's popular attractions along with de Young Museum, California Academy of Science, Botanical Gardens and many other attractions. It might be impossible to cover all these in one day. Public transport options and parking is available, whichever you choose to use.

This tea garden is a soothing place to visit amid the chaotic downtown traffic. The garden is well designed and maintained. The tea garden houses both local and authentic Japanese plants. The bright red pagodas, stone lanterns, zen gardens, a statue of buddha gives the garden an authentic look and feel. The ponds with their bright orange fish stand out in the green backdrop.

A five-storied pagoda stands tall in the middle of the garden surrounded by a variety of colorful flowers and green shrubs. The Tea House in the garden serves as a snack bar that serves authentic Japanese tea and some sweet treats. It is a good experience to sip tea in the relaxing garden.

US Route 1, California

We took a scenic route from Golden Gate Bridge to the Monterey Bay Aquarium, Monterey, CA. Starting at the Golden Gate bridge, the US Route 1 passes through Golden Gate Park, Dale City, Half Moon Bay, HI Pigeon Point Lighthouse, Santa Cruz to Monterey.

The drive is so beautiful, it is totally worth the time for a detour. The lighthouse is a hostel where you can rent rooms with ocean views. Most of the highway has stops to park the car and take a quick trip to the beach. These cliff side beaches are splendid has an appeal that normal beaches lack.

The foggy roads, sound of crashing waves, humid weather, beautiful ocean views sure will please your senses.

Coit Tower, San Francisco, California

Coit Tower stands tall on the Telegraph hill, offers nice views of the city, Bay Bridge, Golden Gate Bridge and Alcatraz Islands. Parking is free but very limited. There is an option of taking public transport from Fisherman's Wharf.

Coit Tower can be reached by a scenic trail via Filbert street. Elevator access is available to the top of the tower and the tickets can be purchased in the gift shop at the bottom of the tower.

The top of the tower has three arch shaped windows in each direction that offers 360 degree view of the city.

Coit tower offers guided tours and the tour of the murals inside the tower. Don't miss THE famous Lombard street nearby!!!

The Maid of The Mist, Niagara Falls, New York

Niagara Falls is one of the world famous attractions of New York State which, millions of tourists visit each year. The falls is located in the America's oldest state park, Niagara Falls State Park. Over years, Niagara state park added several attractions like Aquarium of Niagara, Discovery Center  to promote tourism and keep its visitors engaged. Amongst all the attractions, The Maid of The Mist is the most beautiful attraction.

The one hour boat tour takes visitors up close to the falls. Feeling the mist and hear the splash as you take a ride. This attraction is definitely need to be in any traveller's bucket list. The experience is amazing and there are no words to explain it. On a summer day, if all things fall in place, you can see a rainbow or two during the ride. Strollers are not normally allowed in the boat ride but feel free to take them along with you in case of young children. The cold splash of the mist can be annoying for the little ones. 

I visited this place twice and I find it equally amazing every time I see the falls. Take time to watch an amazing display of colourful fireworks over the falls. In summer months, almost every year, fire works over the falls is open on Wednesday, Friday, Sunday and few Holidays. If you miss the fireworks, check out the illumination of the falls which is equally amazing and open mostly every day.

The Maid of The Mist ride is operational from April till early November. Be sure to check the dates before you plan a trip. If you are planning to do more than one activity at the falls, Niagara Falls USA discovery pass might be economical. It covers multiple attractions at a discounted price. Check the website for operational days and prices.
A short walk from the state park leads to shopping center, restaurants, souvenir stores and street food.