The Maldives

Heaven on earth - that's the easiest way to describe our all-too-short getaway to the Maldives. Since the weather in Kabul has been pretty dicey lately, we changed our tickets at the last moment to add an overnight in Dubai on the way out. Very lucky since SOMEBODY lost a flip-flop and we had to make an urgent shopping trip at the Mall of the Emirates. It's surprising difficult to find flip-flops at one of the largest malls in the world.

Flippies in hand, we boarded a plane that took us to Male. The airport is actually on a separate island from the rest of the capitol city but we were quickly whisked away by representatives from the Sheraton Full Moon resort to the speedboat that would take us to the atoll our resort was on.

The Sheraton was lovely and as Starwood Gold members, we were THRILLED to get upgraded to an overwater bungalow for the five nights of our stay. Smooth sand, crystal waters, multiple bars (all with gorgeous ocean views, naturally) and it was amazing. We snorkled, wake-boarded (him), spa'd (me), and spent most of our time on the deck of our bungalow (see immediately below), reading and looking over the water.

This was our first time as a couple spending more than a long weekend at the beach - can you believe that? Going on six years and NEVER a beach getaway!? We looooooved it (and we'll do it again soon - Koh Samui in April) but we learned that we really aren't "resort people" for more than a few days. The decompression of those oh-so-not-busy days was perfect and just what the doctor ordered coming from Kabul. Under a gorgeous sunset with a Manhattan (his) and Singapore Sling (hers) we said good-bye to the Maldives and prepared for the next five days...in Sri Lanka!