I have found paradise on earth ♡

The Maldives are only a 1 hour and 10 minute flight from Sri Lanka. Flights are available starting at €60 and the return flight was just as expensive as from Sri Lanka. So I had to do it:p For the last 3 days, I headed to the Maldives. What a way to end the trip! Whoop whoop!

I stayed at the Paradise Island Resort on Lankanfinolhu Island in the North Male Atoll.
I was picked up (along with a few other travelers) directly from the airport by speedboat and taken to the resort. It was only a 30 minute ride.
Wow, turquoise water everywhere you look. The long pier was amazing.
The reception at the 5-star resort was great. They served a delicious ice drink and provided a briefing. The rooms were already ready and I was in the room by 10 am. Mega. Huge and right on the beach. There are only beach bungalows and overwater bungalows here. All with ocean views. The resort grounds were great. Well-kept and clean. Palm trees everywhere and you could see the Indian Ocean shining through from everywhere. I kept thinking, 'is that a pool back there?!' The water here is the same color. There are many colorful fish, reef sharks (that don't bite), and rays. Snorkeling was fun, but I didn't see any sharks or rays in the water. Only from the pier or the beach. But I also didn't go on a snorkeling trip. I'll save that for next time. I usually don't go to the same place twice, but I have to come back here:p
You can also take a day trip to Male, the capital city, go diving, ride a jet ski, or fly over the atolls in a seaplane. I definitely want to do that too. But of course, all of that costs money, considering the high standard here..
The staff was super friendly, as you would expect from a resort:) The island was incredibly beautiful. White sandy beach, beautiful palm trees, and then the incredibly turquoise water. I didn't expect to be so blown away by it.
The Philippines have always been my highlight when it came to beaches and water, but here it's all concentrated and it's just turquoise as far as the eye can see. Unbelievable.
The guy who cleaned my room, Ammhad, is from the Maldives, from one of the Southern atolls, and used to work on a ship and traveled the whole world.. he said, 'once you've seen the Maldives, you won't find anything more beautiful'...
I can't believe it. I asked him if he had been to the Seychelles and he said, 'oh yes, it looks exactly the same there!'
So next destination: Seychelles:)) And I think Mauritius can definitely keep up as well. And every country always has something beautiful about it..
3 days were perfect for me. It was completely sufficient for me.
I didn't experience anything about the locals and their culture here, but this is simply paradise on earth.
I originally planned to backpack here. Since 2009, the Maldives have been open to backpackers. There are public ferries and guesthouses. You can also find cheap and nice accommodations on Airbnb. But since it's currently Ramadan and the Maldives is a 100% Muslim country (you can't even get citizenship here otherwise), I decided against it.. Maybe I'll try it sometime in the future. Backpack for a few days and then spend 3 days at a great resort. That's how it should be in the Maldives:) But for those who get bored quickly in a new place where there's not much to do, I would advise booking only 3-4 nights and then spending another 3-4 days on another island. Unless it's a large island. I could walk around mine in 45 minutes (if I didn't keep stopping for photos:)
At least that's how I would do it if you're only staying in a resort..

When a few other travelers and I were being taken back to the airport by boat, at least 4 or 5 people from the resort staff were standing on the pier waving goodbye to us. Haha so typical of a 5-star resort.. I think. I haven't done that many before. But it does make you feel a bit special:)
It was the perfect end to my amazing trip.

I'm still so happy that I made the trip.
Australia... Sydney seems so long ago.. I didn't even want to think about the end of the journey 🙈 I thought time would go by quickly when traveling, but it didn't. On the contrary. It somehow stood still and you're just always in the present. There's only the 'here and now'.
Except when you get hungry, then you have to make a plan for where to go next.

After countless sunsets, hundreds of coconuts, mountains of rice, salt in my hair, the many amazing new places & people, it also feels good to be back home, to see my family and friends, to cuddle my dog, to go to the bakery. It's nice to have something to look forward to and something that makes coming back easier. Plus, summer is starting now in Germany!
You see your home with different eyes again. I think the journey has made me even more open and it's much easier for me to approach people..

That's it. My last blog of this wonderful journey. I arrived back home safely, had a great welcome:) And I'm incredibly happy, content, and grateful that everything worked out so well.
Thank you so much for accompanying me and for your positive feedback ;)

The last photos have been uploaded. I had forgotten to upload a few from the last days in Sri Lanka. I took care of that now.
By the way, I brought about 300 GB (!) of photos and videos with me 🙈 Holy Moly.

goodbye (Australia)
selamat tinggal (Indonesia, Singapore, Malaysia)
លា (Cambodia)
ลาก่อน (Thailand)
ආයුබෝවන් (Sri Lanka)
ދަނީ(Maldives)