Last year, my sister got the brilliant idea to go on a holiday which was further than the local mall. When I suggested “should we go to target, then,” she rolled her eyes, gave me the ‘god help me’ look, and started sketching out (figuratively) her plan to go on a vacation this year.
I don’t know what genetic magic powers she was born with, but she somehow convinced my parents to go on a vacation to the Maldives. She knows full well that Maldives is one island way too close to the equator, and I had no intention of going there during my winter break to fry to a crisp. My dream vacation consisted of making snowmen and snow angels in our backyard and celebrating Christmas the proper way.
But my family thought that was a jolly good idea and started booking the tickets.
Oh, the plane ride? It was quite horrid if you ask me. For one, the airline must have been written in some unpronounceable foreign language, for I couldn’t make out a word of it. Secondly, we were given very itchy blankets for nighttime.
Third, my very clever sister secured us seats in the emergency exit row, which meant we couldn’t recline our seats as they would block the exit. On top of that, I got claustrophobia from being squashed by the tilting seats of the people in front of us. Not the most fun moment of my life, I can tell you.
I have to admit, for an island that was going to sink underwater in twenty-nine years, they were really pulling out their best cards. These women in tropical costumes who looked like they couldn’t survive a sneeze served us cocktails as we stepped off the boat which got us to the island.
If you are curious enough to wonder, the boat ride was even worse than the plane ride, period. So, it was quite refreshing to have a sip of the cocktails, which, by the way, was just another fancy word for ‘orange juice.
Our room was decent though, and the bath was superb. After a warm shower, I dressed in my tee and shorts and got ready to explore. Before that though, I remembered to slather on some sunscreen and shade my face with a simply enormous hat.
My brother had enough brains to book our rooms in front of the sea, which I was glad about because the rooms nearer to the boating docks were in front of a forest full of bugs. My sister wanted to get started on the activities straight away. Being brave, she wanted to try parasailing, which I rejected immediately.
Looking through the activity sheet we were handed by the staff, I decided to attempt the banana boat with my brother. The banana boat sounded mellow enough. My sister was against this, so we compromised, my sister and mom, going parasailing, while I and my brother went on the banana boat. My dad was an acting photographer.
Let me tell you something; when I said banana boat, I thought of a boat ride on a boat the color of a banana. I did not expect a boat shaped like a banana and hypocritical boaters who drove me and my brother to the sea at full speed and dropped us in the middle of the ocean with a one-third-second warning.
And worse than the saline dripping from our eyes taking the accurate form of tears was the laughter of my sister who was witnessing everything that was happening from her parasailing adventure up above.
Needless to say, I made my dad delete every photo of our banana boating disaster. But something tells me he didn’t get rid of everything …
After that ordeal, I went back to the room to maybe watch some telly or eat something, when my sister gave the first good suggestion of the week by suggesting that we visit the restaurant to eat something. It was nearly lunchtime and we were all starved, so we were only too eager.
The food was delicious so I suppose the Maldives wasn’t a completely hopeless case. Mom and dad actually let us fill our plates with whatever we wanted (literally), so the fruit salads and smoothies, and pastries had no fear of being neglected today.
The next day, I decided to find seashells to take back home. But after finding crabs in no less than seventeen shells, I satisfied myself with shop-bought souvenirs.
We all left the island early today to watch the dolphins on the dolphin tour. One came really close to the ferry and then bobbed back down under the water. That night we saw the stingray feeding too, which I wasn’t too enthusiastic about since I’m pretty sure that stingrays bite.
The last day was actually pretty fun. I still didn’t try the parasailing activity but I and my family built a lot of sandcastles and carved our names in separate stones and left them buried in the sand, though I chose to release mine into the sea. Maldives was actually pretty fun and I wouldn’t mind coming here again. But my brother is talking about visiting the Sahara, so probably this time next year, I will be making snow angels in the backyard.
Authored By
Malyatha Sadagopan
