Five Star Five Year

David and I wanted to do something really special for our 5-year wedding anniversary, so we planned a week-long trip to the Maldives.  And it was aaahhhhmazing!

We stayed at the Mirihi resort, which is its own tiny island.  When picking a hotel, I had a couple of criteria – 1) reachable by seaplane instead of speedboat, since we’d never been on one and it sounded like fun and 2) a small, boutique hotel since we wanted to do absolutely nothing but lie around on the beach and eat lots of food.

There are a lot of long videos in this blog, so if you're bored at work, enjoy! :)

Mirihi fit the bill perfectly.  It was recommended to us by friends that stayed there last summer, and #1 on TripAdvisor, so we knew it had to be good.  A 30-minute seaplane journey from Male, Mirihi only has 30 huts, so a max of 60 guests, and about 150 staff.   It was nice to be able to circle the island in just a few minutes, and feel like the staff knew you personally. 

Usually when David and I travel, I have a list of places I want to visit and restaurants to try.  We buy guide books, make dinner reservations, and often book tickets in advance to ensure we see the attractions.  There was none of that in the Maldives.  We literally spent all day every day on the beach…

reading in the hammocks,

eating breakfast or dinner at the delicious over-water or beachside restaurants,

snorkelling along the house reef,

or lying on the beach and our deck.

From the moment we arrived at Mirihi, it was pure luxury.  We were jetted away from the sea plane on a small boat to the island, where the staff promptly took away our shoes and gave us a guided tour of the sandy resort.  That’s right, they took away our shoes.  No one wears shoes at Mirihi, even in the restaurants.  It was neat, and worked perfectly fine with the layout of the island.  Before we stepped inside the over-water restaurant or into our room, we washed the sand off of our feet using the water buckets placed outside the doors.  Everywhere else, including the beachside restaurant and lobby, was covered in sand.

And the service at the resort was impeccable.  Because the island is so small, the staff got to know us quickly, and we even made friends with other guests.  Our waiters quickly found out that we were obsessed with seeing sea turtles and dolphins, so they would keep an eye out for us, and point out spots where they’d last been seen.  They also knew our schedule, and made sure to ask how our days had been every night at dinner. 

So I lied.  We did have to make one dinner reservation for Mirihi’s overwater restaurant, Muraka. 

Saturday night is Lobster Night at Muraka, so David wanted to ensure we got a table!  That evening, we watched the sunset from the restaurant balcony and then had our lobster feast.  The restaurant is open in the middle, so diners can watch the sea creatures swimming around below.  As we ate, we were mesmerized by all of the sharks and fish hanging around, waiting for us to drop some of our dinner.

And there were lots of sharks!

But not to worry, there has never been a shark attack in the Maldives.  The country practices sustainable fishing with poles only, no nets, so there are plenty of fish for the sharks to eat.  They don’t need to snack on any humans!

Mirihi has a huge house reef that we snorkelled around every day.  The reef is home to tons of fish, a couple of Eagle rays, and lots of baby and teenage sharks.  After the sharks are born, their mothers drop them off at the reef to grow up.  Once they become teenagers, they move further out to the deeper parts of the reef, and then once they become adults, they move back out to the big, wide ocean. 

Unfortunately most of the reef is bleached, but the colourful fish more than made up for the lack of color in the coral.  We saw clown fish hanging out in anemones, Nemo’s friend, Gill, as well as some squid who preferred staying in the shadows of the boats, huge schools of bright yellow fish, and really gorgeous multi-coloured fish that reminded me of the character from one of my favourite children’s books, The Rainbow Fish.

There are also about half a dozen sea turtles that live near Mirihi and I think David and I saw all of them.  We felt really dumb the first couple of days because we could not find a turtle to save our lives.  When we would ask the staff where they liked to hang out, they would just look at us blankly and ask, “Really?  You really haven’t seen them?”  Finally, on Tuesday during breakfast, we saw a turtle poking its heads up near the dock, so we ran over there.  Sure enough, he was just hanging out at the surface.  And once we knew how to spot the turtles, we saw at least one every day.  And we knew it wasn’t just the same one we were seeing over and over because they were all different sizes and had different markings.

Toward the end of the trip, we saws rays every day as well.  On Wednesday night, we saw a group of manta rays flying through the air deeper out in the ocean.  Who knew they could jump so high out of the water?  On Thursday after breakfast, David and I were relaxing on the beach.  He had to go back to the room for something, and shortly after I noticed another couple running down the beach with their camera.  They had spotted the elusive Eagle ray!  These rays are very shy, and very fast, so they’re hard to spot.  I grabbed my camera and took a pic before putting on my snorkel gear and quietly getting in the water to swim around with them.  I got to spend about 10 minutes with the two rays before they dove deep and I lost them.  Worst part was, David missed it!  And I forgot to grab the Go-Pro to get some underwater pics and videos!  I was so angry at myself.  So there are no pictures besides the one below, where the rays just look like rocks.

One of the best parts of the trip and most amazing experiences of our lives was swimming with the whale sharks.  These sharks are the biggest fish in the sea, and completely harmless.  On Monday, we took a seeker cruise to find them and swim with them.  The boat didn’t have sonar, so the captain and two guides just kept a look out.  We sailed for about an hour to a well-known whale shark hangout, and then spent about another hour keeping our eyes peeled.  We felt like we were back on safari, except spotting whales in the dark waters is so much harder than an elephant in the tall grass!

After an hour, we finally spotted movement below!  We jumped in, but he was pretty deep already.  Whale sharks usually like people and won’t dive as long as there are people swimming around, but we were too late.  About fifteen minutes later, we found another shark but the crowd around that guy was enormous.  We were even joined by a group of scuba divers.  Finally, on our third shark, we found one that loved hanging out with people near the surface so we were able to spend well over 30 minutes swimming around with him.  In fact, we got so tired from all of that swimming in open water that we were the ones that decided to call it quits and head back to the boat before he dove.  After that, we saw a couple more sharks and spent about 20 minutes with each one.  5 sharks total!  We got very, very lucky!  It was truly a once-in-a-lifetime experience and absolutely incredible to be that close to a massive shark in the wild. 

On Wednesday, we took a break from all of the swimming to attend a traditional Maldivian cooking class with Mirihi’s head chef and his sous chef.  David and I learned how to make vegetarian and chicken curries, cold pumpkin tuna salad, and stuffed coconut bread.  For dessert, we made simple but tasty banana fritters accompanied by maple syrup and vanilla ice cream.  It was a lot of fun, and a delicious meal in a beautiful tropical setting near the beach!  I was soooo full!

We were constantly full.  We did a half-board plan, which meant breakfast and dinner were included in our room rate.  So no lunch, but we didn’t need it!  Each night, the main restaurant offered a different themed buffet menu.  And this was no fast-food buffet.  This was gourmet food featuring a different region of the world each night.  Ranging from Middle Eastern chicken schwarma, to Asian sushi, grilled BBQ reef fish, French crepes, every night offered something different to suit all palates.

The only downside was eating so much each night, and then having to eat a big breakfast the next morning, knowing that was our only meal until late that evening.  Breakfast was too good to resist, anyway.  From the waffle station to the pastry and bread baskets filled with muffins and cakes, to the warm foods section of hash browns, bacon, and breakfast tacos.  The only way we managed to keep all of the weight off was through swimming hours and hours every day. 

On our last night, David and I booked a private sunset cruise.  We had booked a dolphin cruise with champagne and canapés the night before with a few other guests, but unfortunately no dolphins showed up.  We were disappointed, but it was still a beautiful cruise.  However, David was determined to find us some wild dolphins, so he booked a private boat ride for us on Friday. 

After sailing for about an hour, we came upon an island and playing in the waves was a huge pod of dolphins!  David and I nicknamed the island the ‘Island of the Blue Dolphins’ and we spent the next hour just watching the dolphins.  When it gets cooler in the evenings, the dolphins will hang out on the surface and they love to jump and spin and do flips through the air.  I couldn’t believe my eyes.  Wild dolphins acting as if they were at Sea World!  There were a ton of babies showing off for us, and then another boat came by, and the dolphins got up close and personal with us.  They began swimming at the front of the boat and jumping around us, just like in the movies.  I was so happy.  I’d never seen wild dolphins before, and that made my life.  It was something I’ll never forget.

The dolphins actually responded to our whistling and clapping, and would come closer, jump and flip, as our clapping and whistling got louder and louder.

The next day, it was time to leave paradise.  We knew it was time to go when we had to put our shoes back on…  It was a really amazing vacation, though, and I cannot praise the Maldives (and Mirihi) enough.  We are so blessed to be able to go there, and spend our five-year wedding anniversary at such a romantic destination.  Truly, a trip of a lifetime. 

Summer Days Drifting Away

David and I had a blast this summer!  The weather was the warmest it’s been since we moved to England, so we spent a lot of time outside.  We took Kirby to the neighborhood park almost every day so he could run around in the sun, we tried new recipes on the grill, and I was happiest just breaking out my old Texas wardrobe of shorts, skirts, and sundresses.

And between all of the fun beach vacations, we also had a great time in London with friends and family.

We kicked off the summer with a Texas Exes pub crawl through Canary Wharf.  The London UT alumni association hosted the event to raise scholarship money.  Our friend, Terra, was in town that weekend from Chicago, so she and Jordan came along as honorary Longhorns.

Urban Cowboys  

The theme of the day was Cowboys and Indians and some Texans went all out!  We definitely got some weird stares from fellow Londoners as we made our way from pub to pub along the wharf, but it was good fun for a good cause!

Later that evening, we saw the highly anticipated musical Book of Mormon and then headed over to Jamie Oliver’s pop-up diner in Piccadilly Circus for late-night spaghetti and meatballs and pulled pork waffles with spiked milkshakes.

Our next guests were Anna and Terri from Texas!  Anna was on her ‘babymoon’ before Valentina arrives this winter.  The first night out in London, we went to the historic Lamb and Flag pub in Covent Garden for some traditional British grub and then I introduced them to Laduree. 

The next day, we had afternoon tea at the swanky Dorchester Hotel off Park Lane.  The Dorchester is my new favorite place for afternoon tea.  Not only did we get a main course with our tea (salmon terrine for Terri, stilton and pear pastry for Anna, and meze platter for me) but the hotel also does themed menus and for the summer, they offered us unlimited mini ice cream cones in various flavors.  My favorite had to be the honey ice cream in the chocolate cone.  And the Dorchester is also home to Her Majesty’s Cup, a tea-based cocktail consisting of earl grey infused with berries, rhubarb, gin, and champagne served in a tea cup cocktail glass. 

And on top of all of that, the tea was to die for!  We all fell in love with my vanilla tea from master tea blenders Harney and Sons.  I think altogether, we drank at least three pots, on top of the Dorchester blend Terri ordered, and the lemon decaf Anna ordered.

That evening, we walked to Regent’s Street to shop at Hamley’s, the ‘finest toy shop in the world.’  Oh, how our lives have changed!  We’ve gone from partying until 4:00 in the morning to having afternoon tea, toy shopping for our kids and friends with kids, and then catching the tube home to be in bed before 11:00! 

It was actually great that we were in bed early because the next day was packed!  Anna and Terri headed to Bath and Stonehenge while I headed out to Karen’s house for David’s high school reunion.

Unfortunately I won’t be able to make it back to El Paso next month for my 10-year reunion but it’s great that we are living here in London and able to attend David’s so easily.

The festivities started on Friday when David, Natalie, and other alumni were paraded in front of the current students before the headmaster gave a welcoming speech.  That evening, there was dinner and drinks.

On Saturday, we were given a campus tour, which I really enjoyed.  Though I’ve been to TASIS many, many times, I hadn’t seen the entire campus before and it was so fun to see the children’s Beatrix Potter community garden tucked away on the grounds, the amazing new science labs, and smart boards in all of the classrooms.  Those smart boards are pretty neat.  David and I remember when they started to phase out chalkboards for dry erase boards and we thought that was the coolest thing ever.  Who knows what kind of technology they’ll have by the time our kids are in school!

David making new friends in the science lab.

After the tour, we had a lovely dinner in Thorpe Hall where David and another classmate gave a couple of heartfelt speeches.  David’s was very touching, and afterwards a lot of the faculty asked if they could have copies of it to put in their newsletters or reference for their current students.  He did a great job speaking in front of the room and it was very obvious how much his time at TASIS meant to him, and helped shape him into the man he is today.

As the summer began winding down, we finally used our tickets to the Shard that we received as Christmas presents half a year ago.  The Shard opened up in February of this year as the tallest building in Western Europe, and now dominates London’s skyline.

Part of the reason we waited so long to use our tickets is that we wanted to eat at one of the new panoramic restaurants after enjoying the view from above.  So we booked our tickets to ‘The View’ for sunset and then we were able to snag a reservation at Hutong, the Hong Kong restaurant whose newest location has recently opened up on the 33rd floor of the Shard.

David just bought us a Go-Pro so he was very excited to use it for the first time at the Shard.

Other interesting buildings coming up in East London – the Cheese Grater in its final stages of construction and the Walkie Talkie. Because of its unique shape, the Walkie Talkie reflects heat from the sun onto areas across the street.  The heat was so intense this summer, it actually fried an egg on the pavement, lit a shopkeeper’s carpet on fire, and melted part of someone’s Jaguar.  Oops!

We watched the sun set over the Thames from the 69th and 70th floor observation decks.

Once the sun went down, we headed downstairs to Hutong for a late dinner of dan-dan noodles, spicy pork dumplings, cold chicken salad, and boneless fried ribs.  I think we ate literally every kind of farm animal during that meal.  Our favorite part of the dinner was the Peking duck.  We ordered half a duck, and the first course is prepared table-side.  The meat is thinly sliced and offered with the usual pancakes, cucumber, scallions, and hoisin sauce.  Then, the chef takes the remaining duck back to the kitchen to cook with spices, onions, and other vegetables.  The other half of the duck is then served with additional pancakes and garlic-infused oil and red chili sauce.  It was fan-freakin’-tastic! And of course, the view wasn’t half-bad either!

View of St. Paul's from our table at Hutong

We ended the summer with the Food and Wine Festival at the Ascot racecourse on Saturday.  Alyson and I had really been looking forward to donning our English outfits and heading to Surrey for a day at the races.  We will use any excuse to go shopping for new dresses and hats!

I’ve been to Churchill Downs before when I was younger, and to the racetrack in Texas a few times, but it is a very different affair in England.  During Royal Ascot, men wear their tops and tails and women compete to have the most outlandish hats.  This past year, it got so out of control that the Ascot officials enforced a strict dress code specifying the diameter of the base of the women’s hats.

This past weekend, the dress code was not that strict, but we did have premier access badges which enforced suits and ties for the men and modest dresses for the women.  The badges also gave us access to all areas of the venue (excluding private boxes) so we were able to watch the races at the top viewing deck.  We had fun down in the grass next to the track, too. 

Our view of the warm-up from the top deck 

Downstairs, we could watch the parade of horses up-close before each race and place our bets with the variety of gambling shops.

Saturday being the Food and Wine Festival, of course we ate and drank some very British foods and wines.  We had Pimm’s cups, wine, beer, local cheeses, ploughman sandwiches with ham and chutney, roast beef with horseradish cream, and a couple of Ascot burgers.

James Martin, British TV chef and ‘Strictly Come Dancing’ veteran (the UK’s version of ‘Dancing with the Stars’ which paved the way for the US program) was there to present trophies and do live cooking demonstrations.  There were also booths offering novelty chocolates, candies, flavored oils and vinegars, curries, and other English treats.

We didn’t catch any of the cooking demonstrations, but we did have fun placing our bets on the horses with the craziest or cutest names.  David and Paul actually did some research into the top picks before putting money down, but it didn’t really help… 

Our luck turned during one of the final races when I went for a beautiful horse named Flying Bear.  I won a whopping 20 quid!

Paul’s horse won the next race, so we came away as the big winners.

We also came away with some cheese, chutney, and oatcakes, a few meat pies, and the cutest picnic basket complete with a cooler, cutlery, and dishes. 

We hope this unseasonably warm weather continues for a bit longer so we don’t need to wait until next Summer to use the new picnic basket!  

Croatia

At the end of August for our last Bank Holiday weekend getaway, David and I split up and he headed to Boston for a friend’s wedding while I flew to Split, Croatia.  The truth is, Boston is a long way to travel for a short few days, and I had never been to Croatia before.  So when Paul and Alyson invited me as the third wheel on their vacation, I had to ditch David and New England for the sunny Adriatic.

Split is a scenic seaside town on the Dalmatian coast featuring the ancient palace of Diocletian.  The palace was built by the Roman emperor Diocletian in the 4^th century, and the modern town of Split has incorporated its old town into the ruins.  The entire site is protected by UNESCO, so walking through the city is like going back in time. 

We stayed at the Le Meridien (yay, Starwood points!) just outside the city.  The hotel is situated on its own private beach, and also home to a luxury yacht marina.  On Friday, Paul, Alyson, and I had to wake up at 3AM to catch our flight, so when we got to Croatia later that morning, we decided to lie around on the beach all day, napping and reading. 

Even though we were at the hotel and checked in before eleven, all of the beach chairs were taken.  We did manage to snag three spots on the pier next to the yachts, which gave us great views of the boats. 

Plus it was easier getting in by just jumping off the pier instead of tip-toeing across hot rocks.  When we asked a local if there were any sand beaches in Croatia, they replied, “Sand is nonsense!  We are a rocky people!”

That night, we had dinner in town at a great outdoor café called Konoba Marul, where we enjoyed local specialities like eggplant stuffed with cheese and prosciutto and spicy sausage with boiled potatoes.  

We walked off all of the food afterwards, taking a self-guided tower of the palace at night. 

On Saturday, we wanted to take the catamaran out to Hvar, a beautiful island and playground of the rich and famous.  Our concierge was really helpful and told us that we had to be there before 8:30 to snag tickets for the 11:30 departure.  So it was up at ‘em early again to grab a taxi to the city for our boat tickets.  We were able to get three seats, and with 3 hours to spare, we had plenty of time to grab breakfast and explore more of Split.

There are plenty of bakeries in the city centre offering traditional strudels, so we grabbed some cherry and apple flavors, as well as some chocolate crème pastries.  We ate them in one of the old town squares before going shopping for souvenirs and snacks for Hvar and our excursion the next day to Plitvice Lakes National Park.

Next we decided to climb up to Marjan, a hillside covered in pine forests with great views overlooking the town and harbour.  Looking back, we probably should’ve gone grocery shopping after our hike.  Poor Paul was left carrying all of the food plus a heavy bottle of wine in his backpack.  But I think the views were worth it, and we were able to see one ancient church, but we didn’t have time to find the hermitage caves used in the 1400s. 

13^th century church of St. Nicholas

When we got to Hvar, the harbour was small compared to Split, and we were able to see most of the major attractions, like the churches and arsenal, within an hour, so we decided to rent a boat to spend the day at sea.

Unfortunately to rent a powerful boat, we needed a license and Paul’s TX boating license was expired.  However, we were able to rent a dinghy for the afternoon for practically nothing! 

Our beloved dinghy

At first, Alyson was a bit weary that Paul could drive the thing, given it didn’t even have a steering wheel, and we were a bit anxious about getting stranded in the middle of the sea, but the rental company gave us some emergency contact numbers, some paddles in case we had to row ourselves to land, and assured us that we didn’t have enough power to go that far out to sea anyway.  In the end, Paul was an excellent driver and we had a great time touring the nearby islands!

  Captain Paul was having a great time doing donuts all afternoon!

Paul is currently reading ‘Treasure Island’ so he found an abandoned island for us to sunbathe on, but we kept teasing him that he should lead us on a treasure hunt instead.

On Sunday, we had planned a day-trip to the Plitvice Lakes.  I’d heard about these lakes from some other friends that have been there, and was really looking forward to seeing them in-person. 

We were picked up at 7:30 on Sunday (another early morning!) and started our three-hour drive to the countryside.  About 2 hours into the drive, it started storming.  Not just raining, but sideways rain, thunder, and lightning.  All of the tourists began panicking and when I asked our driver and guide if they’d ever been to the lakes in weather like that, they replied, “We’ve been in the snow and rain, but no, not like this.  But who cares?!  We’ll have fun!”

We weren’t so sure.

I was afraid we wouldn’t be able to see all of the gorgeous colors – the blues and greens of the various lakes, Alyson was afraid of being struck by lightning walking across open water, and Paul wanted to turn around and go to the lakes closer to Split, Krka.

We toughed it out and after grabbing some plastic ponchos and an umbrella at the gift-shop, we headed out in the torrential downpour to start our 3-mile hike around the 16 lakes.  

I felt so bad for organizing the tour, and dragging Paul and Alyson there with me…

But less than 5 minutes later, the rain stopped and it completely cleared up.  Thank goodness!! 

Alyson and I are still in our ponchos, just in case...

I've removed the poncho but still have my jacket on, just in case...

We finally shed all of our layers once we realized the sun was going to stay out!

And it worked out in our benefit because the park was much less crowded (especially during peak summer season) so we didn’t have to wait in line for anything – the entrance tickets, the boat ride across one of the larger lakes, or the shuttle.

I was so happy to be able to see the vibrant blue water!

The park was so amazing and beautiful, so we were really glad the sun came out and we could enjoy all of the crystal clear water.

There is a whole other world beneath the lakes, and when the sun hit the surface just right, you could see clearly all of the way to the bottom.

The lakes are protected as part of one of UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites, so no swimming is allowed, plus the park is home to otters and bears and other creatures that we were not allowed to disturb.  It wasn’t that hot because of the rain, so we didn’t feel like we even wanted to go in for a dip, but Paul did ask if any other tourists ‘accidentally’ fall into the lakes to cool off.  Our guide told us she doesn’t let them!

One of the most fun parts of the trip was meeting Leonardo, a three year-old Brazilian boy on vacation with his father and mother.  He hiked the entire 3 miles on his tiny little legs.  He spent the walk singing to us, or counting to 10 in English, Portuguese, and French.  He was so bright, and I couldn’t believe he did the entire hike on his own.   What a cutie!

On Monday, we finally got to sleep in a little.  We woke up at 8:00 and immediately headed down to the beach, where we read and napped and relaxed and swam.  We hung out there until 1:00 when it was time to grab lunch and head to the airport.

Though it was a short trip, it was the perfect ending to a great summer!  Thanks again for the invite, Paul and Alyson!  I had so much fun as the third wheel. ;)