Feb 1, 2015
Flight: Male, Maldives (MLE) to Bangalore, India; Air India 320 Economy
Flight: Bangalore, India (BLR) to Delhi, India (DEL); Air India 787-8 Economy
Hotel: Sheraton Four Points Delhi; 3000 points
I really should have booked two nights in Maldives. My flight departed at 2PM today which meant I needed to catch the boat back to the airport at 11AM which didn't leave much time this morning. I had breakfast of fresh squeezed orange juice in my room followed by a Clif bar. The weather looked great today, clear blue sky and smooth ocean. I wandered around on the beach a bit looking over to Guraidhoo where there was a fisherman out on the beach. I had a quick shower and quickly packed my bags then started walking back to reception after 9AM.. when I realized I'd left my toiletry kit in the room. I rushed back grabbed it and back to reception where I checked out and left my bags. I made it over to the snorkelling trip just in time. As we were setting off in the boat I realized the SD card in my gopro was missing! I must have forgotten to take it out of the SD adapter the last time I copied off the files. Grr. The water though was every shade of blue you can imagine. We headed off to the edge of the reef and I was one of the first to jump in the water.



Maldives


The water was pretty clear but my mask kept fogging up even after doing the spit+wash several times. The reef was along a dropoff, some was dead but lots of fish, sea cucumbers, anenomes, etc. We kept going along the reef for about 35 minutes before they called us back to the boat and headed back to the hotel. I saw some coral frames down in the water and one of the guys at the hotel said there are 150 frames along the jetty area. I went and got changed and hung around the lobby until 11 when the boat left for the airport. Again as I was leaving I realized I'd left my Hard Rock Bengaluru shirt in my room! I've had a bad habit of that, I left my Malta one in the hotel last year. I really need to stop leaving white shirts on the bed. Too late to do anything about it as we were already on the launch. The ride back was much smoother today until we hit the open channel across to Male island. Got to the airport and found my flight was delayed an hour! No lounge access here either and the wifi needed to text a code to my phone, which didn't work here. Grr. There was a Burger King and a coffee place so had a Double Whopper for lunch.

Holiday Inn Kandooma boat

The plane finally arrived, an Indian Airlines A320 and we departed about 3PM. On arrival in Bangalore, my flight to Delhi was showing delay of nearly 2 hrs. Again with the delays. I checked in for the flight and went through to the domestic side of the terminal. The Above Ground Lounge was here but had problems with my Diners Club card. It's chip+pin but I had no idea what the PIN is! No free food though, tea service was 659 Rs with sandwiches and cookies. I hung out in the lounge until it was time to board the flight to Delhi. It was a bit of a distance down the terminal and they were already boarding when I arrived. The flight was on a 787 so interior was nice and new. Individual TVs with IFE. I started watching a movie but fell asleep after the meal.


Air India A320 Y MLE-BLR




Air India 787 Y BLR-DEL

We arrived at the 'new' T3 terminal at Delhi. It was a bit of a walk down to the baggage claim and exit. I headed to one of the prepaid taxi stands and that's where I got scammed again. Fee to the hotel was 290, I plopped down a bill. The guy said you only gave me 100 and gave a 100 bill back. My brain went fuzz at that point as I was pretty sure I'd given him 500 Rs. And I was fairly sure I didn't have any 100s. I should have yelled thief/police at that point. So I paid another 300. In retrospect I remember reading about that scam on tripadvisor. The prepaid taxi was one of the old beat up yellow/black minibuses and the driver didn't speak English or knew where the hotel was. Luckily I knew about where it was and directed him via GPS. Arrived at the Four Points Sheraton about 1AM, and had to depart the next morning at 5:45 (ugh) for my flight to Kathmandu.