And so it’s over… A whole month in the Maldives – finished. Know I shouldn’t moan but why did it have to fly past so ridiculously fast?!? 
Absolutely brilliant visiting 6 different islands – each one was so different from the others, especially with regards to how the locals interact with the tourists. This morning was spent lounging around in our PJ’s, uploading blogs and checking out travel insurance terms and conditions for trekking in Nepal (our current policy won’t cover us past 3,000m so we have to get a second policy to cover our trek – good job we checked!!). Packed our bags and headed out, organising a late check out with the hotel owner so we didn’t have to drag our stuff around in the heat. Headed to the local cafe for some lunch and milkshakes – Jayne ordered the ‘special’ (having no idea what it was). Turned out to be a khottu roshi but with smoked meat (I want to say beef but it might have been something else…). She also ordered a ‘karumba’ shake (again, no idea). Turned out to be a coconut type drink that constantly needed to be stirred as it kept separating. I opted for the safe option of tuna khottu roshi and milo milkshake!! 
Decided to get some passport photos done ready for our Nepal visas and cause we needed to get rid of our last bit of Maldivian Rufiyaa. Found a shop with an incredibly efficient passport photo service. Went in after a little girl who kept bursting into tears as soon as they tried to take her photo but then would smile and laugh when she saw us – if only we were allowed in the photo studio with her and dad. With photos in hand (Jayne looking like a convict – me looking like an odd version of the Cheshire Cat), we headed back to the hotel to pick up our stuff and head to the airport. A significantly less giddy and excitable ferry crossing over to the airport although Jayne did literally bounce up and down when she spotted Burger King in the airport terminal. Saw the news of the Belgium terrorist attacks in the arrivals hall so passed through to departures with feelings of dread and sadness. Check in and through passport control before hitting security. Having been told we could take our water through, we were then told to drink it or throw it away. Since we are both stubborn, we sat down and drank the 1.5ltr bottle and watched other passengers come through. One Indian family had a whole suitcase of chilled coffee drinks which they proceeded to share out amongst them whilst spraying themselves sporadically with the deodorant that they were also being forced to leave behind as it was bigger than 100ml. Got something to eat and was boarded onto the plane. A painful hour flight (my ears are really not happy with me) and we landed in Colombo. We visited the Europcar desk (bunch of bastards!!) to enquiry about our supposed refund. Managed to get the head of Sri Lankan Europcar on the phone and we are slightly closer to sorting all this mess out. Out of the arrivals terminal with our luggage and straight into the departures terminal (with an offer for a taxi ride!), waiting to be able to check in for our 4am flight to Doha.
Tuesday 22nd March 2016
Trans Travels 