Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Where Next? Travel with Kristen and Carol
Maldives with David Brodie
Unlock the secrets of the Maldives with our guest, David Brodie, as we explore this mesmerizing tropical paradise. Discover how the Maldives, a stunning collection of over 1,100 islands, offers a wide range of experiences from lavish luxury resorts to budget-friendly stays on vibrant local islands. David uncovers the evolving landscape of tourism in the region, where travelers can now experience the local culture and breathtaking beauty without breaking the bank.
Our conversation highlights the distinct contrasts between local islands, with their rich cultural norms, and the high-end resort islands that often cater to international tourists.
Finally, we explore the spectrum of accommodations available, from affordable stays on islands like Maafushi to the indulgent luxury of overwater bungalows at places like Kagi Maldives. Learn about planning your stay with practical tips on logistics, seasonal pricing, and choosing the right island experience for your travel style.
You can find David Brodie at the Voyascape Network
Map of Maldives
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Hosts
Carol Springer: https://www.instagram.com/carol.work.life
Kristen: https://www.instagram.com/team_wake/
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Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with Kristen and Carol.
Speaker 2:I am Kristen and I am Carol.
Speaker 1:And we're two long-term friends with a passion for travel and adventure.
Speaker 2:Each episode, we interview people around the globe to help us decide where to go next. All right, welcome David to the when Next podcast.
Speaker 3:Very nice to meet you both.
Speaker 2:Nice to meet you. Okay, we're going to talk about the Maldives, right.
Speaker 3:I always pronounce it Maldives as well, but they, they, they're, they pronounce it Maldives, so I've been trying to, but I always screw it up and go back to Maldives.
Speaker 2:So okay, so you don't do a lot of diving there.
Speaker 1:Huh, maldives, I was going to ask you because everyone, I've always known it as Maldives and then I talked to someone who lived there or was there and she said that and I was like, isn't it Maldives or something? I'm like I'll have to ask.
Speaker 3:Well, most, most Maldivians say Maldives. So I've been trying to consciously change, although I had to edit my own podcast about it because I kept saying Maldives as well.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:And is Maldives its own country or is it an island off of India? It's about 1100 islands off the coast of India. About 180 of those are populated and about 160 of them have resorts on them.
Speaker 2:Oh my goodness, Wow so much better than Hawaii, huh.
Speaker 3:Yes, for sure, and everything from Uber luxury resorts to kind of the interesting thing that's happening now just over the last few years. There is the local islands where, because it's a very strict Muslim country and a lot of restrictions on like drinking alcohol and dress and things like that, on islands where the local population lives. So it used to be, on many of those islands tourists weren't even allowed, but that's changed a lot over the last 10 years and that's also changed, like affordability of tourism there a lot in the last 10 years as well, because the local islands you can stay on for like 30, $40 a night, the guest house versus you know the the international resorts are sort of from $300 a night to $30,000 a night, depending on where you're staying.
Speaker 2:Yeah, I've heard about some extravagance. In my head the Maldives is like really extravagant, really fancy. I didn't realize there's another side to it. So that's, I'm so glad you're going to educate us.
Speaker 1:Well, and I have to say, my, my son. He's a senior this year and when my daughter graduated in 2022, I told her well, it was during COVID. She was going to go to a BTS concert and it got canceled at COVID and I said, hey, why not? Instead, I'll take you to South Korea when you graduate in 2022. And so my son is now graduating high school and I said, oh, where do you want to go? And he said Maldives. So I just thought it was very, I was very interested in talking with you because I had. I was like, okay, I know we're doing this episode and I'll learn. And I'm like, okay, I am on a budget.
Speaker 3:Well, it is possible on a budget and it gets lots of love on Instagram. So I can see why. Why somebody graduating from high school would be. It would catch their attention.
Speaker 1:Yeah, well, it looks like it's in the middle of the ocean and I panned out and I see actually Sri Lanka is next to it and we just did. I have a client that's from Sri Lanka, so we just did that last week. But I was just thinking first off and I talked to this. My client, whose friend, went to Maldives just recently and just getting there, I heard, was difficult and landing there is also an obstacle because it's just water all around you. I was curious how do you typically get there?
Speaker 3:I mean, one of the great things is that you know there's a lot of budget airlines from around Asia who have direct flights there daily, so you can get there on AirAsia out of you know. For example, I came one way out of Thailand on AirAsia. I think I paid less than $200 for my flight from Thailand and about the same going to on the outbound flight going to Dubai I'm trying to remember the name of the airline out of Dubai, it's a new budget airline out of the United Arab Emirates that I flew that way. And same thing it was very inexpensive To get there from North America. I mean, it is a bit more challenging. You've usually got to do a connection through either one of those Asian hubs or somewhere like London, or kind of get to the other side of the world first and then find a connecting flight there.
Speaker 2:Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3:Like at first and then find a connecting flight there. Yeah, that's what I'm thinking like at some point maybe spend some time in in europe, or then it won't be as as brutal to go there. Yeah, how I did it was I flew on points to singapore and then, you know, singapore to thailand was a couple hundred dollars, not even, I think it was 75, to go, uh um, from singapore to thailand and then thailand to the maldives was another couple hundred dollars from there, and how many times have you been there?
Speaker 3:Just just the one where I spent about um, but a week and a half.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, Got it. And then I guess I'd be very curious, like how the islands compared to the size of the Hawaiian islands, like are they much bigger? Are they tiny?
Speaker 3:They, most of them, are much, much smaller than than a lot of the Hawaiian islands. I mean a lot of the um. You know Mifushi, which was one of the local islands that I spent some time on. You could walk around the whole island in an hour, an hour and a half, I mean it wasn't very large and even the, the, the main capital island of Malé. I mean, um, I did a driving tour with a local rideshare kind of driver and I think you know touring the whole island maybe took us 45 minutes.
Speaker 2:What so? How many islands? It's only just one island, the main one that has the airplanes coming in.
Speaker 3:The main one that has international flights coming into it. But then you know one thing that the Mdives is known for is it has more float planes than anywhere else in the world and it has a massive float plane terminal, once you come into the international airport, to ferry you out to all of the island resorts it's like what you see in the fantasy island absolutely. You're out landing on the water and one of those 160 plus you know resort islands that have that have resorts on them.
Speaker 2:And then you just hop into a boat. How does that work? Yeah?
Speaker 3:so the one I was, and that was some of them you fly right into the harbor and right up the island, the one that's sort of more luxurious island that I spent some time on, a place called Coggy, maldives. There they fly you by float plane into a sort of a staging area that that's maybe like another 10 minute or so boat ride away from from the island itself, so that way when you're on the private island you don't have, you know, planes buzzing you all day or anything. It's very quiet, very relaxing, because you are coming in by by boat from, uh, from, where the float plane drops you off wow.
Speaker 2:So how many in a week and a half? How many islands did you hit?
Speaker 3:um, I hit um. Let me see one, two, three, four islands during okay, is that?
Speaker 2:is that a good amount, or is it? Do you feel rushed, or?
Speaker 3:yeah, I would have loved to have had more time on all of them, like, uh, every every place that I I spent some time on I definitely could have spent a lot more time on, for sure okay.
Speaker 2:Okay, it wasn't like. Okay, I'm seeing it, you know just okay. Are they? Do they have like different food or different vibes in each Island?
Speaker 3:or I mean I mean the big contrast between the ones where I was spending some time. Certainly that the Capitol Island, malé, and right adjacent to that, is actually an artificial Island. That's been island, that's been built next to the airport called Hulu Mali. You know, there you're going to find a lot more. There's sort of the main service hubs for for the whole and the capital for for all of the islands, right. So that's where all the government services are, that's where all your shop, you know a lot of the shopping and stuff is, a lot of restaurants, much more, I would say, kind of westernized maybe, than than when you get out of any tall buildings?
Speaker 3:yeah, for sure, yeah, and even on some of the local islands have now some um, you know, larger, larger hotels starting to be built on some of the some of the more remote islands as well and I see a lot of atoll.
Speaker 1:Is that what islands is how they island?
Speaker 3:exactly, yeah okay, got it or a toll atolls are group groupings of islands, right where they're. They're kind of uh grouped together. Yeah, I think 26 different atolls throughout uh, throughout the maldives are you canadian?
Speaker 1:I am I was gonna say I can hear it right immediately.
Speaker 3:I've got the boat oh sorry oh no, it's great and of course, I apologize for the accent being canadian as well.
Speaker 1:Where are you now?
Speaker 3:in uh vancouver, canada okay, oh, that's great.
Speaker 1:How far away are the islands from each other?
Speaker 3:um, I mean, there there are islands like once, once you fly into malaysia, some of the local islands you can get to within a 15-20 minute boat ride, okay, but there's others that are, you know, a 45 minute seaplane ride as well.
Speaker 1:I mean, that's it's quite a quite a spread out group of islands, for sure and then I see mostly houses built on stilts and in the water and it looks all calm. Is it all calm there's assuming I guess, no surf there.
Speaker 3:It's just sort of like there are actually some great surfing, um, a couple of islands that are that are renowned for for surfing and, uh, some some great spots for that, but definitely I mean for much of the year, very, very calm waters. Uh, you know, it's definitely one of the things the area is known for. It's. It's a great. You know, probably, probably, it's the main reason in my mind to go. Is is definitely for the, the underwater and sea life that you're going to see there incredible diving and snorkeling, crystal clear waters and you say a lot of those like overwater bungalows are extremely popular at the at the luxury resorts, um, that you're going to find, um, you know, scattered, scattered throughout the islands.
Speaker 1:And then what? When's the best time of year to go, and when did you go?
Speaker 3:That's a good question. I was there in April and the weather was fantastic when, when I was there, their dry season runs from, if I remember correctly, it's like November to April is the is the dry season, but it's, it's really. You know it's going to be hot, humid throughout the year, but it's, it's really, you know. Uh, it's going to be hot, humid throughout the year. Um, they get a, they get a short monsoon season, sort of well may to october, I guess, where where monsoons can come through as well. But even you know when you are getting rain. Uh, if you're there, it tends to be, you know, a short burst of rain and then and then, you're, you're back to uh you know, yeah, where's the calmest water and the relaxing water?
Speaker 1:and then, yeah, where's the calmest water and the relaxing water? And then where's the surfing water?
Speaker 3:Calmest water and relaxing water is like, I mean all throughout the island. So you're going to find a lot of places with very calm water, but a few that do have great surf beaches on them, and I'm going to mispronounce this, I'm sure, but Thulustu Thulustu, I think, is the name. It's about a 30 minute boat ride from Mali.
Speaker 1:I see the lead. Who, but I don't know T-H-U-L-U-S-D-H-O-O. T-h-u. Yeah, it's not on this map. It must be just a general. T-h-u what was rest? L-u-s-d-h-o-o Is surfing. Okay, got it. I'll put that and then see. Maybe, I'll even mark it completely on here. So that's the island. And then what's the language that they talk there?
Speaker 3:I mean you're going to find, certainly everywhere you go, because international tourism is, like by the, the biggest part of the economy there. So english is widely, widely spoken um, throughout, the, throughout, the, um, islands. Okay, and then the local.
Speaker 1:I'm trying to remember the name of the local dialect here and I'm clicking on one, oh, and there's actually when I click on that island, the one, and I see the surfing or the waves and there it's like, uh, the other ones look like bungalows on water. This one actually looks island. I see tropical, I see a high rise kind of um, uh, I don't, I think it's a hotel, but it looks like houses Like.
Speaker 3:It looks more like a, like an island, versus the other ones, maybe they're smaller, with just the little bungalows for sure I mean a lot of those, those ones you're seeing with bungalows, are those those you know international resorts that have got the, the overwater bungalows, where you know you're, you're staying right over the water so you can, basically, you know you, you get out of your, your bungalow, you're going straight into the water and there's amazing snorkeling right underneath. You know where, where you're staying. Then some of those local islands, I mean I would also compare some of them to. They have a similar vibe you're into, like a place like bali, kind of a similar vibe to that you're starting to see on on some of the local islands, although a big contrast is, um, you know, because they are predominantly muslim country, uh, predominantly muslim country and some quite, you know, strict laws around that on those local islands.
Speaker 3:You're not going to find, for example, alcohol on any of the local islands. You're not going to find, or you're going to find, you know, beaches where you know international tourists are encouraged to go where the bikini allowed beach and the beaches where more of the locals go where bikinis are not not permitted. Um so, um, that's, that's definitely you know. Uh, something to be aware of when you're, when you're going on to those local islands is just respecting the, the local culture and local traditions as well yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1:Are there islands that are more budget friendly than unbudget, or is it just depending on the island? There can be all the mix of things dramatically different for sure.
Speaker 3:I mean, I would say the, those, those islands where the local population lives, where where tourism has just started to be allowed in the last decade, are going to be much more budget friendly than the international resort islands that have developed all throughout the island chain, that really are just geared towards international tourists. On the international resort islands too, I mean, they're you're not going to find the same restrictions around alcohol, around dress, any of that is is not sort of applicable on the on the international resort islands yeah um, where, where the local islands, um, you know just, much different from a price perspective, much different from a cultural perspective as well.
Speaker 2:And those local ones. Are they pretty friendly to the tourists? Then I mean, did you feel any vibes? Or like, oh, why are you invading our space? Or are there really like welcoming?
Speaker 3:Extremely friendly and I'll give you a good example of that. I think I talked about this once before as well, but I had spent some time on you know. I arrived in the capital Island, I quickly got a ferry over to one of the nearby local islands and I just arrived from Sri Lanka where, if you've ever traveled in Sri Lanka, you'll know. You know local population there is very friendly but also tends to be quite aggressive in terms of you. You know, pushing different tours and activities and things like that tourists coming to the region.
Speaker 3:And when I arrived at at Mufushi, one of these local islands, you know, I went out snorkeling and was trying to find my way around. And, um, you know, I met up with a couple of German tourists who were out snorkeling as well and they told me they had seen a spot with tons of marine life, a lot of coral, kind of just around the corner and a little bit further out. So I started snorkeling, trying to get there, and it was really far out and I tried to get to what the area they were talking about two or three times. I couldn't really find it. So after about 20 minutes or so I started to swim back in and you could see there was a guy sitting on the beach, a local who had heard the conversation between me and these local tourists. He could see what I was trying to do. So finally, he just jumped in the water and he's like come on, follow me, follow me. And we followed along and it ended up being quite a long swim out.
Speaker 3:We had to go probably 25 minutes or so offshore and then we found this coral garden that the local community had planted to start, like, rehabilitating their, their coral reef and he spent like an hour with me out there, showing me everything, showing me all the sea life.
Speaker 3:We saw turtles, we saw sharks. He took my gopro and was doing pictures and video of me and I kind of I had an expectation, from having just come traveling through Sri Lanka and India, that maybe he was going to be asking me for payment or something. At the end there was none of that. I mean, at the end it was just like I hope you enjoy our islands, I hope you. I hope this helped you like understand what what we're all about. And then you know, as I ran into him because it is such a small island, you run into people again and again. Every time I would run into him. He was introducing me to more some of local friends, inviting me out for coffee, inviting me out to meet other people, and I found every island everywhere I went, similar experiences, just an incredibly warm, welcoming culture.
Speaker 1:That's fantastic.
Speaker 2:It's great to hear. So you have your own podcast. You want to tell us about that. It's this Boy Escape Network of Travel Podcasts. So what do you mean by that?
Speaker 3:I started a podcast back in 2005, probably one of the first travel podcasts on Apple Podcast, called Travel in 10, which featured 10 minute clips of things to see and do around the world. And it's something I've been doing for years and years kind of as a hobby and you know, building out a sort of library of shows, insights on different places to go and things to see and do around the world. Earlier this year I partnered together with a travel writer I'd met here in Canada, a guy named Tim Johnson, who amazing travel writer. He he's traveled full-time for the past 15 years. He writes for travel and leisure and afar and the globe and mail, and great guy and he came on as a co-host.
Speaker 3:We decided to sort of relaunch the podcast, start doing it as as a weekly show and and had built up an audience pretty quickly doing that and subsequent to that we decided to launch a podcast network we're calling Voyescape, multiple different travel podcasts featuring different topics, different areas around the world. We've got one that's focused in more on sort of food and cuisine, another one that we're launching that's more of like relaxation and sleep stories. We're hoping by the end of this year that we'll have kind of 10 or so different shows across the network.
Speaker 2:Okay, and what's the benefit of having a network Is then you can find sponsors Exactly.
Speaker 3:Well, twofold, I mean one. It lets us sort of, because they're, all you know, a similar topic area, they're all travel related, so all seeking a similar audience and building up similar audiences so it can cross promote across the shows. It also allows, as you say, for for advertisers. It's quite, quite difficult often for an advertiser to, you know, work with a single influencer, a single podcaster, a single blogger. So the idea behind the network is we're, we're hoping to bring together, you know, a number of independent podcasters in the travel space, as well as our own in-house productions that we're doing as well, to have sort of a bank of content that we can go out to advertisers with who want, you know, high quality, brand, safe travel content that's going to reach a large audience of international travelers.
Speaker 2:Okay, so we'll put Voyescape in the show notes. If there's a specific podcast in the network you want us to add as a separate link, we're happy to do that as well.
Speaker 3:That'd be great, and we'd love to talk to you guys, but more about that sometimes.
Speaker 2:Yeah, yeah, I mean another conversation like we collaborate.
Speaker 1:Yeah, let's get this news out in front of everyone absolutely, absolutely just curious in terms of the also back to Maldives, or Maldives, I guess, any suggestion for me bringing it on a budget, my son and my daughter this summer, in June, which I don't know if that even makes sense, but you know, after you graduate it would be nice to like go on a plane and go somewhere, but June is probably I, to me, I think, such a hot time to go and, and, you know, definitely wouldn't like it to be the most expensive, but the, you know, just have an experience where the weather is great, you know, and and what to do there, you know, besides just snorkel and chill.
Speaker 3:I mean a few things I would suggest is first of all, I mean, I think, once you fly in, regardless of where you're coming.
Speaker 1:Where do you fly into? Is there a specific place that.
Speaker 3:Everything comes into Mali, into the capital, into the international airport there and it's a place, to be honest, I wouldn't spend a ton of time a from a tourist perspective, there's a few interesting sites to see there. There's the fish market, there's some beautiful mosques there. There's certainly enough to fill a couple of days there, but it's not somewhere that you need to spend a bunch of time. I would really get out to the islands relatively quickly and if I was going you know, if I was bringing my kids back, I would. I would look at splitting our time between one of the local islands. You know where you can be more more cost efficient.
Speaker 3:I would say you know Mifushi, for example. It's it's. You know about a $2 ferry ride from the international airport. You can leave, you know the. The port is is right there at the, at the international airport, so you basically just take your bags. It's a two minute walk and you can get on a ferry and you're straight over to Mifushi and there's boats leaving every hour or you can prearrange it with whatever resort you're staying at.
Speaker 3:Mifushi, how do you spell that? It's M-A-A-F-U-S-H-I. Okay, got it. It's probably. Of all of the local islands, it's probably the one that's most developed for tourism. It's got probably, I'm going to say 15,. You know sort of midsize hotels, multi-story. You know hotels on them, all brand new, right, they've all been built in the last 10 years. You know you're looking at room rates from like depending on the time of year you're there, and you know occupancy from maybe a hundred to two hundred dollars a night including breakfast, and you know you can get a place within that price range where you've got. You know the place I stayed at was called triton prestige sea view and spa. It had um an infinity rooftop pool. It had a little mini spa. It was right across the street from the beach. It was across from the locals beach, not not the bikini beach, but the great thing with the locals beach is also where the best snorkeling was that's where that coral garden that I talked about was just offshore there and it was a brand new, very nice, you know, high standard.
Speaker 3:I would compare it to like a four-star North American hotel, very you know new, nice, clean and and that was, you know. When I was staying there, I think I paid about 110 us a night, including a breakfast buffet. Um, in the four star nice yeah exactly value for for what you were getting.
Speaker 1:Well, I think, is it mostly just getting there? The cost of the air flight is the most expensive, depending. And then, if you can, for sure, and then I do.
Speaker 3:I do think if you're gonna go all that way, you do also have to go spend a couple of nights at one of those like.
Speaker 2:Uber, luxury places.
Speaker 3:Exactly the over the water bungalow resorts. Right, that is kind of a once in a lifetime experience, you know, staying out where you can. You can go straight from your room straight into this crystal clear water and and just see the amazing marine life there. I mean, the thing to be aware of with that is there are a few of those that you can get to by by boat, and some of them are beautiful, but most of the you know the really really nice ones you're going to be looking at a seaplane ride, so that's going to add for sure a little bit to your expense anywhere from. You know, two to $400 per per passenger, depending on which Island you're going out to and those.
Speaker 3:Those resorts you know will run, as I was saying you know, from three hundred dollars a night to tens of thousands of dollars a night, depending on on where you're staying. The one I stayed at I would highly recommend. It was about a 20 minute seaplane ride from from the capital, a place called Kagi, maldives. How do you spell that K-A-G-I? And a couple of things I really liked about that particular resort was it's locally owned by a Maldivian company and Maldivian family.
Speaker 3:It's who own a number of different resorts on the islands there. It's very focused in on health and wellness. So they've got, you know, yoga, exercise, sound meditation programming happening throughout the day and it's all sort of included with your stay. It's quite new. It was built I think about three years ago or so during their opening during COVID. Still, you know very new resort and regardless of the, the rooms are all sort of the same standard, regardless of the room that you book, they're all, the only difference being there's a couple that are located right on on the beach, you know, overlooking the lagoon, but vast majority of them are over over the water. Bungalows, you know, they've all got their own private plunge pools.
Speaker 3:They've all got you know stairs straight into the ocean from your room. It know they've all got their own private plunge pools. They've all got, you know, stairs straight into the ocean from your room. It's, it's.
Speaker 2:Wow.
Speaker 3:Have you ever seen?
Speaker 2:that or heard about that anywhere else in the world where there's these bungalows on the water? I think I've seen the Red Sea.
Speaker 3:They're starting to build that, but yeah, and I think quite popular in Tahiti. We've stayed in a similar sort of place in Fiji as well. Also, some of the some of the Pacific.
Speaker 2:Islands, you'll find those as well and then how much were those the night, or that? Those ones like the one you stayed at, $400, it really ranges depending on the time of year and the season.
Speaker 3:I mean, I think when I was staying that was, I'm gonna say, about six, seven hundred dollars a night, I believe.
Speaker 2:Okay but it was worth it. Yeah, okay it.
Speaker 3:Yeah, and it certainly goes up depending on the time of year and season and stuff as well, and there's there is a lot to choose from. As I say, there's 160 islands that have resorts on them and most of those are, you know, it's it's one resort on the island they're they're like their own private island resort.
Speaker 2:What about like, since it says it's like the high, it's like only six feet above sea level on some of these, like, have you heard, did they get like hurricanes ever since? We just experienced those in the us here?
Speaker 3:um. Are they like kind of? Protected they do get monsoons for sure, and, um, that's that that's definitely something to, to you know, be aware of and and, uh, you know, check into monsoon season and the weather and things like that going through. And the other thing too because of that, there, they are very susceptible to climate change and that's something, you see, they're very cognizant of as well.
Speaker 3:So get there now, before I well yeah, for sure, and they're very focused in on like sustainable tourism and and trying to make sure that um those island resorts are are um as as um as environmentally friendly and sustainable as they can be wow, very cool.
Speaker 2:Yeah, you know, other than so, the water chilling um is kind of the the main drive. Do people scuba dive there too, or just snororkeling?
Speaker 3:Great scuba diving yeah.
Speaker 2:Okay.
Speaker 3:Very, very well known for scuba diving, a great place if you want to see whale sharks. It's one of the few places where whale sharks are there year round. A lot of other places they just migrate through where you can find them year round there. But yeah, incredible, incredible scuba diving.
Speaker 2:And what about like safety, like, as I say, a solo female traveler? Some of our audience might be feel pretty safe there, yeah extreme, extremely.
Speaker 3:So I would say like, like, particularly. I I think of my experience on on mafushi, that local island, like walking around at night there. It's because because there is no alcohol on the local islands, not a lot of helps. Yeah, it's just a very calm, relaxed atmosphere as you're walking around at night, right, very peaceful, all people sitting out in patios, you know, yeah, certainly saw nothing to to indicate you know that there would you'd have any safety concerns, I think, like anywhere, I mean maybe some petty crime or stuff down then, but um yeah, crime is not a big issue there, although the interesting thing I should say kind of quirky thing about mafushi is that it's also where the only prison on the islands is, uh as well, so a portion of the island you can't go on to it's it's sort of cordoned off.
Speaker 1:But uh, that, that didn't have a bad place to be in prison, but the prison of the moldevians okay and did you say it was 45 minutes to walk around the island, cause it does look pretty small, or this one yeah?
Speaker 3:absolutely.
Speaker 1:Yeah.
Speaker 3:I mean there were. There were no, um no cars in the island. It's golf carts, it's bikes.
Speaker 2:Oh, really, oh my gosh, I've never stayed in my one of my friends. She's always when she goes on vacation. She always goes to these golf cart like res resorts down in like Mississippi and Florida. I'm like I've never been anywhere where we just get around a golf cart. That sounds so cool.
Speaker 1:I did Catalina Island in Southern California. And that's just all golf carts, I think, maybe. Yeah, you can't you walk around or bike around. There's just, I mean there's, you know, I think there are some roads, but most of it's just all golf carts and people. Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 2:It's definitely green right.
Speaker 1:Yeah, exactly what's the temperature? Like I don't know, did we talk about that? Like is it hot and sticky?
Speaker 3:I mean certainly, when I was there in May, april, it was like literally perfect temperature every day. It was like 28, 29 degrees Celsius. It was like a calm breeze. It was perfect. But I think certainly as you get into into wet season there are there are times, I'm sure, where it's more hot and humid, but a pretty, pretty phenomenal climate for sure nice, that sounds great.
Speaker 1:And then what about food? Like having food come in and ship in. I wondered about that too, because I'm sure of course they're. Are they growing tropical fruits there on the islands and kind of sharing that around?
Speaker 3:for sure. There is a lot of fruit growing in in the area. There's also it's a big area for fishing. I mean, prior to tourism being the main industry, fishing used to be the main industry in the region. So it's a it's a lot of fresh fish. You're getting everywhere you go On those local islands very inexpensively as well. I mean, I think for most meals I was paying between $7 and maybe $15 on the high end I was very curious about that.
Speaker 3:Yeah, on the local islands. Now, on the other end of the spectrum, I would say, when you, when you do, go out to more of the luxury resorts, food is substantially more expensive and that's going to be a, you know, a big part of your cost there as well. So if you can find, you know, a package that includes breakfast or includes all of your meals, it's definitely worth looking at, because once you get to those resort islands, um, it is spendy for sure.
Speaker 1:And they have all inclusive resorts there, so I'm assuming those are expensive, but that includes all your meals and With a teenage?
Speaker 2:boy. All-inclusive, that's good.
Speaker 3:Most resorts seem to give you the option of going sort of full board or, you know, half board where you're just getting either just breakfast, just lunch or an all-inclusive option.
Speaker 1:And do they have like? Do they have a grocery store on some of the islands, I'm assuming?
Speaker 3:Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1:Because I know in Hawaii the grocery stores are astronomical. Is it the same here?
Speaker 3:I was actually surprised how reasonable the grocery stores were. I mean it was Western prices, you know. So certainly more than you're going to find in the neighboring Sri Lanka or India, but pretty standard world pricing, I would say. At most of the grocery stores I mean some stuff that they're just because the cost of importing it is going to be higher, but things are pretty reasonable overall. And like on the Fushi, for example, they they had, like within walking distance of my hotel there were probably three, four grocery stores, convenience store type places and, and I'm sure more around the island and in Malé, certainly, lots of grocery stores there as well.
Speaker 2:What are some of the popular like? Do they have, like rice is pretty popular and or potatoes, or imagine, not too much meat because yeah, I mean you see a lot of.
Speaker 3:I would say it's a mix of of Indian influence, African influence in their cuisine and then seafood, that is, is widely used throughout, throughout as well. Okay, Do they have like fishing as a sport to do that they used throughout as well.
Speaker 2:Okay, do they have like fishing as a sport to do? They'll take you fishing Absolutely Very cool. Oh my gosh, this is very enlightening. I knew nothing about the Maldives, though, other than I feel like people go there and it looks like they spend a ton of money, so it's good to hear that there's other options and other ways to do this.
Speaker 3:The perception right that it is just this like Uber luxury resort island type place and that's definitely an option and probably one of the best places in the world if that's what you're looking for. But for like, what struck me is that, like somebody who wanted to be a digital nomad or somebody who wanted to spend a more extended vacation. I struck me as like somebody who wanted to be a digital nomad or somebody who wanted to spend a more extended vacation.
Speaker 3:I think those, those local islands, are really being overlooked in terms of the potential there and how cost effectively you can spend some time there, and just the quality of the experience that you get there, because it's not dramatically different than the experience you are getting on on those, you know, really luxurious resort islands as well.
Speaker 2:And that water just looks so clear.
Speaker 1:I know that was. I grew up in Redondo beach, so I've always of when it's clear like that, it's like it's just kind of Brown, murky ish.
Speaker 2:Yeah, well, we do have a rapid fire questions, but I'm a little more curious, david, about like, how, like, how did you start falling in love with travel? And you know when did your? You know, you've been doing your podcast for a very long time and then do you is this a hobby or are you full-time now, or?
Speaker 3:It's a good question and, and yeah, I mean travel has been something I've always loved, you know from from doing camping trips with my family when I was younger and doing some of our very first international trips just really, you know, sparked my appetite for travel. So the minute I got out of school I spent a year traveling overseas through Australia, new Zealand, the Cook Islands, doing a year abroad, and that had such a huge influence on the rest of my life. I mean that really, I would say, set in motion sort of a lot of most of what I've done since then and travel's been a huge part of my career and my life. I've lived abroad a number of times lived in Japan for a while, lived in the States for a while.
Speaker 3:My wife and I, you know, took a in our probably late twenties, early thirties, took a career break where we spent a year traveling through Southeast Asia and and living and working in Japan and then most recently I you know, after working in PR and advertising here in Canada for about 15 plus years, you know got a buyout from the agency that I was working with and had an opportunity to do something different and I had this travel podcast that I'd been doing as a hobby for years, have spent the last six months really building it out into a business now I mean building out this podcast network and as part of that, leading up to my 50th birthday, took my family on a six week trip where we hit I think it was, or sorry, a three-week trip where we hit six countries together over three weeks.
Speaker 3:It was an ambitious round-the-world trip, using up a lot of our airline points and hotel points and things. Then they came home back to Canada and I spent another two months traveling around the world and gathering content for my podcast and also meeting with people as we sort of launched the business as well potential partners and advertisers and things over in Asia and elsewhere.
Speaker 2:Oh my gosh, that sounds so cool.
Speaker 1:So does your podcast, due to that translate in terms of being able to financially, you know, so that you don't have to work and you're able to use that as your platform for your career.
Speaker 3:Starting to, and I mean we're really just starting to. You know, I really wanted to make sure we were building up. You know, having worked in advertising and PR for a lot of years and I've worked with a lot of clients in the travel sector. The agency that I worked with we used to do PR for Tourism Australia, all across North America, for Emirates, for Destination BC. So I've worked with a lot of travel brands and so I kind of know what, what the level of product that you need to be viable in terms of selling to those types of advertisers. So I've really been spending this first six months building up content and building up the product to a place where I know we can go out and sell it to those types of advertisers. And I've got, you know, a few events booked here over the next few months. I've got you know a couple of destination marketing organizations and an airline who have asked me to present them with pitches this month.
Speaker 2:Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 3:A couple more who I'm meeting at a conference in London in November as well and really looking to to build up our base of advertising following that.
Speaker 1:I'm dying what airline that's so cool.
Speaker 3:I don't think I can. I'm not supposed to say which airline.
Speaker 1:My, my, my brother is a pilot for United, so I was like oh, is it like a major one, is it a minor one, is it here in the U? S or is it outside?
Speaker 2:It is outside the outside of the us one of the bigger airlines in the world who, uh, you know is is interested in podcasting, and I'm I'm always kind of surprised that, yeah, there's like so many like you know expedia, like why they don't have their own travel podcast, or you know there's so many different you know, you know airlines, because it's just that's the audience. This makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah like Expedia, didn't have their own podcast for a while, and actually the, the agency that created it, is based here in Vancouver and a good friend of mine who who runs it. So I've actually been working a bit with him and his agency on you know where they do branded podcasts for you know.
Speaker 3:So they've done one for Expedia, they've done one for Lululemon, for a lot of big brands around the world, where I'm building out more editorial content and we're looking at ways that we can work together with some different brands as well.
Speaker 2:Wow, that's awesome. You know, I find it interesting because a couple of we've talked to where there's like one of like their first adventures and travel. They have like a really sweet spot. You know, someone was in France. That means a lot to them and mine, like, is Hawaii, because it was the first time I went away and like, oh my god, it was like my eye opening. It was where I happened to go with my eye opening experience. And then we talked to somebody else about somewhere in South America. I'm just wondering if it's like we tend to to fantasize about this place like this is so magical because it was the first place that really opened our eyes. And since it sounds like you traveled so much like right away, is there a specific place? Or it's just like, oh my God, the whole world is your specific place? You kind of just did it right after college, it sounds like, or before college maybe.
Speaker 3:It was right before college actually, where I spent a year between high school and going into college, sort of traveling the world. Yeah, I was lucky, I mean I picked. My deal with my parents was if I got good enough grades. They knew how much I love travel and how much I wanted to travel, and we hadn't traveled a lot internationally as a family.
Speaker 3:I think, we'd only done like one trip to Mexico and one trip down to Disneyland. They knew I really wanted to get out and travel more. So the deal with them was, if I got good enough grades in my last year I could. I could get a plane ticket anywhere I wanted to go in the world At the time. You know a hot travel destination at the time and just somewhere I'd always been interested in and was probably the most expensive plane ticket I could find at the time as well was Australia.
Speaker 3:Having gone the Australia Exactly Having gone to Australia, I mean A it was just such an accessible travel destination for somebody who was 18. I was able to get a work visa there.
Speaker 3:Yeah, it was super easy to go spend, you know, the nine months or 10 months that I spent traveling around there. But then I was also lucky enough that that plane plane ticket was like. It was what was called a circle pacific ticket that let me stop in Fiji, it let me stop in the Cook Islands in New Zealand, and it just opened my eyes to this like incredible part of the world. That's where I, you know, I started doing scuba diving and snorkeling for the first time in Australia, then got to experience it the South Pacific coming home, and I was in love. That was like love. That was like I need to do this more. I want to do this every year for the rest of my life.
Speaker 2:And do you still have like have this attachment to that area?
Speaker 3:Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2:Oh, okay, can this fight? It's just yeah. Maybe it's just like that experience when you like first had this aha moment, like, wow, there's more to life than you know where I just grew up, even though you live in a very beautiful place. It's we all, all three of us do All right, so I can go to my rapid fire questions Um, if you're ready, okay, okay, so what? Um was your favorite meal? Um in the Maldives?
Speaker 3:All the seafood meals were incredible because the fresh fish is so good there. But the dish that I came to like the most, which when I describe it maybe doesn't sound as appetizing, but it was super tasty uh was a breakfast dish they have called uh masooni, which was shredded tuna, uh mixed with shredded coconut onions and chili, and they serve it together with a flatbread. And really tasty.
Speaker 2:I loved it it's like fresh tuna or like cooked tuna.
Speaker 3:Cooked tuna and then it's kind of kind of shredded and mixed with the shredded coconut and these hot chilies and lime and onions.
Speaker 2:I think I'd love that. Oh my gosh, we need to find that recipe. Like we hear all this, like we can cook this. I may not be as good because the fish is not so fresh.
Speaker 1:What was it called? Again Like we hear all this like we can cook this.
Speaker 3:I may not be as good because the fish is not so fresh.
Speaker 2:What was it called? Again, masuni, m-a-s-h-u-n-i? Okay, masuni. Okay, well, that covers the breakfast question there. And then, once you're on these islands, like do you have to rent a golf cart, or is there golf carts in the street? Or you have to rent a bike, or you just walk and then rent those for a day. Like how do you get around?
Speaker 3:Yeah Well, coming into Mifushi, when you came in by boat, the hotel that I booked at most of the other hotels had golf carts waiting there who picked you up and then took you across to the hotel.
Speaker 3:And the thing that I found really interesting there is, you know, when I was moving between resorts and moving between islands, a couple of times I was a bit worried about the logistics of it and how I was going to get from place to place. And what I found is, once you got there and once you got to one of the local islands and to your first hotel, the hotels are all all communicate with each other and they all know that people are moving from island to island typically and moving to oftentimes to multiple resorts and need to get back for international flights. So they organize everything for you. Like I didn't even have to tell them where I was going. They, they knew, like they organized it for me without even being asked. They'd practically figured out my. My next boat ride told me what time I needed to be there, um, and all the resorts do seem to really coordinate with each other quite, quite a lot wow, and how did you book it from afar with these like local?
Speaker 2:like did you go to like an expedia or do you just malldivescom?
Speaker 3:bookingcom I I used, I think, for for a lot of, uh, a lot of the reservations along the way. Um, there's a lot of airbnbs also, as well as great places there.
Speaker 2:So on the islands.
Speaker 3:That's definitely an option.
Speaker 2:Nice, okay, and how's the money work there? Did you like to be everything on your phone or do you want to bring some cash and do you want to exchange it there? Exchange?
Speaker 3:it ahead of time. Yeah, I did. I did exchange for a little bit of the local currency, the Rufia, but US dollars were also very widely accepted, you know because? Because tourism is such a such a big part of the economy there, so you know, any of the tourist related services you can always pay in US dollars and credit cards pretty widely accepted. Apple Pay even was pretty, pretty widely accepted at most little stores and stuff as well.
Speaker 2:Easy peasy, okay, and what's more popular? Coffee or tea.
Speaker 3:Oh, good question um.
Speaker 2:I think tea was more popular okay, from sri lanka we just learned this is the best tea in the world and the closest place you can surf. You already said that they're surfing there. I don't know. There's this particular island you want to shout out to, but yeah, uh, thalustu was, was, um, probably the main surfing island.
Speaker 3:As I said, that one was about a 30-minute boat ride from the capital, from Malé, and very expensive If you're taking one of those local ferries $3, $4 maybe or less to get there.
Speaker 2:And then do they have surf lessons, yep.
Speaker 3:Have you ever saw that? Yeah, the triple bars and surf lessons and stuff.
Speaker 2:For sure, that sounds awesome. Okay, that sounds awesome. Say, where are you? We find you because there's a lot of David Brody's on Instagram but you're Brody David on Instagram. Yes, I am.
Speaker 3:Probably the best place to find me on Instagram is voice voicecape media.
Speaker 2:Oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3:Okay.
Speaker 2:Oh, so voicecape mediacomcom, oh on, well, I'm just going to go to your Voyescape and then there's probably maybe a link to your Instagram online.
Speaker 3:Yeah, yeah, for sure. Voyescapecom is our website for the podcast network, with all of our travel shows there and our all of our links to all of our socials there as well.
Speaker 2:All right. Well, it's so great talking to you, David. I guess we'll be in touch very soon.
Speaker 3:Really nice to meet you both. Thank you so much.
Speaker 2:Have a great day Bye. Thanks for listening. If you enjoyed the podcast, can you please take a second and do a quick follow of the show and rate us in your podcast app? And if you have a minute, we would really appreciate a review. Following and rating is the best way to support us. If you're on Instagram, let's connect. We're at. We're Next Podcast. Thanks again.
