Choosing to travel locally has quite a few advantages, and it's now possible after the country completely opened to tourists. It's one way to discover the 'real' Maldives, interact with locals, eat traditional foods, and have a completely different experience...

We moved to the Maldives in 2020, that's right in the middle of the pandemic. I remember seeing that airplane screen with the map, and thinking: the plane will land in the ocean! These numerous and tiny islands were to become our home for the coming years....