The Maldives seemed like a safe haven back in December, with Covid-19 cases at a minimum, incredible safety measures in place on the islands and a PCR test needed to enter the country, along with government approval needed if any visitors wanted to change islands.

I had clients travelling there over Christmas and New Year who’d told me they hadn’t felt safer all year, and it seemed like such an obvious “go-to” destination for those wanting to travel further afield this summer, with the country’s vaccination rates being one of the best in the world and British Airways increasing its direct service throughout June, July and August.

With all this in mind, I booked multiple trips to the atolls this summer for multigenerational families who were looking to get together for the first time since March 2020, and I wanted to visit the islands myself before their holidays to ensure I’d arranged the best possible experiences for each family.

I was a little nervous about the traffic light system, but had seen so much in the weeks leading up to my departure that the Maldives was likely to be “green” or “amber”. “Surely, after the year we’ve all had, it can’t go red?” I thought – the travel industry had had enough fun surprises already. I got slightly spooked by an email from an industry colleague, who sent a graph he’d seen showing how the cases in the Maldives were increasing quickly... I contacted the islands I was due to visit and we were all fairly sure it would be OK. I had hoped the list would come out the day before my departure, which it was originally due to, but sadly it didn’t get released until I was two hours into my Qatar Airways flight to Doha.

I switched on the Wi-Fi at 5pm UK time so I could hear the news… I think I sort of expected it by that stage, and when good old Grant Shapps announced Turkey, Nepal and the Maldives would be added to the “red list”, I received multiple messages from industry friends confirming the news.

Keep calm, and drink

My first reaction was to order a drink; there wasn’t much I could do from the air, and I then waited to hear from friends when I would have to return to the UK by in order to avoid quarantine, and many of them continued to update me and look at alternative flights back.

Of course, as with previous announcements, it turns out I would have three days to turn around and get back. I remained fairly calm – the truth was that I only had three options:

1. Have two nights in the Maldives, then fly home on a new economy flight with Turkish Airlines that was looking like £3,000 per person – prices were crazy, and this was the only easy way of getting back.
2. Turn around and fly to Portugal, but it was not yet confirmed that tourism would be allowed there either. My thinking was that we could spend time there, rather than risk travelling through another country, and not have to spend 10 days at a hotel at Heathrow.
3. Stay in the Maldives, find another way to get home, as my return direct British Airways flight would now be cancelled, and face having to go to “Hotel Quarantine” at Heathrow upon our return.

I was travelling with my mother – we hadn’t spent much time with each other since the start of the pandemic, and we decided fairly quickly that we would carry on with the Maldives trip as planned, see the islands, enjoy our time away, then see our “Heathrow twin-centre” as some bonus time together... Our family were really supportive and told us to carry on with our trip and see Heathrow as a good story for the future!

To be honest, it also actually seemed like the most straightforward option, after so many months of getting clients home and rerouting people, I quite liked the simplicity of what this trip now would now look like for us; we could have a giggle every time we had a sundowner and make the most of every moment, because it wasn’t going to be so good when we got back. We all know too well by now that countries change their entry rules quickly and I didn’t want to spend my time away worrying about it.

Once we arrived in the Maldives and had our return flights booked thanks to the amazing Rachel at 360 Private Travel who leapt into action to sort this part out for us, I started to relax. What else can you do? And it actually felt so great to be out of the UK for a while.

We were originally meant to be away for 15 nights, and the only flight back that wasn’t going to require me getting a loan to pay for it was a Lufthansa one via Frankfurt for 11 days later on 19 May; we’d heard nothing from BA. Our flight wasn’t even cancelled until later into our trip, but we always knew it would be, and felt truly left to our own devices. They were not going to be offering us any assistance it seemed.

Booking our quarantine at Costa Del Heathrow – a type of holiday I never thought I would hear myself talking about – was actually really easy. We parted with £1,750 each for the pleasure and I was sent a confirmation of which hotel we’d be sent to within 24 hours. It took a few days, but the sparkling azure waters of the Indian Ocean, the warm hospitality on the islands and the change of scene started to make it feel like this was enough to make it all worth it.

My major concern was whether Lufthansa would cancel its flights, but luckily for us, Germany was continuing to accept travellers from the Maldives as they are allowing anyone to transit via the country who has been in a “high incidence area”, which did include the Maldives.

Island life

The islands themselves were exactly as you would expect: perfect tranquil havens. As far as I could see, there weren’t any UK guests on the islands we visited (Gili Lankanfushi and Milaidhoo), but there were a lot of families, couples from Russia, the US and Germany and expats from the Middle East.

Despite the increase in Covid-19 cases in the Maldives and the red list status news coming from the UK, the staff were their usual positive and upbeat selves. We joked with them about making the most of ordering ‘eggs of your choice’ and fresh juices before the paper bag meal delivery service likely to become our new reality back at Heathrow for 10 days.

I was blown away by the level of care on the islands and honestly – just as my clients had told me they had – it was the safest I’ve felt since the start of the pandemic. Resorts are taking every precaution they possibly can to ensure the islands remain safe for the staff and guests. I don’t think there are many places in the world able to ensure such levels of safety.

Guests’ temperatures are checked and there is of course hand sanitiser dotted around. Staff all wear masks but it goes much further than that – all staff are tested every other week, and all staff have to quarantine for 14 days on arrival if they have been off the island, during which time they are tested. Most staff have now been vaccinated with one if not two jabs.

As a visitor, you also need to prove a negative PCR test to change resort islands – as we were going to. The doctors on the islands conducted very safe and efficient tests for us and results came back within 24 hours. I even had a health form submitted before I left the country, which was taken care of by the in-house doctor.

The only time I was a little concerned, was at Velana International Airport on the way home! But all the staff there also get tested regularly, are wearing masks/gloves, and ensure the airport is never too busy. It was the most organised and streamlined I have ever seen Male airport!

Back to reality

Of course the idea of leaving the Maldives and coming home was a daunting one. But Lufthansa was brilliant; I couldn’t have been more impressed with our first flight from Male to Frankfurt – it was full and it felt great seeing so many travellers. Our next flight to Heathrow was also full, and it did seem as if everyone getting on was also transiting through Frankfurt from other “red” countries and filtering back into the UK.

While checks had been so thorough in Germany, when we landed in the UK, I was shocked with how few people then declared they had originated from a red-list country. I overheard many conversations; people were just pretending they were coming from an amber country.

For those of us who had declared we had been in a red destination – only eight couples/families from the flight by my reckoning – we went into a different queue where we waited to be seen by Border Force. We were questioned a lot, and could overhear people being fined and refused entry from the ‘amber’ and ‘green’ queues they’d selected.

Once we had completed these first checks, we had our passports taken away and were escorted by a guard to collect our bags and then had to check-in with further security where we were asked what contents were in our bags and who’d packed them. I told the guard that I had packed poorly for the next phase of the trip and would have stuffed the suitcase with food and alcohol if I had known where my trip would be ending!

We then waited with other ‘red listers’ before being escorted to a bus where we had our passports checked again and held until we reached our quarantine hotel. On arrival at The Renaissance, it then became quite a normal hotel “check-in’’, which seemed hysterical really.

The staff couldn’t have been friendlier; we were given our room key, in-room dining menu (we then had to decide all our meals for the next 11 nights), our quarantine info pack, asked whether we had any dietary requirements and gave a credit card for any extras. We were wished a pleasant stay and told that “it goes by faster than you think”, with a friendly wave. The guard then escorted us up to our room and new temporary home … Room 3206 with a “Runway View” would be where I would eat, sleep, work, breath and live until 30 May.