The Debars Honeymoon Part 2 : Diamonds Athuruga Water Villa

The Water Villas are jaw-droppingly INSANE!!! Again Diamonds Athuruga exceeding all our expectations. The design of them is similar to that of the houses on Theeson Island in Knysna, SA. Since been here I have already started a list of if we were to build our own home what our essential and must-haves would include. The list is already way out of our price range. A girl can dream though right?!

Anyway back to the Water Villas, as we started walking down the board walk to villa 16 sunrise side (this is a story I will talk about later), we were picked up by only what could be described as the limo version of a golf buggy. Which I found totally bizarre given that someone else was transporting our luggage and the walk would be barely be 5 minutes, but Nathan been Nathan said he could definitely get used to this life. Similar to the Beach Bungalows, the Water Villas were pristine and white, not like the traditional Maldivian villas of some other resorts. Our room was huge, we had a walk in wardrobe including towelling robes and also lounging robes, we had a huge king size 4 poster bed, a sofa in our room, a wine fridge with plenty of drink varieties, a MacBook (which is the reason I decided to start posting again on holiday), a shower with a waterfall type shower head and rain-like shower head which had a door to the outside decking so you could shower with a view of the sea. The outside decking was a different ball game, also massive with a 4 seated table, 2 large sofas, a coffee table, 2 lush sun loungers and totally open to the amazing surroundings and obviously steps down to the sea. I'm not even sure my explanation does it justice, but hopefully the photos below will offer a better view.

We proceeded to send the entirety of our first day on the deck, taking photos every 5 minutes of the same view and watching fish jump out of the water. The reason we decided to do 5 days in each room was for the restaurant difference, in the Water Villa we no longer had the buffet restaurant, we had an a la carte restaurant on the water, with the choice of the sitting's set menu or whatever you wanted on the a la carte menu. definitely more my cup of tea.

Beach BBQ

Lobster Tartar

Beef Carpaccio with Truffle & Parmesan Crips

Fresh from the sea Tuna Sashimi

On the Monday we had signed up to do a Manta Ray tour with the resident Marine Biologist Lorenzo and Matt who worked for the Manta Trust and who was a Marine Conservationist, so we had plenty of expertise onboard the board. Matt warned us that we may not see any Mantas at all and the percentage likelihood he gave us was 60% due to only just arriving 'in' season. Nathan and I were hoping for better odds, but been ever the optimists we hoped for our lucky day. We took a 40 minute Dhoni boat out to the Maavaru Lagoon close to the Moofushi Island Resort. Matt encouraged us as we got closer to the location to go onto the roof of the Dhoni and help him look out for the 'fins' (wings) of the Manta. Despite my normally poor awareness, I'm proud to say I spotted the first sighting and it was all hands on deck to get in the water as soon as possible. We felt like luck was on our side, but the Mantas could quickly swim away. However we nailed in, as we managed to see around 7 or 8 different Mantas. Mine and Nathan's first sighting took us by surprise with a Manta coming up behind us, I was petrified but the more we saw them the more we realised that they are gentle giants and would really come up close and personal. The photos don't do the size of them justice, but the females span can reach up to 3 and a half metres. We reckon the biggest size we saw was not far from this. It was another unforgettable experience for us (along with Whale Sharks in Exmouth, WA) and we just couldn't believe how amazing it was. If you ever get the opportunity, we'd totally recommend it!

We feel like we have definitely been more active this side of our honeymoon, with lots more snorkelling, me participating in a sunset Yoga session on the beach and the both of us Kayaking around the whole island and then all the Water Villas, however the amount we have eaten has definitely counter-acted this.

We've drank plenty of wine, very much favouring an Italian Chardonnay, several proseccos and the occasional cocktail, Nathan favouring Pina Coladas and me the Singapore Sling. The food this side of the trip has been exceptional and we've been spoilt and made fat by around 4 course for lunch and then again for dinner. Safe to say we are both going to have a shock to our systems on our return home, when we'll go back to one course for mealtime. We have eaten Lobster tartar, fresh from the sea whole Calamaris, Tuna sashimi (personal favourite), Reef Fish, Rainbow Fish, Red Snapper, vegan spring rolls, plenty of pasta (our chef was Italian) our favourite being an aubergine ravioli as well as beef, salads and lots of popadoms with homemade chutney.

Despite having an incredible and once in a lifetime stay in the Water Villas, the weather hasn't been fully up to scratch. We've had spells of full sunshine but the rest of the days have been littered with showers, plenty of very black clouds and torrential downpours which I have loved swimming in. The weather hasn't made a huge difference though as we are feeling well and truly relaxed and happy and that's all we could have asked for from our honeymoon!

So it's back to reality and time to get planning our next adventure, until next time!

xoxo

The Debars Honeymoon Part 1 : Diamonds Athuruga Beach Bungalows

How crazy has 2017 been? And how are we already coming to the end of it?

I have bucket loads of catching up to do, fully aware of that, in fact I have drafted about a zillion posts on various events/occasions of 2017, but it seems like the app for this blogging site can't keep up with my ios updates and I only seem to have time to do my posts on the app. There will be a summary post coming hopefully before the end of the year, but this post is all about our very own HONEYMOON!

I am now married which still seems like a crazy dream, but we are here honeymooning after getting married precisely 3 weeks and 2 days ago. Inspired by the lovely Eden's blog - 'The World in Summer' (make sure you subscribe) I decided what better time to start than now (an overcast afternoon).

We are in the Maldives, in the South Ari Atoll staying in the beautiful Diamonds Athuruga resort. Thank you to Emma at Kuoni for helping us book our insanely dreamlike honeymoon. 

We flew with Emirates via Dubai and were lucky that both legs of the flight were not fully booked, so we were both able to stretch out and get some proper sleep, pretty much business class right? On arrival to Male, the capital city, the runway was surrounded by sea and from what we could see of Male was a small, yet busy and bustling city with multi coloured rooftops. We were lucky enough that were our island was far enough away that meant we had to take a sea plane rather than a Dhuni local boat, we straight away headed to the sea plane airport and boarded our tiny little plane.

We had a few stops before we got to our island, so it was great to see other resorts before eventually arriving at ours 40 minutes later. People told us before we went that the weather was interesting and that you could be on one side of an island and have rain and the other side would be sunny and scorching hot, that much was true from our plane ride. We witnessed torrential rain, overcast skies, black skies and blue skies and it wasn't a journey for those with travel sickness.

Our sea plane dropped us off in a jetty in the middle of the sea and we were then picked up by the Dhuni local boat and taken around the reef to the pier of our resort.

It paradise from the website and then from the sky, so seeing it in the flesh was incredible. We were welcomed with fresh iced tea and watermelon and taken straight to our first room, number 26 Beach Bungalow where we would stay for 5 nights. It was all we imagined and more, it totally exceeded expectations. Very clean and white, with a beautiful flower display on the bed with 'Happy Honeymoon'. We also, to our surprise had an outdoor shower, which was definitely an added bonus. 

We didn't bother unpacking but grabbed our swimsuits and went for a quick dip before our first lunch. Start how you mean to go on.

The next five days were spent, waking up to palm trees, white sand and clear blue sea, sun tanning, enjoying white wine at lunch, playing too many card games to count and plenty of snorkelling. Highlights were our Teppanyaki lunch at the beach, seeing a few Octopus whilst snorkelling, dinner for just the two of us in a traditional Maldivian hut eating traditional food and another dinner for just the two of us on the beach in a beautiful white gazebo type thing.

We have been utterly spoilt rotten and have now just arrived for our next 5 days in the Water Villa, hold fort for the next post of part 2 of our honeymoon.

xoxo

PROUD MOMENT : MY BLOG GOT PUBLISHED IN HUFFPOST 'How to get married in the 21st century'!!!

Finally after 18 months of working at AOL I have finally written something and sent across to HuffPost UK Blogs and they only went and published it. Yikes!

Here's the link to it on the site, click below just so you can see it in the flesh, but just in case you don't want to you can read below (ps a blog on the whole proposal to follow at some point)!

How to get married in the 21st century.

Once you’ve had at least five prosecco engagement celebrations and you’ve received too many cards to fit in your ridiculously over-priced studio flat in the outskirts of London, it’s time to get serious and get a plan together. So here’s seven points to help you out.

1.) WHERE

Sit down with your fiancé and think about when and where you want to get married. Summer, winter, this year, next year, UK or abroad or maybe you just want to hop on the nearest flight to Vegas and get married in a Vegas chapel or the romantic side of you fancies eloping to Gretna Green?

2.) BUDGET, RESEARCH, NEGOTIATE

Once the date (ish) is decided, do your research on budgeting, sites like; Cosmo, Conde Nast Brides and Harper's Bazaar can offer guidelines on how much you might spend. Then you can figure out whether you are able to save enough in time for your ideal date. You may even be lucky enough that your family would like to help you out and want to pay for certain things.

Once you have a total actual and REALISTIC budget, it’s time to do actual research. This takes time, so make sure you don’t rush, making any rash decisions, remember this is a day you will remember for the rest of your life. Contact at least three people/companies per thing e.g. dress, cake, venue etc. This is where the master spreadsheet comes in – document everything. This spreadsheet will be your baby, it should outline a breakdown of all the expected costs and then you can start to fill in your own costs once you get quotes and the price you eventually pay. You could also have a tab per item, highlighting costs, comments, whether you’ve managed to negotiate etc. Also ask around, recommendations are a no brainer, you’re not trusting a webpage and ‘so-called’ reviews, you’re trusting people you know, so why wouldn’t you.

Think about whether you actually need everything that Cosmo has on their essential list, do you need a string quartet or to have Cinderella’s horse and carriage? Final point on this is NEGOTIATE, never ever settle for the first price that’s offered to you. Push, push and push some more and when you’re happy, you can accept it but if you aren’t happy, move on and continue to research. Also, remember, the more you can get below your budgeted cost, the better – more dollar for splashing out on honeymoon.

3.) BE CREATIVE

A sure fire way to save your precious pennies is to get as creative as possible; this doesn’t mean you need to have an A in GCSE in Art, just think outside the box. This is where Pinterest comes in, PINTEREST IS GOD. 5 minutes of a quick browse for a couple of ideas for groomsmen buttonhole flowers, can very quickly turn into a 2 hour sesh where you’ve planned you’re whole wedding, right down to cool things you can put in the bathroom for guests (dry hair shampoo, deodorant, make-up remover you name it). It gives you cost effective ways to do things that look great and it’s also a great way of getting your wedding party involved e.g. collecting jars and buying some glow-in-the-dark paint, painting the jar, filling with water and putting outside – great for a summer wedding!

Utilise what you already have – your brother’s girlfriend’s cousin is a mobile hairdresser, hell yes! You’re mate makes a cracking birthday cake, get them on your wedding cake, plenty of time for practice and not to mention all that tasting. Amateur florist in the family could offer you those insider tips that will cut costs down to the minimal! Seriously though, take advantage, people more often than not will be keen to help – people love love.

4.) DON’T COMPARE YOURSELF TO OTHERS

The worst thing you can do is compare your wedding to others, no one has the same budget, the same amount of contacts, or even the same ideas so why would you bother trying, you’ll just end up disappointed. Your wedding will be AMAZING; you’ll be surrounded by all your favourite people celebrating life, so just try to remember that. This brings me onto my next point.

5.) DON’T BE A PUPPET

It is your day. Sometimes this can be forgotten when lots of people are offering to help you out and you want to try and please everyone but it’s just not possible, there will always be someone disappointed, but they will need to understand it’s your day. Always have in your mind what kind of wedding you want, do want you want and remember (hopefully) it only happens once!

6.) DARE TO BE DIFFERENT 

Don’t be afraid to step away from the norm and ignore some traditions. We’re in the 21st century, so it’s kind of expected! If you want your husband-to-be to see your dress, then why not, they are probably the person that knows your better than anyone, so it makes sense. Don’t want to cut the cake or even have a cake, so what! By the time the cake comes out, everyone is way more interested in shots anyway! Your mum is a feminist and wants to be in on the walking you down the aisle shenanigans, why not have both your parents. It doesn’t matter what you do, it’s your choice and whatever makes you feel comfortable on your day is the best choice.

7.) ENJOY IT

Final point is ENJOY IT! Don’t allow it to become a chore, get your bridesmaids, groomsmen, family and others involved in as many things as possible, that’s what they are there for anyway! Also to look fabulous in all their wedding attire on the day. You only get this day once, go embrace everything, take pictures of everything and take it all and saviour all the memories!

Berlin // December 2016

So I planned on doing a post on Berlin at the end of last year - but unfortunately that didn't work out. So several months later here we are. For my birthday (in July) Nathan bought me a trip to Berlin for the Christmas Markets. So after waiting for 5 months, the trip finally came.

It was an early start on the Friday morning (a week before Christmas) so we were treated to a beautiful sunrise from the sky.

We arrived at our accommodation before lunchtime. After locating our AirBnb, we were welcomed by our host and given a tour of her flat and we were introduced to her grey cat named Clooney (after George Clooney). We then made our way outdoors to explore in the sunshine (very deceiving as it was freezing). We were staying close to the Reistag so we made our way there first before going to the Brandenburg Gate and we had the best weather for it.

The Memorial for the Murdered Jews was close by, so we walked there and decided to go into the museum to learn more about the history of it all and it was pretty overwhelming but well worth the visit just to get a better understanding.

After plenty of walking, we were good and ready for some grub. We decided to make our way to one of the famous Christmas markets and see what food was on offer. It was FREEZINGG, so we didn't fancy eating outdoors, so we picked a restaurant within the Weihnachts Zauber Gendarmenmarkt. There were plenty of options of traditional German food and we were joined by Nath's friends from home Nick and John.

It was so pretty and festive and the food was lovely too. We ended up having a few drinks and by the time we finished up it was dark, so we decided to sample the delights of the market, meaning some Gluwein (mulled wine) and in these sorts of surroundings we were not disappointed.

We then enjoyed the sights again by dark, before heading to the home of Lowenbrau for a traditional stein and obviously even if I don't fully like beer, when in Rome... Also a stein is actually bigger than my head and it took me well over an hour to drink and I don't even think I finished it.

On Saturday we woke up to an even colder day and it wasn't even sunny, so we made sure we were more prepared that Friday and wore pretty much every layers that we brought with us and my goodness we were glad we did. We had to stop after about 15 minutes of walking to warm up with hot chocolate and some amazing sandwiches. After getting some warm on the bones we headed back out and made our way to Berlin Wall and the museum next to it. It was so interesting to hear all the different stories about both those that survived and those that didn't and as you can imagine it was emotional.

We then walked through another area of Berlin which we can't remember the name of and stopped in a cute little corner pub for yet another Gluwein before exploring another street market. I'm not sure I'd ever get bored of markets and the cool thing was the ones in Berlin were all so unique.

We had a booking at the Fernsehturm de Berlin (aka Television Tower) at 2pm, so we made our way there to see sky scraper views on the city, however as you can see in the photos the weather wasn't in our favour. However we had booked in any way so we had no choice, here are a couple of photos for you to enjoy of the fab views.

Due to disappointing views we made our way to yet another Christmas market nearby, before heading back for an early shower before my birthday dinner.

Pre-dinner, we headed to the cutest little bar opposite our AirBnb which had a completely French vibe where we had some champagne to celebrate by birthday 5 months earlier. 

Nathan had pre-booked a surprise restaurant for my birtthday, which we had to get a taxi to as it was out of town. But it's safe to say I was not disappointed, he completely spoilt me with a a Michelin Starred one called Bieberbau, he's a keeper.

We started with an appetiser of sparkling chardonnay with blackberries and a seaweed crisp with caviar.

Followed by another appetiser of baked fish with chives with anchovies and fried capers and some bread; sourdough, four corn, baguette with onions and then curry and apple and dried tomato butter.

At this point I was so into my food that I stopped writing down what we were eating so I'm just having a guess here. The below is our first official course, mine is the one further away which was chocolate, falafel, feta, raspberries, parsley and sesame seeds and it was insane!! Nath had something along the lines of fois gras, blackberries, duck and some toast.

For our second course I had was cod (I think) with parsley sauce and scallop in squid ink tortellini and it was beautifully cooked and it just fell apart.

Nathan had a dish that looked like soup, but was parsnip foam with cereal and pancetta and luckily he let me try a bit, as it was sooooo tasty.

For the third course, I had a risky move which was cattle neck with fondant potatoes, stuffed olives, basil and brussel spouts rolled with something tasty. Overall the side bits were nice, but I wasn't too sure out the meat.

Nathan's however was the king of all the courses, he had venison with hazlenuts and I can't remember what else but it was devine, so insanely good. 

We then had plenty of desert and by the end we were well and truly full with delicious food and I was totally ready for some sleep and here's pick of my cute boyfriend.

On the Sunday, we enjoyed a slight lie in before heading out to explore Checkpoint Charlie and ended up meeting a couple from Scotland who were there around 18 years previous so it was really interesting to find out what they had experienced. We then decided to head to a shopping mall to see whether we could pick up any last minute Christmas presents and I ended up finding myself a new coat.

For an early dinner before our flight home, we headed back to our favourite market for a dinner and had our final traditional German meal. With our tiredness kicking in we made our way to the airport, however with luck not in our favour our flight home ended up getting cancelled. We were put in hotel for the night and had to book new flights home for the Monday as there were no flights back to London that night. The earliest flight home was via Oslo, why not? We managed to have breakfast in Berlin, lunch in Oslo and dinner at home! What an end to the holiday!!

Until next time Germany, we will be back.

Next stop; South Africa for Christmas

xoxo