January 12, 2025 • 46 mins
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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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:15):
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I am Kristen and I am Carol.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And we're two long-term friends with a passion
for travel and adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Each episode, we interview people around the
globe to help us decide where togo next.
All right, welcome David to thewhen Next podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Very nice to meet you both.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Nice to meet you.
Okay, we're going to talk aboutthe Maldives, right.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I always pronounce it Maldives as well, but they,
they, they're, they pronounce itMaldives, so I've been trying
to, but I always screw it up andgo back to Maldives.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So okay, so you don't do a lot of diving there.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Huh, maldives, I was going to ask you because
everyone, I've always known itas Maldives and then I talked to
someone who lived there or wasthere and she said that and I
was like, isn't it Maldives orsomething?
I'm like I'll have to ask.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, most, most Maldivians say Maldives.
So I've been trying toconsciously change, although I
had to edit my own podcast aboutit because I kept saying
Maldives as well.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And is Maldives its own country or is it an island
off of India?
It's about 1100 islands off thecoast of India.
About 180 of those arepopulated and about 160 of them
have resorts on them.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh my goodness, Wow so much better than Hawaii, huh.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yes, for sure, and everything from Uber luxury
resorts to kind of theinteresting thing that's
happening now just over the lastfew years.
There is the local islandswhere, because it's a very
strict Muslim country and a lotof restrictions on like drinking
alcohol and dress and thingslike that, on islands where the
local population lives.
So it used to be, on many ofthose islands tourists weren't
(02:05):
even allowed, but that's changeda lot over the last 10 years
and that's also changed, likeaffordability of tourism there a
lot in the last 10 years aswell, because the local islands
you can stay on for like 30, $40a night, the guest house versus
you know the the internationalresorts are sort of from $300 a
night to $30,000 a night,depending on where you're
staying.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, I've heard about some extravagance.
In my head the Maldives is likereally extravagant, really
fancy.
I didn't realize there'sanother side to it.
So that's, I'm so glad you'regoing to educate us.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, and I have to say, my, my son.
He's a senior this year andwhen my daughter graduated in
2022, I told her well, it wasduring COVID.
She was going to go to a BTSconcert and it got canceled at
COVID and I said, hey, why not?
Instead, I'll take you to SouthKorea when you graduate in 2022
.
And so my son is now graduatinghigh school and I said, oh,
(03:00):
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'redoing this episode and I'll
learn.
And I'm like, okay, I am on abudget.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well, it is possible on a budget and it gets lots of
love on Instagram.
So I can see why.
Why somebody graduating fromhigh school would be.
It would catch their attention.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, well, it looks like it's in the middle of the
ocean and I panned out and I seeactually Sri Lanka is next to
it and we just did.
I have a client that's from SriLanka, so we just did that last
week.
But I was just thinking firstoff and I talked to this.
My client, whose friend, wentto Maldives just recently and
(03:45):
just getting there, I heard, wasdifficult and landing there is
also an obstacle because it'sjust water all around you.
I was curious how do youtypically get there?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean, one of the great things is that you know
there's a lot of budget airlinesfrom around Asia who have
direct flights there daily, soyou can get there on AirAsia out
of you know.
For example, I came one way outof Thailand on AirAsia.
I think I paid less than $200for my flight from Thailand and
about the same going to on theoutbound flight going to Dubai
(04:19):
I'm trying to remember the nameof the airline out of Dubai,
it's a new budget airline out ofthe United Arab Emirates that I
flew that way.
And same thing it was veryinexpensive To get there from
North America.
I mean, it is a bit morechallenging.
You've usually got to do aconnection through either one of
those Asian hubs or somewherelike London, or kind of get to
the other side of the worldfirst and then find a connecting
(04:41):
flight there.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Like at first and then find a connecting flight
there.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinkinglike at some point maybe spend
some time in in europe, or thenit won't be as as brutal to go
there.
Yeah, how I did it was I flewon points to singapore and then,
you know, singapore to thailandwas a couple hundred dollars,
not even, I think it was 75, togo, uh um, from singapore to
thailand and then thailand tothe maldives was another couple
hundred dollars from there, andhow many times have you been
there?
Just just the one where I spentabout um, but a week and a half.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh, okay, Got it.
And then I guess I'd be verycurious, like how the islands
compared to the size of theHawaiian islands, like are they
much bigger?
Are they tiny?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
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 oneof the local islands that I
spent some time on.
You could walk around the wholeisland in an hour, an hour and
a half, I mean it wasn't verylarge and even the, the, the
main capital island of Malé.
I mean, um, I did a drivingtour with a local rideshare kind
(05:46):
of driver and I think you knowtouring the whole island maybe
took us 45 minutes.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
What so?
How many islands?
It's only just one island, themain one that has the airplanes
coming in.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
The main one that has international flights coming
into it.
But then you know one thingthat the Mdives is known for is
it has more float planes thananywhere else in the world and
it has a massive float planeterminal, once you come into the
international airport, to ferryyou out to all of the island
resorts it's like what you seein the fantasy island absolutely
(06:18):
.
You're out landing on the waterand one of those 160 plus you
know resort islands that havethat have resorts on them.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
And then you just hop into a boat.
How does that work?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
so the one I was, and that was some of them you fly
right into the harbor and rightup the island, the one that's
sort of more luxurious islandthat I spent some time on, a
place called Coggy, maldives.
There they fly you by floatplane into a sort of a staging
area that that's maybe likeanother 10 minute or so boat
ride away from from the islanditself, so that way when you're
(06:53):
on the private island you don'thave, 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 thefloat plane drops you off wow.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
So how many in a week and a half?
How many islands did you hit?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
um, I hit um.
Let me see one, two, three,four islands during okay, is
that?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
is that a good amount , or is it?
Do you feel rushed, or?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
yeah, I would have loved to have had more time on
all of them, like, uh, everyevery place that I I spent some
time on I definitely could havespent a lot more time on, for
sure okay.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, it wasn't like.
Okay, I'm seeing it, you knowjust okay.
Are they?
Do they have like differentfood or different vibes in each
Island?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
or I mean I mean the big contrast between the ones
where I was spending some time.
Certainly that the CapitolIsland, malé, and right adjacent
to that, is actually anartificial Island.
That's been island, that's beenbuilt next to the airport
called Hulu Mali.
You know, there you're going tofind a lot more.
There's sort of the mainservice hubs for for the whole
and the capital for for all ofthe islands, right.
(07:55):
So that's where all thegovernment services are, that's
where all your shop, you know alot of the shopping and stuff is
, a lot of restaurants, muchmore, I would say, kind of
westernized maybe, than thanwhen you get out of any tall
buildings?
yeah, for sure, yeah, and evenon some of the local islands
have now some um, you know,larger, larger hotels starting
to be built on some of the someof the more remote islands as
(08:16):
well and I see a lot of atoll.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Is that what islands is how they island?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
exactly, yeah okay, got it or a toll atolls are
group groupings of islands,right where they're.
They're kind of uh groupedtogether.
Yeah, I think 26 differentatolls throughout uh, throughout
the maldives are you canadian?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I am I was gonna say I can hear it right immediately.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I've got the boat oh sorry oh no, it's great and of
course, I apologize for theaccent being canadian as well.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Where are you now?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
in uh vancouver, canada okay, oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
How far away are the islands from each other?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
um, I mean, there there are islands like once,
once you fly into malaysia, someof the local islands you can
get to within a 15-20 minuteboat ride, okay, but there's
others that are, you know, a 45minute seaplane ride as well.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I mean, that's it's quite a quite a spread out group
of islands, for sure and then Isee mostly houses built on
stilts and in the water and itlooks all calm.
Is it all calm there's assumingI guess, no surf there.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's just sort of like there are actually some
great surfing, um, a couple ofislands that are that are
renowned for for surfing and, uh, some some great spots for that
, but definitely I mean for muchof the year, very, very calm
waters.
Uh, you know, it's definitelyone 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
(09:46):
to go.
Is is definitely for the, theunderwater and sea life that
you're going to see thereincredible diving and snorkeling
, crystal clear waters and yousay a lot of those like
overwater bungalows areextremely popular at the at the
luxury resorts, um, that you'regoing to find, um, you know,
scattered, scattered throughoutthe islands.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
And then what?
When's the best time of year togo, and when did you go?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That's a good question.
I was there in April and theweather was fantastic when, when
I was there, their dry seasonruns from, if I remember
correctly, it's like November toApril 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, humidthroughout the year.
Um, they get a, they get ashort monsoon season, sort of
well may to october, I guess,where where monsoons can come
(10:31):
through as well.
But even you know when you aregetting rain.
Uh, if you're there, it tendsto 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 calmestwater and the relaxing water?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
and then, yeah, where's the calmest water and
the relaxing water?
And then where's the surfingwater?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Calmest water and relaxing water is like, I mean
all throughout the island.
So you're going to find a lotof places with very calm water,
but a few that do have greatsurf beaches on them, and I'm
going to mispronounce this, I'msure, but Thulustu Thulustu, I
think, is the name.
It's about a 30 minute boatride from Mali.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I see the lead.
Who, but I don't knowT-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.
(11:27):
Maybe, I'll even mark itcompletely on here.
So that's the island.
And then what's the languagethat they talk there?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I mean you're going to find, certainly everywhere
you go, because internationaltourism is, like by the, the
biggest part of the economythere.
So english is widely, widelyspoken um, throughout, the,
throughout, the, um, islands.
Okay, and then the local.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I'm trying to remember the name of the local
dialect here and I'm clicking onone, oh, and there's actually
when I click on that island, theone, 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 highrise kind of um, uh, I don't, I
(12:16):
think it's a hotel, but it lookslike houses Like.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
It looks more like a, like an island, versus the
other ones, maybe they'resmaller, with just the little
bungalows for sure I mean a lotof those, those ones you're
seeing with bungalows, are thosethose you know international
resorts that have got the, theoverwater bungalows, where you
know you're, you're stayingright over the water so you can,
basically, you know you, youget out of your, your bungalow,
(12:40):
you're going straight into thewater and there's amazing
snorkeling right underneath.
You know where, where you'restaying.
Then some of those localislands, I mean I would also
compare some of them to.
They have a similar vibe you'reinto, like a place like bali,
kind of a similar vibe to thatyou're starting to see on on
some of the local islands,although a big contrast is, um,
you know, because they arepredominantly muslim country, uh
(13:01):
, predominantly muslim countryand some quite, you know, strict
laws around that on those localislands.
You're not going to find, forexample, alcohol on any of the
local islands.
You're not going to find, oryou're going to find, you know,
beaches where you knowinternational tourists are
encouraged to go where thebikini allowed beach and the
beaches where more of the localsgo where bikinis are not not
(13:24):
permitted.
Um so, um, that's, that'sdefinitely you know.
Uh, something to be aware ofwhen you're, when you're going
on to those local islands isjust respecting the, the local
culture and local traditions aswell yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Are there islands that are more budget friendly
than unbudget, or is it justdepending on the island?
There can be all the mix ofthings dramatically different
for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I mean, I would say the, those, those islands where
the local population lives,where where tourism has just
started to be allowed in thelast decade, are going to be
much more budget friendly thanthe international resort islands
that have developed allthroughout the island chain,
that really are just gearedtowards international tourists.
On the international resortislands too, I mean, they're
(14:10):
you're not going to find thesame restrictions around alcohol
, around dress, any of that isis not sort of applicable on the
on the international resortislands yeah um, where, where
the local islands, um, you knowjust, much different from a
price perspective, muchdifferent from a cultural
perspective as well.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And those local ones.
Are they pretty friendly to thetourists?
Then I mean, did you feel anyvibes?
Or like, oh, why are youinvading our space?
Or are there really likewelcoming?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Extremely friendly and I'll give you a good example
of that.
I think I talked about thisonce 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 islandsand I just arrived from Sri
Lanka where, if you've evertraveled in Sri Lanka, you'll
(14:57):
know.
You know local population thereis very friendly but also tends
to be quite aggressive in termsof you.
You know, pushing differenttours and activities and things
like that tourists coming to theregion.
And when I arrived at at Mufushi, one of these local islands,
you know, I went out snorkelingand was trying to find my way
around.
(15:17):
And, um, you know, I met upwith a couple of German tourists
who were out snorkeling as welland 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 littlebit further out.
So I started snorkeling, tryingto get there, and it was really
far out and I tried to get towhat the area they were talking
about two or three times.
(15:38):
I couldn't really find it.
So after about 20 minutes or soI started to swim back in and
you could see there was a guysitting on the beach, a local
who had heard the conversationbetween me and these local
tourists.
He could see what I was tryingto do.
So finally, he just jumped inthe water and he's like come on,
follow me, follow me.
And we followed along and itended up being quite a long swim
out.
We had to go probably 25 minutesor so offshore and then we
(16:09):
found this coral garden that thelocal community had planted to
start, like, rehabilitatingtheir, their coral reef and he
spent like an hour with me outthere, showing me everything,
showing me all the sea life.
We saw turtles, we saw sharks.
He took my gopro and was doingpictures 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 orsomething.
At the end there was none ofthat.
I mean, at the end it was justlike I hope you enjoy our
(16:30):
islands, I hope you.
I hope this helped you likeunderstand what what we're all
about.
And then you know, as I raninto him because it is such a
small island, you run intopeople again and again.
Every time I would run into him.
He was introducing me to moresome of local friends, inviting
me out for coffee, inviting meout to meet other people, and I
found every island everywhere Iwent, similar experiences, just
(16:50):
an incredibly warm, welcomingculture.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It's great to hear.
So you have your own podcast.
You want to tell us about that.
It's this Boy Escape Network ofTravel Podcasts.
So what do you mean by that?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I started a podcast back in 2005, probably one of
the first travel podcasts onApple Podcast, called Travel in
10, which featured 10 minuteclips of things to see and do
around the world.
And it's something I've beendoing for years and years kind
of as a hobby and you know,building out a sort of library
of shows, insights on differentplaces to go and things to see
(17:29):
and do around the world.
Earlier this year I partneredtogether with a travel writer
I'd met here in Canada, a guynamed Tim Johnson, who amazing
travel writer.
He he's traveled full-time forthe past 15 years.
He writes for travel andleisure and afar and the globe
and mail, and great guy and hecame on as a co-host.
(17:49):
We decided to sort of relaunchthe podcast, start doing it as
as a weekly show and and hadbuilt up an audience pretty
quickly doing that andsubsequent to that we decided to
launch a podcast network we'recalling Voyescape, multiple
different travel podcastsfeaturing different topics,
different areas around the world.
We've got one that's focused inmore on sort of food and
(18:11):
cuisine, another one that we'relaunching that's more of like
relaxation and sleep stories.
We're hoping by the end of thisyear that we'll have kind of 10
or so different shows acrossthe network.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Okay, and what's the benefit of having a network Is
then you can find sponsorsExactly.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Well, twofold, I mean one.
It lets us sort of, becausethey're, all you know, a similar
topic area, they're all travelrelated, so all seeking a
similar audience and building upsimilar audiences so it can
cross promote across the shows.
It also allows, as you say, forfor advertisers.
It's quite, quite difficultoften for an advertiser to, you
(18:50):
know, work with a singleinfluencer, a single podcaster,
a single blogger.
So the idea behind the networkis we're, we're hoping to bring
together, you know, a number ofindependent podcasters in the
travel space, as well as our ownin-house productions that we're
doing as well, to have sort ofa bank of content that we can go
(19:10):
out to advertisers with whowant, you know, high quality,
brand, safe travel contentthat's going to reach a large
audience of internationaltravelers.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Okay, so we'll put Voyescape in the show notes.
If there's a specific podcastin the network you want us to
add as a separate link, we'rehappy to do that as well.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
That'd be great, and we'd love to talk to you guys,
but more about that sometimes.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, yeah, I mean another conversation like we
collaborate.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, let's get this news out in front of everyone
absolutely, absolutely justcurious in terms of the also
back to Maldives, or Maldives, Iguess, any suggestion for me
bringing it on a budget, my sonand my daughter this summer, in
June, which I don't know if thateven makes sense, but you know,
(19:57):
after you graduate it would benice to like go on a plane and
go somewhere, but June isprobably I, to me, I think, such
a hot time to go and, and, youknow, definitely wouldn't like
it to be the most expensive, butthe, you know, just have an
experience where the weather isgreat, you know, and and what to
do there, you know, besidesjust snorkel and chill.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
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 (20:27):
Where do you fly into ?
Is there a specific place that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Everything comes into Mali, into the capital, into
the international airport thereand it's a place, to be honest,
I wouldn't spend a ton of time afrom a tourist perspective,
there's a few interesting sitesto see there.
There's the fish market,there's some beautiful mosques
there.
There's certainly enough tofill a couple of days there, but
it's not somewhere that youneed to spend a bunch of time.
I would really get out to theislands relatively quickly and
(20:52):
if I was going you know, if Iwas bringing my kids back, I
would.
I would look at splitting ourtime between one of the local
islands.
You know where you can be moremore cost efficient.
I would say you know Mifushi,for example.
It's it's.
You know about a $2 ferry ridefrom the international airport.
You can leave, you know the.
The port is is right there atthe, at the international
airport, so you basically justtake your bags.
(21:13):
It's a two minute walk and youcan get on a ferry and you're
straight over to Mifushi andthere's boats leaving every hour
or you can prearrange it withwhatever resort you're staying
at.
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
(21:35):
most developed for tourism.
It's got probably, I'm going tosay 15,.
You know sort of midsize hotels, multi-story.
You know hotels on them, allbrand new, right, they've all
been built in the last 10 years.
You know you're looking at roomrates from like depending on
(22:00):
the time of year you're there,and you know occupancy from
maybe a hundred to two hundreddollars a night including
breakfast, and you know you canget a place within that price
range where you've got.
You know the place I stayed atwas called triton prestige sea
view and spa.
It had um an infinity rooftoppool.
It had a little mini spa.
It was right across the streetfrom the beach.
It was across from the localsbeach, not not the bikini beach,
but the great thing with thelocals beach is also where the
(22:21):
best snorkeling was that's wherethat coral garden that I talked
about was just offshore thereand it was a brand new, very
nice, you know, high standard.
I would compare it to like afour-star North American hotel,
very you know new, nice, cleanand and that was, you know.
When I was staying there, Ithink I paid about 110 us a
night, including a breakfastbuffet.
Um, in the four star nice yeahexactly value for for what you
(22:46):
were getting.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Well, I think, is it mostly just getting there?
The cost of the air flight isthe most expensive, depending.
And then, if you can, for sure,and then I do.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I do think if you're gonna go all that way, you do
also have to go spend a coupleof nights at one of those like.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Uber, luxury places.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Exactly the over the water bungalow resorts.
Right, that is kind of a oncein a lifetime experience, you
know, staying out where you can.
You can go straight from yourroom straight into this crystal
clear water and and just see theamazing marine life there.
I mean, the thing to be awareof with that is there are a few
of those that you can get to byby boat, and some of them are
(23:23):
beautiful, but most of the youknow the really really nice ones
you're going to be looking at aseaplane ride, so that's going
to add for sure a little bit toyour expense anywhere from.
You know, two to $400 per perpassenger, depending on which
Island you're going out to andthose.
Those resorts you know will run,as I was saying you know, from
three hundred dollars a night totens of thousands of dollars a
(23:45):
night, depending on on whereyou're staying.
The one I stayed at I wouldhighly recommend.
It was about a 20 minuteseaplane 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 reallyliked about that particular
resort was it's locally owned bya Maldivian company and
(24:07):
Maldivian family.
It's who own a number ofdifferent resorts on the islands
there.
It's very focused in on healthand wellness.
So they've got, you know, yoga,exercise, sound meditation
programming happening throughoutthe day and it's all sort of
included with your stay.
It's quite new.
It was built I think aboutthree years ago or so during
(24:31):
their opening during COVID.
Still, you know very new resortand regardless of the, the
rooms are all sort of the samestandard, regardless of the room
that you book, they're all, theonly difference being there's a
couple that are located righton on the beach, you know,
overlooking the lagoon, but vastmajority of them are over over
(24:52):
the water.
Bungalows, you know, they'veall got their own private plunge
pools.
They've all got you know stairsstraight into the ocean from
your room.
It know they've all got theirown private plunge pools.
They've all got, you know,stairs straight into the ocean
from your room.
It's, it's.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Have you ever seen?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
that or heard about that anywhere else in the world
where there's these bungalows onthe water?
I think I've seen the Red Sea.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
They're starting to build that, but yeah, and I
think quite popular in Tahiti.
We've stayed in a similar sortof place in Fiji as well.
Also, some of the some of thePacific.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Islands, you'll find those as well and then how much
were those the night, or that?
Those ones like the one youstayed at, $400, it really
ranges depending on the time ofyear and the season.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I mean, I think when I was staying that was, I'm
gonna say, about six, sevenhundred dollars a night, I
believe.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Okay but it was worth it.
Yeah, okay it.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, and it certainly goes up depending on
the time of year and season andstuff as well, and there's there
is a lot to choose from.
As I say, there's 160 islandsthat have resorts on them and
most of those are, you know,it's it's one resort on the
island they're they're liketheir own private island resort.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
What about like, since it says it's like the high
, it's like only six feet abovesea level on some of these, like
, have you heard, did they getlike hurricanes ever since?
We just experienced those inthe us here?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
um.
Are they like kind of?
Protected they do get monsoonsfor sure, and, um, that's that
that's definitely something to,to you know, be aware of and and
, uh, you know, check intomonsoon season and the weather
and things like that goingthrough.
And the other thing too becauseof that, there, they are very
susceptible to climate changeand that's something, you see,
they're very cognizant of aswell.
(26:30):
So get there now, before I wellyeah, for sure, and they're very
focused in on like sustainabletourism and and trying to make
sure that um those islandresorts are are um as as um as
environmentally friendly andsustainable as they can be wow,
very cool.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
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 (26:56):
Great scuba diving yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Very, very well known for scuba diving, a great place
if you want to see whale sharks.
It's one of the few placeswhere whale sharks are there
year round.
A lot of other places they justmigrate through where you can
find them year round there.
But yeah, incredible,incredible scuba diving.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
And what about like safety, like, as I say, a solo
female traveler?
Some of our audience might befeel pretty safe there, yeah
extreme, extremely.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
So I would say like, like, particularly.
I I think of my experience onon mafushi, that local island,
like walking around at nightthere.
It's because because there isno 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
(27:44):
sitting out in patios, you know,yeah, certainly saw nothing to
to indicate you know that therewould 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 thingI should say kind of quirky
thing about mafushi is that it'salso where the only prison on
(28:05):
the islands is, uh as well, so aportion of the island you can't
go on to it's it's sort ofcordoned off.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
But uh, that, that didn't have a bad place to be in
prison, but the prison of themoldevians okay and did you say
it was 45 minutes to walk aroundthe island, cause it does look
pretty small, or this one yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I mean there were.
There were no, um no cars inthe island.
It's golf carts, it's bikes.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Oh, really, oh my gosh, I've never stayed in my
one of my friends.
She's always when she goes onvacation.
She always goes to these golfcart like res resorts down in
like Mississippi and Florida.
I'm like I've never beenanywhere where we just get
around a golf cart.
That sounds so cool.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I did Catalina Island in Southern California.
And that's just all golf carts,I think, maybe.
Yeah, you can't you walk aroundor bike around.
There's just, I mean there's,you know, I think there are some
roads, but most of it's justall golf carts and people.
Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
It's definitely green right.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, exactly what's the temperature?
Like I don't know, did we talkabout that?
Like is it hot and sticky?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I mean certainly, when I was there in May, april,
it was like literally perfecttemperature every day.
It was like 28, 29 degreesCelsius.
It was like a calm breeze.
It was perfect.
But I think certainly as youget into into wet season there
are there are times, I'm sure,where it's more hot and humid,
but a pretty, pretty phenomenalclimate for sure nice, that
(29:33):
sounds great.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
And then what about food?
Like having food come in andship in.
I wondered about that too,because I'm sure of course
they're.
Are they growing tropicalfruits there on the islands and
kind of sharing that around?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
for sure.
There is a lot of fruit growingin in the area.
There's also it's a big areafor fishing.
I mean, prior to tourism beingthe main industry, fishing used
to be the main industry in theregion.
So it's a it's a lot of freshfish.
You're getting everywhere yougo On those local islands very
inexpensively as well.
I mean, I think for most mealsI was paying between $7 and
(30:09):
maybe $15 on the high end I wasvery curious about that.
Yeah, on the local islands.
Now, on the other end of thespectrum, I would say, when you,
when you do, go out to more ofthe luxury resorts, food is
substantially more expensive andthat's going to be a, you know,
a big part of your cost thereas well.
So if you can find, you know, apackage that includes breakfast
(30:30):
or includes all of your meals,it's definitely worth looking at
, because once you get to thoseresort islands, um, it is spendy
for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
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 (30:45):
boy.
All-inclusive, that's good.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
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 (30:59):
And do they have like ?
Do they have a grocery store onsome of the islands, I'm
assuming?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Because I know in Hawaii the grocery stores are
astronomical.
Is it the same here?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I was actually surprised how reasonable the
grocery stores were.
I mean it was Western prices,you know.
So certainly more than you'regoing to find in the neighboring
Sri Lanka or India, but prettystandard world pricing, I would
say.
At most of the grocery stores Imean some stuff that they're
just because the cost ofimporting it is going to be
higher, but things are prettyreasonable overall.
(31:31):
And like on the Fushi, forexample, they they had, like
within walking distance of myhotel there were probably three,
four grocery stores,convenience store type places
and, and I'm sure more aroundthe island and in Malé,
certainly, lots of grocerystores there as well.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
What are some of the popular like?
Do they have, like rice ispretty popular and or potatoes,
or imagine, not too much meatbecause yeah, I mean you see a
lot of.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I would say it's a mix of of Indian influence,
African influence in theircuisine and then seafood, that
is, is widely used throughout,throughout as well.
Okay, Do they have like fishingas a sport to do that they used
throughout as well.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Okay, do they have like fishing as a sport to do?
They'll take you fishingAbsolutely Very cool.
Oh my gosh, this is veryenlightening.
I knew nothing about theMaldives, though, other than I
feel like people go there and itlooks like they spend a ton of
money, so it's good to hear thatthere's other options and other
(32:29):
ways to do this.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
The perception right that it is just this like Uber
luxury resort island type placeand that's definitely an option
and probably one of the bestplaces in the world if that's
what you're looking for.
But for like, what struck me isthat, like somebody who wanted
to be a digital nomad orsomebody who wanted to spend a
more extended vacation.
I struck me as like somebodywho wanted to be a digital nomad
(32:53):
or somebody who wanted to spenda more extended vacation.
I think those, those localislands, are really being
overlooked in terms of thepotential there and how cost
effectively you can spend sometime there, and just the quality
of the experience that you getthere, because it's not
dramatically different than theexperience you are getting on on
those, you know, reallyluxurious resort islands as well
.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
And that water just looks so clear.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I know that was.
I grew up in Redondo beach, soI've always of when it's clear
like that, it's like it's justkind of Brown, murky ish.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
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 inlove with travel?
And you know when did your?
You know, you've been doingyour podcast for a very long
time and then do you is this ahobby or are you full-time now,
or?
Speaker 3 (33:37):
It's a good question and, and yeah, I mean travel has
been something I've alwaysloved, you know from from doing
camping trips with my familywhen I was younger and doing
some of our very firstinternational trips just really,
you know, sparked my appetitefor travel.
So the minute I got out ofschool I spent a year traveling
(34:00):
overseas through Australia, newZealand, the Cook Islands, doing
a year abroad, and that hadsuch 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 sincethen and travel's been a huge
part of my career and my life.
I've lived abroad a number oftimes lived in Japan for a while
(34:24):
, lived in the States for awhile.
My wife and I, you know, took ain our probably late twenties,
early thirties, took a careerbreak where we spent a year
traveling through Southeast Asiaand and living and working in
Japan and then most recently Iyou know, after working in PR
and advertising here in Canadafor about 15 plus years, you
(34:47):
know got a buyout from theagency that I was working with
and had an opportunity to dosomething different and I had
this travel podcast that I'dbeen doing as a hobby for years,
have spent the last six monthsreally building it out into a
business now I mean building outthis podcast network and as
part of that, leading up to my50th birthday, took my family on
a six week trip where we hit Ithink it was, or sorry, a
(35:10):
three-week trip where we hit sixcountries together over three
weeks.
It was an ambitiousround-the-world trip, using up a
lot of our airline points andhotel points and things.
Then they came home back toCanada and I spent another two
months traveling around theworld and gathering content for
my podcast and also meeting withpeople as we sort of launched
(35:32):
the business as well potentialpartners and advertisers and
things over in Asia andelsewhere.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Oh my gosh, that sounds so cool.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
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 usethat as your platform for your
career.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Starting to, and I mean we're really just starting
to.
You know, I really wanted tomake sure we were building up.
You know, having worked inadvertising and PR for a lot of
years and I've worked with a lotof clients in the travel sector
.
The agency that I worked withwe used to do PR for Tourism
Australia, all across NorthAmerica, for Emirates, for
Destination BC.
So I've worked with a lot oftravel brands and so I kind of
(36:17):
know what, what the level ofproduct that you need to be
viable in terms of selling tothose types of advertisers.
So I've really been spendingthis first six months building
up content and building up theproduct to a place where I know
we can go out and sell it tothose types of advertisers.
And I've got, you know, a fewevents booked here over the next
few months.
I've got you know a couple ofdestination marketing
(36:38):
organizations and an airline whohave asked me to present them
with pitches this month.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
A couple more who I'm meeting at a conference in
London in November as well andreally looking to to build up
our base of advertisingfollowing that.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I'm dying what airline that's so cool.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
I don't think I can.
I'm not supposed to say whichairline.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
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 (37:14):
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'malways kind of surprised that,
yeah, there's like so many likeyou know expedia, like why they
don't have their own travelpodcast, or you know there's so
many different you know, youknow airlines, because it's just
that's the audience.
This makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah, yeah like Expedia, didn't have their own
podcast for a while, andactually the, the agency that
created it, is based here inVancouver and a good friend of
mine who who runs it.
So I've actually been working abit with him and his agency on
you know where they do brandedpodcasts for you know.
So they've done one for Expedia,they've done one for Lululemon,
(37:48):
for a lot of big brands aroundthe world, where I'm building
out more editorial content andwe're looking at ways that we
can work together with somedifferent brands as well.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Wow, that's awesome.
You know, I find it interestingbecause a couple of we've
talked to where there's like oneof like their first adventures
and travel.
They have like a really sweetspot.
You know, someone was in France.
That means a lot to them andmine, like, is Hawaii, because
it was the first time I wentaway and like, oh my god, it was
like my eye opening.
It was where I happened to gowith my eye opening experience.
(38:21):
And then we talked to somebodyelse about somewhere in South
America.
I'm just wondering if it's likewe tend to to fantasize about
this place like this is somagical because it was the first
place that really opened oureyes.
And since it sounds like youtraveled so much like right away
, is there a specific place?
Or it's just like, oh my God,the whole world is your specific
(38:41):
place?
You kind of just did it rightafter college, it sounds like,
or before college maybe.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
It was right before college actually, where I spent
a year between high school andgoing into college, sort of
traveling the world.
Yeah, I was lucky, I mean Ipicked.
My deal with my parents was ifI got good enough grades.
They knew how much I lovetravel and how much I wanted to
travel, and we hadn't traveled alot internationally as a family
.
I think, we'd only done like onetrip to Mexico and one trip
down to Disneyland.
(39:08):
They knew I really wanted toget out and travel more.
So the deal with them was, if Igot good enough grades in my
last year I could.
I could get a plane ticketanywhere I wanted to go in the
world At the time.
You know a hot traveldestination at the time and just
somewhere I'd always beeninterested in and was probably
the most expensive plane ticketI could find at the time as well
was Australia.
(39:30):
Having gone the AustraliaExactly Having gone to Australia
, I mean A it was just such anaccessible travel destination
for somebody who was 18.
I was able to get a work visathere.
Yeah, it was super easy to gospend, you know, the nine months
or 10 months that I spenttraveling around there.
But then I was also luckyenough that that plane plane
ticket was like.
It was what was called a circlepacific ticket that let me stop
(39:50):
in Fiji, it let me stop in theCook Islands in New Zealand, and
it just opened my eyes to thislike incredible part of the
world.
That's where I, you know, Istarted doing scuba diving and
snorkeling for the first time inAustralia, then got to
experience it the South Pacificcoming home, and I was in love.
That was like love.
That was like I need to do thismore.
I want to do this every yearfor the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
And do you still have like have this attachment to
that area?
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Oh, okay, can this fight?
It's just yeah.
Maybe it's just like thatexperience when you like first
had this aha moment, like, wow,there's more to life than you
know where I just grew up, eventhough you live in a very
beautiful place.
(40:37):
It's we all, all three of us doAll right, so I can go to my
rapid fire questions Um, ifyou're ready, okay, okay, so
what?
Um was your favorite meal?
Um in the Maldives?
Speaker 3 (40:44):
All the seafood meals were incredible because the
fresh fish is so good there.
But the dish that I came tolike the most, which when I
describe it maybe doesn't soundas appetizing, but it was super
tasty uh was a breakfast dishthey have called uh masooni,
which was shredded tuna, uhmixed with shredded coconut
onions and chili, and they serveit together with a flatbread.
(41:06):
And really tasty.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
I loved it it's like fresh tuna or like cooked tuna.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Cooked tuna and then it's kind of kind of shredded
and mixed with the shreddedcoconut and these hot chilies
and lime and onions.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I think I'd love that .
Oh my gosh, we need to findthat recipe.
Like we hear all this, like wecan cook this.
I may not be as good becausethe fish is not so fresh.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
What was it called?
Again Like we hear all thislike we can cook this.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I may not be as good because the fish is not so fresh
.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
What was it called?
Again, masuni, m-a-s-h-u-n-i?
Okay, masuni.
Okay, well, that covers thebreakfast question there.
And then, once you're on theseislands, like do you have to
rent a golf cart, or is theregolf carts in the street?
Or you have to rent a bike, oryou just walk and then rent
those for a day.
Like how do you get around?
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah Well, coming into Mifushi, when you came in
by boat, the hotel that I bookedat most of the other hotels had
golf carts waiting there whopicked you up and then took you
across to the hotel.
And the thing that I foundreally interesting there is, you
know, when I was moving betweenresorts and moving between
islands, a couple of times I wasa bit worried about the
logistics of it and how I wasgoing to get from place to place
(42:12):
.
And what I found is, once yougot there and once you got to
one of the local islands and toyour first hotel, the hotels are
all all communicate with eachother and they all know that
people are moving from island toisland typically and moving to
oftentimes to multiple resortsand need to get back for
international flights.
So they organize everything foryou.
Like I didn't even have to tellthem where I was going.
They, they knew, like theyorganized it for me without even
(42:35):
being asked.
They'd practically figured outmy.
My next boat ride told me whattime I needed to be there, um,
and all the resorts do seem toreally coordinate with each
other quite, quite a lot wow,and how did you book it from
afar with these like local?
Speaker 2 (42:51):
like did you go to like an expedia or do you just
malldivescom?
Speaker 3 (42:57):
bookingcom I I used, I think, for for a lot of, uh, a
lot of the reservations alongthe way.
Um, there's a lot of airbnbsalso, as well as great places
there.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
So on the islands.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
That's definitely an option.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Nice, okay, and how's the money work there?
Did you like to be everythingon your phone or do you want to
bring some cash and do you wantto exchange it there?
Exchange?
Speaker 3 (43:19):
it ahead of time.
Yeah, I did.
I did exchange for a little bitof the local currency, the
Rufia, but US dollars were alsovery widely accepted, you know
because?
Because tourism is such a sucha big part of the economy there,
so you know, any of the touristrelated services you can always
pay in US dollars and creditcards pretty widely accepted.
(43:40):
Apple Pay even was pretty,pretty widely accepted at most
little stores and stuff as well.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Easy peasy, okay, and what's more popular?
Coffee or tea.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
Oh, good question um.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
I think tea was more popular okay, from sri lanka we
just learned this is the besttea in the world and the closest
place you can surf.
You already said that they'resurfing there.
I don't know.
There's this particular islandyou want to shout out to, but
yeah, uh, thalustu was, was, um,probably the main surfing
island.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
As I said, that one was about a 30-minute boat ride
from the capital, from Malé, andvery expensive If you're taking
one of those local ferries $3,$4 maybe or less to get there.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
And then do they have surf lessons, yep.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
Have you ever saw that?
Yeah, the triple bars and surflessons and stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
For sure, that sounds awesome.
Okay, that sounds awesome.
Say, where are you?
We find you because there's alot of David Brody's on
Instagram but you're Brody Davidon Instagram.
Yes, I am.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Probably the best place to find me on Instagram is
voice voicecape media.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Oh, so voicecape mediacomcom, oh on, well, I'm
just going to go to yourVoyescape and then there's
probably maybe a link to yourInstagram online.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Voyescapecom is our website forthe podcast network, with all
of our travel shows there andour all of our links to all of
our socials there as well.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
All right.
Well, it's so great talking toyou, David.
I guess we'll be in touch verysoon.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Really nice to meet you both.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Have a great day Bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app?
And if you have a minute, wewould really appreciate a review
.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
(45:29):
We're at.
We're Next Podcast.
Thanks again.
Hi, welcome to our podcast when Next Travel with
Kristen and Carol.
Speaker 2 (00:19):
I am Kristen and I am Carol.
Speaker 1 (00:22):
And we're two long-term friends with a passion
for travel and adventure.
Speaker 2 (00:27):
Each episode, we interview people around the
globe to help us decide where togo next.
All right, welcome David to thewhen Next podcast.
Speaker 3 (00:37):
Very nice to meet you both.
Speaker 2 (00:39):
Nice to meet you.
Okay, we're going to talk aboutthe Maldives, right.
Speaker 3 (00:46):
I always pronounce it Maldives as well, but they,
they, they're, they pronounce itMaldives, so I've been trying
to, but I always screw it up andgo back to Maldives.
Speaker 2 (00:53):
So okay, so you don't do a lot of diving there.
Speaker 1 (00:56):
Huh, maldives, I was going to ask you because
everyone, I've always known itas Maldives and then I talked to
someone who lived there or wasthere and she said that and I
was like, isn't it Maldives orsomething?
I'm like I'll have to ask.
Speaker 3 (01:10):
Well, most, most Maldivians say Maldives.
So I've been trying toconsciously change, although I
had to edit my own podcast aboutit because I kept saying
Maldives as well.
Speaker 2 (01:19):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (01:25):
And is Maldives its own country or is it an island
off of India?
It's about 1100 islands off thecoast of India.
About 180 of those arepopulated and about 160 of them
have resorts on them.
Speaker 2 (01:37):
Oh my goodness, Wow so much better than Hawaii, huh.
Speaker 3 (01:40):
Yes, for sure, and everything from Uber luxury
resorts to kind of theinteresting thing that's
happening now just over the lastfew years.
There is the local islandswhere, because it's a very
strict Muslim country and a lotof restrictions on like drinking
alcohol and dress and thingslike that, on islands where the
local population lives.
So it used to be, on many ofthose islands tourists weren't
(02:05):
even allowed, but that's changeda lot over the last 10 years
and that's also changed, likeaffordability of tourism there a
lot in the last 10 years aswell, because the local islands
you can stay on for like 30, $40a night, the guest house versus
you know the the internationalresorts are sort of from $300 a
night to $30,000 a night,depending on where you're
staying.
Speaker 2 (02:25):
Yeah, I've heard about some extravagance.
In my head the Maldives is likereally extravagant, really
fancy.
I didn't realize there'sanother side to it.
So that's, I'm so glad you'regoing to educate us.
Speaker 1 (02:36):
Well, and I have to say, my, my son.
He's a senior this year andwhen my daughter graduated in
2022, I told her well, it wasduring COVID.
She was going to go to a BTSconcert and it got canceled at
COVID and I said, hey, why not?
Instead, I'll take you to SouthKorea when you graduate in 2022
.
And so my son is now graduatinghigh school and I said, oh,
(03:00):
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'redoing this episode and I'll
learn.
And I'm like, okay, I am on abudget.
Speaker 3 (03:14):
Well, it is possible on a budget and it gets lots of
love on Instagram.
So I can see why.
Why somebody graduating fromhigh school would be.
It would catch their attention.
Speaker 1 (03:23):
Yeah, well, it looks like it's in the middle of the
ocean and I panned out and I seeactually Sri Lanka is next to
it and we just did.
I have a client that's from SriLanka, so we just did that last
week.
But I was just thinking firstoff and I talked to this.
My client, whose friend, wentto Maldives just recently and
(03:45):
just getting there, I heard, wasdifficult and landing there is
also an obstacle because it'sjust water all around you.
I was curious how do youtypically get there?
Speaker 3 (03:57):
I mean, one of the great things is that you know
there's a lot of budget airlinesfrom around Asia who have
direct flights there daily, soyou can get there on AirAsia out
of you know.
For example, I came one way outof Thailand on AirAsia.
I think I paid less than $200for my flight from Thailand and
about the same going to on theoutbound flight going to Dubai
(04:19):
I'm trying to remember the nameof the airline out of Dubai,
it's a new budget airline out ofthe United Arab Emirates that I
flew that way.
And same thing it was veryinexpensive To get there from
North America.
I mean, it is a bit morechallenging.
You've usually got to do aconnection through either one of
those Asian hubs or somewherelike London, or kind of get to
the other side of the worldfirst and then find a connecting
(04:41):
flight there.
Speaker 2 (04:41):
Yeah, that's what I'm thinking.
Speaker 3 (04:50):
Like at first and then find a connecting flight
there.
Yeah, that's what I'm thinkinglike at some point maybe spend
some time in in europe, or thenit won't be as as brutal to go
there.
Yeah, how I did it was I flewon points to singapore and then,
you know, singapore to thailandwas a couple hundred dollars,
not even, I think it was 75, togo, uh um, from singapore to
thailand and then thailand tothe maldives was another couple
hundred dollars from there, andhow many times have you been
there?
Just just the one where I spentabout um, but a week and a half.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Oh, okay, Got it.
And then I guess I'd be verycurious, like how the islands
compared to the size of theHawaiian islands, like are they
much bigger?
Are they tiny?
Speaker 3 (05:21):
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 oneof the local islands that I
spent some time on.
You could walk around the wholeisland in an hour, an hour and
a half, I mean it wasn't verylarge and even the, the, the
main capital island of Malé.
I mean, um, I did a drivingtour with a local rideshare kind
(05:46):
of driver and I think you knowtouring the whole island maybe
took us 45 minutes.
Speaker 2 (05:52):
What so?
How many islands?
It's only just one island, themain one that has the airplanes
coming in.
Speaker 3 (05:57):
The main one that has international flights coming
into it.
But then you know one thingthat the Mdives is known for is
it has more float planes thananywhere else in the world and
it has a massive float planeterminal, once you come into the
international airport, to ferryyou out to all of the island
resorts it's like what you seein the fantasy island absolutely
(06:18):
.
You're out landing on the waterand one of those 160 plus you
know resort islands that havethat have resorts on them.
Speaker 2 (06:26):
And then you just hop into a boat.
How does that work?
Yeah?
Speaker 3 (06:30):
so the one I was, and that was some of them you fly
right into the harbor and rightup the island, the one that's
sort of more luxurious islandthat I spent some time on, a
place called Coggy, maldives.
There they fly you by floatplane into a sort of a staging
area that that's maybe likeanother 10 minute or so boat
ride away from from the islanditself, so that way when you're
(06:53):
on the private island you don'thave, 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 thefloat plane drops you off wow.
Speaker 2 (07:04):
So how many in a week and a half?
How many islands did you hit?
Speaker 3 (07:07):
um, I hit um.
Let me see one, two, three,four islands during okay, is
that?
Speaker 2 (07:13):
is that a good amount , or is it?
Do you feel rushed, or?
Speaker 3 (07:16):
yeah, I would have loved to have had more time on
all of them, like, uh, everyevery place that I I spent some
time on I definitely could havespent a lot more time on, for
sure okay.
Speaker 2 (07:24):
Okay, it wasn't like.
Okay, I'm seeing it, you knowjust okay.
Are they?
Do they have like differentfood or different vibes in each
Island?
Speaker 3 (07:33):
or I mean I mean the big contrast between the ones
where I was spending some time.
Certainly that the CapitolIsland, malé, and right adjacent
to that, is actually anartificial Island.
That's been island, that's beenbuilt next to the airport
called Hulu Mali.
You know, there you're going tofind a lot more.
There's sort of the mainservice hubs for for the whole
and the capital for for all ofthe islands, right.
(07:55):
So that's where all thegovernment services are, that's
where all your shop, you know alot of the shopping and stuff is
, a lot of restaurants, muchmore, I would say, kind of
westernized maybe, than thanwhen you get out of any tall
buildings?
yeah, for sure, yeah, and evenon some of the local islands
have now some um, you know,larger, larger hotels starting
to be built on some of the someof the more remote islands as
(08:16):
well and I see a lot of atoll.
Speaker 1 (08:18):
Is that what islands is how they island?
Speaker 3 (08:22):
exactly, yeah okay, got it or a toll atolls are
group groupings of islands,right where they're.
They're kind of uh groupedtogether.
Yeah, I think 26 differentatolls throughout uh, throughout
the maldives are you canadian?
Speaker 1 (08:35):
I am I was gonna say I can hear it right immediately.
Speaker 3 (08:39):
I've got the boat oh sorry oh no, it's great and of
course, I apologize for theaccent being canadian as well.
Speaker 1 (08:50):
Where are you now?
Speaker 3 (08:51):
in uh vancouver, canada okay, oh, that's great.
Speaker 1 (08:56):
How far away are the islands from each other?
Speaker 3 (08:59):
um, I mean, there there are islands like once,
once you fly into malaysia, someof the local islands you can
get to within a 15-20 minuteboat ride, okay, but there's
others that are, you know, a 45minute seaplane ride as well.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
I mean, that's it's quite a quite a spread out group
of islands, for sure and then Isee mostly houses built on
stilts and in the water and itlooks all calm.
Is it all calm there's assumingI guess, no surf there.
Speaker 3 (09:25):
It's just sort of like there are actually some
great surfing, um, a couple ofislands that are that are
renowned for for surfing and, uh, some some great spots for that
, but definitely I mean for muchof the year, very, very calm
waters.
Uh, you know, it's definitelyone 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
(09:46):
to go.
Is is definitely for the, theunderwater and sea life that
you're going to see thereincredible diving and snorkeling
, crystal clear waters and yousay a lot of those like
overwater bungalows areextremely popular at the at the
luxury resorts, um, that you'regoing to find, um, you know,
scattered, scattered throughoutthe islands.
Speaker 1 (10:06):
And then what?
When's the best time of year togo, and when did you go?
Speaker 3 (10:09):
That's a good question.
I was there in April and theweather was fantastic when, when
I was there, their dry seasonruns from, if I remember
correctly, it's like November toApril 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, humidthroughout the year.
Um, they get a, they get ashort monsoon season, sort of
well may to october, I guess,where where monsoons can come
(10:31):
through as well.
But even you know when you aregetting rain.
Uh, if you're there, it tendsto 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 calmestwater and the relaxing water?
Speaker 1 (10:45):
and then, yeah, where's the calmest water and
the relaxing water?
And then where's the surfingwater?
Speaker 3 (10:49):
Calmest water and relaxing water is like, I mean
all throughout the island.
So you're going to find a lotof places with very calm water,
but a few that do have greatsurf beaches on them, and I'm
going to mispronounce this, I'msure, but Thulustu Thulustu, I
think, is the name.
It's about a 30 minute boatride from Mali.
Speaker 1 (11:06):
I see the lead.
Who, but I don't knowT-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.
(11:27):
Maybe, I'll even mark itcompletely on here.
So that's the island.
And then what's the languagethat they talk there?
Speaker 3 (11:36):
I mean you're going to find, certainly everywhere
you go, because internationaltourism is, like by the, the
biggest part of the economythere.
So english is widely, widelyspoken um, throughout, the,
throughout, the, um, islands.
Okay, and then the local.
Speaker 1 (11:55):
I'm trying to remember the name of the local
dialect here and I'm clicking onone, oh, and there's actually
when I click on that island, theone, 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 highrise kind of um, uh, I don't, I
(12:16):
think it's a hotel, but it lookslike houses Like.
Speaker 3 (12:18):
It looks more like a, like an island, versus the
other ones, maybe they'resmaller, with just the little
bungalows for sure I mean a lotof those, those ones you're
seeing with bungalows, are thosethose you know international
resorts that have got the, theoverwater bungalows, where you
know you're, you're stayingright over the water so you can,
basically, you know you, youget out of your, your bungalow,
(12:40):
you're going straight into thewater and there's amazing
snorkeling right underneath.
You know where, where you'restaying.
Then some of those localislands, I mean I would also
compare some of them to.
They have a similar vibe you'reinto, like a place like bali,
kind of a similar vibe to thatyou're starting to see on on
some of the local islands,although a big contrast is, um,
you know, because they arepredominantly muslim country, uh
(13:01):
, predominantly muslim countryand some quite, you know, strict
laws around that on those localislands.
You're not going to find, forexample, alcohol on any of the
local islands.
You're not going to find, oryou're going to find, you know,
beaches where you knowinternational tourists are
encouraged to go where thebikini allowed beach and the
beaches where more of the localsgo where bikinis are not not
(13:24):
permitted.
Um so, um, that's, that'sdefinitely you know.
Uh, something to be aware ofwhen you're, when you're going
on to those local islands isjust respecting the, the local
culture and local traditions aswell yeah, absolutely.
Speaker 1 (13:38):
Are there islands that are more budget friendly
than unbudget, or is it justdepending on the island?
There can be all the mix ofthings dramatically different
for sure.
Speaker 3 (13:49):
I mean, I would say the, those, those islands where
the local population lives,where where tourism has just
started to be allowed in thelast decade, are going to be
much more budget friendly thanthe international resort islands
that have developed allthroughout the island chain,
that really are just gearedtowards international tourists.
On the international resortislands too, I mean, they're
(14:10):
you're not going to find thesame restrictions around alcohol
, around dress, any of that isis not sort of applicable on the
on the international resortislands yeah um, where, where
the local islands, um, you knowjust, much different from a
price perspective, muchdifferent from a cultural
perspective as well.
Speaker 2 (14:26):
And those local ones.
Are they pretty friendly to thetourists?
Then I mean, did you feel anyvibes?
Or like, oh, why are youinvading our space?
Or are there really likewelcoming?
Speaker 3 (14:37):
Extremely friendly and I'll give you a good example
of that.
I think I talked about thisonce 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 islandsand I just arrived from Sri
Lanka where, if you've evertraveled in Sri Lanka, you'll
(14:57):
know.
You know local population thereis very friendly but also tends
to be quite aggressive in termsof you.
You know, pushing differenttours and activities and things
like that tourists coming to theregion.
And when I arrived at at Mufushi, one of these local islands,
you know, I went out snorkelingand was trying to find my way
around.
(15:17):
And, um, you know, I met upwith a couple of German tourists
who were out snorkeling as welland 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 littlebit further out.
So I started snorkeling, tryingto get there, and it was really
far out and I tried to get towhat the area they were talking
about two or three times.
(15:38):
I couldn't really find it.
So after about 20 minutes or soI started to swim back in and
you could see there was a guysitting on the beach, a local
who had heard the conversationbetween me and these local
tourists.
He could see what I was tryingto do.
So finally, he just jumped inthe water and he's like come on,
follow me, follow me.
And we followed along and itended up being quite a long swim
out.
We had to go probably 25 minutesor so offshore and then we
(16:09):
found this coral garden that thelocal community had planted to
start, like, rehabilitatingtheir, their coral reef and he
spent like an hour with me outthere, showing me everything,
showing me all the sea life.
We saw turtles, we saw sharks.
He took my gopro and was doingpictures 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 orsomething.
At the end there was none ofthat.
I mean, at the end it was justlike I hope you enjoy our
(16:30):
islands, I hope you.
I hope this helped you likeunderstand what what we're all
about.
And then you know, as I raninto him because it is such a
small island, you run intopeople again and again.
Every time I would run into him.
He was introducing me to moresome of local friends, inviting
me out for coffee, inviting meout to meet other people, and I
found every island everywhere Iwent, similar experiences, just
(16:50):
an incredibly warm, welcomingculture.
Speaker 1 (16:54):
That's fantastic.
Speaker 2 (16:56):
It's great to hear.
So you have your own podcast.
You want to tell us about that.
It's this Boy Escape Network ofTravel Podcasts.
So what do you mean by that?
Speaker 3 (17:07):
I started a podcast back in 2005, probably one of
the first travel podcasts onApple Podcast, called Travel in
10, which featured 10 minuteclips of things to see and do
around the world.
And it's something I've beendoing for years and years kind
of as a hobby and you know,building out a sort of library
of shows, insights on differentplaces to go and things to see
(17:29):
and do around the world.
Earlier this year I partneredtogether with a travel writer
I'd met here in Canada, a guynamed Tim Johnson, who amazing
travel writer.
He he's traveled full-time forthe past 15 years.
He writes for travel andleisure and afar and the globe
and mail, and great guy and hecame on as a co-host.
(17:49):
We decided to sort of relaunchthe podcast, start doing it as
as a weekly show and and hadbuilt up an audience pretty
quickly doing that andsubsequent to that we decided to
launch a podcast network we'recalling Voyescape, multiple
different travel podcastsfeaturing different topics,
different areas around the world.
We've got one that's focused inmore on sort of food and
(18:11):
cuisine, another one that we'relaunching that's more of like
relaxation and sleep stories.
We're hoping by the end of thisyear that we'll have kind of 10
or so different shows acrossthe network.
Speaker 2 (18:23):
Okay, and what's the benefit of having a network Is
then you can find sponsorsExactly.
Speaker 3 (18:29):
Well, twofold, I mean one.
It lets us sort of, becausethey're, all you know, a similar
topic area, they're all travelrelated, so all seeking a
similar audience and building upsimilar audiences so it can
cross promote across the shows.
It also allows, as you say, forfor advertisers.
It's quite, quite difficultoften for an advertiser to, you
(18:50):
know, work with a singleinfluencer, a single podcaster,
a single blogger.
So the idea behind the networkis we're, we're hoping to bring
together, you know, a number ofindependent podcasters in the
travel space, as well as our ownin-house productions that we're
doing as well, to have sort ofa bank of content that we can go
(19:10):
out to advertisers with whowant, you know, high quality,
brand, safe travel contentthat's going to reach a large
audience of internationaltravelers.
Speaker 2 (19:19):
Okay, so we'll put Voyescape in the show notes.
If there's a specific podcastin the network you want us to
add as a separate link, we'rehappy to do that as well.
Speaker 3 (19:28):
That'd be great, and we'd love to talk to you guys,
but more about that sometimes.
Speaker 2 (19:31):
Yeah, yeah, I mean another conversation like we
collaborate.
Speaker 1 (19:34):
Yeah, let's get this news out in front of everyone
absolutely, absolutely justcurious in terms of the also
back to Maldives, or Maldives, Iguess, any suggestion for me
bringing it on a budget, my sonand my daughter this summer, in
June, which I don't know if thateven makes sense, but you know,
(19:57):
after you graduate it would benice to like go on a plane and
go somewhere, but June isprobably I, to me, I think, such
a hot time to go and, and, youknow, definitely wouldn't like
it to be the most expensive, butthe, you know, just have an
experience where the weather isgreat, you know, and and what to
do there, you know, besidesjust snorkel and chill.
Speaker 3 (20:21):
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 (20:27):
Where do you fly into ?
Is there a specific place that.
Speaker 3 (20:29):
Everything comes into Mali, into the capital, into
the international airport thereand it's a place, to be honest,
I wouldn't spend a ton of time afrom a tourist perspective,
there's a few interesting sitesto see there.
There's the fish market,there's some beautiful mosques
there.
There's certainly enough tofill a couple of days there, but
it's not somewhere that youneed to spend a bunch of time.
I would really get out to theislands relatively quickly and
(20:52):
if I was going you know, if Iwas bringing my kids back, I
would.
I would look at splitting ourtime between one of the local
islands.
You know where you can be moremore cost efficient.
I would say you know Mifushi,for example.
It's it's.
You know about a $2 ferry ridefrom the international airport.
You can leave, you know the.
The port is is right there atthe, at the international
airport, so you basically justtake your bags.
(21:13):
It's a two minute walk and youcan get on a ferry and you're
straight over to Mifushi andthere's boats leaving every hour
or you can prearrange it withwhatever resort you're staying
at.
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
(21:35):
most developed for tourism.
It's got probably, I'm going tosay 15,.
You know sort of midsize hotels, multi-story.
You know hotels on them, allbrand new, right, they've all
been built in the last 10 years.
You know you're looking at roomrates from like depending on
(22:00):
the time of year you're there,and you know occupancy from
maybe a hundred to two hundreddollars a night including
breakfast, and you know you canget a place within that price
range where you've got.
You know the place I stayed atwas called triton prestige sea
view and spa.
It had um an infinity rooftoppool.
It had a little mini spa.
It was right across the streetfrom the beach.
It was across from the localsbeach, not not the bikini beach,
but the great thing with thelocals beach is also where the
(22:21):
best snorkeling was that's wherethat coral garden that I talked
about was just offshore thereand it was a brand new, very
nice, you know, high standard.
I would compare it to like afour-star North American hotel,
very you know new, nice, cleanand and that was, you know.
When I was staying there, Ithink I paid about 110 us a
night, including a breakfastbuffet.
Um, in the four star nice yeahexactly value for for what you
(22:46):
were getting.
Speaker 1 (22:46):
Well, I think, is it mostly just getting there?
The cost of the air flight isthe most expensive, depending.
And then, if you can, for sure,and then I do.
Speaker 3 (22:55):
I do think if you're gonna go all that way, you do
also have to go spend a coupleof nights at one of those like.
Speaker 2 (23:00):
Uber, luxury places.
Speaker 3 (23:01):
Exactly the over the water bungalow resorts.
Right, that is kind of a oncein a lifetime experience, you
know, staying out where you can.
You can go straight from yourroom straight into this crystal
clear water and and just see theamazing marine life there.
I mean, the thing to be awareof with that is there are a few
of those that you can get to byby boat, and some of them are
(23:23):
beautiful, but most of the youknow the really really nice ones
you're going to be looking at aseaplane ride, so that's going
to add for sure a little bit toyour expense anywhere from.
You know, two to $400 per perpassenger, depending on which
Island you're going out to andthose.
Those resorts you know will run,as I was saying you know, from
three hundred dollars a night totens of thousands of dollars a
(23:45):
night, depending on on whereyou're staying.
The one I stayed at I wouldhighly recommend.
It was about a 20 minuteseaplane 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 reallyliked about that particular
resort was it's locally owned bya Maldivian company and
(24:07):
Maldivian family.
It's who own a number ofdifferent resorts on the islands
there.
It's very focused in on healthand wellness.
So they've got, you know, yoga,exercise, sound meditation
programming happening throughoutthe day and it's all sort of
included with your stay.
It's quite new.
It was built I think aboutthree years ago or so during
(24:31):
their opening during COVID.
Still, you know very new resortand regardless of the, the
rooms are all sort of the samestandard, regardless of the room
that you book, they're all, theonly difference being there's a
couple that are located righton on the beach, you know,
overlooking the lagoon, but vastmajority of them are over over
(24:52):
the water.
Bungalows, you know, they'veall got their own private plunge
pools.
They've all got you know stairsstraight into the ocean from
your room.
It know they've all got theirown private plunge pools.
They've all got, you know,stairs straight into the ocean
from your room.
It's, it's.
Speaker 2 (25:03):
Wow.
Speaker 3 (25:04):
Have you ever seen?
Speaker 2 (25:05):
that or heard about that anywhere else in the world
where there's these bungalows onthe water?
I think I've seen the Red Sea.
Speaker 3 (25:10):
They're starting to build that, but yeah, and I
think quite popular in Tahiti.
We've stayed in a similar sortof place in Fiji as well.
Also, some of the some of thePacific.
Speaker 2 (25:18):
Islands, you'll find those as well and then how much
were those the night, or that?
Those ones like the one youstayed at, $400, it really
ranges depending on the time ofyear and the season.
Speaker 3 (25:29):
I mean, I think when I was staying that was, I'm
gonna say, about six, sevenhundred dollars a night, I
believe.
Speaker 2 (25:34):
Okay but it was worth it.
Yeah, okay it.
Speaker 3 (25:38):
Yeah, and it certainly goes up depending on
the time of year and season andstuff as well, and there's there
is a lot to choose from.
As I say, there's 160 islandsthat have resorts on them and
most of those are, you know,it's it's one resort on the
island they're they're liketheir own private island resort.
Speaker 2 (25:58):
What about like, since it says it's like the high
, it's like only six feet abovesea level on some of these, like
, have you heard, did they getlike hurricanes ever since?
We just experienced those inthe us here?
Speaker 3 (26:10):
um.
Are they like kind of?
Protected they do get monsoonsfor sure, and, um, that's that
that's definitely something to,to you know, be aware of and and
, uh, you know, check intomonsoon season and the weather
and things like that goingthrough.
And the other thing too becauseof that, there, they are very
susceptible to climate changeand that's something, you see,
they're very cognizant of aswell.
(26:30):
So get there now, before I wellyeah, for sure, and they're very
focused in on like sustainabletourism and and trying to make
sure that um those islandresorts are are um as as um as
environmentally friendly andsustainable as they can be wow,
very cool.
Speaker 2 (26:48):
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 (26:56):
Great scuba diving yeah.
Speaker 2 (26:57):
Okay.
Speaker 3 (26:58):
Very, very well known for scuba diving, a great place
if you want to see whale sharks.
It's one of the few placeswhere whale sharks are there
year round.
A lot of other places they justmigrate through where you can
find them year round there.
But yeah, incredible,incredible scuba diving.
Speaker 2 (27:15):
And what about like safety, like, as I say, a solo
female traveler?
Some of our audience might befeel pretty safe there, yeah
extreme, extremely.
Speaker 3 (27:24):
So I would say like, like, particularly.
I I think of my experience onon mafushi, that local island,
like walking around at nightthere.
It's because because there isno 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
(27:44):
sitting out in patios, you know,yeah, certainly saw nothing to
to indicate you know that therewould 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 thingI should say kind of quirky
thing about mafushi is that it'salso where the only prison on
(28:05):
the islands is, uh as well, so aportion of the island you can't
go on to it's it's sort ofcordoned off.
Speaker 1 (28:10):
But uh, that, that didn't have a bad place to be in
prison, but the prison of themoldevians okay and did you say
it was 45 minutes to walk aroundthe island, cause it does look
pretty small, or this one yeah?
Speaker 3 (28:23):
absolutely.
Speaker 1 (28:23):
Yeah.
Speaker 3 (28:24):
I mean there were.
There were no, um no cars inthe island.
It's golf carts, it's bikes.
Speaker 2 (28:29):
Oh, really, oh my gosh, I've never stayed in my
one of my friends.
She's always when she goes onvacation.
She always goes to these golfcart like res resorts down in
like Mississippi and Florida.
I'm like I've never beenanywhere where we just get
around a golf cart.
That sounds so cool.
Speaker 1 (28:43):
I did Catalina Island in Southern California.
And that's just all golf carts,I think, maybe.
Yeah, you can't you walk aroundor bike around.
There's just, I mean there's,you know, I think there are some
roads, but most of it's justall golf carts and people.
Oh, that's so cool.
Speaker 2 (28:59):
It's definitely green right.
Speaker 1 (29:01):
Yeah, exactly what's the temperature?
Like I don't know, did we talkabout that?
Like is it hot and sticky?
Speaker 3 (29:10):
I mean certainly, when I was there in May, april,
it was like literally perfecttemperature every day.
It was like 28, 29 degreesCelsius.
It was like a calm breeze.
It was perfect.
But I think certainly as youget into into wet season there
are there are times, I'm sure,where it's more hot and humid,
but a pretty, pretty phenomenalclimate for sure nice, that
(29:33):
sounds great.
Speaker 1 (29:35):
And then what about food?
Like having food come in andship in.
I wondered about that too,because I'm sure of course
they're.
Are they growing tropicalfruits there on the islands and
kind of sharing that around?
Speaker 3 (29:47):
for sure.
There is a lot of fruit growingin in the area.
There's also it's a big areafor fishing.
I mean, prior to tourism beingthe main industry, fishing used
to be the main industry in theregion.
So it's a it's a lot of freshfish.
You're getting everywhere yougo On those local islands very
inexpensively as well.
I mean, I think for most mealsI was paying between $7 and
(30:09):
maybe $15 on the high end I wasvery curious about that.
Yeah, on the local islands.
Now, on the other end of thespectrum, I would say, when you,
when you do, go out to more ofthe luxury resorts, food is
substantially more expensive andthat's going to be a, you know,
a big part of your cost thereas well.
So if you can find, you know, apackage that includes breakfast
(30:30):
or includes all of your meals,it's definitely worth looking at
, because once you get to thoseresort islands, um, it is spendy
for sure.
Speaker 1 (30:38):
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 (30:45):
boy.
All-inclusive, that's good.
Speaker 3 (30:49):
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 (30:59):
And do they have like ?
Do they have a grocery store onsome of the islands, I'm
assuming?
Speaker 3 (31:04):
Yeah, for sure.
Speaker 1 (31:05):
Because I know in Hawaii the grocery stores are
astronomical.
Is it the same here?
Speaker 3 (31:11):
I was actually surprised how reasonable the
grocery stores were.
I mean it was Western prices,you know.
So certainly more than you'regoing to find in the neighboring
Sri Lanka or India, but prettystandard world pricing, I would
say.
At most of the grocery stores Imean some stuff that they're
just because the cost ofimporting it is going to be
higher, but things are prettyreasonable overall.
(31:31):
And like on the Fushi, forexample, they they had, like
within walking distance of myhotel there were probably three,
four grocery stores,convenience store type places
and, and I'm sure more aroundthe island and in Malé,
certainly, lots of grocerystores there as well.
Speaker 2 (31:48):
What are some of the popular like?
Do they have, like rice ispretty popular and or potatoes,
or imagine, not too much meatbecause yeah, I mean you see a
lot of.
Speaker 3 (31:57):
I would say it's a mix of of Indian influence,
African influence in theircuisine and then seafood, that
is, is widely used throughout,throughout as well.
Okay, Do they have like fishingas a sport to do that they used
throughout as well.
Speaker 2 (32:09):
Okay, do they have like fishing as a sport to do?
They'll take you fishingAbsolutely Very cool.
Oh my gosh, this is veryenlightening.
I knew nothing about theMaldives, though, other than I
feel like people go there and itlooks like they spend a ton of
money, so it's good to hear thatthere's other options and other
(32:29):
ways to do this.
Speaker 3 (32:30):
The perception right that it is just this like Uber
luxury resort island type placeand that's definitely an option
and probably one of the bestplaces in the world if that's
what you're looking for.
But for like, what struck me isthat, like somebody who wanted
to be a digital nomad orsomebody who wanted to spend a
more extended vacation.
I struck me as like somebodywho wanted to be a digital nomad
(32:53):
or somebody who wanted to spenda more extended vacation.
I think those, those localislands, are really being
overlooked in terms of thepotential there and how cost
effectively you can spend sometime there, and just the quality
of the experience that you getthere, because it's not
dramatically different than theexperience you are getting on on
those, you know, reallyluxurious resort islands as well
.
Speaker 2 (33:06):
And that water just looks so clear.
Speaker 1 (33:08):
I know that was.
I grew up in Redondo beach, soI've always of when it's clear
like that, it's like it's justkind of Brown, murky ish.
Speaker 2 (33:21):
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 inlove with travel?
And you know when did your?
You know, you've been doingyour podcast for a very long
time and then do you is this ahobby or are you full-time now,
or?
Speaker 3 (33:37):
It's a good question and, and yeah, I mean travel has
been something I've alwaysloved, you know from from doing
camping trips with my familywhen I was younger and doing
some of our very firstinternational trips just really,
you know, sparked my appetitefor travel.
So the minute I got out ofschool I spent a year traveling
(34:00):
overseas through Australia, newZealand, the Cook Islands, doing
a year abroad, and that hadsuch 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 sincethen and travel's been a huge
part of my career and my life.
I've lived abroad a number oftimes lived in Japan for a while
(34:24):
, lived in the States for awhile.
My wife and I, you know, took ain our probably late twenties,
early thirties, took a careerbreak where we spent a year
traveling through Southeast Asiaand and living and working in
Japan and then most recently Iyou know, after working in PR
and advertising here in Canadafor about 15 plus years, you
(34:47):
know got a buyout from theagency that I was working with
and had an opportunity to dosomething different and I had
this travel podcast that I'dbeen doing as a hobby for years,
have spent the last six monthsreally building it out into a
business now I mean building outthis podcast network and as
part of that, leading up to my50th birthday, took my family on
a six week trip where we hit Ithink it was, or sorry, a
(35:10):
three-week trip where we hit sixcountries together over three
weeks.
It was an ambitiousround-the-world trip, using up a
lot of our airline points andhotel points and things.
Then they came home back toCanada and I spent another two
months traveling around theworld and gathering content for
my podcast and also meeting withpeople as we sort of launched
(35:32):
the business as well potentialpartners and advertisers and
things over in Asia andelsewhere.
Speaker 2 (35:37):
Oh my gosh, that sounds so cool.
Speaker 1 (35:39):
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 usethat as your platform for your
career.
Speaker 3 (35:55):
Starting to, and I mean we're really just starting
to.
You know, I really wanted tomake sure we were building up.
You know, having worked inadvertising and PR for a lot of
years and I've worked with a lotof clients in the travel sector
.
The agency that I worked withwe used to do PR for Tourism
Australia, all across NorthAmerica, for Emirates, for
Destination BC.
So I've worked with a lot oftravel brands and so I kind of
(36:17):
know what, what the level ofproduct that you need to be
viable in terms of selling tothose types of advertisers.
So I've really been spendingthis first six months building
up content and building up theproduct to a place where I know
we can go out and sell it tothose types of advertisers.
And I've got, you know, a fewevents booked here over the next
few months.
I've got you know a couple ofdestination marketing
(36:38):
organizations and an airline whohave asked me to present them
with pitches this month.
Speaker 2 (36:43):
Oh, that's exciting.
Speaker 3 (36:49):
A couple more who I'm meeting at a conference in
London in November as well andreally looking to to build up
our base of advertisingfollowing that.
Speaker 1 (36:53):
I'm dying what airline that's so cool.
Speaker 3 (36:56):
I don't think I can.
I'm not supposed to say whichairline.
Speaker 1 (37:00):
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 (37:14):
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'malways kind of surprised that,
yeah, there's like so many likeyou know expedia, like why they
don't have their own travelpodcast, or you know there's so
many different you know, youknow airlines, because it's just
that's the audience.
This makes a lot of sense.
Speaker 3 (37:27):
Yeah, yeah like Expedia, didn't have their own
podcast for a while, andactually the, the agency that
created it, is based here inVancouver and a good friend of
mine who who runs it.
So I've actually been working abit with him and his agency on
you know where they do brandedpodcasts for you know.
So they've done one for Expedia,they've done one for Lululemon,
(37:48):
for a lot of big brands aroundthe world, where I'm building
out more editorial content andwe're looking at ways that we
can work together with somedifferent brands as well.
Speaker 2 (37:59):
Wow, that's awesome.
You know, I find it interestingbecause a couple of we've
talked to where there's like oneof like their first adventures
and travel.
They have like a really sweetspot.
You know, someone was in France.
That means a lot to them andmine, like, is Hawaii, because
it was the first time I wentaway and like, oh my god, it was
like my eye opening.
It was where I happened to gowith my eye opening experience.
(38:21):
And then we talked to somebodyelse about somewhere in South
America.
I'm just wondering if it's likewe tend to to fantasize about
this place like this is somagical because it was the first
place that really opened oureyes.
And since it sounds like youtraveled so much like right away
, is there a specific place?
Or it's just like, oh my God,the whole world is your specific
(38:41):
place?
You kind of just did it rightafter college, it sounds like,
or before college maybe.
Speaker 3 (38:47):
It was right before college actually, where I spent
a year between high school andgoing into college, sort of
traveling the world.
Yeah, I was lucky, I mean Ipicked.
My deal with my parents was ifI got good enough grades.
They knew how much I lovetravel and how much I wanted to
travel, and we hadn't traveled alot internationally as a family
.
I think, we'd only done like onetrip to Mexico and one trip
down to Disneyland.
(39:08):
They knew I really wanted toget out and travel more.
So the deal with them was, if Igot good enough grades in my
last year I could.
I could get a plane ticketanywhere I wanted to go in the
world At the time.
You know a hot traveldestination at the time and just
somewhere I'd always beeninterested in and was probably
the most expensive plane ticketI could find at the time as well
was Australia.
(39:30):
Having gone the AustraliaExactly Having gone to Australia
, I mean A it was just such anaccessible travel destination
for somebody who was 18.
I was able to get a work visathere.
Yeah, it was super easy to gospend, you know, the nine months
or 10 months that I spenttraveling around there.
But then I was also luckyenough that that plane plane
ticket was like.
It was what was called a circlepacific ticket that let me stop
(39:50):
in Fiji, it let me stop in theCook Islands in New Zealand, and
it just opened my eyes to thislike incredible part of the
world.
That's where I, you know, Istarted doing scuba diving and
snorkeling for the first time inAustralia, then got to
experience it the South Pacificcoming home, and I was in love.
That was like love.
That was like I need to do thismore.
I want to do this every yearfor the rest of my life.
Speaker 2 (40:13):
And do you still have like have this attachment to
that area?
Speaker 3 (40:16):
Oh, for sure.
Speaker 2 (40:17):
Oh, okay, can this fight?
It's just yeah.
Maybe it's just like thatexperience when you like first
had this aha moment, like, wow,there's more to life than you
know where I just grew up, eventhough you live in a very
beautiful place.
(40:37):
It's we all, all three of us doAll right, so I can go to my
rapid fire questions Um, ifyou're ready, okay, okay, so
what?
Um was your favorite meal?
Um in the Maldives?
Speaker 3 (40:44):
All the seafood meals were incredible because the
fresh fish is so good there.
But the dish that I came tolike the most, which when I
describe it maybe doesn't soundas appetizing, but it was super
tasty uh was a breakfast dishthey have called uh masooni,
which was shredded tuna, uhmixed with shredded coconut
onions and chili, and they serveit together with a flatbread.
(41:06):
And really tasty.
Speaker 2 (41:07):
I loved it it's like fresh tuna or like cooked tuna.
Speaker 3 (41:12):
Cooked tuna and then it's kind of kind of shredded
and mixed with the shreddedcoconut and these hot chilies
and lime and onions.
Speaker 2 (41:20):
I think I'd love that .
Oh my gosh, we need to findthat recipe.
Like we hear all this, like wecan cook this.
I may not be as good becausethe fish is not so fresh.
Speaker 1 (41:29):
What was it called?
Again Like we hear all thislike we can cook this.
Speaker 3 (41:31):
I may not be as good because the fish is not so fresh
.
Speaker 2 (41:34):
What was it called?
Again, masuni, m-a-s-h-u-n-i?
Okay, masuni.
Okay, well, that covers thebreakfast question there.
And then, once you're on theseislands, like do you have to
rent a golf cart, or is theregolf carts in the street?
Or you have to rent a bike, oryou just walk and then rent
those for a day.
Like how do you get around?
Speaker 3 (41:51):
Yeah Well, coming into Mifushi, when you came in
by boat, the hotel that I bookedat most of the other hotels had
golf carts waiting there whopicked you up and then took you
across to the hotel.
And the thing that I foundreally interesting there is, you
know, when I was moving betweenresorts and moving between
islands, a couple of times I wasa bit worried about the
logistics of it and how I wasgoing to get from place to place
(42:12):
.
And what I found is, once yougot there and once you got to
one of the local islands and toyour first hotel, the hotels are
all all communicate with eachother and they all know that
people are moving from island toisland typically and moving to
oftentimes to multiple resortsand need to get back for
international flights.
So they organize everything foryou.
Like I didn't even have to tellthem where I was going.
They, they knew, like theyorganized it for me without even
(42:35):
being asked.
They'd practically figured outmy.
My next boat ride told me whattime I needed to be there, um,
and all the resorts do seem toreally coordinate with each
other quite, quite a lot wow,and how did you book it from
afar with these like local?
Speaker 2 (42:51):
like did you go to like an expedia or do you just
malldivescom?
Speaker 3 (42:57):
bookingcom I I used, I think, for for a lot of, uh, a
lot of the reservations alongthe way.
Um, there's a lot of airbnbsalso, as well as great places
there.
Speaker 2 (43:06):
So on the islands.
Speaker 3 (43:07):
That's definitely an option.
Speaker 2 (43:09):
Nice, okay, and how's the money work there?
Did you like to be everythingon your phone or do you want to
bring some cash and do you wantto exchange it there?
Exchange?
Speaker 3 (43:19):
it ahead of time.
Yeah, I did.
I did exchange for a little bitof the local currency, the
Rufia, but US dollars were alsovery widely accepted, you know
because?
Because tourism is such a sucha big part of the economy there,
so you know, any of the touristrelated services you can always
pay in US dollars and creditcards pretty widely accepted.
(43:40):
Apple Pay even was pretty,pretty widely accepted at most
little stores and stuff as well.
Speaker 2 (43:45):
Easy peasy, okay, and what's more popular?
Coffee or tea.
Speaker 3 (43:48):
Oh, good question um.
Speaker 2 (43:50):
I think tea was more popular okay, from sri lanka we
just learned this is the besttea in the world and the closest
place you can surf.
You already said that they'resurfing there.
I don't know.
There's this particular islandyou want to shout out to, but
yeah, uh, thalustu was, was, um,probably the main surfing
island.
Speaker 3 (44:08):
As I said, that one was about a 30-minute boat ride
from the capital, from Malé, andvery expensive If you're taking
one of those local ferries $3,$4 maybe or less to get there.
Speaker 2 (44:20):
And then do they have surf lessons, yep.
Speaker 3 (44:23):
Have you ever saw that?
Yeah, the triple bars and surflessons and stuff.
Speaker 2 (44:26):
For sure, that sounds awesome.
Okay, that sounds awesome.
Say, where are you?
We find you because there's alot of David Brody's on
Instagram but you're Brody Davidon Instagram.
Yes, I am.
Speaker 3 (44:39):
Probably the best place to find me on Instagram is
voice voicecape media.
Speaker 2 (44:43):
Oh, yeah, okay.
Speaker 3 (44:44):
Okay.
Speaker 2 (44:45):
Oh, so voicecape mediacomcom, oh on, well, I'm
just going to go to yourVoyescape and then there's
probably maybe a link to yourInstagram online.
Speaker 3 (44:54):
Yeah, yeah, for sure.
Voyescapecom is our website forthe podcast network, with all
of our travel shows there andour all of our links to all of
our socials there as well.
Speaker 2 (45:04):
All right.
Well, it's so great talking toyou, David.
I guess we'll be in touch verysoon.
Speaker 3 (45:07):
Really nice to meet you both.
Thank you so much.
Speaker 2 (45:09):
Have a great day Bye.
Thanks for listening.
If you enjoyed the podcast, canyou please take a second and do
a quick follow of the show andrate us in your podcast app?
And if you have a minute, wewould really appreciate a review
.
Following and rating is thebest way to support us.
If you're on Instagram, let'sconnect.
(45:29):
We're at.
We're Next Podcast.
Thanks again.
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