Canada (Ontario)/Maldives (Ukulhas) - Week of January 25, 2026

Hello my dear friends! Welcome back! Such a blessing to have you take your time to join in my latest adventures. 🙏

What a difference a week makes! On Sunday, I was in Mississauga in the midst of a record snowfall and minus 20C. On Wednesday morning, I was at Velana International Airport in Maldives experiencing blue skies and 30C temperature. Such a welcome change after the eight nights in Canada with snowy and cold weather. The temperature variation between day and night in Maldives is about 3 - 4 degrees. Day time high is about 31C/88F and evenings are 27C/81F as we are just a little above the equator. The nice sea breeze keeps life here very comfortable.

View at breakfast

View at breakfast

Confession - I had a longstanding misconception about the cost of vacationing in Maldives. I had a preconceived notion that Maldives as exclusively expensive grass huts situated over the crystal blue water at $500 USD/night (or more). Wrong! There are numerous islands, like Ukulhas and Guhli, where the nightly cost for a reasonable room (including breakfast) can range from $75 - $100 USD. You have access to a full range of accommodation costs to suit your budget. A big financial challenge is the cost of getting to Maldives if you're traveling from North America along with the travel time/jet lag involved. Budgeting for a minimum of ten days to two weeks may be advisable. 

I've been learning/relearning three different languages in my visit. The hotel staff are from Indonesia (Bali/Sumatra), Nepal and Bangladesh. I'm slowly recalling my limited Bahasa (Indonesia), adding new Nepali and Bengali words/phrases to my speaking repertoire. Both Bahasa and Nepali are useful for my future travels (Nepal/Sumatra) on this trip. My new Bangladesh friends are sparking interest in learning more about their country. Unfortunately, my current impression of Bangladesh is unfavorable. Perhaps I'm wrong, as I've been about so many other destinations. 

A shoutout to my new friends at the Holiday Inn Express & Suites (2125 N. Sheridan Way, Mississauga) for setting a new bar on an excellent customer service experience. Everybody who works at the hotel consistently demonstrated their guests are their first priority. I completed a Google Review and a Holiday Inn review to share my amazing experience! Thank you!  

Let's continue getting physical...

How is your efforts with exercising and/or stretching progressing?  I'm consistently doing my push ups and plank twice/day, however I continue to avoid sit ups over the past week. I'm now consistently doing 24 pushups. I also cracked the 2 min duration mark on my plank in the past week. Twice daily stretching to keep moving in the direction of increased flexibility. It's a longer journey, my friends, when you ignore your body's needs. 

May the universe bring endless blessings and moments of magic 🦄  to you and your loved ones in the week ahead. 🙏

Travel Administration

A couple everyday personal hygiene items to keep in mind/be prepared for when traveling abroad that I have overlooked until now. 

1. If you use a face cloth as part of your personal hygiene, be prepared to improvise (use the hand towel) or carry your own in your travels. Many accommodations only provide bath and hand towels. I carry a lightweight travelers combo of bath towel, hand towel and face cloth if the need arises. 
2. Limited lighting in bathroom. I learned how to shave with reduced lighting along with threading floss to clean under the bridge nestled in my lovely teeth. It may present a bigger challenge if you are applying makeup while you are traveling. 

Travel Update

My plan to fly to Chennai is now aborted. Praveena's father needs to be out of the office without any definite timing to return to the office. The Park Hyatt visit will need to wait. I've also added Resunga on my Nepal travel plans based on a convo I had with Sima, a hotel employee, who is from the Nepali city. Resunga is known for its natural beauty and important cultural heritage. I also discovered Jambi, a province/city in Sumatra, which is close to the Muaro Jambi Temple. The temple complex spans 3,981 hectares, making it the largest Buddhist temple site in Southeast Asia 12 times the size of Borobudur. The gems you learn through convos with the people you meet. 

Travel Maps

Lots of travel in the past week. I flew to Maldives via Vienna International Airport. My daily walking involves circumnavigating Ukulhas twice/day. 

Canada (Ontario): January 25 to January 26, 2026

Inter Country Travel: Canada to Maldives - January 26 to January 28, 2026

Maldives:  January 28 to February 26, 2026

Departing Canada for Maldives

Greater Toronto Area - Record Snowfall

The week started with a record one day snowfall in Toronto - 60 cm (about 2 ft.) of snow fell. The snowfall created havoc at the airport on Sunday. My heart goes out to all those travelers impacted by the delays and cancellations. My thanks to the universe for the snowfall happening (and ending) the day before my flight!

Gotta appreciate the preparation and equipment deployed to handle this amount of snow. At least three snow plows/salting trucks were in the small highway cleaning convoy highlighted in the photos below.

 

Piles of snow on Monday

Even more snow!

Enroute to Maldives

My travel to Maldives involved an eight hour flight from Toronto to Vienna aboard Air Canada, an 11 hour layover in Vienna and another eight hour flight with Austrian Airlines from Vienna to Male. Yes, about 27 hours in transit. Air Canada decided to help me with my layover plans by delaying our departure from Toronto by 5.5 hours. The idea of a brief visit in Vienna disappeared with the delay. My blessing in all this travel was the privilege of enjoying a business class seat.  

Air Canada Signature Suite - Pearson Airport

I discovered on this flight that Air Canada has a Signature Suite business lounge in Pearson for international travelers. The Suite offers a restaurant with a la carte meals and a buffet. I'm still somewhat unclear after making an inquiry how my ticket entitled me to this extra benefit. 

In my humble opinion, Air Canada is slowly and methodically becoming uncompetitive in their business class offering. Their value for money is dramatically inferior to many other major airlines outside of North America. I realize that I am very blessed with flexibility to travel business class on longer flights in order to make this assertion. 

I did connect with Maura, the flight attendant I met in the Pearson Airport train shuttle when I returned from Barbados. We had a great convo about our shared concern of the rapid erosion of our personal privacy. Big Brother is keeping track of us everyday, my friends! Imagine how the magic of AI will turn all this data into meaningful intelligence about each of us!

I also met Pam and her traveling companion from Toronto who were heading to Egypt. I shared my travel blog link with them after they expressed an interest in my travels.

Matcha Tea Latte

Vienna

My Vienna sightseeing tour was limited to the aerial photos I'm sharing below and spending about four hours in the Austrian Airlines business lounge. A small consolation is that I've visited Vienna on a couple previous trips. 

Far less snow than Toronto!

Approaching Vienna

Danube River

Vienna

Belvedere Palace

Apple strudel - a must have if you visit Austria!

Austrian Airlines

What an enjoyable travel experience aboard Austrian Airlines! The universe blessed me with a couple wanting me to switch seats with the husband. He got to sit with his spouse and I got a single seat with twice the space in a row to myself. Amazing gift as I would have had to pay $255 CAD for the same seat. 

The service and meals were fabulous! An example of where Air Canada was outclassed once again. Our flight had its own 'chef'. I learned that Turkish Airlines has a similar service offering. 

Our flight's chef

Shrimp appetizer

Velana International Airport - Maldives

Welcome to another paradise on our great planet Earth! The airport introduced a new arrivals area for international travelers since my first visit about a year ago. Ultramodern and very efficient. I had a slight delay with the immigration officer when I mentioned I was spending 30 days in Maldives, the maximum time allowed entering as a Canadian tourist. The issue was my lack of hotel bookings other than the first seven nights. I was asked to present my booked ticket to leave Maldives which I had. After a few moments of consternation, she stamped my passport and I was in the country. Whew!

Welcome to Maldives

Male

Male with bridge to Velana Airport

Breakwater protecting airport pier. Notice the
water colour!

Airport pier

Ukulhas

The fastest and most efficient way to get to Ukulhas is by speedboat which takes about 75 minutes and costs $50 USD - cash only please (unless your boat ride is part of your hotel arrangement). Important factoid - hotels charge their services in USD; add 3.5% on the bill if you are using a credit card. Thank goodness the sea was okay for boat travel, a little choppy most of the way.

First Impressions

Ukulhas has the longest tourist beach (aka Bikini Beach) in Maldives. The entire beach around the island is tourist beach except for about 30 metres near the garbage incinerator. Important factoid - beach wear is only allowed on the tourist/bikini beach. You must be properly covered when you leave the beach! 

The island's northwest side experiences strong winds creating rougher water. The south side (lee side) is protected meaning calmer water, better swimming and snorkeling. Do remember to wear your water walkers as the reef extends out from the beach area. 

Is about 1 km (5/8 mi) from end to end

So much beach, lots of room

Beautiful beaches with fine white sand

Crystal blue water! Grab your snorkel gear,
the marine life awaits your visit!

Notice the stack in the distance.
Yes, they incinerate their garbage!

Island Tour

The photos below are what the typical 'street' looks like. Notice the absence of vehicles other than motorcycles and small utility vehicles to move people, construction material and supplies. Traffic jams, honking horns or road noise is non-existent on these islands. You walk to reach any place you want to go. That said, when I mentioned I had walked to the island's west end, she reacted by saying, 'That far!'

Everything is relative...

Harbour

Incinerator
BTW - the stack appears to be inoperable

Construction

You do need to prepare yourself for the likelihood of construction noise irrespective of the island you are visiting. Cement mixers, jack hammering and lots of banging are definitely possible during your stay. The one mystery in all this construction is where all the labour is coming from. Many sites were idle on the island during my stay. A number of comments about the island on Google reviews mention the ongoing destruction of the reef surrounding the island. 

More hotel rooms under construction

More construction

Two story health facility being built

Flora & Fauna

Dolphin pod near shore

Nurse sharks

Stingray, I think!

These guys are everywhere!

Sunset Dining, anyone?

Sun sets to the table's right!

Sunsets

I'm blessed to have a beachside panoramic view of the daily sunset. Clouds make a significant difference in what I think is the drama of each sunset. The plethora of photos I share exemplify the subtle changes as the clouds shift and the sun slowly moves to the horizon. I've noticed a marked difference in sunset drama between Barbados and Maldives. The cloud formations are the key difference. The Bajan sky after the sun sets is much more enthralling than what I've experienced in Maldives to date.

Wednesday, January 28

My first Maldivian sunset was muted. Fingers crossed for the next six evenings!

Thursday, January 29

I was rewarded with more dramatic sunsets from Thursday evening onwards as the following photos illustrate. I almost missed the sun's final hooray. I thought the 'show' was over when the sun disappeared behind a cloud bank. Wrong! The orange sun shone brightly through the cloud cover!

Friday, January 30

I was fortunate to share the paddle boarding photos with the man in the two photos. I learned from Galina, his wife, that they had been unsuccessful in taking their own sunset photos. I created a small blessing in their lives by offering to share these two photos. 

Paddle boarding into the sunset!

Timing is everything!

Full moon in Maldives

Saturday, January 31

Meanwhile, back in Barbados

Sam and I have kept in contact since my departure on January 18. As his photos below show, the sea continues to remove the sand from the beach where we watched the sunset. His recent sunset photos provide you with a good contrast between the sunset experiences in Barbados and Maldives.

Next Week

I'll be switching rooms on Sunday as I had made two separate reservations based on room availability. My new room rate, which is a Black Friday special, includes half-board and one excursion. On Wednesday I'll be moving to a new island Dhangeti for the next five nights. It's a public ferry ride to the airport, then a speedboat ride to the new island. Coordinating travel on public ferries is pure science of scheduling which I need to get better at. For example, the cost difference to the airport is significant - $3.50 USD (ferry) vs $50 USD (speedboat).