Honeymoon Maldives

So last week was kinda panicking, because H-30 to our wedding and we have not booked our honeymoon just yet. To add the extra tension, all the good and cheap resorts in Maldives have been fully booked. What's more to that, there are literally hundreds of different resorts there and all seem nice and sooo many of them have positive reviews.
I got headache just browsing www.tripadvisor.com;  www.booking.com; and others alike.

I even read people's blogs who have been to Maldives but again I got very wide options.
I am so much aided by this website //www.overwaterbungalows.net/; you can search almost everything; resorts with glass floor, resorts for honeymoon, cheap resorts, luxury resorts. I even asked a question to the writer. hahaa so helpful, thanks Roger!! =)

Finally, I read review in Female Daily and knew OVHolidays, the agent there. And we compared the prices of the resorts we wanted in 3 different channels: tripadvisor, own website and OVholidays. Thank God we got the bestest deal!!! Will write the details and the name of the resort later, because I want to keep it a surprise. hehe

Some tips and tricks for you who want to go to Maldives:
1. Know why you want to go to Maldives ie. honeymoon in private, family vacation, celebrate anniversary, diving, drinking and partying, etc. Because each resort offers different ambience.
* If you want to go for a private honeymoon (like us), go for some private island, offering a romantic activities/honeymoon benefits, and a good villa of course (it's honeymoon, you will stay in your villa more. lol). My suggestion is go for the 4-5 star resort like Sun Siyam Iru Fushi, Centara Grand Island, Conrad, Ozen by Atmosphere, Mirihi Island, Gili Lankafushi, Cocoa Island, Lily Beach, Adaaran, Veligandu, Anantara Veli, and many more. Just choose one within your budget range. Dont forget to add the cost of the seaplane/speedboat return transfer because usually the price stated in the final booking does not include this cost. If you have specified budget then go for speedboat transfer, much cheaper, usually just around USD 150/adult; whereas seaplane can reach up to USD 300-500/adult.

But if you have a strict budget and want a good all inclusive resort and dont mind about the luxury & privacy so much, i suggest check the Meeru Island. It is relatively the cheapest among other resorts and it has positive feedback

* if you want a family vacation with kids, find a children-friendly resort. you can find the suggestion in www.overwaterbungalows.net, it is so thorough.

* if you like to drink and partying, go for an all inclusive plan because it offers free flow of beers, spirits and alcohols usually during lunch and dinner. But if you're a small eater or want to save budget go for a lesser meal plan, I suggest half-board meal plan (breakfast & dinner), because if you only take breakfast, the cost of food might be quite high, i heard, can reach up to USD 150/pax (buffet).

2. Narrow down your options to top 5 resorts, the one you like best based on review, photos, amenities and facilities. I suggest you read that www.overwaterbungalows.net first because it has categorised the resorts based on the facilities and reviews. Then compare the price, i suggest my way that is three-way price comparison ie. trip advisor (because it automatically finds the lowest room rate from expedia, hotels, booking, and own website); own website (still check the resort own website because if you book using trip advisor, it still takes commission, right?); and OV holidays. There are other agents but I use OV Holidays because I've read good reviews about it. I've seen another agent like maldivesoffer.com, etc

If you are too lazy or too busy to compare, you can always contact an agent. So far I found OV Holidays very helpful and they relatively tell which resort has the best value for money within our specific criteria. You can also check the weddingku honeymoon but after my thorough research, it is much more expensive =)

3. last but not least, always confirm whether the price stated is NET of all taxes, you dont want to pay extra money there, do you? and also confirm the price of the airport transfer (speedboat / seaplane)

Happy hunting all!!!
Will update our Maldives trip and resort later after we visit there =D

Lots of love,
Lophe

Road to my happy ending

2000-2003 - Oscar moved into SMPK4 Penabur Kelapa Gading, dunno how and where and when I just knew him and he knew me since we were in the same school

2003-2006 - We were again in the same senior high school SMAK 5 Penabur. But we were never classmates.

Jan 1st, 2014 - We first met again in GBI MOI that time during the new year's sermon. I was preparing to dance and he was usher that time. I greeted him "Hi, you're here?" (because I knew he went to university abroad).. Too bad he saw me like he didnt recognize me (and later on I figured out that he indeed didnt. sigh.. i still have that grudge,baby!! wont forget it the rest of my life.hahaha)

Dec 2014 - We met again, this time at GBI Tampak Siring. I was on my way to a dance practice and he was at the canteen arranging bus for the church event. This time he noticed me and greeted me.

Later on, according to the subsequent person, from that moment on he started to chase after me, but he still had commitment to focus on God for a year and not chasing after a girl.

May 20, 2015 - He first Whatsapp (WA) me, he knew my number from Ci Winda & Emilia.

May 24, 2015 - We first hung out - pingpong @Taman Eden Janur Elok with other SMAK friends. After pingpong we all continued to bowling @Artha Gading

May 31, 2015 - We played Auxilium escape game @Serpong. We (the girls) hitched his car. 

Jun 4, 2015 - He came to my canteen early in the morning around 7 am and brought me brownies from Bandung (Jun 2 - Waisak, he went to Bandung with his church friends). 

Since then, not a single day went by without us chatting in WA.. yepp, til now =D

Jun 7, 2015 - He went to Image church the 1st time but with our own separate car, then we went to Taman Eden Janur Elok again to have a basketball play with the SMAKers and IPEKAers.. 

This day is what i call the turning point and I say this day is the day when God showed me the answer to my prayers. What is it?? Lets read along

A bit of a hint and as a reminder, I was quite close to one of the routine badminton players (just call him X) and on May 26, he expressed his feelings to me and asked me to be his gf. Problem was, he is Catholic. haha I prayed to God and fasted since then til 40 days to get the answer to that question (yess, I asked him to wait that long.haha) I was so galau and came so close to compromising the faith difference. Until Jun 7 when He made everything so clear, at least to me.

So, what happened that day? How can two people who were so close in relationship, often hangout and kinda have feelings towards each other (yea I must admit he was kind enough and maybe i did have a lil bit of a feeling) suddenly just pulled apart? This was my galauness. At some point I wanted to say no because of the faith difference, but i was thinking if i rejected him how would we be afterwards? gonna be awkward. and the ultimate question was: will there ever be someone better or will i regret my decision if i reject him, because i kinda had that feeling towards him already. So I prayed to God to just show me the way and kill both of our feelings (his and mine) so there would not be heartbreaks. 

And BOOM.. It just happened, so fast and unpredictable. We played basketball, Oscar was still watching (because he came late). X was in the opponent team, and I didnt know what happened to him that day. Usually he was a bit passive especially in basketball (he was good in badminton though), but that time he was super duper aggressive and annoying. Took all the balls passed to anyone. And just around 5 minutes playing, he aggressively tried to take the ball passed on to me. I didnt quite understand how the exact scene was but I just felt a hard kick on my ankle and I fell. At first I thought it was just a normal sprained ankle like i often injured from; I tried to get up and to my surprise, it hurt sooooo badly and I couldnt stand, soo d**n hurt!! To cut the story short, I drove back home, crying (of course, hurt so bad!! lucky it was left ankle so i could still drive).

I didnt quite blame him at first, sh*t happens all the time. Although I once thought maybe this is a hint from God, but I didnt hate him. Yet few days later, when we texted, and I was not angry to him anymore, I asked how it happened, how I could fall. To my surprise, he answered that he didnt kick me, instead I jumped and stepped on his foot and I just fell to my own mistake. Reading his reply, I got to my nerves again, so now I stepped on him but he didnt feel any pain or anything and where the kick i felt came from then? Anyhow.. this is when i realised that he was not for me. Even just simple thing like this he didnt want to put down his ego and simply just said sorry without saying anything else just to comfort my feeling (you know girls like being comforted, even if they are wrong lol). So that was the end for me and Mr. X. Thanks God, one thing solved, even through pain hahah

Thanks to my sprained ankle, and thanks to Mr. X, and ultimately thanks Jesus Christ, since that day forward, I cannot have my sports routine again every Sunday after church. That allowed Oscar to fill my empty sunday slot every 4-6pm. LoL

Jun 14, 2015 - So this Sunday Oscar offered the pickup service to image sunday service. And due to my ankle condition, I agreed. In normal condition maybe i would think twice. Then afterwards, I said I wanted to cut my hair at MKG and he accompanied to MKG, saying he wanted to visit David in Summit Apartment. He chat and called his friend but why on earth did he still follow me? haha. So I canceled getting my haircut and we had a dinner at Beatrice Quarters instead. Our first accidental date. hahaa

and so on and so on untillllll... tadaaaaa

Aug 29, 2015 - He asked me out to dinner at Potato Head in SCBD, He made the reservation. And yes he popped the question "we have known each other for quite a long time, do you want to take it further?" I kinda stopped for a while and waited him to say something more like 'will you be my girlfriend' or something alike. but he just stopped as well. hahaha.. 

And I laughed hard. wuajakakakakka first time i ever heard this kind of expression. hahaha

So our journey began here... It was a delightful and wonderful journey full of miracles. He is like an angel sent to me from heaven. halaaah.. hahaha

Feb 14, 2016 - Val's day and yessss he proposed to me after the romantic dinner at the 8 lounge, Ritz Carlton PP

Mar 6, 2016 - Lamaran day @Angke MOI

And there follows our busy days preparing.. Thanks God it was not rempong at all.. we were quite relaxed and enjoyed the process.. It's a great experience because I know now what kind of dresses I like, what colors I like, which flowers I like more, what I want to achieve etc etc.. I just know myself more, I know that I am a bit fussy and I can bargain too (to my surprise) and of course I also know my fiance more too, what he likes and doesnt like (although he literally says good to almost everything. ahaha my pasrah and not fussy boyfriend).

Cant wait to enjoy the rest of my life with youuu, my other half!!! hahahaa

Lots of love,

Lophe

1 Corinthians 13:13New International Version (NIV)13 And now these three remain: faith, hope and love. But the greatest of these is love.

Lophe's back!!!

Heyhoheyhoooo I am back!!!!

The huge question is: why on earth would I write again?

It is simply because... drumroll please... haha (Im still as lebay as before) I am on my way to my biggest leap in my life and I just want to write this down (I've tried writing it on mobile phone diary and bad thing was everytime i changed phones, I lost it =( ). And another reason is because I am soo much helped by the blogs and reviews I read on the internet about all kinds of stuff; so, just hope that if anyone has ever experienced the same galauness as me, maybe they can take a peek to my long abandoned blog and find some helpful info as well (with some spices -read:cuap2 of course lol)

Okehh thats all for the come back intro

Lots of love,
Lophe