Perhaps you will identify easily enough if I tell you that I am one of those people who never rest. I have to be constantly busy with something. I can’t sit on a couch for a while and do nothing. It doesn’t feel right. Perhaps, subconsciously, that was one of the reasons I chose them Maldives as my next travel destination.

“But you have nothing to do there,” they told me. I wanted to know what it’s like to have nothing to do. “Dolce Farniente”, as my Italian friends very aptly call the sweetness of doing absolutely nothing. “What do you say, I’ll be very busy,” I replied. “Do you know how long it takes to stare at the vastness of the sea to clear your mind?” I was wrong, though. It only took a moment, the moment I set foot on the island and left everything behind. Since then, I’ve been trying to remember what was on my mind before I came here, but it’s impossible. I don’t know, I don’t remember. No thought comes to my mind. My mind is filled with the images my eyes are seeing. An endless blue and the absolute silence, a quiet that I didn’t know existed, that I never thought I would find.

The journey is long. It took me about 1.5 days to reach my final destination. But every time I felt tired, the thought of what awaited me came into my mind. And then all the weariness of the world lost its meaning.

Arriving at the Maldives airport, you must look for the person in charge of the island where you have arranged to stay. A seaplane or speedboat will take you there. Wish it was the seaplane. It will cost you more, but the experience is unique. Claustophobics, hold your breath. The interior of this little boat is not the most spacious place in the world. And if the speedboat happens to you, it will be beautiful again. When have you ever found yourself crossing such a blinding sea?

The first thing I saw as soon as the seaplane landed on a jetty in the middle of the sea was a mother and her child waving from the nearest island. I could feel their joy, their carefreeness. And now it was my turn to experience it.

Maldives

The island I live on is so small that you can walk it in just 7 minutes. There are few people and you meet them mainly in the morning and in the evening, during meals. Otherwise, you feel like you’re the unique islander. This is one of the good things about traveling in their low season. Yes, you might get some rain, but what happened? Even the rain here is nice.

You don’t need much for your days here. A swimsuit and a good book. Your mind active, to absorb every moment. Your heart open, to make part of you all this peace that you will feel penetrating you. Not even shoes. Oh, and the cell phone. Close it or throw it overboard. Really, you don’t need it.

Otherwise, the days here are filled with sea and quiet. With good food. With water sports and snorkelling. By nature. With smiling people. Not out of duty, but out of soul. There will be crabs walking on the beach and maybe a pelican will visit you. In the sea you will discover a magical bottom, with a myriad of different types of fish. In the afternoon you will see bats flying towards the trees and you will fall asleep to the singing of birds.

“There are many days you chose to stay, you will get bored,” a lady I met on the plane told me. But the truth is, I don’t know how you get bored. How can you leave this place behind and come back. If I think about it differently, though, maybe from the Maldives I get the greatest souvenir I’ve ever collected: The way to calm down.