Three Kids and a Dog: Spring Break 2024

One night in the Maldives

First, we were going to take the kids to Maui for spring break. We did settle on Maui but couldn't agree on a resort so I waited to book it. Then the Maui wildfires broke out and I had my answer. No Maui. We looked elsewhere and decided on the Maldives. The resort I really wanted to stay at - the Soneva Jani - was not in our budget for an entire week but man, I did love that waterslide from your overwater bungalow into the ocean.

Alas, we settled on a pretty new Hilton property in the Maldives that also looked pretty amazing. It wasn't the Soneva Jani but it would do. Maldives is very family friendly so there was a lot of good resorts to choose from but we chose the Hilton because it was brand new, we'd get points and it could accommodate our family of five in an overwater bungalow with an amazing deck and private pool.

The flight there was not terrible. We did have a longer layover in Doha but the lounge for business class in Doha was amazing complete with a full restaurant that you could order whatever you want from and didn't have to pay for (well we paid with our ticket prices). The kids did great on the almost 20-hour trip over. We also met up with my cousin from Boston which was an extra special treat to spend the week with her.

Hailey ate rice & a Nutella crepe each morning

Once we arrived in Male, we had to take a 20-30 minute boat ride to the resort. One of the first things we noticed was just how humid it was. But we were thankful that we seemed to have more cloud cover and shade than we had in Bora Bora. We were also really careful about sunscreen and brought 6 bottles this time to make sure we didn't get burned!

We had a great time in the Maldives. The resort was awesome as was our villa. My cousin stayed in a beachfront villa the first three days so we got to use her private beach too which was really nice. They had a lot of restaurants that we could eat at too so we made the rounds each night dining at a different restaurant. All the villas had bikes too so we rode bikes everywhere - to eat, to the beach, to the spa. Hailey of course forgot how to ride a two wheeler so we got her a bike with training wheels so at least we could bike ride around the resort.

The girls and I did the spa (they cater to kids at this spa too). The girls had a scrub, massage and facial while I had a massage. The boys went jet skiing and then Peyton and Tom did an art class. Austen went running in the heat every day. We played ping pong. My cousin, Tom and I did a mixology class to learn how to make some drinks. It was fun (and air conditioned). Speaking of air conditioning, the first few days it was so hot, we had to eat our meals inside this little air conditioned room they had to make it more enjoyable. Thankfully they had that. After that, there was more of a breeze so we opted to eat outside. The food was really good. The villa was amazing. We had our own guest experience manager (butler) to cater to all our needs and we truly got to relax, read books, lounge in the pool and ocean and catch up.

We stayed just 7 days but it was the perfect amount of time to rest and recharge before embarking on the long flight home. Again, something to look forward to - lie flat seats, good food, movies, books and drinks! We had a great time in Maldives although I think we all liked Bora Bora a little bit better. Here's our take:

Villa: Maldives

Sea Life: Bora Bora

Things to Do: Bora Bora

Scenery: Bora Bora

Food: Maldives

Family Friendly: Maldives

Ease of Getting There: Bora Bora

Anyway, that's a wrap on one of our last true spring breaks as a family. Soon Austen will be off to college and we'll have different spring breaks so it's important to get in the big ones now!