Second Paradise before we move on - just to make it justice (as if I could, in writing;)

   This, I wrote on December 6th 2014, still at the Maldives. Thought I'd share my last notebook I kept during that trip, with you. I kept it as I wrote it at the time. Enjoy! PS. The next post will definitely be up to date ;)

   Hi guys. It’s December, what happened?! I don’t even know where the summer went.. I was gonna write something down in my calendar today and I was like “omg, it’s almost Christmas!!” I love Christmas, my favorite time of the year, and this year I’m gonna spend it at home, in Falun, Sweden, with my family. I’m massively excited! 

Leaving Bara Bara to ride our bikes back to our villa

Leaving Bara Bara to ride our bikes back to our villa

   But wait, lost track for a second, let’s go back to summarize this incredible vacation that I've just had. I’m actually sitting and writing on the plane back to LA right now, only 14 hours left, fun huh?! Terrible..BUT, Emirates is the best airline in the WORLD, not only me saying so, I mean, they’re actually announced to be so. You have OUTLETS in your seat!!!! I mean, the happiness when I saw the outlet for my computer, isn’t that the best thing ever, you’re computer never dying on a 30 hour trip? So great. And the screens are bigger, and the food is great, and the service. Even the seats. Wish I could fly with only them from now on. 

Pretty pretty lights

Pretty pretty lights

   So, Maldives. 10 whole days there and I feel like a new person. Calm, relaxed, happy, energized, balanced, and of course gained some weight ;) (they have a separate chocolate room and ice cream room which is complimentary-dangerous!!) But you know, fuck it! YOLO.

Sunrise 

Sunrise 

   In my last post I, for sure, did not give the snorkeling and ocean enough attention. OMG. We’ve been snorkeling almost every day, for hours. Once we even snorkeled around half of the island, which took us a little more then two hours. It’s addicting. You just enter this entirely different world, and your weightless, and it’s kind of like meditation, using your breath through a pipe, you have to breathe slowly and with a rhythm, which makes you very calm. 

Elvira_Troger_Water

   There’s a reef surrounding Soneva Fushi. We swam out to the reef and followed the edge of it all the way around. Which means, when you look to one side you see all the corals, millions of fish and everything in between, when you look down you stare at the wall of the reef, which is so steep, it goes so deep that you eventually can’t see the bottom, even if you’re looking through glass clear water. The first time the depth really freaked me out, but I just learned to love it. When you look to your other side you look straight out into the blue infinity, very cool and intriguing. Best snorkeling I've ever had, and again, the temperature!! 

elvira_Troger_ocean

   We’ve seen some more things, we saw a sting ray, HUGE lobsters, a stone fish, tons of trigger fish (which is scary because they're dangerous and they attack you if you come to close) more sharks and dolphins. Oh, and I have to tell you about when we went out on the paddle boards one day (paddle boarding is SO MUCH fun when the water is crystal clear). Okay, so we went out, and then we just stood still for a while, observing all the fish underneath and watching the surface. Suddenly, 7-8 meters to my right, dolphins came out to play. I saw them so clearly that I could see and hear everything in detail, and of course I started crying of happiness, so me! Then we were just surrounded by them, in front and behind us, I even saw two of them swimming under my board. One of the most beautiful moments ever. 

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elvira_Troger
Jungle :)

Jungle :)

   We’ve played tennis a couple of times, which has been so much fun, and the yoga really grew on me after these 10 days. I’ll try to keep that up in Runyon Canyon when I get home. We tried all the different restaurants and buffets there were and everything was just something spectacular and different. We haven’t been wearing shoes for 10 days, because you don’t wear shoes at Soneva's resorts (except when we were playing tennis obviously). The best thing ever!! I’ve come to the conclusion that I don’t like wearing shoes. The thought of walking around in heels…ugh. I’m gonna miss the outdoor shower as well, and Bara Bara, and the people working. I had the worst separation anxiety, to be completely honest. I din’t wanna leave, had this little moment of panic there on the boat when everyone was waving us goodbye. But now I’m fine, even excited to come home. Even though I’ll only have 3 whole days at home before flying to my other home, Sweden. 

One of the beautiful and extremely cozy restaurants on the island (Fresh in The Garden)

One of the beautiful and extremely cozy restaurants on the island (Fresh in The Garden)

   I’m SO grateful for this trip, I feel so blessed and I’m wondering what I’ve ever done to deserve life treating me like this. I guess I must have done something right ;) Happy to have had that much quality time with my best friend, Tove, as well. It happens so rarely nowadays, when everyone is living in different parts of the world. I think that all the laughter has definitely given my life a couple of more years. 

Elvira_Troger
Elvira_Troger

   Oh, and the second man on the moon, Buzz, (he landed on the moon together with Neil Armstrong) was there at the same time as us, they organized a huge dinner for him which we anticipated in, and then he held a speech and showed the clip/pictures from the actual landing on the moon - which was pretty cool. 

We went to the Observatory and looked at the moon, this is a screenshot taken with my phone looking through the telescope 

We went to the Observatory and looked at the moon, this is a screenshot taken with my phone looking through the telescope 

My lovely BFF

My lovely BFF

We went out to the Sandbank 

We went out to the Sandbank 

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Mmmmmm.. Food stands with food from all parts of the world !!

Mmmmmm.. Food stands with food from all parts of the world !!

Sunset

Sunset

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   Now, I’m gonna watch some great movies, which I never make time for at home, and just enjoy the last part of the trip, I'm gonna let the feeling of not being able to do anything else than float along and relax take over. Soon I’m on my next big adventure, I can’t wait!! Oh, and today’s advice. Take 10 minutes every day to meditate, or don’t even think about it as meditate, because I know a lot of you people go “meditate, spiritual bullshit that doesn’t work”. So call it whatever you want. But treat yourself with 10 minutes every day when you just sit and focus on you breath for a while, and rinse your mind, think a lot of positive thoughts, and I promise your days will get brighter! Okay, that’s it for now. Hope you’re all enjoying your weekend and remember to appreciate the people you love.

Bara Bara in a distance

Bara Bara in a distance

Warm summer nights

Warm summer nights

BYEEEEE YOU WONDERFUL PLACE ON EARTH 

BYEEEEE YOU WONDERFUL PLACE ON EARTH 


LOVE,

me