Jeremy

Jeremy founded Living the Dream in 2008 to chronicle his long-term trip around Asia. Since then he has been on two long-term trips, visited 69 countries, and is just getting started. He is now on a Lifestyle Design quest to build businesses to pursue a life of travel.

Should You Visit a Resort or Local Island in the Maldives?

The Maldives is made up of over 1,000 islands spanning hundreds of miles in the Indian Ocean. Some are several miles wide, while others can be a few thousand feet wide (or less!).

While most of these islands are uninhabited, several hundred are occupied either with local villages or with resorts- often just one per island. This makes picking islands to visit a difficult endeavor for a number of reasons, with sheer quantity to choose from being one of the biggest.

In this one, we want to look at one aspect of the decision-making process you need to consider, and that is whether you want to visit a local Maldives island or one occupied by a resort. Your choice here could significantly impact your experience overall, and deciding between these two general categories is the first step in figuring out what island is ultimately best for you.

Read more

How Much Does It Cost to Visit the Maldives? (2026 Update)

If you are looking to visit the Maldives, odds are good one of your first concerns will be with regards to the price. There is no way around it, the Maldives is an expensive destination.

But while this country is among the more expensive places we’ve ever visited, we were pleasantly surprised to learn that you can still visit this one somewhat cheaply. But unlike other destinations, if you want to visit the Maldives without spending a lot of money, you will need to make some concessions based on what your experience will be like, and it may not be in ways you expect. 

In this article, we’re going to discuss the minimum spending you’ll likely see when visiting the Maldives within the topics of accommodations, food, transportation, and attractions.

At the end of each section, we’re also going to provide rough total estimates for an example scenario of 10 nights at local islands (for two) and a second option for replacing three of those with a budget-friendly resort to highlight some of the pricing variations you may likely see in the country. 

Read more

How We Got a $17,900 Maldives Vacation for Just $6,500

When you close your eyes and think of the Maldives, odds are good you’re picturing overwater bungalows, crystal clear waters, white-sand beaches, and, if you’ve ever researched the destination, a big bill at the end.

We’re getting into a trend of going to remote island destinations with points as we’ve found we can get a pretty good trip value and minimizing our spending. The Maldives was (mostly) no different.

So, what did it cost us? Our total Maldives spending was 665,000 Hilton points, 170,000 United points, and just about $6,500. This got us 14 nights in the Maldives including two resorts, one local island, and one overnight in Male at the end before an early morning flight.

In this one, we want to break down that spending a bit more.

Read more

Hilton Reviews – Recapping Our Hotel Stays With the Brand

We’re no strangers to staying in nice hotels when we travel, and more often than not when we need a really luxurious hotel stay we find ourselves checking out the Hilton hotel property chain as Angie amasses close to 1,000,000 points a year on the hotel chain for her day job travels (not to mention, that highly coveted Diamond status).

In this one, we wanted to compile a database of the Hilton reviews we’ve published over the years, and give a quick snapshot of each property we’ve stayed in to-date. Suffice it to say, we’ve stayed in a few gems (and a few misses, too). 

We will also be sharing status perks we received at each of the Hilton hotels as well as part of our gold and/or diamond status (depending on visit dates). Some of these may be as simple as a room upgrade or a free cocktail, others are a bit more unusual like spa access, free bikes or water sports, special breakfasts, and more. It is worth noting that perks often change and are only a reflection of the things we received during our visit.

Disclosure: We are not partners with Hilton in any capacity. We have paid for every hotel featured in this guide on points or weekend certificates received from credit cards (although we do pay for all of our meals and incidentals). We received Gold status through a credit card and later Diamond status through Angie’s work travels to more conventional properties- those hotels are not featured herein.

Read more