The Scents of Adventure in the MALDIVES

Kuoni UK are currently running a competition which you, too, can enter here. They are asking of you what your signature scent of the Maldives might be. In their Bluewater shop they have mapped out the aromas of other fabulous locations, which they are show casing there on a map: coffee for Brazil, and apple pie for the USA. And the prize? You guessed it -  7 nights in the 5* Maafushivaru Resort, including return flights. 

Get yourselves over to the Kuoni/Maldives website to find out more about their great holidays (that's a good plug for them, I think!)

Thinking back to a brief visit we made to one of the islands in the late 1990s - the aroma that remained with us until this day, is the heady scent of sun-ripened fruit: sweet, intoxicating and enticing. The beautiful variety of colours adds to the full, multi-sensory experience - the rich orange of the mangoes, the green/yellow hues of the pineapples and the wonderfully contrasting flesh of the papaya, with its black seeds in the middle. Lush deliciousness for all the senses.

And of course we can't write a post without sugesting a couple of novels to take, to complete the full sensory experience. Through prose, experience the SMELLS, the heat, the feel of the islands, the clunk of the coconut as it thuds on the beach and savour the sand between your toes, long before you board to your plane to Male... see The Maldives through an author's eyes.

First up is Beach Babylon by Imogen Edwards-Jones. How does it feel to live and work in the world's most beautiful and luxurious tropical island resort, surrounded by white sandy beaches and aquamarine seas? Well, you can find out by reading this novel!

And second is On the Island by Tracey Garvis Graves. When 30 year old English teacher Anna Emerson is offered a summer job tutoring T J Callahan at his family's holiday in home in the Maldives, she accepts without hesitation. But on the way to their destination the plane crashes, leaving Anna and TJ to face their Robinson Crusoe challenge. 

And of course if you know of further books set in The Maldives, drop by TripFiction website and add them. Help us build this into a really great resource for both armchair and actual travellers.

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