Who doesn’t dream of living in the Maldives? In my first blog post I’ll tell you how exactly I ended up in paradise.
A trip, which changed my life
It all started in 2017 – After ten years, I had enough of my 9-to-5 office job. The work no longer fulfilled me. I decided to take some time off and go traveling. So I quit my job, my apartment, sold my belongings and basically gave up everything in Germany.
In 2018 I went on a year-long trip around the world. I spent six months in South America and then flew to Asia via Australia. I had the time of my life. It was in Thailand that I finally discovered my passion for diving. For me, diving is an indescribable feeling. It’s like I’m in another world and I can switch off completely.
I based the rest of my trip around my new hobby and dived in Malaysia, Cambodia, the Philippines and the United Arab Emirates.
After the trip around the world, it was clear to me that I would not be able to settle permanently in Germany again. I wanted to live by the sea and devote more time to diving.
So it happened that after six weeks in Germany, I packed my things again and moved to Thailand. I made myself comfortable on the island of Koh Tao, where I had started diving.
Some impressions of my around-the-world-trip:
My new life in Thailand
In Koh Tao I lived the true dream life. I moved into a small bungalow right by the sea, went diving during the day and hit the bars in the evening.
I dreamed of combining my passion for photography with that of diving and became aware of the underwater videographer or photographer course.
Since I could imagine working in this area and really wanted to do this course, I started with the Dive Master – this was the prerequisite for the course.
After about two months, some of which had very strenuous days, I was a trained dive master. I felt completely safe in the water and was well prepared for emergency situations.
I then took the course to become an underwater videographer. In the morning I accompanied dives and filmed other divers and in the afternoon I edited videos.
Every day life as Underwater videographer
After completing the course, I had a few jobs in Thailand. When the weather got worse and the work became less, I went to Indonesia to realize a larger video project for a diving school there.
I had a lot of fun working as a videographer, but it was also relatively tiring. Every day I had two dives, so I was busy for about four hours and then I edited videos until late in the evening. – Unfortunately the remuneration wasn’t very high either. This was fine for a while, but I knew that in the long run I would have to find something else. So I decided to first return to Germany, work there for a while and then go abroad again.
Before that, however, I treated myself to a 10-day vacation in the Maldives. I wanted to relax on the beach again and do a lot of diving and snorkeling before I plunged back into working life in Germany.
My 1st time in the Maldives
And so in December 2019 I ended up on Maafushi, a local island near Malé. Here I stayed very cheaply in a guesthouse and went on diving and snorkeling trips every day.
I had an incredibly great time and quickly made friends with the locals. I had a lot of conversations about my future plans and it became clear to me again that I would actually like to keep my life by the sea and don’t really want to go back to work in Germany. A friend of mine then suggested that I apply to the Maldives. Many resorts would be looking for German-speaking employees.
The next day I looked at the job portal and immediately found a job that I liked. The resort was also only a 20 minute boat ride away, so I applied. Three days later I had an interview and got the job. I couldn’t believe my luck. A few days ago I would never have expected life in the Maldives – but now it has become a reality.
My new life in Maldives
At the resort I worked in guest relations, so I took care of all guests’ concerns. I really enjoyed the job. For the first time in my life, I had found a job that really fulfilled me. I was happy when I could help guests – in complete contrast to my previous office job, where I lacked meaning in my work.
Every day I woke up in paradise and couldn’t believe how lucky I was. I worked a lot more than I did in Germany, but I had fun so it didn’t seem like hard work.
But then everything turned out completely differently than planned: the corona virus spread around the world. Many countries began to close their borders. After the Maldives also stopped entry for tourists, the resort had to close at the beginning of April.
I was very sad about the situation and the uncertain future. I flew back to Germany and spent some time there until the situation calmed down.
A new Chance
Now the situation has eased somewhat – tourism is slowly getting going again – vaccinations against the coronavirus are starting. But unfortunately my contract at the resort was not renewed.
At the beginning of 2021 I moved to the local island of Maafushi – where it all began. I started a new beginning and help travelers plan their trip to the Maldives. I didn’t have much social contact at the resort, but here in Maafushi I have a lot of friends with whom I spend my free time.
How my every day life in Maldives looks like:
