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

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.

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.

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.

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!!

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.

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)

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.

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

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

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.

LOVE,

So, here goes! My first blog post in my life, ever, after all my friends been bugging me for years. I must admit, I’m quite excited. Especially since my first post will be all about a magical place called The Maldives.

I wrote this post in November when I was actually in the Maldives, so it's a bit old but I figured it's more fun to keep it exactly how I wrote it then. From now on I will try to keep this blog updated, post something at least once a month! Hurray!! Enjoy!

I mean, wow, The Maldives. Without a doubt the most beautiful place I've ever been to in my so far life. The undeniable beauty, the calm, the harmony, the peace of mind.

We’ve now been here at Soneva Fushi for three whole days. The first two days it was cloudy and a little rainy, but I mean, who would complain in paradise!? I must admit though, that when we woke up today to a clear blue sky it gave the island a whole new charisma. The sun making everything magically glitter. I know it sounds unreal, cheesy, cliche or whatever you wanna call it, but, it’s also true.

So far we’ve seen dolphins, manta rays (!!!!), squid, lots of baby sharks, huge bats, lots of wild baby rabbits, thousands of geckos (like 40 of them are our room mates, so cute), chameleons , baby chickens, and not to forget all hundreds of amazingly beautiful fish. Oh, and we swam with a big turtle. Paradise, huh? And I haven’t even mentioned our villa or the food yet, or the rest of the island.

One of our favorite places to chillax on the Island is the Champaign bar, or to be correct, Bara Bara, where you can lay in nets a couple of inches above the sea and enjoy the sunset, grab a bite, or just sun bathe, meanwhile looking at fish and having a beautiful mix of great songs playing in your ears, in the back ground.

Bara Bara (Champagne Bar) Our absolute favorite smoothie custom made for us :D

So far we’ve been to one meditation session and one Yoga session, it really puts you in the perfect mood for this place. Today we’re gonna do first Yoga and then a meditation class right after that. Oh, and just to be clear, I NEVER do Yoga, so you can imagine the sight..but I mean I never do anything half hearted, so, if I’m in this place, I better go all out and enjoy all there is to explore in this tropical world.

The breakfast and dinner buffet are just the best buffets I've ever had in my life. Everything that touches your tongue is just a sensation in itself. So, 10 days of this, and then closing up on Christmas, cant be good, hehe. But oh so good!

Breakfast is served (!!!!!) oh, blue water, I love you. These images are uploaded raw, no editing what so ever, so you can (can't ;)) imagine how this place looked like in real life.

Our villa is the smallest villa at the resort, but it’s just perfect, with the most beautiful view. I love showering outdoors, such a freeing feeling. We’re so free here, as in naked I mean. Everything is so natural and wild here, that you can’t stop yourself from just living within that.

Last night we went on a dolphin cruise with Tove’s aunt Eva and a bunch of other guests. It was so beautiful. As all of you who knows me well, knows about me, I love everything that has to do with water, so sitting on the roof of a boat in the middle of the ocean, with a glass of champagne in my hand, with my best friend, made me feel very complete.

Oh, and how could I forget, the OCEAN! The water is more clear than I’ve ever seen and the temperature, of course, is perfect. We’ve been snorkeling twice so far and you could stay in forever without getting cold (and I always get cold. Well, anywhere else obviously) except that after an hour keeping your face in that salty water, your lips feels like when you've downed the biggest popcorn at the movies…with extra salt…on your own…which happens to me…too often.

You don't wear shoes on the Island so don't forget to use the scoop of water to cool down your feet to not burn them on the sunny warm dock ;)))

Best part about the water! Splash splash

The sand is white, and feels like cotton caressing your feet. Weird, huh? Kind of perfect though.

In the mornings we walk around the island, it takes 45 minutes, so it’s the perfect walk before breakfast. You find small benches and nets around where you can stop and relax, it’s super duper cute.

Last night we had an amazing dinner buffet and then we were supposed to enjoy a movie classic at the outdoor movie theatre, Cinema Paradiso, but it was obvious that my jet lag got the best of me, fell asleep after 5 minutes, so we decided to go home. And I mean, I’m the biggest movie freak there is, so this kind of got me really upset with myself, but I realized that 30 hours of travels to get here, is…A LOT! So, it’s okay.

Now, I have to go. Tove is waiting, we’re heading out for lunch. SO hungry. And see, I just made my first blog post, yeeeiii! Mostly, why I never started a blog, was because I hate spending time with my computer. But, after all, It’s not so bad. Go get to write down your memories so you can keep them forever, right? Yes, I think this blog thing as a good idea! And oh, again, I can’t promise I'll be writing all the time, BUT, every now and then, I swear.

XOXO from paradise (Which is LA at the moment ;)

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

My First Post! YEI! | Memories from the Paradise - Maldives