The impulse buy that took us to the Maldives
Christmas 2015, two budget tickets out of Singapore, and no idea where we'd sleep.
By Dearlie ‘Dee’ Gerodias Gilbert · Oct 2026
It was December 2015, Christmas was just around the corner, and I had absolutely no plans for the holidays. Then I came across a Tigerair promotion for their direct flights from Singapore to Malé, and before I had really thought it through, I'd booked two tickets. They were my Christmas gift to my then-boyfriend, now husband.
For a long time, getting to the Maldives from Singapore meant paying full-service prices. Singapore Airlines was the only carrier flying direct until Tigerair launched the route in January 2014, the first budget airline to do so, with four flights a week on an A320. Suddenly a place I'd only ever seen in honeymoon photos felt within reach. If I remember correctly, our flights came to around S$800, which felt like a genuine bargain for somewhere so famously out of reach.
What I hadn't quite thought about was where we would actually stay. I only started looking at resorts after the flights were booked, and that's when I discovered that the cheap part of a Maldives holiday is very much the flight. Lesson learnt, lol.
The cheap part of a Maldives holiday is very much the flight.
So we came up with a little compromise. We spent our first two days on Maafushi, a local island a short speedboat ride from Malé, where guesthouses cost a fraction of the resort prices. It helped us save some money before we transferred to one of the more swanky islands, the kind with the overwater villas you see in every Maldives photo.
All of it was completely worth it. The water really is that shade of blue, the days are slow and quiet, and spending Christmas somewhere so far from the usual festive rush felt like a little gift in itself.
Here's a look back at our trip:
Have you ever booked a trip on impulse? I'd love to hear where it took you.
