A Stormy New Year’s Eve

All jokes aside, I had been incredibly lucky with the weather on this trip right up until New Year's Eve…

December is technically shoulder season and the weather can be a bit hit or miss. The rain, which usually dampens my mood, decided to show up in full force on the one day I guess it kind of counted?

But surprisingly, it didn't ruin a thing. Quite the opposite in fact, and what came of it was the most unexpected, awesome adventures to date.

A little context from the hours before:

Earlier that day, New Years Eve let me remind you, still soaked from the rain, I retreated into a beach bar and grabbed myself a mango milkshake. Soon after, a fellow solo female traveller asked to join me, and we clicked.

I did have some plans with another new friend I’d met a couple of days prior on the speedboat to the island, but they ended up falling through last minute. Instead, I just decided to chill at the hotel and have a nice dinner with the other guests… which ended up turning into some sort of a party, involving us forming a line together and storming through the kitchen (the staff joined in too).

An hour or so after that random celebration, the solo traveller I’d met earlier that day contacted me and we arranged to meet again, hoping to find somewhere lively in town. We stumbled across a bar doing karaoke so we kicked things off that, which honest to god considering no one was drinking alcohol, was insanely funny and everyone was still having an amazing time.

Then, being on a remote island, obviously the next question was: what do we do now?

We somehow ended up finding and joining a random beach party with hundreds of locals and tourists, complete with a stage, music and more fireworks. Please remember, this is a tiny, local Maldivian island, so this was a bit crackers!