Expecting to land in tropical paradise, we instead stepped foot into a $270/night shithole hotel room in Male for an overnight stay, before departing by sea plane to our Maldivian resort the next morning. Gene was fit to be tied when he discovered that the Internet would be down for the rest of the evening. As though putting a child down to sleep, I had to convince Gene that the sooner we went to bed, the sooner our day in paradise would present itself. The following morning, all hotel guests were bused out to the seaplane port. As Gene sat over a cup of coffee and I at an open computer, I listened to him babble to another couple nearby, cursing to myself at the thought of having to socialize on our island of respite. Little
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