Exercise is so essential for travellers (thank you, Saurabh Rai, for accompanying Girlahead on a pre-breakfast trek around Trafalgar Square when we were both at THE LONDONER for the exciting Preferred meeting a couple of days ago). London is looking pretty good right now, really clean, but oh the number of bicycles!
In The Maldives, cycling is one of the few heavy-calories work-outs available. The bikes are basic, city bikes simplified, and probably no brakes. You have to contend with sand tracks – see the main road at ONE&ONLY REETHI RAH, above. This resort does have a full-size football pitch and that attracts not only stars who can practise while on holiday but also youngsters keen to kick a few balls around, David Beckham made this the family’s regular Christmas haunt,
AMILLA, on the other hand, stresses tennis. On 27th October teenage star Emma Raducanu will be holding a clinic there – it’s organised by LUX Tennis, which in the past has arranged ckinics with such other stars as former World No. 1s Angelique Kerber and Pat Rafter, plus Olympic gold medallist Sasha Zverev and Davis Cup winner Viktor Troicki. Next week wheelchair tennis star Cisco Garcia will be at Amilla, and at all times there’s a ‘resident pro’ on hand.
Amilla is just one of the Maldives’ many lifestyle resorts that are really up to date. Girlahead was fascinated by its Wellness Café, offering gluten-free, ketogenc, organic, paleo, vegan and vegetarian options. On the fitness side it works with Bodyism. All good points.
Some are looking at wellness from a different angle. Donald Sloan, CEO of the Oxford Cultural Collective OCC, prefers to use the word ‘well-being’. He has a powerful list of advisors, whom he calls patrons – Ken Hom, MPS Puri, Jeremiah Tower and so on. Keep most-well by bringing culture into the arena, says Sloan.
