After our idyllic two weeks in the Maldives, it was time to head home. Our friends at Nova Maldives took care of our seaplane, but to our great surprise, they also took care of us until we got on the plane to Istanbul.

Upon getting to the Malé Airport, the Nova employees there asked us if we wanted to spend time in the lounge prior to check-in for our flight. It was currently around 4 pm. Our flight was at 10:30 pm, so flight check-in wasn’t happening for a few hours. We said, yes, we did, and for a nominal fee the Nova representatives escorted us to the lounge before security in the domestic terminal of the airport, the Moonimaa Lounge.

Inside were some comfortable seating options and a pretty robust buffet with snacks (and later, dinner).

There were even photo opportunities in the lounge!

It was a relaxing way to spend a few hours, and was blissfully air-conditioned (the waiting area in the airport wasn’t). At exactly three hours before our flight, one of the Nova representatives came and got us at Moonimaa Lounge and escorted us to the Turkish Airlines check-in counter. They made sure our luggage was tagged properly, and then escorted us all the way to the security area. They had noticed that I had Star Alliance Gold status (so going to miss that next year), so they gave us directions to the lounge on the other side of security. We felt well taken care of by the Nova team.

Passport control and immigration was again quite easy, and we found ourselves headed to the lounge, though not before a detour in the store, where I unexpectedly found some LEGO.

Then it was on to the Koveli Lounge, thanks to aforementioned Star Alliance Gold status, located on the upper level of the terminal.

The buffet was right behind the reception desk, and we wasted no time going there, as we knew we would be underwhelmed by the food on Turkish Airlines (we were right).

The seating areas were quite nice, and there were additional water features at each end of the lounge.

There was even a small kids’ area with a ball pit, which impressed me.

Spending time in two lounges was a nice way to ease back into regular life (and the economy seats that were waiting for us on Turkish Airlines).

But in case you ever wondered if there were lounges at Velana International Airport, now you know.