Most of us have seen these beautiful settings in travel brochures and online. We thought it would be fun to put together a slideshow of amazing tropical overwater huts to look at and dream away.

Unfortunately most of these are far from where we live in the US and getting the chance to stay in one will remain a fantasy dream for most of us. These overwater accommodations symbolize tropical paradise where living is easy and time does not exist. If you want to stay in one of these babies get ready to get your checkbook out. Most of them are in the Maldives, out in the middle of the Indian Ocean. An economy seat on most airlines will cost you $4,200 roundtrip from Chicago. A Quick search for the basic overwater bungalow tells us that we can expect to pay a couple of thousand dollars per NIGHT.

Ouch! Remember that the Maldives are a series of islands spread out over quite a large area so just getting there is only part of your transportation cost. There are water taxis and boats to shuttle you for the shorter distances, but if your hotel is on an outlying atoll your only realistic choice is to travel by seaplane. That is expensive too. I used to fly seaplanes so I have pretty good idea about how expensive this can get.

Sorry to be such a buzzkill. Just trying to snap you back to reality after dreaming away watching the slideshow. We found these pictures cruising around the internet. Enjoy your fantasy vacation!