Always Something There To Remind Me

I am happy to report that country 71 is checked off my list. Finally made it to Malta.

Everything from here on is just gravy until I head back home went the winter weather gives way to spring.

Getting to Malta was no easy feat though. I came down with a cold/sinus infection/ relentless dry cough just before I left so was not in the greatest of travel condition. It was raining hard in Seattle when I left. Not the typical Seattle winter mist type rain either. This was a windshield wipers on overdrive setting, standing water in the fast lane type of rain. I was a little soggy walking through TSA.

The first leg of my trip was a flight to Dallas. It left at 1am and is only 3 hours long. Way to short of a time, especially with the drink service interruption, to get any sleep. Not to mention the cramped frequent flyer redemption seat I was folded into. 

Because I was at the whim of my limited frequent flyer mile rewards, the only flight I could find with the miles I had included a twelve hour layover in Dallas. I had hoped to catch some sleep there but I find that it’s only slightly easier to sleep in an airport than in an aisle seat of a crowded airplane. Between 7/11 convenience store junk food runs, I mostly just wandered more and more zombie like around the terminal waiting for my gate to be called.

I finally boarded a packed overnight plane to Rome. I had an aisle seat thinking I would be able to get up and stretch as needed but was mostly hoping I could sleep all the way to Rome. Between coughing fits and getting hip checked everytime someone walked by, no sleep was had. It was miserable. 

I think the worse part of a flying is being on an overnighter and as the night turns to day outside, the inflight map shows you still have hours to go. The pilot came on and said that the remaining three hours were going to be spent bouncing through one of the storms that was rolling through one of the storms that has been rolling through Europe this winter. Air turbulence doesnt bother me much. I just pull the seatbelt tight and watch the other passengers freak out. Tuens out the turbulence wasnt bad. The bright flash and a big bang were a surprise through. The pilot came over the intercom a few minutes later to say that “everything was probably fine. Lightning strikes planes all the time”. I was pretty surprised how calm everyone was after the initial group gasp and a scream or two. An hour later I was handing over my passport for stamping. 

Even though I was still not where I wanted to be, I was pretty happy with my decision to not fly onward to Malta that day. It was 60+ hours since I had anything remotely resembling REM sleep, let alone being horizontal. I was done traveling. Done except that I had to get to my hotel. A mile a way and a 20€ taxi fare. I am cheap and no stranger to airport public busses. I don’t know if I was tired or Italy is stupid but I could not find the bus stop going towards my hotel. I asked around and walked around for an hour before I gave up and walked. 

Exhausted and walking in the gutter of a 4 lane sidewalk-less highway, I came up with the theory that there is a world wide Big Taxi conglomerate conspiracy with airport builders to make walking to and from airports next to impossible. There were a few other cheapos ahead and behind me who also made the effort so it wasn’t just me who is too cheap to pay for a taxi when it’s a short walk, nice day and light luggage. 

I made it to the hotel after about an hour walking. I checked in but had to wait another hour for my room to be cleaned. Finally a bed and a chance to sleep for a few hours until I headed out for dinner. I had a few slices of not delicious but really expensive pizza in the little town then went back for more sleep.

My flight in the morning was early enough that I had to leave for the airport before sunrise. Not being a total idiot, the 10€ Hotel shuttle was a deal compared to walking the highway in the dark.

I was still feeling pretty sickly so I was glad the flight to Malta was an easy direct flight. 

Even better, there is an easy bus to town IF you can figure out which bus goes to which town. Its kind of a crap shoot to get the right bus when you first fly in under the heavy burden of travel fatigue. In the end i just stood at the bus stop with the people with the most luggage and hoped for the best. The good thing is that for 2€ you can get from one end of the country to the other. If you end up at the wrong end, you have two hours to get on another bus without spending another 2€. I was lucky in that a woman was leaving Malta and had 6 bus trips on her card that she gave to me so as to not go to waste.

The bus I ended up on got me pretty close to my hotel so with Google maps I was able to walk the last mile without getting lost. It didn’t take long for me to understand the system and criss-cross the island eith esse

I will write about Malta later. My thumbs are getting too tired to click anymore on this telephone keyboard. Mesning I better get to the most importsnt part of the post…. I spent some time (actually ALOT) over the holidays reorganizing my photography page. (You can also get to it from the menu at the top of the page). I updated it with links to travel photos on my google storage. Hopefully you’ll enjoy whiling away some time seeing the world through my camera lense.